Ohio Board of Regents’ Chancellor Eric D. Fingerhut has announced the State of Ohio’s second group of collaborations to receive funding under the Choose Ohio First Scholarship Program, the state’s premier model for recruiting and retaining talented Ohio residents as students in STEM and STEM education fields. The Program is part of the “Ohio Innovation Partnership,” created to advance Ohio’s position in world markets in the areas of science and technology.

Cleveland State University and its partners have been awarded more than $4.7 million in two categories: The Choose Ohio First Engaged Scholarship Program in Bioscience and Healthcare and Improving STEM Teacher Preparation: A Long Term Investment (D-STEM).

Highlights of the CSU partnership awards:

The Choose Ohio First Engaged Scholarship Program in Bioscience and Healthcare
Cleveland State University (lead institution) will partner with Baldwin Wallace College, Case Western Reserve University, Cuyahoga Community College, Hiram College, BioEnterprise, the Cleveland Clinic Foundation and JumpStart to attract and graduate more than 430 STEM students in a five-year period. Scholarship recipients will ensure that Northeast Ohio’s globally recognized health employers - The Cleveland Clinic, University Hospital Health System and The MetroHealth System - have a highly skilled work force in the bioscience fields available to them. The five higher education institutions will create a “coalition of excellence” that will prepare graduates by providing engaged learning and science entrepreneurships. This collaboration will share $2 million in Choose Ohio First Scholarship Program funds.

Improving STEM Teacher Preparation: A Long Term Investment (D-STEM)
Miami University (lead institution) will partner with Cleveland State University, Cincinnati State Technical and Community College, Cuyahoga Community College, Owens Community College, the University of Toledo, Cincinnati City School District, Toledo City School District, Cleveland City School District, Dayton City School District, Edgewood City School District, Fairfield City School District, Great Oaks Career Campuses, Middletown City School District, Mount Healthy City School District, North College Hill City School District, Northwest Local City School District, Princeton City School District, Talawanda City School District, Winton Woods City School District, Wood County City School District, Equistar Chemical Company, Givaudan Flavors Corp and Proctor and Gamble to attract and graduate more than 150 STEM education students over a 5-year period. The proposed program focuses on investing in quality education for K-12 STEM education teachers. Scholarship recipients will be engaged in teaching experiences and professional learning communities - online included - that will support their experiences as student teachers. Not only will the program recruit underrepresented minority and economically disadvantaged student populations to the STEM education field, it will also provide assistance in critical transition periods in the early years of the teaching profession by providing continuing education coursework and assistance. The collaboration shares $2.747 million in Choose Ohio First Scholarship Program funds awarded by the state.

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The Choose Ohio First Scholarship Program review process was highly competitive to ensure that the highest quality standards are met, and was designed so that the Ohio Board of Regents can work with schools across the state to assist in the development of quality programs. Sixteen second-round proposals were reviewed by a national panel of STEM and STEM education experts in the higher education field. The experts, empanelled by Chancellor Fingerhut, recommended nine proposals for funding. The selected proposals not only identified a commitment to outstanding programs but also met the rigid HB 119 guidelines that focus on STEM recruitment and retention as they relate to building Ohio’s new economy.

Governor Ted Strickland and the Ohio General Assembly have invested more than $250 million to remake Ohio’s economy through collaborative programs in higher education, particularly in science, technology, engineering, mathematics and medicine, known as STEM. The second round of awards is directed to 28 public and private colleges and universities across the state to be used specifically to attract, retain and graduate more than 2,600 new STEM students over the next five years. When combined with the first group of recipients announced in March 2008, Ohio expects to see more than 5,700 STEM graduates who have been scholars in the state’s Choose Ohio First Scholarship Program.

“There's nothing more crucial to our economic future than investing in the people of Ohio,” said Governor Strickland. “The Choose Ohio First Scholarship Program is part of the investment we are making to attract and retain students in the vital areas of science and technology.”

Choose Ohio First is part of the Ohio Innovation Partnership created by the Ohio General Assembly to increase the role of Ohio’s higher education institutions in building the talent and research pipelines critical to the state’s economic success.

The Ohio Research Scholars Program – which exists in partnership with the Third Frontier Commission – is another part of the Ohio Innovation Partnership in which Ohio invested more than $143 million in endowment funds to recruit faculty to academic Centers of Excellence tied to the strength of Ohio’s regional economies.

Both programs represent a commitment to funding based on quality and alignment with the state’s economic priorities. When leveraged, the funds bring the total investment in science and technology collaborations between Ohio colleges, universities and their Ohio business and industry partners to more than $400 million dollars.

“In the recently released 10-year strategic plan for higher education, I emphasized the need for the state to regain its prominent role in the areas of scholarship and research. We have a proud history of scientists, inventors, and innovators in the fields of science and technology,” said Chancellor Fingerhut. “Today’s award is a significant investment in our future.”

The first round recipients of the Choose Ohio First Scholarship Program share more than $23.6 million in scholarship funds in areas of pharmacy, nursing, science, engineering and mathematics. Collaborating institutions in round one will put forth more than $38 million in cost shared funds in support of their proposed scholarship program, while in round two, institutions will be providing almost $30 million in cost shared funds. For more information, please go to http://universitysystem.ohio.gov/chooseohio1st.

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