Title III Programs

CSU Students walk outside the physical education complex
Mission

The mission of Title III Programs is to ensure that federal resources are effectively and efficiently used to assist Coppin State University in becoming self-sufficient and expanding its capacity to serve diverse student populations. The funds are provided to improve and strengthen the university’s academic quality, institutional management, fiscal stability, and student service outcomes.

Supporting Institutional Initiatives

It is with such pleasure that I invite the Coppin State University (CSU) community to explore all activities offered through our Title III Programs. The Title III Programs, funded through the U.S. Department of Education, allows CSU to expand on its programs, to enhance our academic offerings, to improve upon our fiscal projects to sustain the quality of education and work environment offered to our diverse students, faculty, and staff.

Angela L. Williams, Ph.D.
Executive Director, Title III Programs

Photo of the Coppin State University Administration Building

Title III Newsletter

Learn about the innovative project activities, resources, and meaningful opportunities transforming the lives of our students here at Coppin State University.

Program Description

CSU Health and Human Services Building

Title III-B authorizes the Strengthening Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) program award grants to eligible institutions to assist them in strengthening their academic, administrative, and fiscal capabilities. These programs are typically funded through annual discretionary appropriations; and with additional annual mandatory appropriations provided through the FUTURE Act, which extended mandatory funding beyond fiscal year 2019.

Activities are in accordance to section 1068h(a)(2) of this title may include; Institution services; educational equipment, acquisition of real property in connection with the construction, renovation, or additional improvement of campus facilities; to improve the financial and economic literacy designed for students; financial management information; faculty and staff development; and the implementation of other project activities described under the Legislative Allowable Activities (LAA) outlined in the program statute. Endowment development is also an activity with exception that no more than twenty percent of the grant funds may be used for this purpose.

Title III, Part F, Section 371 of the Higher Education Act of 1965 (HEA), as amended, provides additional mandatory funding for the Title III, Part B HBCU Program. Mandatory funding for the HBCU Title III, Part F Program was permanently extended under the Fostering Undergraduate Talent by Unlocking Resources for Education Act or the FUTURE Act, H.R. 5363. The FUTURE Act was enacted on December 19, 2019.

When awarded funds are not obligated and/or spent timely in accordance to grant specifications, the Department of Education may, with prior notification to grant recipients, reduce subsequent funding amounts in line with the University’s demonstrated funds usage. Site visits may be made by representatives of the Department of Education to review and monitor program accomplishments and provide technical assistance as deemed necessary.

Activities Overview

Act-01    Library Innovation
Activity Director – Dr. Wanza, Mary

Act-02    Campus Digital Transformation
Activity Director – Dr. El-Haggan, Ahmed

Act-03    Migration to Postmodern Cloud HR & FA ERP
Activity Director – Dr. El-Haggan, Ahmed

Act-04    Faculty Development
Activity Director – Dr. Wilks, Pamela

Act-05    Employee and Organizational Development
Activity Director – Dr. Early, Lisa

Act-06    Enhancing Academic Advising & Student Success Initiatives
Activity Director – Dr. Stewart, James

Act-07    Enhancing Institutional Advancement
Activity Director – Mr. Humbert, Joshua

Act-08    Center for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion
Activity Director – Dr. Bowden, Michael

Act-09    Institutional Effectiveness
Activity Director – Dr. Bowden, Michael

Act-10    Building the Office of Sponsored Programs and Research
Activity Director – Dr. Bowden, Michael

Act-11    An Honors Program Career Preparatory Graduation Initiative
Activity Director – Ms. Forbes, DeChelle

Act-12    Title III Part B Program Administration
Activity Director – Dr. Williams, Angela

Act-01    Strengthening Library Technology Services & Holdings
Activity Director – Dr. Mary Wanza

Act-02    Enhance Information Technology
Activity Director – Dr. Ahmed El-Haggan

Act-03    Implement ERP System
Activity Director – Dr. Ahmed El-Haggan

Act-04    Curriculum Management Acalog Software
Activity Director – Dr. Mary Owens-Southall

