Grant Funding Brings JCTC Students New Opportunities

A new initiative called the UofL Bridges to Baccalaureate(ULBB) program will provide a pipeline of support and mentoring forunderrepresented and economically disadvantaged students enrolled in two-yearscience degree programs at Jefferson Community and Technical College (JCTC).The program will be for students who plan to complete a four-year degree at theUniversity of Louisville (UofL) in a biomedical or health-related field.

ULBB launches this fall thanks to a $900,000 NationalInstitutes of Health five-year training grant. The funding will support eightfreshman JCTC students this year and 16 students in years two through five.

Sham S. Kakar, PhD, MBA, is a professor in the Department ofPhysiology and the James Graham Brown Cancer Center. Kakar, along with JCTCDean of Academic Affairs Randall Davis, PhD, are program directors on thegrant.

"Our goal is to improve success rates not only of thetransfer students in the ULBB program itself, but also to help develop anenvironment in which more STEM students make a successful transition from JCTCto UofL to biomedical careers," Kakar said.

Highlights of the program include mentoring, help withcourses, career counseling and advising both prior to and after transferring toUofL; an opportunity to take a UofL biology course at JCTC tuition rate; and asummer research program after the first year at JCTC to learn biomedicalresearch skills, a $5,000 salary. Students will also have research presentationopportunities at local and national scientific conferences and networking andplanning opportunities for the next steps after college.

The first group of JCTC students are expected to start theULBB program in October.

Other collaborators on the grant include: Joshua Irving,PhD, chair, Department of Physiology; Cynthia Corbitt, PhD, associateprofessor, Department of Biology; Adrienne Bratcher, PhD, assistant professor,Department of Exercise Physiology; and Paul Florence, MS, professor, JCTC.