Grant Will Help to Develop Curriculum Materials into Math Class

CONTACT: DR. JERRY MARSHALL, EXT. 1368

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 6/26/2002
(By Lisa Garrett)

PENDLETON --- A $2,470 grant to Tri-County Technical College will help students who are pursuing technical careers to become environmentally aware and to think about how their careers will impact the environment in a positive or negative way.

The College was awarded the grant through the S.C. Sustainable Universities Initiative to develop curriculum materials that will incorporate environmental issues into a specific math class that is part of the integrated S.C. Advanced Technological Education (ATE) program. This will be an optional component to the existing ATE statewide initiative whose purpose is to attract, retain and graduate a greater number of engineering technicians to meet the needs of industry.

"These funds will be used to help our students and faculty to become more environmentally aware and more earth-friendly, thus assisting our community in sustaining our precious natural resources," said Dr. Jerry Marshall, who leads Tri-County's math department and who wrote the grant proposal.

Dr. Marshall says some of the funds will be used to develop a library of books, videotapes and internet sites to assist these "Math Foundations" students in producing a course-related Introduction to Technology Careers brochure. "They will look at how their different career choices and on-the-job decisions can affect our environment. For example, technical students can research how hazardous waste can be handled in a thoughtful manner. This research will affect their thinking -- how they can choose to impact the environment in a positive or negative way," he said.

"Information will be discovered and disseminated with respect to how an individual may pursue a particular technology career in an environmentally-friendly manner," he added "Furthermore, these student brochures may be used to educate others on some of today's pressing sustainability concerns and how we must align our environmental responsibilities with our other professional duties," said Dr. Marshall.
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