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GMO NEWS
Inside This Issue
From The Director’s Desk …..1
Keeping It Simple ……………....1
Architecture Building Coming Soon ………….….….…..2
Grant Writer & Author….…....3
Grants Management Office Newsletter Volume 3, No. 1 Fall 2015
Keeping It Simple
Director’s Desk
As we close out the Old Year and
start a Happy New Year, I wish to
express sincere Thanks for our GMO staff and all those throughout the College who helped us shape and meet our goals. Our grant pro-posals are stronger for the faculty and staff’s passionate involvement from the beginning. The EPCC Family’s unwavering commitment to student success is a blessing in our community. One of my Speech stu-dents, when speaking on “The Im-portance of Higher Education” said, “Getting my college degree will give
me the freedom to work at what I want, grade school teacher, not what I have to, just to make a dol-lar.” I know that is why I work in grant development. Grants impact student’s success. We are looking forward to another great year in grant development. Look for our Faculty Development workshops on finding and developing grants, a Carl Perkins Grant workshop on new developments in that funding source, and other How to Write a Grant workshops coming this spring.
A grant application is not and should not be the great American novel. It’s important to follow the grantor’s instructions, and very few will want a doctoral dissertation. Keeping it simple starts with the abstract, a two- or three-sentence summary of the project. Then lay out the specifics of the program in a clear and concise manner. When it comes to organizing the narrative part of your application, think like the reviewer who will be reading it. Make that person’s job easier by
matching your headings and sub-headings directly with the major and minor selection criteria laid out in the request for proposal (RFP). When the reviewers can quickly and efficiently find the narrative associ-ated with each of the selection crite-ria and match that with the expendi-tures, their job becomes easier and your chance of getting funded is much improved.
(Continued on Page 4)
Upcoming Presentations:
Faculty Development
Workshops
January 12, 2016
Basic Grant Seeking In Higher Ed: Strategies &
Tools for EPCC Faculty 9:00 to 9:50 AM
VV-A2116
Advanced Grant Seeking In Higher Ed: Strategies &
Tools for EPCC Faculty 10:00 to 10:50 AM
VV-A2116
Grants Management Office Newsletter Page 2 Grants Management Office Newsletter Page 2
Architecture Building Coming Soon
The HSI STEM Architecture
Program has slimmed down to
its bare bones in a sprint to the
finish line in the last leg of a 5-
year grant from the US Depart-
ment of Education. With the
support of the GMO, it has been
an excellent run and we hope
that this final and most difficult
leg will be run just as smoothly
as the previous ones.
This grant was given jointly to
El Paso Community College
(EPCC) and Texas Tech Uni-
versity (TTU) to increase the
number of Hispanic architects.
Its primary focus is to establish
a program in Architecture that
will create a pathway for area
students to seamlessly transfer
from EPCC to TTU; and then on
to a professional career in the
field. The secondary focus is to
build a stand-alone structure to
house the Architecture program
at EPCC’s Valle Verde campus.
The partnership between
EPCC and TTU is well estab-
lished and the primary focus of
the grant has been met. The
Associates program in Architec-
ture at EPCC has been the pri-
mary feeder into the bachelor’s
degree in Architecture at TTU
(El Paso campus). The two
schools continue the estab-
lished bond as state require-
ments for each program change
and requirements for profes-
sional education in Architecture
evolve over time. The main fo-
cus now is on the construction
of the Architecture building.
Architecture faculty at EPCC
have worked hard to compile
requirements for the new
20,000 square foot building de-
signed by Alvidrez Inc. They
have attended meetings and
reviews to make sure that the
building, built on a very small
budget, meets their require-
ments. Construction of the new
building will commence in the
first quarter of 2016 and will be
built on the plaza between
Building-A and the old Student
Services Center. Construction
documents are now complete.
Classes in the new building
should commence in the fall of
2017.
