03/18/2013 Community College Front and Center

MARCH 18, 2013

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VOLUME 23 • NUMBER 12

Also available in Digital Format

TOP 50 Community Colleges for Hispanics

2-Year vs. 4-Year Degree

Community College Completion

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® Publisher – José López-Isa VP & COO – Orlando López-Isa

Editorial Board

Editor-in-Chief – Suzanne López-Isa

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Editor – Jason Paneque News & Special Project Editor – Mary Ann Cooper

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Lydia Ledesma-Reese, Educ. Consultant Ventura County Community College District

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Contributing Editors – Carlos D. Conde, Michelle Adam

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Online Contributing Writers – Gustavo A. Mellander

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ecognizing that they are often the most reasonable choice for minority or first-generation college-bound students, HO regularly reports on community colleges – especially those that graduate and enroll the most Hispanic students. And once a year, we devote an entire issue to celebrate the best of the best of these schools. Shining a spotlight on community colleges hopefully reminds lawmakers at all levels of government that the care and nurturing of the two-year college is a financial bargain producing prosperity and better jobs.

Although the emergence of community colleges as the pathway to a degree or job training has become well-established in the higher education community, that’s only part of the story. This year, the American Association of Community Colleges released a policy brief, Community College Contributions by Christopher M. Mullin and Ken Phillippe, outlining how essential two-year colleges are to the future prosperity of the nation. And while the authors point out how important these institutions of higher learning are, they also make the case that community colleges are underfunded and neglected by state funding sources. “Simply put, America’s community colleges are the brokers of opportunity for a stronger middle class and more prosperous nation,” the report concludes. “It is unfortunately the case that community colleges are funded in a way that allows them to spend less than a third of the amount of education and general funds that a private research university is able to spend on a student. In fact, while community colleges serve nearly half of undergraduates, they have historically received approximately 20 percent of state tax appropriations for higher education.”

Every year as we prepare our special Community College Issue, it becomes more and more clear that community colleges have stepped up in good and bad economic times to strengthen the education pipeline for all. ¡Felicitaciones a todos! ¡Adelante!

Suzanne López-Isa Editor-in-Chief

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by Carlos D. Conde

LATINO KALEIDOSCOPE

H

Picking a New Pope

ave you ever noticed the posture of a Catholic Pope? A weak smile, the head tilting downward and shoulders leaning low and forward as if laboriously carrying the weight of the world on his conscience whenever he makes a public appearance or pronouncement.

The previous pope, John Paul II, always seemed to be frowning and massaging his forehead as if he was suffering from a migraine while silently wondering, “what in the world have I gotten myself into?”

As did others, our recently departed pope, Pope Benedict XVI, almost always read from a prepared text in a frail monotone with a weak smile, glimpsing occasionally at the audience and thinking “what am I doing here?” instead of sitting in the peace and quiet of the papal sanctuary where he could’ve been pursuing his intellectual work or playing Mozart on the piano, his favorite pastimes.

Being the spiritual leader of over one billion people is not an easy job, particularly in these times when most of the faithful remain devout amidst the latter-day issues that buffet the Catholic religion – from gender challenges and abuses to societal arguments cropping up with more frequency but with illusive solutions.

A Mel Brooks character might peer through the curtains and say, “It’s good to be the pope,” because while the job is not getting any easier, it still comes with all the pomp and circumstance that goes with being the leader of world’s largest religion.

Pope Benedict XVI had announced privately to a small group of cardinals at the Vatican that he was calling it quits as head of the Catholic Church and world’s one billion Catholics.

It allegedly caught everyone by surprise, but the pope had indicated several months earlier to several of his confidants that he was too old and getting too frail for the demands of a job with which he seemed never comfortable from the start.

While the tradition of the Catholic papacy says that once elected, you live and die in the papal chair, Pope Benedict XVI said he’d rather spend his last days at a comfortable papal retreat writing and reading in an intellectual atmosphere as he did in his early pastoral career.

The last pope to resign the papacy was in 1415.

There are 144 cardinals, but early in his rein, John Paul II limited to 120 the number who can vote, eliminating those who have reached 80.

Europe has 66 votes; Latin America, 17; North America, 14; Africa, 11; Asia, 11; and Oceania, 1.

The Catholic Church of today has taken a dramatic turn in its teaching though the basic tenets remain as does the world’s distribution of the faithful once centered in Europe.

The largest region of Catholics is now in Latin America and the Caribbean with 483 million. Of this total, 150 million are in Brazil; Mexico has 100 million; Colombia, 42 million; Argentina, 36 million; Peru, 27 million; Venezuela, 25 million; Ecuador, 13 million; and Chile, 12 million.

