Glendale Community College will receive a $4.05 million Title III STEM-focused grant through the United States Department of Education. The grant life will span five years through Sept. 30, 2026.

The new Title III grant is designed to build on the foundational work of the Title V grant, STEM Connect, and improve student success at colleges with a large Hispanic student population. The Title III grant was made available to GCC because of its standing as a Hispanic Service Institution and its focus on developing programs to improve student success in the STEM fields.

“Our STEM focus is in perfect alignment for this opportunity and will allow us to continue to improve student success with a focus on students pursuing a STEM degree,” GCC President Terry Leyba Ruiz stated in a news release.

Glendale Community College has two campuses: its main campus at 6000 W. Olive Ave., and a north campus at 5727 W. Happy Valley Road.

The Title III grant project was written to support the GCC mission, vision and values while expanding upon the current STEM Connect programming in an effort to improve retention, completion and transfer of STEM students. The grant will focus on 3 key pro-jects:

• Pathway Progression - This component will focus on filling the pipeline of future STEM professionals by emphasizing outreach to K-12 students in GCC’s service area.
• Student Transformation - This component will focus on STEM students once they enter GCC by providing a variety of academic and career support services.
• Academic Innovation - This will focus on academic programming, professional development, and recruitment of new STEM faculty through fellow-ships/internships.