Grants Management Office Newsletter Page 3
Grant Writer & Author
“Working in a historical house has created memorable
moments for me. From jumping pens to shadows of people
walking down the hall in the middle of the day. I ask myself,
Is it my imagination or is it Chester the friendly ghost reach-
ing out to be friends? That is the question that will continue to
provide me with haunting memorable events.”
While recently celebrating her first year anniver-sary with EPCC, Ms. Arlene Alarcon recollected the memorable moments she has had while working as a manager for GMO. She has been involved in writing several proposals as well as monitoring awarded grants. She enjoys the ca-maraderie of the staff in the department, as well as that of the friendly house ghost.
During the year Arlene has also been involved in several committees within the District. Through the Professional Staff Association, she has assisted with several fundraising activities and committees, such as the Rights and Re-sponsibility Committee. As a member of the His-panic Heritage Committee, she helped with the RG campus event. Also, she was recently ap-pointed to the Staff Professional Development Leave Committee.
Her current community involvement includes that of street captain with the Las Palmas Neigh-borhood Association. She has also served in
several boards including: Thomason Health Cares, Hispanic Leadership Institute, El Paso Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, and Tip of Tex-as Federal Credit Union. For the last fifteen years, Arlene has worked within the community in the area of management and human re-sources and has earned both a bachelor and master’s degree in these fields.
Previously, Ms. Alarcon had been involved with EPCC as a participant in the Toast Masters pub-lic speaking club. She was also a part-time busi-ness instructor and has been an advocate for small business development.
In her spare time, Arlene enjoys spending time with her family. Her hobbies include watching movies, reading and writing. She has published a children’s book that was dedicated to her grandchildren and is currently working on her second book. She also enjoys the scenic views in Ruidoso, especially while riding her 1200 Harley Sportster motorcycle.
Contact Us
Grants Management Office RG Campus
Queen Anne Building Oregon & Montana
Grants Management Office Newsletter Page 4
The El Paso County Community College District does not discriminate on the basis of race, color,
national origin, religion, gender, age, disability, veteran status, sexual orientation, or gender identity.
Creating a strong proposal is not like
writing for a professional journal, where
one must carefully build the case before
asserting even the most cautious of
conclusions. Grant writing is basically a
dynamic exercise in persuasive writing,
where the object is to grab and hold the
reader’s attention with a compelling
argument. In many ways, it is more like
writing for the editorial page of a local
newspaper. The importance of the pro-
posal must be stated at the outset, aug-
mented by citations from an authorita-
tive and trusted sources. The need for
the program must be clear from the
beginning, expressed simply and with
passion. A reviewer forced to slog
through paragraph after paragraph of
dense academic prose, written in a pas-
sive voice and filled with subjunctive
clauses, will just toss the document into
the proverbial circular file, long before
he/she gets around to reading why
scarce funds should be expended on
your project.
To respond to the requirements of
the RFP, you simply read the direc-
tions carefully and respond in se-
quence to the questions that the fun-
der wants you to answer. Provide the
most recent and reliable data from
trusted sources that will authenticate
the need for your proposal. Stay
away from those pesky acronyms that
are known only to the fewest of schol-
ars; the readers may not know them.
Formulate objectives that are succinct
and measurable, think numbers and
time. Again, make it as simple and
logical as possible for the readers to
follow your thinking to its logical con-
clusion, you will get more points.
Be brave! Don’t let self-doubt take
you out of contention.
Alfred Lawrence
Director
831-4463
Elvira Fernandez
Admin. Assoc.
831-4468
Robert T. Elliott
Manager
831-4464
Maribel Gomez
Admin. Assist.
831-4465
Arlene Alarcon
Manager
831-4469
Jessie Arellano
Admin. Assist.
831-4441
James A. Valdez
Manager
831-4488
Mayela Farah
Admin. Assist.
831-4482
Charles Simien
Manager
831-4467
Nubia Jarquin
Admin. Assist.
831-4444
Keeping It Simple (Continued From Page 1)