Act-05    Faculty Development
Activity Director – Dr. Leontye Lewis & Dr. Pamela Wilks

Act-06    Strengthening Rosemont Elementary Middle Charter School
Activity Director – Mr. Wheeler

Act-07    Staff and Executive Staff Development
Activity Director – Dr. Lisa Early

Act-08    Academic Success Center
Activity Director – Dr. Rolande Murray & Dr. James Stewart

Act-09    Strengthening the Office of Institutional Effectiveness
Activity Director – Dr. Michael Bowden

Act-10    Enhancement of Institutional Advancement
Activity Director – Mr. Joshua Humbert & Douglas Dalzell

Act-11    Strengthening the Office of Sponsored Programs and Grants
Activity Director – Dr. Rolande Murray & Dr. Michael Bowden

Act-12    Title III Part B Program Administration
Activity Director – Dr. Angela L. Williams

Act-13    Strengthening Coppin Academy Charter School
Activity Director – Ms. Almond & Dr. Leontye Lewis

Act- 14    First Year Experience
Activity Director – Dr. Michael Freeman & Dr. James Stewart

Act- 15    Persistence Plan
Activity Director – Mr. Samuel Patterson

Act-01    Enhancement of the College of Business Online BS Degree in Data Science with Analytics Emphasis
Activity Director – Dr. Sadie Gregory

Act-02    Enhancement of the Center for Technology Innovations
Activity Director – Dr. Dionne Curbeam

Act-03    E-Resources for Remote Learning & Teaching
Activity Director – Dr. Mary Wanza

Act-04    Enhancing Coppin State University Cyber Security Infrastructure
Activity Director – Mr. Thomas Smith

Act-05    Enhancement of the Cloud Conversion of Disaster Recovery & Business Continuity Plan
Activity Director – Mr. Thomas Smith

Act-06    Enhancement of the Natural Science Program
Activity Director – Dr. Mintesinot Jiru

Act-07    Title III Part F Program Administration
Activity Director – Dr. Angela L. Williams

Act-08    Enhancement of the Center for Nanotechnology Research
Activity Director – Dr. Jamal Uddin

Act-09    Enhancement of Analytics
Activity Director – Dr. Dionne Curbeam

Title III B Project Activities 2022-2027

The following is a list of Title III activities beginning on October 1, 2022 – September 30, 2027.

Library Innovation

With the emergence and integration of information technology, the traditional library is not the library for the future. It is essential for the library to select, integrate, and organize digital resources and tools to support transformational teaching and learning. The library must reflect the mission and goals of the university, especially the initiatives to enhance teaching and research excellence and increase the completion rates of students.

Activity Director: Wanza, Mary

Campus Digital Transformation

Advancing the digitization of Coppin State University is the underpinning for both meeting the demands of the technology surge brought on by the pandemic and successfully achieving the university goals. This will require researching, understanding, and identifying the usefulness of newer innovative technologies; offering development opportunities to faculty, staff, and students to improve their digital literacy; increasing the number of degree programs offered fully online; implementing new pedagogical models for supporting digital needs; and infusing technological practices to innovate and transform low-impact campus business practices.

Activity Director: Curbeam, Dionne

Migration to Postmodern Cloud HR & FA ERP

With the changes in technologies and the evolution of postmodern cloud-based ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) system, Coppin State University joined other universities of the University System of Maryland in a Consortium to migrate the current on-premises ERP system to a cloud based modern system. The consortium chose Workday as its new Cloud ERP for Financial Administration and Human Resources Management. This activity will provide the needed support for Coppin to cooperate with the consortium to migrate its ERP HR/FA to a cloud-based system that will support more effective, efficient, and digitalized business processes. It will also provide the support needed to migrate the current on-premises students system to a cloud hosting option that will provide more secure and optimized operations. With the migration to a postmodern cloud-based ERP, Coppin will become a university of choice, a great university at which to work. The adoption of a new student centric SIS will lead to improvement in completion rates of our students and enhance our teaching excellence. This activity will also be used to keep the IT staff abreast of the current ERP technology, best practices in providing IT security and data privacy.

