I’ve written before about Armstrong Atlantic State University’s dramatic changes over the last decade. See for example here and here. I started teaching part-time there in 2001 and am now a full-time instructor of English and occasionally journalism.
There’s a great piece in the SMN today about a new initiative being driven by Armstrong: Armstrong Atlantic, Savannah Tech partner in national Latino success program.
From the piece:
Lumina Foundation for Education has selected Armstrong Atlantic State University as one of 12 lead institutions for a national collaborative partnership focused on the success of Latino students.
The project is designed to leverage the connection between the educational achievements of Latinos and the future of the national economy. [. . .]
Lumina will provide $7.2 million to fund the four-year national project that aims to increase the proportion of Americans with college degrees to 60 percent by 2025. At more than 50 million, Latinos represent the largest and fastest-growing population group in the United States.
Lumina will award Armstrong $600,000 to lead a collaborative in southeast Georgia to increase the percentage of Latino students enrolling in the area’s three public colleges and universities — Armstrong, Savannah State University and Savannah Technical College — from 3.2 percent to 6.4 percent by 2015.
As I’ve noted often, the local Latino population has increased dramatically over the last decade or so. That increasing diversity is one of Savannah’s strengths — and it’s certainly one of Armstrong’s strengths too. This funding from Lumina comes on top of an $870,000 grant awarded earlier this year by the Goizueta Foundation for Latino outreach at Armstrong. More on that here.