
Gateway Staff present at the White House

Gateway was chosen as one of 12, from the 42 grant awardees, to be featured at this
forum. Kristen A. Smitherman, Gateway Grants Project Manager, presented Gateway's
FLEXspace Project on behalf of the college to the other grantees, Department of Education staff
and the Deputy Assistant Secretary for Higher Education Programs this afternoon.
Grant co-lead Doug Penix, Gateway Associate Vice President of Academic Services,
and grant evaluator Dr. Jessica Hearn, University of Kentucky Evaluation Center Director
and accompanied Smitherman on the trip to Washington.
This is just the type of innovative work Gateway is known for, said Dr. Vic Adams,
Gateway interim president/CEO. Im pleased that our talented faculty and staff are
being recognized on the national level for the great work they do every day. The creation
of these active learning environments makes college more accessible to all students.
FLEXspace, a four-year project funded by the U.S. Department of Education Fund for
the Improvement of Postsecondary Education (FIPSE) and implemented at all three of
Gateway's campuses stands for FlexibleLearning and EXploration space.
FLEXspace, taking place in active learning environments and the Information Commons,
was developed to encourage completion and engage all Gateway students, especially
those who are most academically vulnerable, to increase success outcomes.
Gateway's Active Learning Institute is showing promise in increasing student success
rates and increasing social and academic integration, which translates into student
retention, said grant co-lead Dr. Kerri McKenna, Director of the Center for Teaching
and Learning.
The Gateway Active Learning Institute has trained 24 faculty across the disciplines
in Active Learning pedagogy, and 10 classrooms have been converted in to Active Learning
nontraditional classrooms. To date, over 10,000 student issues have been resolved
at the campus Information Commons, a one-stop for all college services, since September
8, 2015.
In September of 2014, Gateway Community & Technical College was one of only 24 institutions
of higher education nationwide selected to receive the very first round of the First
in the World Program grant awards administered by the U.S. Department of Education
Office of Postsecondary Education.
The First in the World Grant competition sought proposals for unique and innovative
strategies that would help increase national postsecondary graduation rates. Gateway
proposed to integrate evidence-based strategies that, within one streamlined framework,
seamlessly deliver three interventions to a target population of degree-seeking students
who have at least one developmental need. Through its Flexible Learning and Exploration
space (FLEXspace) project, Gateway addresses the specific challenges that community
colleges face related to access, engagement and completion of underprepared, underrepresented
and low-income students.