Activity Director: Smith, Thomas

Faculty Development

The Division of Academic Affairs is charged to continually support the professional development of all faculty members, which contributes to program quality and enhancement, faculty growth, and student retention and success initiatives. Coppin State University currently employs 243 faculty members with 24 at the level of Professor, 36 at the Associate Professor level, 56 at the Assistant Professor level, 7 are full time non-tenure track faculty members, and 120 serve as adjunct faculty members. All faculty are required to participate in scholarly activities that will enhance their teaching (including advisement), research (including research and scholarly activities), and service (department, college, university, and external community), which are requirements of the Appointment, Rank, Tenure, Promotion, and Post Tenure Review processes. Participation in Faculty Learning Communities is also designed to support the faculty in the advancement of skills in the effective delivering of current content and innovative pedagogy. The activity is designed to provide the faculty with activities for a holistic development to support and promote scholarly collegiality among faculty that will be evident in the learning environment. Faculty Learning Communities are designed to create an environment of community building around faculty development. Faculty learning communities will be cohort-based, addressing the needs of a particular group of faculty members, or topic-based with an approach that instead focuses on continuous learning on a specific issue, i.e., SLOs. Faculty Learning Communities will also focus on professional travel and participation in conferences, provide access to professionals coming to campus to provide professional development/leadership training through interactions with consultants on campus.

Activity Director: Wilks, Pamela

Employee and Organizational Development

Title III funds have afforded many opportunities for the support staff to attend various seminars, workshops, and conferences to receive training to augment their skills and knowledge. Continuous learning and professional development for support staff is critical in efforts to maintain a competitive niche among higher education institutions locally, regionally, and nationally, and is a benefit that contributes to making Coppin State University a great place to work. Training supplies the skills, knowledge and attitudes needed by individuals or groups to improve their abilities to perform their present jobs.

Activity Director: Early, Lisa

Enhancing Academic Advising & Student Success Initiatives

This activity aligns with the President’s second initiative to: Improve the holistic development and completion rates of our students. In 2020, the academic advising and student success sub-groups of the CSU Retention Committee were charged with assessing the current academic advising model and making recommendations that would lead to increased student retention and academic success. To create consistent academic advising practices centered on accountability, the following five priorities were identified: (1) establish a student success (Eagle) Achievement Center; (2) articulate the structure of academic advising; (3) standardize and update curriculum plans (plans of study); and (4) streamline student support processes. Under priorities one and four, a centralized office of academic advising will be created and housed within the student (Eagle) Achievement Center. The centralized advising, student support, and development center created with six components – University Academic Advising, First-Year experience, Second-Year experience, Student Academic Success Academy/Mentoring, Math Center, Writing Center, Academic Coaching, Career and Professional Development, Military Student Support, International Student Support, and Civic and Community Engagement.

Under priority two, pathways of academic advising will be identified with two primary components – professional advisors and faculty mentors/advisors. Under this model, the professional advisors would use a caseload model to advise and provide academic outreach to students with 0 – 60 credits. This would ensure first and second year students have intrusive advising and support needed to create a solid foundation at CSU. Faculty advisors would be responsible for advising and proving outreach to students with 61 and higher credits. This will ensure students are on track for graduation and persist appropriately through their major specific courses. Additionally, faculty advisors will develop a mentoring relationship with assigned upper class students. Under priority three, to articulate a clear and defined pathway to graduation, there is a need to standardize and update curriculum plans (plans of study). This will ensure that all CSU students, new and continuing, have a clear understanding of the course requirements for successful and on-time completion of their programs. Thus, easily aligning with the President’s 15 + 15 initiative.

To enhance our Student Success model, five priorities were identified: (1) establish learning communities; (2) expand and streamline academic coaching/tutoring; (3) promote satisfactory academic progress (4) create a stop out campaign (5) establish mentoring support and (6) adopt predictive analytics for data-informed retention interventions. These six priorities will be executed in the offices housed within the Eagle Achievement Center.

