In March 2019, Grand Valley State University (GVSU) received a $15.5 million, five-year grant from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation (WKKF) to partner with Battle Creek Public Schools (BCPS) to assist with the educational transformation in the district. The partnership assists in strengthening BCPS by improving the quality of teaching in the district and providing students with a pathway to high-paying, high-demand jobs in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM), and healthcare fields. Working with administrators, teachers, students, and families, GVSU is providing students with hands-on experiences in STEM, health care, and education to ensure that they are college or career-ready upon graduation. With a robust Early Career Teacher mentoring program and ongoing professional development initiatives, it also transforms the K-12 teacher career pipeline to improve teacher recruitment and retention. Major initiatives included:

Prepared BCPS Students for Careers in Education, Health, and STEM:

• Dual Enrollment Courses - Health and Education
• Freshman Career Exploration Fair
• Career exploration camps
• STEM Innovation Center Curriculum

Supported BCPS Educators:

• High-Leverage Teaching Practices
• New Teacher Mentoring
• Paraprofessional Pathway
• Project-Based Learning
• Student Teacher Pipeline

The Grand Valley State University Battle Creek Regional Outreach Center (BCROC) opened on November 4, 2019. Located at 8 Michigan Avenue West in downtown Battle Creek, Michigan, the center serves as the home for the Director of Community Engagement, Special Projects Coordinator, Career Navigator, and Office Assistant, as well as several part-time student workers. This space is available for anyone in the Battle Creek and southwestern Michigan community to receive advisement and resources to assist with their educational journey.

Through additional funding from WKKF, six graduates from Battle Creek Central High School received full-ride scholarships to attend GVSU in 2020. The BCPS Health and Teacher Education Pipeline Scholarship program provides funding for the cost of tuition and fees, housing, dining, and a book stipend. Scholarships were awarded to ten additional students in 2021, twelve in 2022, and 18 in 2023. The grant also helped implement a unique advising model utilizing a college-based career navigator. The career navigator addresses educational access barriers and provides holistic support, planned curricular and extracurricular activities, and weekly advising sessions for scholars to 45 current Pipeline Scholars.

Learn more about the continued education initiatives with Battle Creek Public Schools and the College of Education and Community Innovation HERE. 

As the original grant for the Battle Creek Regional Outreach Center has come to a close, the center remains in Battle Creek though a regional approach that is changing the way communities can access 4-year degrees through Omni.

GVSU Omni is being developed and led by Chief Executive Kara Van Dam, previously GVSU’s vice provost for graduate and lifetime learning. Van Dam brings more than two decades of experience in adult post-secondary education from the University of Maryland Global Campus and Kaplan University (now Purdue Global). 

Van Dam joined GVSU’s leadership team in 2021 to lead a university effort to develop new ways to help the 2.5 million Michigan adults who do not have a post-secondary credential improve their career path and earning potential by completing or continuing their education. 

By blending regional campuses across Michigan with flexible online learning, GVSU Omni makes a GVSU education accessible to more adult learners than ever before. 

“The needs of Michigan’s workforce demand bold solutions,” said La June Montgomery Tabron, president and CEO of the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, which is providing support for GVSU’s expansion in Battle Creek. “Opportunities like these are crucial to move our communities toward becoming more equitable places of opportunity, and also help parents better support their children so they can thrive.” 

View the full press release by clicking HERE.