In North America, the U.S. has 71 million Catholics, and Canada has 15 million.

Europe in 2010 had a total of 277 million with Italy counting 57 million; France, 45 million; Spain, 42 million; Poland, 35 million; and Germany, 25 million.

Surprisingly for many, the Catholic religion on the African continent has grown dramatically and is third in the world with 177 million, among them Nigeria with 21 million; Democratic Republic of Congo, 36 million; Uganda, 14 million; Tanzania, 13 million; and Angola, 11 million.

Asia has 137 million Catholics; the Philippines, 72 million; India, 19 million; and China, 15 million.

The numbers might seem large, but the Catholic Church continues to lose ground to the evangelical movement, particularly in Latin America.

The basic tenets of the Church have not changed even after the modifications and tweeting of church doctrine at Vatican II held October 1962 to December 1965 in which Pope Paul VI presided and Pope Benedict participated as Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger.

The results of the conclave, which called for a constant renewal of the Church, supposedly made the Church doctrine more liberal and attuned to current society, but reforms in a centuries-old institution can come hard.

Traditionalists and conservatives like Pope Benedict XVI supposedly paid allegiance to them while not finding that much comfort in some of the restructuring and reforms.

There was some modernization in the liturgy and in the celebration of the Catholic masses and services.

Some observers think the Church and its popes have been too Eurocentric even though the growth of the church has shifted from that area to Latin America.

The stress of the job at his age is perhaps the most valid reason for Pope Benedict’s stepping down.

Pope Benedict XVI might have had his virtues as a defender of Church doctrine and he certainly will be remembered as a progressive, but some found him lacking in his pastoral duties or dismissive of the Church’s new realities like confronting pedophile priests or promoting a greater role for women in laity and as religious.

There is a list of candidates waiting in the wings to succeed him.

The most prominent is Argentine Cardinal Leonardo Sandri, 69, who has held key positions in the Holy See and was once the voice of Pope John Paul when his infirmities cost him his ability to speak. There’s also 63year-old Odilo Scherer, archbishop of São Paulo, Brazil.

If the Catholic Church is promoting diversity, there’s African Cardinal Peter Appiah Turkson, 64, of Ghana. If it’s European, there is Italian Cardinal Angelo Scola, 71. The U.S. has New York Archbishop Timothy Dolan, 62, but the odds of an Anglo pope from the U.S. are almost as big as his age.

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Carlos D. Conde, award-winning journalist and commentator, former Washington and foreign news correspondent, was an aide in the Nixon White House and worked on the political campaigns of George Bush Sr. To reply to this column, contact Cdconde@aol.com.

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MAGAZINE® MARCH 18, 2013

CONTENTS The Impact of the Second Obama Administration on Community Colleges by Michael J. Major Community Colleges by the Numbers

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by Mary Ann Cooper

Page 11

Community Colleges Take the Lead in Training the Nuclear Energy Work Force by Marilyn Gilroy

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Can a Two-Year Degree Be More Valuable than a Four-Year Degree? by Michelle Adam

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Re-evaluating AP Courses by Frank DiMaria

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Year Up Program Helping to Close the Opportunity Divide by Gary M. Stern

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Courses in the Way of Community College Completion by Angela Provitera McGlynn

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Online Articles Some of the above articles will also be available online; go to our website: www.HispanicOutlook.com.

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DEPARTMENTS Latino Kaleidoscope

by Carlos D. Conde

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Picking a New Pope

Hispanics on the Move

Interesting Reads Book Review

by Mary Ann Cooper

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ea Y ur o /F ar e o-Y w T

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Page 18

The Wrong Kind of Different

Targeting Higher Education Community College Certificates

Priming the Pump...

r?

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by Gustavo A. Mellander

by Miquela Rivera

Alcohol Abuse Among Latino Students

Back Cover

HO is also available in digital format; go to our website: www.HispanicOutlook.com.