Activity Director: Stewart, James

Enhancing Institutional Advancement

The Division of Institutional Advancement is the resource development arm of the university and engages with external constituents to generate revenue and philanthropic support for the entire campus community. The audience of constituents is comprised of corporations, foundations, alumni, and friends who have a desire to make an impact on higher education in West Baltimore. The Division is responsible for developing partnerships with funders to support programming and initiatives like research, workforce development, mentoring, and innovative curriculum enhancement. The Division works strategically to align these programs and initiatives with the philanthropic goals of funders. We also build on the foundational experience of our alumni in order to connect them to campus in meaningful ways to result in increased and recurring support. The success of our alumni plays a crucial role in how successful we are in marketing the institution. By touting the accomplishments of our alumni through our communication efforts, we serve a dual purpose of connecting with this audience and the reputation of the university.

Stewardship is proof-positive of the Division’s impact on campus. We are able to deploy the resources raised to address campus needs and priorities like scholarship, academic programming, student leadership development, and faculty development. In the raising of these funds, we are sure to align with the university’s strategic initiatives to ensure that we propel the university’s mission forward.

Activity Director: Humbert, Joshua

Center for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion

The university proposes building a Center for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI). Coppin State University’s (CSU) mission statement states that Coppin, a “Historically Black Institution in a dynamic urban setting, serves a multi-generational student population and provides education opportunities while promoting lifelong learning. The university fosters leadership, social responsibility, civic and community engagement, cultural diversity and inclusion, and economic development.” Essential to delivering the mission is an emphasis on DEI.

Building a center that promotes a healthy environment for delivering of high-quality education will contribute to a student body and personnel poised to become a university of choice as community members take advantage of resources that promote student success and a welcoming learning and research environment. Furthermore, the center will support International Students (with Language Lab and fully developed writing center), Veteran Services, Alumni Association, Student-Athletes, LGBTQIA+, Interfaith, Latinx, Women Center, Disability Services, Student Government Association, and other groups and activities as informed by best practices and CSU research.

Critical to Coppin’s success is building a foundation for DEI that promotes a healthy environment for instruction and research and helps the institution meet upcoming requirements related to accreditation. Just recently, the Middle States Commission on Higher Education, which is the university’s national accrediting agency, announced that it is revising its Standards for Accreditation for this year. A completed set of standards is due for publication in June 2022. DEI will be an essential element of the standards, and the Commission will prescribe a set of metrics that member universities will need to meet to be compliant with the standards.

Activity Director: Bowden, Michael

Institutional Effectiveness

The Office of Planning and Assessment (OPA) and its major reporting units, Institutional Research (IR) and the Assessment Office (AO) will enhance its services to better guide the campus through essential processes necessary to remain nationally accredited by the Middle States Commission on Higher Education and other specialized accrediting bodies. Services include support for reporting official census data through the development of products such as an electronic factbook, the assessment of student learning outcomes and progression monitoring to provide student success data to units such as the university’s four colleges and other student service support units. Strengthening these areas will enhance the university’s ability to increase institutional effectiveness and maintain national accreditation and improve the holistic development and completion rates for undergraduate and graduate students.

Maintaining standards and compliance will help provide the structure necessary to support retention and graduation efforts through the use of sophisticated analytics and evaluation tools, all of which will support campus units such as the Eagle Achievement Center and the campus as a whole. The Office of Planning and Assessment will be a bridge to the campus for “closing the loop,” as required by our accrediting body. A culture of meeting standards and being fully compliant promulgates initiatives related to retention and graduation.

Activity Director: Bowden, Michael

Building the Office of Sponsored Programs and Research

The Division of Academic Affairs will provide services related to sponsored research and programs primarily for faculty and staff by the continued creation of a formal Office of Sponsored Programs and Research beyond the director and administrative assistant. The Office will help contribute to scholarship for faculty, add to the experiences and vigor of academic programs, and through awards won, provide early research experiences for students. An attractive academic inventory will contribute to the university’s enrollment initiatives as well as retention strategies of the university and enhance our teaching and research excellence.

