Higher Ed Impact Report: Making the Most of Adult Students on Your Campus
Saturday, October 8, 2011
27th McKnight Annual Fellows Meeting & 15th Annual Graduate School Conference
Founded in 1984, today the McKnight Doctoral Fellowship Program supports record numbers of African American and Hispanic students through innovative practices designed to help fully cultivate their talents and expertise. The Annual Fellows Meeting is just one in a series of conferences* that inform, train, and connect our Doctoral Fellows, complemented by year-round online workshops and an annual research and writing institute. Our continuing efforts to evaluate and refine the Doctoral Program support system contribute to the development of scholars who are among the brightest in the nation, highly motivated and prepared to meet the divergent needs of communities, academia, and industry.
Don’t take our word for it. Come see for yourself October 21st through 23rd.
At this year’s Meeting, we will feature a “Dialogue with Exhibitors” dinner on Saturday, October 22nd. Here you will be able to meet and mingle with potential faculty members and industry experts from the Program’s current doctoral students, recent graduates, and established professionals. Other compelling benefits of this recruitment opportunity include:
• Exhibition space available for the duration of the Conference.
• Multiple networking opportunities, enhanced by:
o entrée to all additional Conference events and plenary sessions and
o receipt of a diskette containing curriculum vitae and resumes of select Fellows and graduates
• The chance to observe our doctoral students and professors during formal and informal discussions that elucidate their research interests, strengths, and expertise.
To receive these benefits, click here and complete the Exhibitor Registration Form, indicating your preferred participation level. Please note, of the three levels described on the form, Plan B includes the most opportunities to interact with Doctoral Fellows.
A summary of the 2011 program will be available shortly. If you have questions, please call us at (813) 272-2772.
*Another McKnight meeting which may interest you is the Mid-Year Research and Writing Conference in February. It is distinguished by its panels of matriculating McKnight Fellows who present their research for critique by established scholars in a public forum. The Mid-Year Conference is smaller than the October Annual Fellows Meeting, and its focus on student research and presentation will provide further opportunities to learn more about our Fellows’ research interests, strengths, and expertise.
If you want more information about attending the 2012 McKnight Mid-Year Research and Writing Conference, please contact us at the number above.
Regards,
Rachael Nickie
Research & Development Coordinator/
Publications Manager
Florida Education Fund
201 East Kennedy Blvd. Suite 1525
Tampa, FL 33602
813-272-2772 x206
Fax: 813-272-2784
Friday, October 7, 2011
Inside Higher Ed: Republicans Push Pell Changes
Education Week: Focus on Historically Black Colleges in Degree Completion
By Caralee Adams
To meet President Obama's goal to have the country lead the world in having the most college graduates by 2020, administration officials say every type of higher education institution — including Historically Black Colleges and Universities — need to ramp up completion efforts.
To help achieve this, the administration is committed to increased federal funding and leveraging support of the private sector, philanthropies and alumni to support HBCUs, John Silvanus Wilson, director of the White House HBCU Initiative, told a gathering of leaders from that community in Washington this morning,
To highlight the specific benchmarks for colleges, Wilson unveiled a new feature on the U.S. Department of Education website that went live today. From a U.S. map featuring every HBCU here, users can click on an individual campus to link to its website and to see the current number of degrees produced, the total degrees needed by 2020 to meet the President's goal and how that breaks down by year.
For instance, the four HBCUs in Maryland, (Bowie State University, Coppin State College, Morgan State University, and University of Maryland-Eastern Shore) generate 2,222 undergraduate degrees annually. They need to add another 16,522 degrees by 2020, or 300 degrees each year, cumulatively to help reach the goal.
"This is going to be no easy task," said Wilson. "And our work just got harder." Recent reports from Organization for Economic Development and Cooperation show the United States ranks 16th, down from 9th in terms of the most educated population. The country has not led the international ranking since 1995. South Korea is the current leader.
