Ed Pastor: “as the sponsor of this program, as my colleague from Arizona has told you, it has been in existence for a number of…”

“as the sponsor of this program, as my colleague from Arizona has told you, it has been in existence for a number of years and has in the past received Federal funding. With the Federal funding, we have expanded this program to all of the community colleges in the Maricopa County Community College System. My colleague asked the question why in DOE and why the Office of the Administrator? Four or 5 years ago, the Department of Energy, through the Secretary then, it was decided that the Department of Energy was going to get involved in the educational programs dealing with historically black colleges and also with Spanish-serving institutions. It was to ensure that there would be a stream of people into math and science programs. As you know, our President has a number of times emphasized and has began initiatives through the Department of Energy that would help recruit students into the math and science classes. So when the Secretary of Energy made that commitment, knowing that that program was available to colleges and universities, a presentation was made to the Department of Energy whether this program, ACE, would be one that they had an interest in. In one of the hearings ACE was brought up. So the Department of Energy with the board and administrators of the Maricopa County Community College System began negotiating and set up this program.”