Latest Data Connection: Some 2020 Visions

Percentage of Massachusetts adults who are women: 52% MassForward: Advancing Democratic Innovation and Electoral Reform in Massachusetts Percentage of seats in the Massachusetts Legislature held by women: 29% MassForward: Advancing Democratic Innovation and Electoral Reform in Massachusetts Number of votes by which Boston elected its first Latina city councilor in 2019: 1 Boston Elections Co...

Westfield State Prez to Retire

Comings and Goings ... Westfield State University President Ramon Torrecilha announced he will retire in August. The Coalition for College named University of Vermont Vice President for Enrollment Management Stacey Kostell to be the new CEO of the group that brings together colleges and universities to improve college access and success....

Another Week and More Zings for DeVos

DC Shuttle ... U.S. Education Secretary Threatened with Subpoena by House Oversight Committee. House Oversight Chair Carolyn Maloney (D-NY) threatened to subpoena U.S. Education Secretary Betsy DeVos, citing her activities on the campaign trail for President Trump and her office having "stonewalled and delayed" when the committee tried to confirm a date for her testimony. In the letter sent to ...

NEBHE and Sister Regional Compacts Exploring National Work on Open Educational Resources

The New England Board of Higher Education (NEBHE) and its sister regional higher education compact organizations—the Midwestern Higher Education Compact (MHEC), Southern Regional Education Board (SREB), Western Interstate Commission for Higher Education (WICHE) as well as the WICHE Cooperative for Educational Technologies (WCET)—are exploring the development of a national network to support sc...

The One for UMass Boston

Comings and Goings  ... The committee searching for the next permanent chancellor of UMass Boston voted to recommend only one candidate, Marcelo Suárez-Orozco. Since 2012, Suárez-Orozco has been dean of UCLA's Graduate School of Education and Information Studies. Among previous positions, he has been a professor at New York University and at Harvard's Graduate School of Education. UMass ...

House Boosts Holocaust Education Amid Anti-Semitic Hate Crimes

DC Shuttle ... House Passes Holocaust Education Bill. The U.S. House voted 393 to 5 to pass the Never Again Education Act, a bipartisan bill granting $10 million over five years to the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum. The bill (HR 943) provides the funds to the museum in order to expand resources and programming to teachers for education about the Holocaust and preventing future incidents of pre...

Grogan Announces He’ll Step Down at the Boston Foundation

Comings and Goings ... Boston Foundation President and CEO Paul Grogan, one of New England's most influential foundation leaders, announced he’ll step down after 19 years leading the foundation with net assets of $1.3 billion. Grogan will continue in the job until a successor is named. The foundation has been a key contributor to civic life in Massachusetts, facilitating seminal studies a...

National College Transition Network Launches College Success for Single Mothers

Single mothers make up an increasing part of the postsecondary student population in the U.S., and a growing movement has emerged to better understand and address their unique set of challenges and experiences. The National College Transition Network (NCTN) at World Education launched College Success for Single Mothers, a three-year project that will help eight community colleges identify the n...

Tech Entrepreneur Appointed Chair of Hampshire Trustees

Comings and Goings ... Hampshire College named technology entrepreneur and alumnus Jose Fuentes as the new chair of the 20-member board of trustees, succeeding Luis Hernandez. Originally from Guatemala, Fuentes oversees Maison, an educational technology company that helps community colleges retain and graduate more students using online services. He was a managing partner at Savory, a food ...

College Board Study Reaffirms ROI of Higher Ed

DC Shuttle ... New Data Released on Returns of a College Degree. A report released this week showed new findings on the return-on-investment of a college degree. The report, released by the College Board, shows, amid other research indicating that students and their families are questioning the worth of a college education, that a bachelor's degree significantly increases median lifetime earnin...