The UNM College of Education was the biggest winner at Bernalillo High School on Wednesday when Hewlett-Packard awarded 13 competitive educational grants to New Mexico institutions.
UNM collected a total of $705,000 at the awards ceremony.
Of that money, $525,000 will go directly to the college and $180,000 will be used in a cooperative grant by the College of Education and the College of Engineering.
The College of Education also earned the largest grant of the day, the High-Achieving Schools Initiative, worth $375,000.
The money for the initiative comes from a $1.3 million dollar national grant program by Hewlett-Packard that partners the College of Education with seven low-income secondary schools around the nation that are recognized as high achieving in mathematics.
The grant pays for the College of Education team to form a network with the seven successful schools to research their methods of achievement.
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Jeff Hale is the College of Education director of development and project organizer. He says the goal of the research is to figure out how the seven select middle and high schools, faced with economic and other challenges, are nonetheless high achievers in mathematics.
He says the team will then document their findings and communicate them within the educational community in hopes of improving the quality of math education around the country.
Richard Kitchen, the initiative's project proposal investigator, says that the award is of great importance not only to the University but also to the state and nation.
"For us, it's a wonderful opportunity to support low-income schools and the work they're already doing . and to get the word out to a wider audience, a national audience," he said.
Kitchen added that the grant was won by the college in a very competitive national contest and that the findings will "nationally significant."
"What really distinguishes this for us is that it's a national opportunity for us to really shine as a college and university," Kitchen said.
College of Education Dean Viola E. Florez says this grant will help improve teacher effectiveness in the classroom.
"It provides an incredible foundation for things that we already have ongoing in technology, but it gives us the resources to leverage what we're doing, and definitely provides more opportunities for preparing our teachers for high quality classrooms so that every child has a high quality teacher," Florez said.
Bernalillo High School was the site for the grant announcements and, along with UNM, is currently the beneficiary of a two-year, $150,000 grant from Hewlett-Packard.
The grant is a partnership between the two schools and is aimed at giving teachers and students more hands-on experience and training with computers in the classroom, and ultimately studies the effects of technology in the classroom.
It provides a Hewlett-Packard Wireless Mobile Classroom that allows up to 30 students to use wireless, Internet-capable computers concurrently.
The wireless classroom also includes a Hewlett-Packard all-in-one printer/copier/scanner/fax and a digital camera.
The computers are stored and charged in a wireless, motorized cart that is used to transfer the notebook personal computers and other features from classroom to classroom within the school.
The wireless classroom was featured at the awards ceremony and students demonstrated its technology for the guests.
Gov. Gary Johnson was also on hand to observe the students and present the awards with officials from Hewlett-Packard.
He said that he thinks the grants will crucial
"In one word - it's positive, it is going to help," Johnson said, adding that technology is rapidly evolving.
"With regard to the computer and computer access, there's an interesting study that shows we're further along with regard to the Internet and technology than we were with television at the same point in television's evolution - and it costs less," Johnson said.
Other recipients of awards at the ceremony included New Mexico State University, Northern New Mexico Community College, Southwestern Indian Polytechnic Institute and Lynn Middle School.