Page 21 Cover photo courtesy of Miami Dade College

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COMMUNITY COLLEGES

The Impact of the Second on Community Colleges P

resident Barack Obama is no stranger to criticism. He has been Cuba, and the only institution that gave me access and opened the door for demonized by some of his opponents, and even a segment of his me was what was then called the Dade County Community College,” recalls most ardent supporters has expressed disappointment with some Padrón. aspects of his first four years in office. Although he has, from the start, Padrón went on to earn his Ph.D. in economics from the University of been a champion of education, some supporters have mixed feelings about Florida, went to Miami Dade to teach economics, climbed up the adminiswhat he has done and might still do trative ladder, was president of one in terms of four-year institutions. of Miami Dade’s colleges for 15 However, when it comes to commuyears, and then of the entire institunity colleges, the praise for what tion for the past 17 years. Padrón Obama has done and what he will has been recognized through a wide continue to do, at least from the four array of local, national and internaminority educators interviewed for tional awards. He has been appointthis article, is expansive and unqualed to positions of prominence by the ified. past six presidents, most recently by “Before Obama came to power, it Obama as chairman on the White was hard to find articles on commuHouse Commission on Educational nity colleges even in mainstream Excellence for Hispanic Americans. educational publications,” says “Community colleges are truly Eduardo J. Padrón, Ph.D., president an American invention, a way to of Miami Dade College in Florida. provide the average person access “But Obama put community colleges to both the job market and higher front and center in the national spoteducation,” Padrón says. “President light. He validated our work and Obama has truly put community colhelped us not only with federal proleges on the map, and I believe his grams but also with attracting the support will only grow during his attention of corporations. For the second term, in a way that will make government grants we have received not only Democrats but also from sources such as the departRepublicans very happy.” ments of Education and Labor, “I really believe that President important as they are, cannot do it Obama’s policies for community alone. We need to work with corpocolleges have been very positive, to rations to provide real solutions by attract our young people and retrain creating real jobs for the marketour adult residents so they may place.” enter the work force as soon as posPadrón reports that the eight sible,” says Pete Campos, Ed.D., campuses of Miami Dade College president, Luna Community College, have 176,000 students, about 70 near Las Vegas, N.M. “This is a sigpercent of whom are Hispanic. “We nificant trend across the country, enroll and graduate more minoribut it is especially important here in Eduardo J. Padrón, Ph.D., president, Miami Dade College (Fla.) ties, including Hispanics and northern New Mexico, where 80 African-Americans, than any other percent of the population is institution in the United States,” he says.

Hispanic, living in small communities, with a high level of poverty.”

The school has grown to include four-year college degrees, so students Campos reports that Luna’s current enrollment is 2,790, of whom 2,158 or are prepared for both the immediate labor market and to move on to high- 77.3 percent are Hispanic. er education. “I arrived in this country as an immigrant teenager from Campos began taking advantage of Obama’s support of community

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Obama Administration

by Michael J. Major

colleges right at the start of his first administration. “For the past four and are motivated to work hard to send money to their families in Mexico a half years, we have worked diligently to develop our goals and become and/or bring them back here.” eligible for Title V and other grants, and we have been successful,” Campos started out in the restaurant business with his father. He began Campos says. his career in education as a teacher and counselor for migrant students, A special focus has been high school dropouts that the school has been went on to complete his education, became an accomplished educator and able to train and to which the school administrator, published numerous provides the necessary skills to articles in various journals, became become carpenters and work in a leader in many community organiother trades. At the same time, the zations, was elected mayor and then school has reached back into the state senator for 22 years. “If we educational pipeline to provide dual didn’t have this presidential support education, enabling students to earn and federal concentration of funds, credits for both high school and the country would not recognize the community college simultaneously. importance of community colleges “This allows the student the and our ability to get both young vocational training to go directly into people and adults educated and into the work force or to go on to higher the work force in the shortest education, from an MA to an M.D.,” amount of time,” Campos says.

Campos explains. “We have one To move from a small rural area young woman, who, as a single to a major city, Chancellor Cheryl mother, went through this program Hyman, City Colleges of Chicago, then went on to complete both her reports that, against the background BA and MBA.” of a 26 percent Hispanic population Given this large portion of the in Chicago, the seven colleges of her immigrant and migrant population institution across the city are made for whom Spanish is the primary up of 38 percent Hispanics out of language, English as a second lanthe overall student enrollment of guage (ESL) is also given a special 120,000 students. focus. “Students receive an educaHyman repeats the high praise tion in the most understandable the others have accorded Obama for way,” says Campos. “They are taught his ongoing support of community the subject in Spanish so they can colleges, noting that “the president learn it quicker, then learn how to has promised over the next four translate it as they become more years to cut tuition in half and add proficient in English. Add a bilingual two million workers from commueducation to affordable tuition and nity colleges to the work force.” you create opportunities for youth Hyman adds, however, that which were nonexistent before.” though much remains to be done, Campos adds that these promuch already has been done, but Pete Campos, Ed.D., president, Luna Community College (N.M.) grams dovetail into the controversy “an amazingly high number of peoof so many immigrants being ple aren’t aware of the jobs that are deemed “illegal,” being deported back to Mexico, their children who were available out there, and many leaders are not taking advantage of that. born here having their families wrenched from them. “Once young people Most every day, someone tells me he can’t find a job because no one is are introduced to a program they can comprehend, to see that they can hiring. But there is a lot of hiring going on in key fields, and it is up to take care of their own housing, transportation and educational needs, they institutions like ours not only to prepare students for the job market, but

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Cheryl Hyman, chancellor, City Colleges of Chicago (Ill.)

also to get the word out that there are jobs out there and the opportunity will continue to grow.”

