The Community Foundation of the Eastern Shore has awarded SU a grant for digitizing 16 newspapers that document the Eastern Shore’s history during the 18th ,19th and 20th centuries. SU’s Blackwell Library will digitize and make these newspapers more broadly accessible. Several of these periodicals are currently available in print and microfilm in other local libraries and historical societies, but people must travel to those locations in order to access the historical newspapers. This project will not only preserve local history, it will render the documents available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week to anyone with Internet access. The digitization will also provide a stable, recognizable means of preserving these important documents. Print and microfilm can be damaged lost, or degrade over time, but digital formats can be refreshed.

In addition, having these historic papers readily available will also facilitate serious research into Delmarva’s role in American and world history, thus benefiting regional libraries, archives and historical associations.

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Dr. Karen L. Olmstead, dean of the Richard A. Henson School of Science and Technology and Dr. Tom Jones, Dr. Brent Zaprowski of the Earth Science program, Dr. Joseph Howard of Physics, Dr. Anita Brown of Chemistry, Dr. Sang-Eon Park of Computer Science and Dr. Steven Hetzler of Mathematics

National Science Foundation STEM Grant - Bridges for SUCCESS Program (Salisbury University’s Connections to Careers for Every STEM Student)

This project was developed to help Salisbury University increase the number of graduates in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) disciplines. The grant will fund a new Bridges for SUCCESS Program (SUCCESS meaning Salisbury University’s Connections to Careers for Every STEM Student). The program is designed to increase STEM graduates by 75 percent within five years. To accomplish this, SU plans to recruit more students interested in studying STEM fields from high schools, Wor-Wic Community College and Chesapeake College. The University also will focus on increasing retention and graduation rates in STEM programs, and enhancing the marketing of STEM majors.

Some of the STEM-related initiatives include the creation of a Living-Learning Community for 35 first-year students studying STEM fields as well as a STEM advisory board and steering committee to engage regional school systems, higher education institutions, economic development offices, and employers in guiding STEM initiatives on campus. SU faculty and students are supporting STEM initiatives of regional school districts and will host the first Maryland Science Olympiad tournament on the Eastern Shore in spring 2011.

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Dr. Jill Caviglia-Harris:

National Science Foundation - Analyzing Transformations in Welfare and Land Use on an Old Amazonian Frontier - This project will contribute to understanding farm household land use and economic welfare in the Amazon through the collection of a fourth round of panel data including spatial referencing and tracking emigrant households and individuals. These primary data from Ouro Preto do Oeste, Rondonia will be used to analyze the trajectories and socioeconomic determinants of land use in a largely deforested frontier zone. Our original survey area appears to be exceptional in terms of both socio-economic welfare (e.g., income growth and population stability) and permanent deforestation (i.e. the lack of secondary growth). By expanding our analysis through complementary data at multiple scales, we can investigate how, why, and which farm households maintain higher productivity on their lots and reach higher levels of well-being (as measured by income, assets, etc.); as well as draw more general conclusions on land use patterns and economic outcomes within this larger region over a 40 year time span.

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Dr. Anjali Pandey:

U.S. Department of Education - Training and Retraining Grades K-13 Eastern Shore Teachers (TARGET) - The Five-Year Target Program annually recruits 20 teachers from a variety of content/grade levels to attain ESOL certification. The research-based TARGET project accommodates dual needs: educators who could potentially seek a post-baccalaureate certificate in TESOL for whom we are developing a spring session: Academic Career Choices Ensuring Student Success (ACCESS)—a conflation of 5 graduate courses designed to ensure expedient access to this certificate program; and content-area teachers desiring targeted academic skills training for whom we are specifically designing a summer program: Enhancing Newcomer Competencies On Required Education (ENCORE)—a compendium of 5 graduate courses on enhancing LEP academic performance in productive skills (speaking and writing) and receptive skills (reading and listening) in multiple content areas. The TARGET project, based on the 2006 National PreK-12 English Proficiency Standards, aims to provide graduate-level expertise which is: 1) responsive, 2) relevant, 3) accessible, 4) beneficial, 5) cohesive and 6) practical to local area educators. Measurable objectives will be evaluated continuously and chronologically (pre/during/post-program) to yield formative and summative data so as to consistently improve upon all required GPRA outcomes.

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Dr. Edward Robeck in partnership with Dr. Jing Quan, Dr. Mara Chen, Dr. Betty Lou Smith, and Dr. Andrew Sharma:

Maryland Higher Education Commission Improving Teacher Quality Grant - ESPRIT Science - The Eastern Shore Partnership for Real-world Information Technology in Science is a collaborative project between Salisbury University, the three Lower Eastern Shore Local Education Agencies—Somerset, Wicomico and Worcester Counties—and local businesses and agencies, primarily Perdue Farms Inc. and the Maryland Coastal Bays Program. The project is designed to enhance student achievement, motivation and problem-solving skills in science using locally relevant case studies and information technology (IT) applications. Participating teachers will receive sustained, high quality professional development in Investigative Case-Based Learning; an inquiry-centered teaching approach that responds to calls for reform in science education. The primary case studies will be developed from the experiences of the local business and agency partners. The partners will supply real-world problems, data and contexts that will provide the foundation of each case study. The case studies will be used in the participating teachers’ classrooms as the focus of science instruction in which students will use information technology applications and processes to analyze data and make meaning of new ideas.

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Dr. Kathleen Scott:

U.S. Department of Justice/Office on Violence Against Women - SU Campus Against Violence Program - Program establishes needed services in the prevention of and response to violence against women, including sexual assault, domestic violence, dating violence and stalking at Salisbury University. This project will enhance the limited services that exist by establishing a Campus Against Violence Program. The Program will include the establishment of a comprehensive education program, a peer education program, and more extensive counseling services for victims. This project will provide an opportunity to enhance relationships with state and local resources such as the local Sexual Assault Response Team (SART), Life Crisis Center, and the Maryland Coalition against Sexual Assault to create comprehensive and regular training opportunities for campus departments involved in prevention and response efforts. A university Sexual Assault Response Team will also be established with broad campus representation to facilitate the review and enhancement of existing policies and protocols that deal with sexual assault, domestic violence, dating violence and stalking.

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