SUNO News September 14, 2011 SUNO awarded grant to support retention The University has been selected to participate as a protégé institution for the Wal-Mart AIHEC/HACU/NAFEO Student Success Collaborative. The project is a collaboration among the American Indian Higher Education Consortium (AIHEC), the Hispanic Association of College and Universities (HACU), and the National Association for Equal Opportunity in Higher Education (NAFEO). Combined, the minority-serving institutions educate more than one-third of all students of color in the United States according to the award letter SUNO received from NAFEO. SUNO will receive a total of $100,000 to assist in retention and graduation rate project implementation. "We cannot thank Wal-Mart and NAFEO enough for paying attention to such a critical issue," said Dr. Victor Ukpolo. "These funds will help us take a nice leap forward in our efforts to better serve our students in their respective efforts to obtain their degrees from SUNO." Dr. Donna Grant, Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs and Enrollment Services said, "Every little bit helps in our retention efforts. For the average person to understand the impact of this kind of grant, we would like them to consider some of the everyday challenges our students have in staying in school such as money for books, which can cost hundreds of dollars, on top of tuition, housing and other fees. So this kind of funding helps support our efforts to provide financial resources for deserving student who have challenges." SANDRA M. PHOENIX Program Director HBCU Library Alliance sphoenix@hbculibraries.org<mailto:sphoenix@hbculibraries.org> www.hbculibraries.org<http://www.hbculibraries.org/> 404.592.4820 Skype:sandra.phoenix1 1438 West Peachtree Street NW Suite 200 Atlanta, GA 30309 Toll Free: 1.800.999.8558 (Lyrasis) Fax: 404.892.7879 www.lyrasis.org<http://www.lyrasis.org/> Honor the ancestors, honor the children.