Chancellor Zimpher Announces $600,000 in Grants to Bring Innovative Campus Programs to Scale Across SUNY
June 23, 2015
Albany – State University of New York Chancellor Nancy L. Zimpher today announced recipients of more than $600,000 in 2015 Innovative Instruction Technology Grants (IITG), which fund technology-driven campus innovations and initiatives that have the potential to be replicated throughout SUNY.
“The IITG program is an opportunity for faculty to take their most innovative teaching and learning techniques to the next level, not only fostering their ideas on their home campus but teaming with colleagues across SUNY to implement them elsewhere within our system,” said Chancellor Zimpher. “We look forward to bringing these outstanding programs to even more of our students, faculty, and staff as a result of this year’s grants.”
SUNY Executive Vice Chancellor and Provost Alexander Cartwright said, “The infusion of technology into instruction has brought incredibly positive advancements to all facets of higher education. However, like all things technology related, the result is an environment that is constantly changing, evolving to address on the ground changes and respond to emerging needs. The challenge then comes in trying to keep pace. IITG awards recognize the talents of SUNY faculty who are at the forefront of these transitions and supports their willingness to broadly share their expertise. Congratulations to all of this year’s recipients.”
The complete list of 27 projects funded this year is available online, and includes:
- SUNY Buffalo State College will take the lead on “TeachLivE from New York: It’s SUNY Wide!” The program will provide students studying to be teachers with classroom experience within a simulated environment.
- SUNY Delhi will share the expertise gained via development of its award-winning online nursing program, assisting the nursing educators on 38 SUNY campuses to prepare to teach in online or blended environments.
- SUNY Empire State College, Niagara Community College and Alfred State College will combine multiple awards to ensure faculty understand how to develop learning materials that are fully accessible and compliant with the American Disabilities Act (ADA), including the development of a Massive Open Online Course (MOOC).
- SUNY Geneseo will partner with local organizations to design “On the Road with SUNY,” a mobile app that ties artistic and scholarly content from SUNY to museums and cultural institutions around the state using GPS technology.
- Mohawk Valley Community College will pilot an “Open Physics Lab” that will provide remote access to lab experiences for students in hybrid and online courses, an ongoing challenge for online educators.
Additionally, four SUNY campuses received renewal funds to transform open online courses into an “on demand” format in partnership with Coursera. These awards will give students continued “anytime, anywhere” access to:
- University at Albany’s “Governance of Non Profit Organizations,” which has enrolled more than 14,000 users globally to learn about maximizing the performance of non-profit boards;
- SUNY Buffalo State College’s “Ignite your Everyday Creativity,” which has enrolled more than 43,000 students as part of its International Center for Studies in Creativity;
- Broome Community College’s “Foundations for Assisting in Home Care,” which will provide instruction about how to better care for homebound patients or family members; and
- SUNY Empire State College’s “iMOOC101: Mastering American eLearning,” which raises awareness and understanding among incoming international students about how American education systems function.
About the Innovative Instruction Technology Grant (IITG) Program
IITG is a competitive grants program established in 2012 to encourage the development and expansion of innovation as a result of The Power of SUNY strategic plan. The program is open to SUNY faculty and support staff across all disciplines. Grant recipients openly share project outcomes in the SUNY Learning Commons, enabling SUNY colleagues to replicate and build upon every innovation.
About the State University of New York
The State University of New York is the largest comprehensive system of higher education in the United States, and more than 95 percent of all New Yorkers live within 30 miles of any one of SUNY’s 64 colleges and universities. Across the system, SUNY has four academic health centers, five hospitals, four medical schools, two dental schools, a law school, the country’s oldest school of maritime, the state’s only college of optometry, and manages one US Department of Energy National Laboratory. In total, SUNY serves about 1.4 million students amongst its entire portfolio of credit- and non-credit-bearing courses and programs, continuing education, and community outreach programs. SUNY oversees nearly a quarter of academic research in New York. Research expenditures system-wide are nearly $1.1 billion in fiscal year 2023, including significant contributions from students and faculty. There are more than three million SUNY alumni worldwide, and one in three New Yorkers with a college degree is a SUNY alum. To learn more about how SUNY creates opportunities, visit suny.edu.
Share this:
Holly Liapis
518-320-1311
Email the Office of Communications
