October 1, 2010
As I prepared this report, I couldn’t help but pause a moment to reflect on how far the grant office has come in five short years. In many ways it doesn’t seem possible that so much time has passed since I was hired to develop and implement a grant development and administration program for Brazosport College.
The first years were incredibly challenging. Few of our colleagues understood the important role that a professional grant office could provide. We soon realized that it would take time to build relationships, develop policies and procedures, train staff and faculty, and encourage others to hope and dream of the endless possibilities that grant opportunities could offer.
The grant office set about creating the structure that would support the achievement of its goals. Over these years, with the invaluable assistance of Fred Scott and Dr. John Ray, the grant office built relationships with key program directors. We created and received approval of grant policies and procedures. We began offering grant-related workshops to help our colleagues better understand grant processes and the key role that staff and faculty play in the acquisition of grant contracts. We developed a marketing plan that included Gator Grant competitions to encourage their participation. We encouraged them to dream big – because as I assured them many times, “Ask and ye might receive. Don’t ask and ye will receive nothing.” And perhaps more importantly, we recognized individual contributions and the importance of their involvement.
Now as I begin my sixth year at the college, I feel that the grant office has become the success that the administration and board dreamt of when they approved its creation. For during the past academic year, the grant office facilitated the acquisition of more than $5 million in new grant contracts (in addition to the retention of ongoing contracts and formula grant awards). Working together, we have turned dreams into reality.
In a very competitive market, I am extremely proud to report that we currently have not one but three U.S. Department of Labor Community-Based Job Training grant contracts. What makes these awards even more important to me is the fact that two of them are the result of collaborative relationships with sister colleges in the Texas Gulf Coast area. These funds support our nuclear training program, instrumentation and electrical training programs for new and incumbent workers, and simulation training and scholarships for our allied health and nursing students.
External collaborations have facilitated much of our grant success. As a small community college, building partnerships is critical to our ability to compete nationally against state-wide community college systems and four year universities – and we have learned our lessons well. Brazosport College now has contractual grant-funded partnerships with Lee College, San Jacinto College, Wharton County Junior College, College of the Mainland, Texas State Technical College-Waco, Sam Houston University, Stephen F. Austin University, and Texas A&M.