To this end, Hyman has worked with Mayor Rahm Emanuel on a number of innovative programs. For instance, says Hyman, “In December 2011, Mayor Emanuel and I identified six major industries where 80 percent of the jobs will come from, nationally, but especially in our region. We at City Colleges are working to align our courses so what we train our students in will be reflective of the demand.”

Also, says Hyman, the institution is realigning its curriculum so that adult education students will be trained to meet the demands. The reason is that adult education students comprise about 32 percent of the Hispanic student body, and most of them require ESL instruction.

Added to this is the College to Career (C2C) program, which will focus individual colleges in specific areas: health care; transportation, distribution and logistics; business professional services and entrepreneurial leadership; information technology; advanced manufacturing; and culinary and hospitality services.

“In order for all of this to succeed, we have to work as a community college to strengthen the pipeline all the way from K-12, with dual enrollment and credit for both high school and college courses, with the oppor-

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tunity then to immediately join the work force or move up higher on the educational ladder.”

Hyman, an African-American, grew up on Chicago’s west side, received her associate degree at a City College, got a BS in computer technology from the Illinois Institute of Technology, then two master’s degrees, the first in government from North Park University, and an MBA from Kellogg at Northwestern University. She worked for 14 years as vice president of strategy at Commonwealth Edison before coming to her present position.

“We are working closely with both local and national organizations,” says Hyman. “Our goal is to create more than 500,000 new jobs in the Chicago area over the next decade.”

Obama’s initiatives even have a significant benefit in a town with a relatively small number of Hispanics.

At North Idaho College, Manuelita (Lita) Burns, Ph.D., vice president for instruction, reports that of the school’s 6,500 students, just 5 percent are Hispanic. Its demographics, including small numbers of AfricanAmericans, Asian-Americans and Native Americans, are reflective of northern Idaho in general.

Many of the Hispanic students in the surrounding rural area are from immigrant or migrant families. Burns cites three main ways in which Obama’s policies are opening doors for those students that otherwise would be shut.

“A key way is through the expansion of the American Opportunity Tax Cut, which allows many Americans, especially first-generation Americans, access to affordable college education in their living area,” Burns says.

“We’ve used the Hope Scholarship tax credit more often, which is more directed at community colleges.”

Burns also refers to the Reinvestment Act as very supportive of their work. “For example,” she says, “we’ve received and used funding from this act to establish outreach centers to provide access to technology for students in rural Idaho, many areas of which have only dial-up Internet. With this technology, they can take online classes when their work prevents them from coming to classes on campus.”

Finally, Burns notes the Trade Adjustment Community College and Career Training Act, from which, she says, “We’ve received a couple of grants which will actually assist people in getting back to work.” Burns explains that Idaho is, overall, a financially stressed state, trying to make up in tourism what it has lost in its traditional fields of timber, mining and, to some degree, even agriculture. “Aerospace is big, of course, in western Washington, but has moved to eastern Washington, so it will only be a matter of time before it reaches Idaho. So we’ll have students trained to get in on the ground floor of this industry.”

Burns, a native of Wyoming, received her BS in nursing at the University of Wyoming, an MS in nursing from the University of Colorado, and her Ph.D. in leadership studies at Gonzaga University in Spokane, Wash. She spent her career as a nurse, then nurse educator, working her way up to dean. She started her present position in August 2012.

In summation, the impact of Obama’s second administration on community colleges in general, and in the Hispanic population in particular (not to mention the economy as a whole), promises to be a continuation of his first four years, but even better.

COMMUNITY COLLEGES/RANKINGS

Community Colleges by the Numbers

The

economy of industrialized nations depends upon each other. The global nature of trade is fueling this economy, which has an insatiable appetite for a skilled and educated work force.

The majority of new jobs that will be created by 2014 will require some postsecondary education. And that’s where community colleges come into play. Without community colleges, millions of students and adult learners would not be able to access the education they need to be prepared for further education or the workplace.

Consequently, employers are depending on students in demographics that have traditionally not pursued higher education in great numbers.

Community colleges are best equipped to deal with changing demographics of the work force.

Community colleges have become the access point for education in a community and a real catalyst for fiscal development.

But community colleges are only known locally. Their reputations don’t cross state borders like prestigious four-year Ivy League schools do. They perform as the firewall and backbone of higher education – especially in a poor global economy. According to the latest statistics gathered by the American Association of Community Colleges (AACC), two-year colleges are everywhere. They exist in every part of the country – more than 1,100 of them – driving local economies, preparing students for careers or to pursue advanced degrees. They are a bargain, costwise, compared to four-year schools.

