College of New Rochelle gets $4M grant for mentoring program

For the second time this week, The College of New Rochelle has announced receiving a multimillion-dollar grant from the U.S. Department of Education.

The $4 million grant is from the department’s Fund for the Improvement of Postsecondary Education, First in the World program. The College of New Rochelle will use the grant to fund pilot testing of “Mentoring, Undergraduate Research and Augmented Libraries,” or MURAL, which aims to create a set of model interventions to improve adult students”™ grades, retention and four-year graduation rates as well as collect data on successful practices to share with institutions that serve similar student populations.

The announcement comes on the heels of a $10 million federal grant announced Monday the college said will fund a comprehensive program to enhance student success through innovative, collaborative learning strategies.

“This grant will have a tremendous impact on The College of New Rochelle and our students, enabling us to further support and enhance students”™ learning experiences,” said Judith Huntington, president of the college, in a press release. “These newly revised research-infused curricula and support services will be integrated into the college”™s academic programs, further strengthening how students use technology, information and language efficiently and effectively.”

MURAL will create teams of librarians, faculty, writing specialists and case managers to undertake professional development and produce curricula, the college said in the press release. Grant funding also will support the creation of a Learning Commons, an open space that provides electronic library resources, information technology, intensive writing assistance, support for online education, in-person and online tutoring and collaborative group work, according to the press release.

The College of New Rochelle”™s main campus is in New Rochelle, and the school maintains five campuses in the Bronx, Manhattan and Brooklyn for its School of New Resources aimed at adult learners.