Mentee College Process
The Mentee College process is a collaborative initiative between Project Vision (PV) and the mentee college to identify innovative grant opportunities at each the mentor college that align with both NSF ATE funding and each college’s mission and strategic vision.
Project Vision caters to a broad spectrum of colleges and wants to remain nimble, the process depicted below is standardized but the procedures for each step will be we customize to each college. This approach allows mentee colleges to understand what they are committing to while having co-ownership of the initiative.
Recruit & Select
Project Vision actively recruits two-year colleges through a wide range of activities and partnerships. Focus is placed on rural, diverse, or two-year colleges with newer Presidents and ones that have had limited or no NSF ATE funding.
The application can be found here and selection happens in July of each year for a 10-college cohort the following calendar year.
Pre-Visit Analysis
After being selected, each college will become part of PV’s next cohort. The Pre-Visit Analysis with PV includes completion of a pre-visit packet, assembling of a STEM team at your college to work with PV, Strength Finder assessment of this team, and several guided discussions.
At the conclusion of this step, a PV team will be assigned to each college with a SME lead, a site visit agenda will be developed and scheduled, and each college will receive $3,000.
Visit
Typically, site visits are 2-3 days with PV’s 3-person site team. Agendas are designed to meet with all members of the mentee’s colleges ecosystem including tours of campuses and business and industry partner facilities.
Discussion is guided to understand strength, opportunities, and threats to various new ideas that could match NSF ATE funding.
View a sample visit agenda.
Post-Visit Analysis
Approximately 1 month after the site visit, PV will provide the mentee college with a report and strategic plan to matching institutional priorities and strengths to NSF funding. This report will be reviewed with the mentee colleges and is designed to be both a catalyst and a roadmap for future growth.
As a catalyst, the report will identify an immediate opportunity for funding with a prescriptive approach to submit a competitive proposal As a growth mechanism, the report will identify opportunities within the mentee college to foster a culture to continuously seek NSF funding and offer assistance and solutions to support the growth.
Capacity Building & Grant Support
Over the remainder of the cohort year, each mentee college will receive on-demand and regularly scheduled guidance to continue to mature a grant orientated culture. In addition, the SME assigned to each college will help with the submission of a grant opportunity identified in the report.
Each mentee college will also be connected with relevant organizations through Project Vision’s network, attend the NSF ATE conference the following October, provided an additional $3,000 to support grant writing, and asked to become an ambassador for PV and help them populate the next year’s cohort.
Questions about the Mentee College Process?
Please contact Jennifer Neubauer, Program Manager, at jneubaue@irsc.edu.