The vast majority of them are public facilities (986), 115 are independent, and 31 are tribal schools. Those schools enrolled 13 million students in the fall of 2009, and that number increased by 2.9 percent by the fall of 2011.

More than 60 percent of those students are there for credit, and about seven and a half million attend community colleges part time.

More women than men attend community colleges (57 percent to 43 percent). And despite how economic feasibility of attending these schools seems to favor minority and Hispanic first-generation students, Whites still represent more than half of students in community colleges (54 percent), Hispanics are 16 percent of the community college populations, and Black

students represent 14 percent of those students.

Community colleges are gateways for students who might not otherwise experience higher education in their lives. Forty-two percent of students at two-year schools are the first generation in their families to attend college. In a sign of changing times, 13 percent are single parents, 6 percent are non-U.S. citizens, 3 percent are veterans, and 12 percent are those students with disabilities. Of all undergraduates in colleges, 44 percent are in community colleges, and 43 percent are first-time freshmen. Hispanic community college students represent 51 percent of the underground segment in the United States. In addition, 44 percent of all first-time freshmen go to community colleges.

The costs to attain a postsecondary degree are on the rise. As a result, increasing numbers of students at community colleges (and four-year institutions) are looking to the federal financial aid programs to help offset or finance the costs of their education. Almost half of the students attending community college receive some form of financial aid to help finance their studies. In 2005, more than two million community college students received Pell Grant dollars. However, in recent years, there has been a shift in government policies away from grants toward student loans. Because of the low costs to attend community college, the amounts borrowed are lower for community college students than they are for their counterparts at four-year institutions (public and private).

Community colleges receive their financing and revenue through tuition and fees; federal, state and local appropriations; and grants, gifts and contracts with local business and industry.

The proportion from each source depends on the college’s location. They don’t have the luxury of relying on local tax appropriations.

These are not used as a form of support for all states. On average, public community colleges receive almost two-fifths of their revenues from states and one-fifth each from localities and tuition dollars.

Students attending community college are traditionally hard workers who have to juggle studies with work to succeed in school. In 200708, 59 percent of full-time students were employed part time. Twenty-one percent were

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by Mary Ann Cooper employed full time while taking classes. That compares to 47 percent of part-time students who were employed part time and 40 percent of part-time students who were employed full time.

And despite working full time or part time, 59 percent of community college students applied for some kind of aid and 42 percent applied for federal aid. And what happens to these applications? Forty-six percent of community college students receive some form of financial aid, 21 percent receive federal grants, 10 percent get federal loans, 13 percent receive state aid, and 11 percent get aid from the schools they attend.

Community colleges are in the midst of a transition brought about by the numerous retirements of administrators and faculty members. The rate of retirements has both negative and positive consequences. The retirement of such large numbers will result in a significant brain drain on campuses as the collective wisdom of these retirees gained through many years of experience is taken away from the college when that person leaves.

This might represent one of the greatest threats to an educated work force. If there are not enough leaders in the pipeline, what quality of education can incoming students expect if these individuals are not adequately replaced?

Still, when it comes to career preparation, community colleges continue to provide the most bang for the buck. The average annual tuition and fees for AY 2011-12 in public community colleges was $2,943. In comparison, the average for four-year public state colleges was $8,244. And in 2009, 630,000 associate degrees and 425,000 certificates were awarded in the U.S.

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Community Colleges

by Hispanic Full-Time Enrollment RANK 1.

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48.

49.

50.

INSTITUTION

STATE

El Paso Community College TX East Los Angeles College CA Houston Community College TX Lone Star College System TX Mt. San Antonio College CA Santa Ana College CA San Antonio College TX Pima Community College AZ Rio Hondo College CA Austin Community College District TX San Jacinto Community College TX Cerritos College CA Tarrant County College District TX Central New Mexico Community College NM Southwestern College CA Long Beach City College CA Pasadena City College CA Santa Monica College CA El Camino Community College District CA CUNY Borough of Manhattan Community Coll. NY Laredo Community College TX Chaffey College CA Bakersfield College CA Los Angeles City College CA Fresno City College CA Riverside City College CA Northwest Vista College TX United Education Institute-Huntington Park CA Northern Virginia Community College VA Palomar College CA Los Angeles Valley College CA Los Angeles Trade Technical College CA Los Angeles Pierce College CA Fullerton College CA Los Angeles Mission College CA San Diego City College CA CUNY LaGuardia Community College NY Reedley College CA City College of San Francisco CA San Bernardino Valley College CA CUNY Bronx Community College NY Imperial Valley College CA San Diego Mesa College CA San Joaquin Delta College CA Hillsborough Community College FL New Mexico State University-Dona Ana NM Ventura College CA Del Mar College TX Citrus College CA Santa Barbara City College CA

