Syracuse University’s Higher Education Program has recently received a $996,000 grant from the Lumina Foundation for Education for a 3-year program to study the effects of learning communities on students.

Vincent Tinto, professor and chair of the Department of Higher Education, and Cathy McHugh-Enstrom, associate professor and coordinator of the Higher Education Master’s Degree Program have been selected to carry out the researched among urban state universities that have not yet been selected.

“We hope to track students and see if they’re retained (in school) and learn about their college experience,” McHugh-Engstrom said. “We want to study communities that are connected with courses in the university and professors.”

McHugh-Engstrom, Tinto and several graduate student assistants will observe students from the four urban state universities that have not yet been chosen, McHugh-Engstrom said.

Tinto, who was involved in the first federally funded research of learning communities, helped bring learning communities into the national spotlight.

“We hope to both determine the long term impact of learning communities and help reshape the national conversation about underprepared students,” Tinto said.

Tinto explained that he hopes to add years and funding to the grant to stretch it from a three-year program to a six year program sometime in the near future.

Sara Plumer, a representative from the Lumina Foundation, said that Tinto and McHugh-Engstrom were chosen because of their expertise in the field.

“The program shows high promise in boosting the success and retention rates of underprepared students, “ Plumer said.

According to Plumer this grant is significant for both SU and the Lumina Foundation because the foundation was established only two years ago.

The mission of the Lumina Foundation is to provide access to higher education, for both adults and youths, and to promote retention of students in universities, said Plumer.

The Lumina Foundation currently has no other grants in the works for SU, but Plumer said that they are always on the lookout for innovative and interesting ideas in student retention.

SU is the home to several learning communities, one of which is the Citizenship Education Floor on the third floor of Shaw Hall and is associated with Maxwell School Professor William Coplin.

Kira Pitzer, a freshmen fashion design major and resident of the Citizenship Education Floor, said the learning community has already helped her in many ways.

If the same success holds true in Tinto and McHugh-Engstrom’s research, many under-prepared students will be helped during their collegiate careers.

“I knew some people when I got here and it was easy to meet other people because of the floor,” Pitzer said. “I can see how the floor would help people in Coplin’s class.”

Published on September 18, 2002 at 12:00 pm