The NOVA Grants Office Semi-Annual Roll Call

The Grants Office is pleased to announce the first group of grant awards for FY23–24. From July through December 2023, NOVA won 11 grants from federal, state and foundation agencies. Each project listed below is unique and addresses specific programmatic or institutional needs. Congratulations to our wonderful faculty and staff grant recipients — and to the students who will benefit from these projects!

American Association of Community Colleges (AACC), All Within My Hands Foundation “Metallica Scholars Initiative,” $25,000. Keila Louzada, Project Director. This is the third grant for NOVA’s project, which provides tuition assistance for students to earn industry-recognized credentials in high-growth sectors such as IT, healthcare and the skilled trades.

Center for Bridging Cultures (CBC), Cross-Cultural Chinese Language Education, $9,795. Dr. Dali Tan, Project Director. This is NOVA’s second grant from CBC, which funds activities and resources for Chinese language students, including a trip to the Chinese Folk House in West Virginia and induction into the National Chinese Collegiate Honor Society.

Department of State, Community College Initiative (CCI) — Mexico Cohort, $450,000. Sara Mohamed, Project Director. NOVA’s existing CCI program was expanded to include a student cohort from Mexico. CCI brings foreign exchange students from around the world to NOVA and eight other community colleges to support U.S. foreign policy priorities related to global understanding and training the emerging leaders of tomorrow.

GeoTEd-UAS, Improving Pathways into Geospatial & Uncrewed Aircraft Systems, $1,995. Dr. Melinda Alexander, Project Director. This equipment grant provides drone technology to be used for classroom instruction.

Jack, Joseph, and Morton Mandel Foundation, Humanities to Career Program, $900,000. Dr. Hemchand Gossai, Project Director. This three-year grant focuses on identifying and elevating the career-readiness skills intrinsic to the liberal arts and humanities that are valuable to employers. It includes the development of micro-pathways or micro-credentials, as well as paid micro-internships for students.

Lumina Foundation, VCCS (prime), REACH Deep Initiative, $28,500. Dr. Sherrene DeLong, Project Director. NOVA is partnering with the Fairfax County Department of Neighborhood and Community Services and One Fairfax to enhance community engagement and outreach to adult learners.

National Science Foundation — Advanced Technological Education (ATE), Data Center Operations Program Development (DCO PD), $649,884. Joshua Labrie, Principal Investigator. This three-year grant supports the development of a professional learning curriculum to prepare engineering technology faculty to integrate DCO skills into their teaching practices.

VA Department of Education, Educational Interpreter FY2024, $19,417. Paula Reece, Project Director. NOVA has been awarded Educational Interpreter grants for almost two decades to support its American Sign Language–English Interpretation program, including the development of online ASL courses to increase student access, enrollment and completion.

U.S. Department of Education, Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University (prime), Computer and Cyber Chinese, $31,906. Dr. Dali Tan, Project Director. In partnership with ERAU, NOVA received a three-year subaward to develop an interactive website for open educational resources for Chinese language learners, with a particular focus on computer, internet and cybersecurity-related content.

VA Department of Education, Perkins V Postsecondary FY24, $824,167. Josh Labrie, Project Director. NOVA has been awarded Perkins grants for almost two decades, which fund career and technical education (CTE) programming and activities focused on academic, technical and employability skills for secondary/high school and postsecondary students, including pathways from high school to college.

U.S. Department of Labor, VCCS (prime), Building Pathways Initiative, $806,530. Dr. Chad Knights, Project Director. As part of a seven-college consortium with VCCS, NOVA received a four-year subaward to help develop and bring to scale a worker-centered training program to meet the demand for skilled labor to fill jobs in broadband infrastructure, including tuition and paid internships for students.

We will announce the second group of grant awards at the end of the fiscal year. For information about our services, visit our SharePoint site here or contact the Grants Office at novagrants@nvcc.edu.

Submitted by:
Teresa Sweeney, Director, Grants Office, TSweeney@nvcc.edu