Wilson congratulated some campuses for upward trends in graduation, including Spellman College, in Atlanta; Lincoln University, in Lincoln University, Pa.; Philander Smith College in Little Rock, Arkansas and Alabama A &M in Normal, Ala.
"Our HBCUs have friends in the White House like we've never had before," said Wilson. He outlined the administration's support for federal funding for HBCUs, teacher preparation programs, and fully funding the Pell Grant program to help students pay for college. Wilson urged continued investment in the federal aid program for low-income students, which serve nearly two-thirds of students at HBCUs.
The administration is pushing to help HBCUs in three other strategic areas: capital expansion, by working with federal agencies and the philanthropic community; messaging to improve perception enhancement; and campus enrichment, including efforts to address the recruitment and retention of African-American males, Today, 70 percent of students at HBCUs are women.
Valerie Jarrett, senior advisor to President Obama, also addressed the 2011 HBCU conference and urged support for the president's proposed American Jobs Act to revitalize communities hit hardest by the recession. Jarrett noted that with 16 percent unemployment in the African-American community —and nearly 30 percent among young black youth—action is needed now to create new training programs for minorities, fund construction projects for schools, and hire teachers.
Solving the nation's problems will take everyone, including HBCUs, said Jarrett. "You serve as a role model, a beacon of hope for our country," she told the conference attendees. With shrinking endowments, rising costs and falling enrollment, HBCUs have felt the pain of the recession acutely. "Everyone has to change the way they do business, and HBCUs have always been leaders in getting better outcomes with fewer resources," she said.
Diverse Issues in Higher Education: New House Bill Cuts Funds for HBCUs, Others
by Charles Dervarics
Federal funds for minority-serving colleges and universities are on the chopping block for next year as the House of Representatives is proposing deep cuts or outright elimination of many of these programs for the government’s 2012 fiscal year.
The bill from leaders of the Republican-led Appropriations Committee would terminate U.S. Education Department programs for tribal colleges and predominantly Black institutions while making significant cuts in programs for historically Black colleges and Hispanic-serving institutions.
The bill is generating strong opposition in the MSI community. “This is counterintuitive to our national goals,” said Edith Bartley, government affairs director at UNCF. “We can’t allow cuts to these basic capacity-building programs,” she told Diverse.
Funding for the Title III Strengthening HBCUs program would drop from $236 million to $152 million, a reduction of 36 percent next year, under the bill. Black colleges use these funds to build capacity on their campuses, including physical plant improvements, student services and faculty/staff development.
Hispanic-serving institutions would face the largest percentage cutback, as funding would fall by 84 percent, from the current $104 million to just $17 million in 2012.
The bill represents “a very dangerous pathway for Congress,” said Antonio Flores, president of the Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities. Coming on the heels of an 8 percent cutback for HSIs in 2011, he said, “It will further erode our institutions and lessen opportunities for students.”
But in outlining the plan, Rep. Hal Rogers (R-Ky.) House Appropriations chairman, said the bill makes tough but necessary choices in setting federal priorities.
“To protect critical programs and services that many Americans rely on — especially in this time of fiscal crisis — the bill takes decisive action to cut duplicative, inefficient, and wasteful spending to help get these agency budgets onto sustainable financial footing,” he said.
Rogers said “excessive” federal spending put many education and other domestic programs “on an irresponsible and unsustainable fiscal path.”
In addition to the cuts for HBCUs and Hispanic-serving colleges, the House GOP plan would eliminate:
- a $9.6 million program for predominantly Black colleges;
- a major aid program for tribal colleges, funded at $26 million;
- a $13 million aid program for Alaska Native and Native Hawaiian-serving institutions;
- a $3.2 million program for colleges with significant enrollments of Asian American/Pacific Islander students; and
- a $3.2 million initiative for nontribal institutions with significant Native American enrollments.
Federal support for HBCU graduate institutions would remain at $61 million, while the House would continue a $9 million initiative supporting graduate programs for Hispanic students.
House Republicans may be targeting MSIs because they are getting mandatory funding from last year’s health care reform bill, Bartley said. That law also included several long-discussed changes in federal higher education aid, such as an extra $250 million a year for MSIs over 10 years.