The Office will be fully staffed and created over a five-year period and be under the direction of a Director of Sponsored Programs and Research. The position will report to the Office of Planning and Assessment within the Division of Academic Affairs. Sponsored programs are those projects and/or activities which are originated and conducted by members of the faculty or, in some instances, by staff members. Such programs are supported wholly or in part by external restricted funds awarded to the University. The Office of Sponsored Programs and Research Services is a support structure and seeks to assist faculty members in the pre-award functions of the grant cycle--funding source identification, proposal development assistance, budget development, proposal processing and review, and proposal submissions.

In post-award functions, the Office of Sponsored Programs and Research reviews and facilitates the negotiation and acceptance of all sponsored agreements on behalf of Coppin State University, award modifications, subrecipient monitoring, and non-financial closeout of awards. The Office also supports technology transfer, faculty and student innovation, and undergraduate research projects. The Office works closely with the Institutional Review Board (IRB) to safeguard and protect human research subjects and in conducting responsible research and the Grants and Contracts in the Division of Finance and Administration in managing all extramural awards and campus outreach initiatives for sponsored projects. In addition, the office is an advocate for a campus climate that is conducive to the research enterprise, advising the administration on matters of regulatory compliance, internal sponsorship of scholarly activities and other similar strategic issues. Ultimately, the Office, with the support of Title III funds will enhance our teaching and research excellence portfolio.

Activity Director: Proctor-Walden, Hershell

An Honors Program Career Preparatory Graduation Initiative

The Honors Program supports Coppin State University’s high ability students with co-curricular activities each year in the implementation of the program’s graduate school preparation and career development mission. Its approach to retention is to assist students in establishing career plans and then to provide the necessary resources to navigate the plans. Despite limited funding, these resources are imbedded in the scholarly, cultural, and motivational activities, as well as the graduate school preparation and career development components, which encourage the view that their own success is tethered to Program completion. This initiative would increase student access to graduate school and career development resources. Additional funding will increase the frequency and the breadth of the preparation and would erase or ease the financial burden connected to certain aspects of preparation. Specifically, with the additional support, it is expected that as retention increases, the activity would drive the increase in the program’s 6-year graduation rate from 61% in 2022 to 65% in 2027, with corresponding increases in the number of graduate school acceptances and professional offers. Counseling and career coaching services will uncover obstacles to student success and identify areas for additional development.

Activity Director: Forbes, DeChelle

Title III Part B Program Administration

The Title III Program Administration Activity provides on-going management and support to the University's Title Ill Project Activities. Guided by the President, the Title III Program Administration Activity achieves the following:

  1. Monitor the individual activities to ensure reasonable progress toward stated objectives and compliance with Federal, State, Institutional and other appropriate regulations.
  2. Coordinate and monitor programmatic functions, approve, and ensure that budgetary expenditures are appropriate under the Act.
  3. Serve as liaison between the institution and the United States Department of Education and Title III Programs, pertaining to all Title III related matters.
  4. Ensure that the Coppin State University Administration, Faculty and Staff are informed of rules, regulations and guidelines governing the operation of Title III Programs.

Activity Director: Williams, Angela

Allowable Activities

  1. Purchase, rental, or lease of scientific or laboratory equipment for educational purposes, including instructional or research purposes;
  2. Construction, maintenance, renovation, and improvement in classroom, library, laboratory, and other instructional facilities, including purchase or rental of telecommunications technology equipment or services;
  3. Support of faculty exchanges, faculty development and faculty fellowships to assist these faculty members in attaining advanced degrees in their fields of instruction;
  4. Academic instruction in disciplines in which Black Americans are underrepresented;
  5. Purchase of library books, periodicals, microfilm, and other educational materials, including telecommunications program materials;
  6. Tutoring, counseling, and student service programs designed to improve academic success;
  7. Funds and administrative management, and acquisition of equipment for use in strengthening funds management;
  8. Joint use of facilities, such as laboratories and libraries;
  9. Establishing or improving a development office to strengthen or improve contributions from alumni and the private sector;
  10. Establishing or enhancing a program of teacher education designed to qualify students to teach in a public elementary or secondary school in the State that shall include, as part of the program, preparation for teacher certification;
  11. Establishing community outreach programs that will encourage elementary and secondary students to develop the academic skills and the interest to pursue postsecondary education;
  12. Establishing or improving an endowment fund;
  13. Acquisition of real property in connection with construction, renovation, or addition to or improvement of campus facilities;
  14. Education or financial information designed to improve the financial literacy and economic literacy of students or the students’ families, especially with regard to student indebtedness and student assistance programs;
  15. Services necessary for the implementation of projects or activities that are described in the grant application and that are approved, in advance, by the Secretary, except that not more than two percent of the grant amount may be used for this purpose.

