Dr. Mary Ann Rafoth, dean of IUP's College of Education and Educational Technology, will be a featured guest on the Allegheny Conference on Community Development and Affiliates's television show Our Region's Business on August 22, 2010.
The show airs on Comcast Cable Network's WPXI-TV Sundays at 11:00 a.m. The host of the show is Bill Flanagan.
Dr. Rafoth will be discussing IUP's Promise Plus program, funded by the Heinz Endowments.
The IUP Promise Plus program—now in its second year—aims to expand the impact of the Pittsburgh Promise. The Pittsburgh Promise is designed to help all students in Pittsburgh Public Schools plan, prepare, and pay for education beyond high school at an accredited post-secondary institution within the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.
IUP's Promise Plus initiative includes the following components:
- Early contact with students through IUP student and faculty involvement in classrooms and support in the early grades. Creation of mentorship pairs in sixth and seventh grades to provide students and parents with contacts in higher education.
- A specific pre-college program that facilitates academic learning skills, adjustment to college, and the application process for both students and parents that would occur at IUP's main or regional campuses.
- IUP's program also complements Pathways to the Promise, a Pittsburgh Public Schools initiative that aims to ensure all students are “Promise ready” and on course to graduate and take advantage of a Pittsburgh Promise scholarship.