Towards a Culture of Grants at Two-Year Colleges

To achieve their important mission of preparing a skilled and competitive workforce, two-year colleges need resources and strategic partnerships. In STEM, the National Science Foundation's (NSF) Advanced Technology Education (ATE) program provides substantial support to colleges looking to keep pace with the continued evolution of technology. The Mentor-Connect (M-C) program, a regenerative mentoring system for leadership development and knowledge transfer, has helped two-year colleges without ATE experience develop high-quality grant proposals for the past 14 years. The vision of M-C extends beyond colleges being successful in receiving their first ATE grant. It aims to inspire and support two-year colleges to establish a culture of grants at their institutions, with synergistic benefits for the institutions and their communities. This article describes the M-C program, its evolution, and its impact on two-year colleges' involvement in the NSF ATE program. It also presents the experience of three two-year college participants in the M-C program who have successfully shaped a culture of grants at their institutions.