But that pot of money is just for science, technology, engineering and math, or STEM, programs, she noted. By comparison, the Title III HBCU program is the “foundation” of federal support, with broad use of dollars for academic and facility improvements.
“These would be deep, deep cuts at a time when there are major demographic changes taking place in the nation,” she added.
While the House Appropriations Committee has yet to pass its bill, plans to cut minority-serving colleges already may not fare well in the Senate. The Appropriations Committee in that chamber has unveiled a spending bill with level funding for the main HBCU and Hispanic-serving programs at $236 million and $104 million, respectively.
Tribal colleges, predominantly Black colleges, and the other small MSI programs also would receive continued funding at current levels.
While the Senate is holding firm against cuts now, Bartley said minority-serving institutions must be vigilant in contacting lawmakers to protect funding. The 2012 budget is only one front in the current budget battle, she said. This fall, a House/Senate “super committee” must produce $1.5 trillion in deficit reduction to meet terms of the federal debt ceiling deal negotiated during the summer.
“We’re in precarious times right now,” she told Diverse.
Elsewhere, both the House and Senate bills would maintain the current $5,550 maximum Pell Grant. However, the House would achieve $3.6 billion in savings through eligibility changes, such as reducing from 18 to 12 the number of semesters students are eligible for grants.
Rogers’ committee also said the House bill would eliminate Pell eligibility for students who attend less than half time and for those who lack a high school diploma or the equivalent.
Both the House and Senate would freeze funding for TRIO and GEAR UP programs at current levels of $826 million and $302 million, respectively.
TLT Group FridayLive! Oct 21 Extending Successful Teaching
FridayLive!
Extending Successful Teaching: From Classroom to Online; From Online to Online
Oct. 21, 2011 at 2pm ET - free to all.
NOTE: Login instructions for the session will be sent in the Registration Confirmation Email. Please check your Junk folder as sometimes these emails get trapped there. We will also send an additional login reminder 24 hours prior to the start of the event.
When 21 Oct 2011 2:00 PM - 3:00 PMLocation Online meeting info in Registration Confirmation Email [also check your Junk folder] and via email 24 hours prior to event startRegistrationOpen to the public - Free
If you're new to a TLT Group event, please become an Online Institute Registrant member for free to participate (and consider becoming an individual member!)
CUR - Posters on the Hill
CUR is calling for students to submit an abstract of their research that represents any of CUR's disciplinary divisions (Arts and Humanities, Biology, Chemistry, Geosciences, Health Sciences, Mathematics/Computer Science, Physics/Astronomy, Psychology, and Social Sciences). In order to ensure proper review of applications, the above are the only disciplines that may apply. Should your research be inter-disciplinary, please select the division that most closely describes your research.
Abstract submissions will only be accepted by using our on-line submission form. Prior to submitting the form, students should gather the contact information for all co-authors, advisors and sponsors (if applicable), prepare a short vitae/resume, and poster abstract. A document listing the information required for submission can be found by visiting: http://www.cur.org/poh/pohsubinfo.html .
For more information, and the link to submit an application, please visit: http://www.cur.org/pohcall.html. Please note that CUR membership is required to submit an application. Either the student’s home institution must have an institutional membership, or the faculty mentor or student must have an individual membership. We will not review incomplete applications or applications that do not satisfy the membership requirement.
Please be sure that both portions (the electronic application and the electronic recommendation letter) are submitted by October 18, 2011. Please encourage your students to submit. This is a highly competitive program, which makes for a very exciting experience for the students and their faculty advisors alike.
For more information about the Posters on the Hill program, please visit http://www.cur.org/postersession.html Should you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact me.
Sincerely,
Robin Howard
Senior Director
Membership Services, Operations and Information Technology
Council on Undergraduate Research
734 15th St, NW, Suite 550
Washington, DC 20005
http://www.cur.org/
robin@cur.org
(202)783-4810x203
(202)783-4811 fax
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