More than $2.7 million in funding recently awarded to support student development at SUNY Old Westbury

DATE:     January 18, 2023
TO:          The SUNY Old Westbury Campus Community
FROM:   Timothy E. Sams, President
RE:          More than $2.7 million in funding recently awarded to support student development at SUNY Old Westbury

I am very pleased to report today on two developments that further show the strength of our institution and the ability we have to enhance what we provide for our students.  In the past few weeks, SUNY Old Westbury has received  notice of two different awards from the federal government that total more than $2.7 million to support our students both as they prepare for their futures and cope with what may be current challenges.

Most recently, U.S. Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer announced that $1,870,000 has been awarded to SUNY Old Westbury in the FY2023 spending bill recently signed into law by President Joe Biden. These federal dollars will help us launch an inclusive science, technology, engineering, and mathematics career preparatory center -- The Old Westbury STEM Center for Engagement, Entrepreneurship & Inclusion (OW-STEM) – to engage students from underrepresented backgrounds in STEM-related fields and set them on a trajectory towards successful STEM-oriented careers.

OW-STEM will support students engaged in STEM-related courses of study to prepare for careers in fields engaging the latest science and technological elements, including virtual reality.OW-STEM will feature cutting-edge, inquiry-based STEM pedagogy featuring work with complex data sets from active research efforts, a fully integrated learning community structure to provide a holistic and comprehensive educational experience, and a central focus on green jobs and the green economy to prepare students to answer the call for a growing number of professionals in fields like semiconductor chip manufacturing, wind power generation, data science and biotechnology.

Late in the fall semester, we were awarded a three-year "basic needs grant" in the amount of $878,057 from the U.S. Department of Education to establish a Panther Resource Center. This center is designed to take a systemic evidence-based approach to improving the outcomes for underserved students by coordinating with federal, state, and local agencies to support basic need security and establishing community-based partnerships to meet the well-being need of students and their families. The Panther Resource Center will focus on four key areas:

  1. Serving as a single-stop to assess students' situations and connect them to resources available to themselves and their families, as appropriate
  2. Expanding the Panther Pantry to enhance our efforts to address food insecurity challenges of our students
  3. Creating an "advancing wellness initiative" for outreach and support of mental, emotional, and social student wellness
  4. Establishing a transportation fund to help offset costs of transportation for those with greatest needs 

Of course, these awards don't come without the effort and leadership of those principals who developed the proposals and will lead their implementation.  For OW-STEM, my thanks goes to Assistant Provost for Research and Strategic Academic Initiatives Michael Kavic. For the Panther Resource Center, we must applaud Assistant Provost for Student Success and Administration Cristina Notaro.

These are great achievements for SUNY Old Westbury. But I know the best is yet to come.

Tim