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The college has applied for and received numerous grants from a variety of organizations and agencies, including those listed below. The information on this page is updated regularly, so watch for additional descriptions in the future.
Inver Hills Community College is unique among Minnesota campuses as the location of two Centers of Excellence supported by grants from the Minnesota State College and University system.
The Access and Opportunity Center of Excellence offers direct services designed to generate academic success for underrepresented middle and high school students and their families by increasing high school graduation rates, strengthening college readiness, and developing collaborative relationships between high school and college teachers. Called Project Breakthrough, the Center's initiatives include five programs from one-day events with motivational speakers, active learning sessions and financial information for students and family members to Summer Bridge programs that provide college courses at no cost to underrepresented students the summer before beginning their first semester of college. Besides a MnSCU Access and Opportunity Grant, Project Breakthrough is funded by a three-year $150,000 grant from Bremer Foundation, a three-year $100,000 gift from 3M Foundation, $105,000 over three years from the F.R. Bigelow Foundation, $50,000 from the St. Paul Foundation, $50,000 from the Mardag Foundation, and $80,000 over two years from St. Paul Travelers Foundation.
Inver Hills was also named a Computer and Information Technology Center of Excellence for its two-year Networking Technology and Security degree offered since 2005. The comprehensive curriculum was developed through funding by the National Science Foundation. The college received a National Recognition Award as just one of seven Cisco Network Security Training Sites in the world. The college also offers summer technology programs for middle and high school students.
In 2003, the Paralegal Program received an E-Learning Development Grant of $113,640 from the MnSCU Office of the Chancellor. Our paralegal program is the first and only American Bar Association (ABA) approved partially online program in Minnesota.
Inver Hills has also received $800,000 (with another $950,000 pending) in MJSP State Workforce Training Grants to help train workers at places such as Regina Medical Center in Hastings, U.S. Bank, and Blue Cross Blue Shield Minnesota about continuous quality improvement and IP telephony.
In 2006, the Minnesota Humanities Commission awarded a grant to Inver Hills to partially fund the school's Faculty/Student Conference focusing on the 150th anniversary of the birth of L. Frank Baum, the author of The Wizard of Oz.
In 2008, the Center for Teaching and Learning awarded a grant to Inver Hills to offer a two-day workshop for teachers on the Holocaust in conjunction with the Faculty/Student Conference focusing on "Power."
Here are brief descriptions about awards and recognition the college has received recently.
Minnesota State Colleges and Universities Academic Award given to the Inver Hills ASAP program (Adult Success through Accelerated Programs), a degree-completion program for adult students that awards credit for life/career experience and demonstrated competencies and provides specially scheduled classes and other credit-earning opportunities. (2004)
The Council for Adult Experiential Learning (CAEL) has designated the ASAP adult degree-completion program at Inver Hills as an Adult-Learning Focused Institution (ALFI), one of only 27 in the country, and the only ALFI two-year college. (2004)
One of Inver Hills' ASAP students was named "Adult Learner of the Year" at the CAEL 2007 International Conference held in San Francisco.
Minnesota State Colleges and Universities Exemplary IT Project Award given to Inver Hills for its budget development application created by programming analyst Dean Eddy. Each line item in departmental budget requests is tied to a specific institutional goal and associated with perceived need (urgent, important, desired), which facilitates the work of the CFO and executive management by providing accurate data from which to develop a balanced budget that meets department and institutional needs. (2004)
A 2007-2008 MnSCU Academic and Student Affairs Award was given to Inver Hills in the Innovative Partnering & Collaboration category for its submission "Keeping Minnesota's Information Technology Workforce on Top of a Flat World."
In fall 2008, Minnesota's Secretary of State awarded Inver Hills student clubs a "Voters Cup" for registering the most students to vote of any two-year institution in the state.