Source: NCES – IPEDS 2011

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TOTAL ENROLLMENT 30,723 37,057 63,015 63,029 28,388 30,289 25,567 36,969 17,862 45,100 29,392 21,335 50,062 27,677 20,409 25,782 26,057 29,971 24,463 24,463 10,076 18,597 17,619 21,028 20,135 18,395 16,067 12,317 50,044 25,427 18,789 15,516 20,506 18,827 10,300 17,728 18,623 14,057 34,558 12,380 11,450 7,853 25,504 19,495 28,329 9,803 13,758 12,071 12,113 19,672

HISPANIC ENROLLMENT

TOTAL

26,178 24,009 18,912 18,800 15,035 13,616 13,528 13,071 13,048 12,327 11,847 11,741 11,683 11,632 11,594 11,056 10,669 10,055 9,939 9,800 9,651 9,620 9,376 9,310 9,154 8,852 8,760 8,401 8,385 8,382 8,207 8,080 8,053 7,790 7,432 7,408 7,335 7,281 7,215 7,064 6,987 6,982 6,960 6,871 6,798 6,743 6,657 6,637 6,584 6,520

MEN

11,027 10,518 7,807 7,516 6,931 7,095 5,532 5,766 6,513 5,297 4,986 5,173 4,728 4,918 5,244 5,216 4,828 4,447 4,623 4,059 4,232 3,871 3,918 4,052 4,193 3,816 3,836 2,520 3,793 4,329 3,481 4,311 3,508 3,622 2,788 3,279 2,958 2,995 3,425 3,032 2,882 3,052 3,209 2,860 2,805 2,862 2,889 2,754 2,900 2,966

WOMEN 15,151 13,491 11,105 11,284 8,104 6,521 7,996 7,305 6,535 7,030 6,861 6,568 6,955 6,714 6,350 5,840 5,841 5,608 5,316 5,741 5,419 5,749 5,458 5,258 4,961 5,036 4,924 5,881 4,592 4,053 4,726 3,769 4,545 4,168 4,644 4,129 4,377 4,286 3,790 4,032 4,105 3,930 3,751 4,011 3,993 3,881 3,768 3,883 3,684 3,554

%

85% 65% 30% 30% 53% 45% 53% 35% 73% 27% 40% 55% 23% 42% 57% 43% 41% 34% 41% 40% 96% 52% 53% 44% 45% 48% 55% 68% 17% 33% 44% 52% 39% 41% 72% 42% 39% 52% 21% 57% 61% 89% 27% 35% 24% 69% 48% 55% 54% 33%

Community Colleges for Hispanics Awarding Associate Degrees (2-Year Schools) RANK 1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

7.

8.

9.

10.

11.

12.

13.

14.

15.

16.

17.

18.

19.

20.

21.

22.

23.

24.

25.

26.

27.

28.

29.

30.

31.

32.

33.

34.

35.

36.

37.

38.

39.

40.

41.

42.

43.

44.

45.

46.

47.

48.

49.

50.

INSTITUTION

STATE

El Paso Community College CUNY Borough of Manhattan Community Coll.

Central New Mexico Community College Houston Community College San Joaquin Delta College East Los Angeles College Santa Ana College Mt. San Antonio College Riverside City College Lone Star College System Laredo Community College Pima Community College CUNY LaGuardia Community College Hillsborough Community College Tarrant County College District CUNY Bronx Community College Northern Virginia Community College Del Mar College New Mexico State University-Dona Ana Southwestern College Cerritos College Chaffey College Imperial Valley College Citrus College Palomar College Bergen Community College Fresno City College Technical Career Institutes College of the Sequoias Rio Hondo College Fullerton College ASA Institute of Business and Computer Tech.

Ventura College El Camino Community College District Central Texas College Mt. San Jacinto Community College District Pasadena City College San Antonio College Suffolk County Community College Southwest Texas Junior College Santa Barbara City College Hudson County Community College Bakersfield College Allan Hancock College United Education Institute-Huntington Park CUNY Hostos Community College San Joaquin Valley College-Visalia Austin Community College District Nassau Community College Oxnard College Universal Technical Institute of Arizona Inc Modesto Junior College Mountain View College CUNY Kingsborough Community College

Source: NCES – IPEDS 2011

TX NY NM TX CA CA CA CA CA TX TX AZ NY FL TX NY VA TX NM CA CA CA CA CA CA NJ CA NY CA CA CA NY CA CA TX CA CA TX NY TX CA NJ CA CA CA NY CA TX NY CA AZ CA TX NY