  1. Purchase, rental, or lease of scientific or laboratory equipment for educational purposes, including instructional or research purposes;
  2. Construction, maintenance, renovation, and improvement in classroom, library, laboratory, and other instructional facilities, including purchase or rental of telecommunications technology equipment or services;
  3. Academic instruction in disciplines in which Black Americans are underrepresented;
  4. Purchase of library books, periodicals, microfilm, and other educational materials, including telecommunications program materials;
  5. Establishing or enhancing a program of teacher education designed to qualify students to teach in a public elementary or secondary school in the State that shall include, as part of the program, preparation for teacher certification;
  6. Other activities consistent with the institution’s comprehensive plan and designed to increase the institution’s capacity to prepare students for careers in the physical or natural sciences, mathematics, computer science or information technology or sciences, engineering, language instruction, in the less-commonly taught languages or international affairs, or nursing or allied health profession.

Legislation, Regulation, and Guidance

Legislation, regulation, and guidance are key elements in managing federal grants. The Title III, Part B Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU) Program and Fostering Undergraduate Talent by Unlocking Resources for Education Act (FUTURE Act) are funding opportunities for strengthening the following focus areas for institutions:

  • Academic Quality – Train and develop faculty, develop curriculum, improve developmental or basic skills courses, develop academic program(s), retain and recruit faculty, increase diversity of faculty, improve average education level of faculty, change the ratio of adjunct to full time professors, change the ratio of non-academic staff to academic staff, change the ratio of the number of students to faculty, improve class size, acquire specialized accreditation, acquire teaching or research laboratory equipment (institutional or joint shared use), acquire library materials (institutional or joint shared use)
  • Student Services and Outcomes – 

    Student services: Counseling (peer, career, personal), tutoring and mentoring (peer, staff, faculty), student facilities (general use computer labs, study centers, tutoring centers), create and support learning communities, improve student services (i.e. financial aid distribution process, registration), improve library services (extended hours, tutoring)

    Student Outcomes: Graduation rate, retention, persistence (i.e., fall-to-fall, basic skills to for-credit courses), increased academic achievement, happy leavers, increased number of students entering higher degree programs

  • Fiscal Stability – Establish development office, train development staff, strengthen alumni relations, establish donor database, build capacity to attract external support, build and manage endowment, increase tuition dollars from enrollment, increase research dollars
  • Institutional Management – Create and maintain management information system(s), develop, integrate and update database(s), staff and train an institutional research office, train and develop staff (other than teaching faculty), Library facilities (construction, renovation), improved institutional management (faculty and staff personnel management, community affairs, outreach office, recruiting), construction and renovation (classrooms, teaching labs), infrastructure for the internet

Related Links

 

U.S. Department of Education — Information on eligibility requirements, awards, performance, laws and regulations pertaining to Title III Part B, Strengthening Historically Black Colleges and Universities Program and other federal grants.

Visit Website

National Association of Historically Black Colleges and Universities Title III Administrators, Inc. — Learn more about the purpose and history of HBCUs.

Visit Website

Program Administration

Program Administration is the executive arm of the Title III Strengthening Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU) Program. The Title III Director supervises all aspects of the Program. The Director reports directly to the President of the University ensuring the program's operation is consistent with the goals of the overall institutional strategic priorities. The Title III Project Activity Directors assist in monitoring each component of the program to ensure compliance with federal, state and university regulations.

Dr. Angela L. Williams
Executive Director, Title III Programs

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