AAMU Receives $2 Million HCOP Award
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Posted By: Jehan Bunch on August 20, 2008 Huntsville, Ala. — Alabama A&M University has received a three-year $1.9 million grant to help boost the number of students from disadvantaged backgrounds who pursue studies in the health professions. Funded by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Health Resources and Services Administration, the Health Careers Opportunity Program (HCOP) aims to build the academic skills of disadvantaged students and to support them in the matriculation process leading toward successful careers in the health professions, notes Dr. Teresa Orok, vice president for institutional research, planning and sponsored programs. “We want to continue the things we’ve been doing,” says Dr. Razi Hassan, principal investigator and associate professor of chemistry in the School of Arts and Sciences, who was also instrumental in AAMU’s receipt of a major HCOP grant a few years ago. Dr. Delores Price of the School of Education is co-PI for the current award. “This time around, we really want to enhance the tutorial component of the program,” Hassan says. “If at all possible, I’d like nothing more than a 24/7, 365-day tutorial center.” “I am particularly pleased that the interdisciplinary efforts we have advocated are beginning to bear fruit,” says Dr. Beverly Edmond, interim president. “I also want to thank the deans of the School of Arts and Sciences and the School of Education for encouraging and facilitating this kind of approach.” Hassan says he believes the grant also helps AAMU reaffirm its important mission and key purpose of “enabling students from disadvantaged backgrounds to compete with students from anywhere” in the world. “Many of these (prospective) students come from communities in which the public school systems are suffering,” explains Hassan. “We have a special role in helping these students, and AAMU will benefit by offering students a better chance to enter the medical professions.” HCOP’s funding cycle begins September 1, says Hassan, and the new program will offer tutorial and other support services to up to 200 students at the junior high school, high school and college levels. Hassan says he also is negotiating to have one outreach program located at an area high school. From his base of operations in AAMU’s Department of Chemistry, Hassan says he is confident the word about the program “will get around” quickly. Not only will he notify some of his mega-classes in chemistry, but he will also involve current students who participate in a Meharry Medical College-based program he directs which prepares students for the MCAT exam. If you enjoyed this article, Join HBCU CONNECT today for similar content and opportunities via email! |
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Jehan Bunch
From Columbus, OH Central State University class of 2005 Member Since January 2006 |
Comments
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I love to see things like that, excellent for University. I am at Prairie View A&M and I would like to get something like that going. Do you have any tips for geting eduational resources such as grants to this school that maybe facing institutional racism.
Wednesday, August 20th 2008 at 5:32PM |
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