This proposal requests support to continue offering summer institutes on the topics of molecular biology and biotechnology for community college teachers. The first of these was held in the summer of 1990 under an NSF grant: Undergraduate Faculty Enhancement Program. Two more similar institutes are proposed to be offered in the summers of 1992 and 1993. The workshops will be cosponsored by the community colleges of the State and the University of Illinois. The objectives of the workshops are these: 1) to upgrade teachers' knowledge of molecular biology and biotechnology; 2) to provide hands-on laboratory experiences with the methods and techniques of molecular biology; 3) to encourage the formulation of a personal teaching plan for including instruction in molecular biology and biotechnology at the participant's home institution, and 4) to form an active educational partnership between the state community college biology teachers and the University. These teachers will establish a network for the purposes of sharing experiences and information and for continuing in-service education.
