Posts Tagged: Southern Vermont College

Truth, Transparency and Trust: Treasured Values in Higher Education

In the space of a few weeks in February, we lost the well-regarded journalists Bob Simon, David Carr and Ned Colt, while NBC’s Brian Williams was dethroned amid scandal. In all these cases, the words “truth” and “trust” and less commonly “transparency” have taken center stage. Quality media professionals succeed because they are truthful, and there is transparency in verifying that t...

Small Colleges Need “Gold Medal Selfies”

Higher education has been a favorite news topic for months. Stories have addressed every issue from rising costs to access for vulnerable students and completion of a college degree, to the importance of “fit” in the college selection process. President Obama and the first lady have entered the national conversation, particularly around issues of cost and graduation rates for low-incom...

The Disease is Poverty, says SVC President Gross on Educating “First-Gens”

Southern Vermont College President Karen Gross, a NEBHE delegate, wrote the following comment to National Journal's recent Next America forum on educating first-generation college students: Paying attention to improving the graduation rates among first-generation college students has gained fervor. We now appreciate the need to get vulnerable students to and through college if America is eve...

Dreams Can Come True

Southern Vermont College's recent first-year seminar, From the Shoes of Our Ancestors, was a collaborative effort with the nearby Bennington Museum and Lincoln High School in Yonkers, N.Y. The students traced their roots by recording oral histories, documenting them through genealogical research, which included vital records searches and online investigations, and illustrating findings in famil...

Ms. Gross Goes to Washington

Southern Vermont College President Karen Gross was named a senior policy advisor to the U.S. Department of Education for one year, starting Jan. 17.SVC trustees granted Gross a one-year leave of absence from the college, during which time chief operating officer James Beckwith will be acting president.A NEBHE delegate since 2010, Gross has authored several articles for NEJHE, including: Helicopter...

Helicopters, Lawn Mowers or Down-to-Earth Parents? What Works Best for Higher Education

Many faculty and staff working in higher education lament the increasing—some would say unending—involvement of the parents of our college-aged students. We denigrate such individuals as “helicopter” parents, and when the contact occurs in person as opposed to through the phone or email, we call them  “lawn mower” parents. There’s even a Wikipedia ref...

Saving Pell Grants in an Era of Cost-Cutting

In the context of the recent efforts to arrive at a federal budget, articles abound in the popular media and trade publications debating both the value of Pell Grants and their rising cost to the U.S. government. Both pros and cons of the debate hold value. Pell Grants are what enable many of our low-income families to send their children to college and, when more and more jobs require a minimum ...

From Noted Neurosurgeon to Newark, N.J. Mayor, More Grad Speakers Announced

Neurosurgeon Alfredo Quiñones-Hinojosa of the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine will keynote Southern Vermont College’s 84th commencement on Saturday, May 7, at 1 p.m. Ethiopian-born, Swedish raised, award-winning chef and food activist Marcus Samuelsson will also address graduates. Oscar-nominated screenwriter and scholar of communications ethics Richard LaGravenese will keynote Emer...

College Tries “Mini-mesters” and More to Improve Readiness

The Vermont Community Foundation’s 2009 report on postsecondary education asserts that college graduates live longer, healthier, more lucrative lives than their peers who did not graduate college. But the report is harsh in its assessment of the readiness of Vermont high school students for college, revealing that: one in three juniors is not proficient in reading; seven in 10 are not profic...

Skating Champion Kwan to Speak at SVC Commencement

Michelle Kwan, the most decorated figure skater in U.S. history will keynote Southern Vermont College’s 83rd commencement exercises on Saturday, May 8. The winner of two Olympic medals and U.S. Public Diplomacy Envoy recently went back to college, enrolling as a graduate student at Tufts University’s Fletcher School of International Affairs. For more, click here....