TOTAL 2,945 3,180 2,051 3,606 2,920 1,191 1,449 1,775 1,877 3,320 742 2,283 2,021 2,951 3,298 1,120 4,695 1,122 896 995 1,157 1,240 548 1,126 1,761 1,953 1,259 1,168 998 683 1,270 1,279 979 1,373 2,746 1,479 1,607 1,030 3,159 489 1,625 739 914 1,018 540 676 703 1,507 2,557 511 1,589 1,270 584 2,476

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TOTAL

MEN

WOMEN

H I S P A N I C

O U T L O O K

2,549 924 862 845 844 831 786 751 733 733 707 673 663 662 650 604 584 582 578 572 560 550 513 490 480 479 473 465 464 461 459 459 457 453 448 432 429 429 424 415 410 400 399 397 390 390 376 358 355 354 346 346 340 337

•

HISPANIC 882 317 279 289 253 247 319 303 223 224 250 255 232 263 228 211 210 218 202 221 188 186 191 206 184 187 161 272 165 175 190 118 129 164 248 124 160 162 171 132 135 151 151 133 81 84 82 159 137 103 338 139 120 129

1,667 607 583 556 591 584 467 448 510 509 457 418 431 399 422 393 374 364 376 351 372 364 322 284 296 292 312 193 299 286 269 341 328 289 200 308 269 267 253 283 275 249 248 264 309 306 294 199 218 251 8 207 220 208

%

87% 29% 42% 23% 29% 70% 54% 42% 39% 22% 95% 29% 33% 22% 20% 54% 12% 52% 65% 57% 48% 44% 94% 44% 27% 25% 38% 40% 46% 67% 36% 36% 47% 33% 16% 29% 27% 42% 13% 85% 25% 54% 44% 39% 72% 58% 53% 24% 14% 69% 22% 27% 58% 14%

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TOP 20 Community Colleges by Hispanic Faculty RANK 1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

7.

8.

9.

10.

11.

12.

13.

14.

15.

16.

17.

18.

19.

20.

INSTITUTION El Paso Community College San Antonio College Houston Community College Lone Star College System Laredo Community College Del Mar College Austin Community College District Northwest Vista College Southwestern College East Los Angeles College Central New Mexico Community College St Philip’s College Pima Community College Mt. San Antonio College Santa Ana College United Education Institute-Huntington Park Central Texas College City College of San Francisco Palo Alto College Pasadena City College Cerritos College Imperial Valley College Tarrant County College District Rio Hondo College San Bernardino Valley College

Source: NCES – IPEDS 2011

STATE TX TX TX TX TX TX TX TX CA CA NM TX AZ CA CA CA TX CA TX CA CA CA TX CA CA

TOTAL 1,673 1,286 3,590 4,219 315 831 1,972 723 976 862 1,046 605 1,495 1,191 791 349 2,218 1,810 446 1,077 750 325 1,861 551 559

HISPANIC FACULTY TOTAL 978 370 353 296 237 233 232 219 205 198 189 187 183 181 181 173 169 158 158 156 152 152 152 144 144

MEN

542 182 190 139 125 111 119 122 88 112 93 104 78 80 88 49 98 82 79 83 67 77 79 69 70

WOMEN 436 188 163 157 112 122 113 97 117 86 96 83 105 101 93 124 71 76 79 73 85 75 73 75 74

% 58% 29% 10% 7% 75% 28% 12% 30% 21% 23% 18% 31% 12% 15% 23% 50% 8% 9% 35% 14% 20% 47% 8% 26% 26%

TOP Associate Degree Producers for Hispanics Also Offering 4-Year Degrees RANK 1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

7.

8.

9.

10.

11.

12.

13.

14.

15.

16.

17.

18.

19.

20.

INSTITUTION STATE Miami Dade College FL South Texas College TX Valencia College FL Broward College FL Keiser University-Ft Lauderdale FL Palm Beach State College FL The University of Texas at Brownsville TX Monroe College-Main Campus NY College of Southern Nevada NV Edison State College FL FIDM/Fashion Inst. of Design & Merchandising CA Seminole State College of Florida FL Santa Fe College FL Florida National College-Main Campus FL CUNY New York City College of Technology NY Indian River State College FL Florida State College at Jacksonville FL Fashion Institute of Technology NY Robert Morris University Illinois IL Daytona State College FL Colorado Technical University-Online CO

Source: NCES – IPEDS 2011

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TOTAL 9,445 2,077 6,627 4,881 3,635 3,664 823 1,040 2,030 2,073 1,892 2,126 2,569 349 1,168 2,132 5,409 2,029 886 2,698 4,649

