Posts Categorized: Demography

The Future is Now: First-Generation Students, Community Engagement and Innovative Institutions

Compare the typical college campus today with one 30 years ago, and some stark differences become apparent. More students than ever are enrolling in college; however, graduation rates have remained fairly consistent over the past 30 years, according to the College Board. College campuses are much more diverse than before, increasing from roughly a 20% minority student population in 1990, to 42% in...

Autumn Almanac

NEBHE’s annual fall meetings explored the federal Higher Education Act and aligning state policy with higher ed … The New England Board of Higher Education (NEBHE) held its annual fall board meeting last month in Mystic, Conn. In a session on reauthorization of the federal Higher Education Act (HEA), Sarah H. Flanagan, vice president for government relations and policy development...

Evidence-Based Research: The Impact of the College Crusade GEAR UP Program in RI

The federal GEAR UP program in Rhode Island led to large advantages for students who participated in the program in terms of persistence through the middle and high school years, high school graduation and college enrollment. The Gaining Early Awareness and Readiness for Undergraduate Program, more commonly known as GEAR UP, is a product of federal legislation designed to increase high school c...

BIF and the Brains

Last week, I was at Providence’s Trinity Rep covering BIF2015, the Business Innovation Factory's summit of innovators. It was BIF’s 11th summit, my fifth as a guest. I was attending under a quasi-media category called RCUS, standing for the BIF mantra of “Random Collisions of Unusual Suspects.” BIF founder and "chief catalyst" Saul Kaplan opened the talks by noting that earlier in th...

Rebranding STEM for Millennials

What if schools in the U.S. treated their innovation and emerging technologies with as much glamour as they give to athletics? At the New England Board of Higher Education’s recent Advanced Manufacturing Problem Based Learning (AM PBL) Showcase, industry representatives addressed this question and discussed ways to improve the branding and appeal for STEM (science, technology, engineering and ma...

The New Role of Librarians and Libraries: Removing the Silence Signs

An increasing number of institutions are freeing up shelf space in their libraries and moving in student services as well as a coffee shop and other lures such as flexible seating arrangements. Librarians are taking down the silence signs in all but the quiet study room and urging members of the academic community to meet, talk, research and incubate new ideas collaboratively as well as to engage ...

Scholarship Group Unveils Policy Agenda With Heart

After nearly 60 years of helping students afford college, Scholarship America unveiled its first public policy agenda offering a refreshing focus on “advancing equity in postsecondary education and strengthening support for low-to-moderate income students.” The priorities: Expand public-private partnerships Look to the private sector for experimentation, innovation and best practice...

Brand-Building for Innovators

Not too many years ago, a school’s brand just was. Few people used the “b” word. A college or university went about its business, became known for particular strengths and weaknesses, accrued what we would now call brand attributes over time (party school, really hard to get in to, innovative curriculum), and, through word of mouth and its alumni, earned its reputation in the higher ed lands...

Cheating, Student Authentication and Proctoring in Online Programs

“Without having to miss out on fun, just outsource your test to us, an expert will take it and you will get the awesome grade that you deserve. All at prices you will not believe. How does that sound?”—Excerpt from one of many results of googling “take my test”   This pitch is more than incredibly crass. It is really just outright pimping of hired poseurs to ...

Dean of Women’s Deans (Book Review)

Deans of Women and the Feminist Movement: Emily Taylor’s Activism; Kelly C. Sartorius; Palgrave MacMillan Press (Historical Studies in Education) St. Martin’s Press; 2014. Remember when every coeducational college or university had a “Dean of Women”? It was a powerful and influential position, at least for the “coeds” under her charge (and it was always “her”). The dean of women...