Mentor-Connect: Leadership Development and Outreach for ATE-3

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A report from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine, "Building America's Skilled Technical Workforce" begins with "Skilled technical occupations - defined as occupations that require a high level of knowledge in a technical domain but do not require a bachelor's degree for entry - are a key component of the U.S. economy. The United States needs a workforce with the right mix of skills to remain competitive while fostering greater innovations and boosting shared prosperity." The Advanced Technological Education (ATE) program focuses on the education of the skilled technical workforce and supports two-year institutions of higher education (IHEs) in leadership roles to support this workforce sector. However, many two-year IHEs have not taken advantage of the ATE program. The Mentor-Connect-3 (M-C-3) project disseminates strategies and results that are useful to prospective grantees; provides unique resources to guide and, effectively engages those faculty and institutions underrepresented geographically and demographically in the ATE Program to develop future talent for STEM/technician education.Mentor-Connect-3 (M-C-3) expands the successful model that was informed by an award-winning IBM global mentoring program. Mentoring, technical support and resources engage new two-year IHEs as ATE grantees for the improvement of technician education. To stimulate longer-term engagement with ATE, mentoring is provided for new grantees seeking a second, larger grant, and second-chance mentoring encourages and supports vulnerable community college faculty for whom a first or second proposal has been declined by NSF. The problem-based construct of Mentor-Connect technical assistance embeds leadership development. Peer mentoring will facilitate knowledge transfer and help prepare the next generation of community college faculty leaders in advanced technological education fields critical to economic development and national security. Proactive and targeted outreach draws diverse faculty and two-year IHEs into Mentor-Connect and the ATE Program. Florence-Darlington Technical College, in partnership with the American Association of Community Colleges(AACC), will implement M-C-3 with the following deliverables:(1) A regenerative mentoring system that broadens the impacts of the ATE Program through knowledge transfer and leadership development;(2) An increase in engagement with and submission of competitive first and second proposals from underserved colleges and underrepresented populations in the NSF/ATE Program; (3) Technical assistance and online resources for use by mentors, all prospective and current PIs, and NSF Program Officers; (4) A cadre of new, diverse ATE Principal Investigators with leadership skills;(5) Well prepared, successful ATE PIs who serve as Mentor-Connect mentors; and, (6) Publication of long and short-term impacts on the ATE Program, faculty, and 2-yr. colleges.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.