FIPSE Official Statement

We are happy to announce that we have attracted a U.S. Department of Education Fund for the Improvement of Postsecondary Education (FIPSE) grant to be used for the development of a Corporate Feedback System for Use in Curricular Reform. The duration of the grant is three years during which the university is scheduled to receive a total of $555,133 (57%). The matching contribution from UC will be $421,396 (43%), making the grand total $976,529. The grant was filed by Cheryl Cates as principle investigator (PI) and Kettil Cedercreutz as co-PI in a joint effort with the Accreditation Council for Cooperative Education (ACCE liaisons are Tom Akins and Luther Epting).

The project will be pursued jointly by UC Professional Practice faculty and faculty members and team leaders at UC colleges. The objective of the grant is to build a closed loop system that measures student performance while on co-op and directs this feedback into curricular development. The three year pilot program will involve the departments of architecture (prof. Harfman, College of Design, Architecture, Art, and Planning), civil engineering (prof. Miller, College of Engineering), construction management (prof. Uwakweh, College of Applied Science) and the College of Business (prof. Lewis). The grant will be internally assessed by the UC Evaluation Services Center (Dr. Catherine Maltbie) and externally by the Miami University Evaluation Center (Jane Butler Kahle). The grant will lay the foundation for a research center of Cooperative Education and Work Integrated Learning at the University of Cincinnati. Grant finances will be managed by Professional Practice Business Manager Edward Basista.

The grant will allow schools accredited by the Accreditation Council for Cooperative Education (ACCE) including Case Western Reserve University; Georgia Institute of Technology; Mississippi State University; North Carolina State University; University of Central Florida; University of North Texas; and others to tap into the findings of the research. The letters of support from these ACCE universities has been crucial in attracting the grant and we are looking forward to working with ACCE to develop a highly transferable system for the betterment of cooperative education.

Including matching funds, the University of Cincinnati will be investing $0.976 M in industry integrated curriculum development. The annual distribution of funds is presented in the table below:

* Contingent on successful performance.

The program will lay a foundation for several conferences and workshops held at the University of Cincinnati in 2006 and 2007. This initiative is squarely at the forefront of innovation and leadership for the second century of cooperative education.