TOTAL 6,335 1,943 1,674 1,471 891 752 752 536 391 367 358 325 323 317 282 280 271 238 235 232 230

HISPANIC MEN

2,451 708 671 623 245 290 212 145 147 126 45 126 159 99 137 101 114 47 90 78 67

WOMEN 3,884 1,235 1,003 848 646 462 540 391 244 241 313 199 164 218 145 179 157 191 145 154 163

% 67% 94% 25% 30% 25% 21% 91% 52% 19% 18% 19% 15% 13% 91% 24% 13% 5% 12% 27% 9% 5%

COMMUNITY COLLEGES/INNOVATIONS/PROGRAMS

Community Colleges Take the Lead in Training the Nuclear Energy Work Force

E

by Marilyn Gilroy

xperts predict the nuclear energy industry will have thousands of jobs to fill in the next five years due to the combination of retirements in the current work force and plans to expand nuclear facilities. Training those workers, including technicians, inspectors, nuclear welders and others who monitor nuclear safety and quality control, is the goal of the Nuclear Energy Institute (NEI) and a group of 37 academic partners, mostly community colleges.

“We expect 39 percent retirement in the nuclear work force by 2016, so that would mean replacing about 25,000 workers,” said Elizabeth McAndrewBenavides, NEI’s senior manager for work force policy and programs. “We took the lead about five years ago in order to revitalize the pipeline for entrylevel workers coming out of the community college sector. Our goal was to create a degree program that was sustainable and transferable.”

Working with the colleges, NEI developed the Nuclear Uniform Curriculum Program (NUCP), a framework for educating and developing operators and technicians for nuclear power plants.

The NUCP certificate is not specific to any regional company such as the Tennessee Valley Authority, Florida Power and Light, or other well-known nuclear energy providers. Instead it affirms the graduate is ready to join any electric utility’s training program for plant operators, technicians and maintenance personnel. The program requires a common curriculum on plant equipment and systems plus science and mathematics in the first year. In the second year, students take technical electives in their chosen focus area.

The industry-recognized NUCP certificates go to students who receive a grade of B or better in all core courses of the curriculum. Certificates are given along with diplomas from the two-year college programs.

“Making the certificate fully transferable has increased the marketability of the degree and simplified hiring for utilities,” said McAndrewBenavides, who manages the NUCP program. “It’s a situation that has benefited the new hires, utilities and the industry at large.”

The program has been yielding an increasing number of certified graduates. McAndrew-Benavides said that in 2012 there were 387 graduates with NUCP credentials. Of those, 75 percent got jobs in the nuclear industry and 5 percent went on to four-year colleges. According to NEI data, those who were hired started at salaries ranging from $60,000 to 80,000.

“Jobs in nuclear power generally pay 36 percent higher than other industries, and these workers are eligible to earn even more through overtime,” said McAndrew-Benavides.

Expanding Programs and Facilities Many of the colleges partnering with NEI also work with nuclear power firms and government organizations that provide funding to help meet future work force needs. Estrella Mountain Community College (EMCC), a Hispanic-Serving Institution, is leading a consortium of five Arizona community colleges that received a $13.5 million grant from the U.S. Department of Labor to develop programs to fulfill the state’s energy industry work force needs. The consortium will work with Arizona Public Service, which supports student internships at its Palo Verde nuclear power facility.

Indian River State College (IRSC), the lead institution in NEI’s Southeast

Elizabeth McAndrew-Benavides, senior manager for work force policy and programs, Nuclear Energy Institute

region, received a $3.1 million National Science Foundation Advanced Technological Education grant in 2011 to establish the nation’s first Regional Center for Nuclear Education and Training (RCNET). IRSC offers more than 130 associate degrees and technical certificate programs as well as bachelor’s degrees in more than 20 areas of study.

One of the goals of RCNET is to develop a model that can be utilized at the national level to benefit utilities and colleges providing nuclear energy training.

To meet this goal, the center acts as a resource for providing curriculum, training for faculty and staff and facilitating communication and collaboration across the nuclear industry as well as other colleges and universities.

“RCNET focuses on building learning materials and training resources by combining best-in-class traditional materials with 21st-century learning modalities, such as simulations, active learning, and hands-on labs,” said José Farinos, dean of advanced technology at IRSC.

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Instruction is enhanced by state-of-the-art technology in the college’s In South Carolina, two NEI partners have been expanding their nuclear Brown Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship (BCIE), which is a energy programs and graduating students with NUCP certification. Last multipurpose facility that houses the Power Plant Technology Institute year, Aiken Technical College (ATC) received a $2 million grant from the (PPTI) developed in 2006 by IRSC and Florida Power & Light (FPL) to United States Economic Development Administration toward the construcsupport the growing need for maintenance technicians at the FPL St. Lucie tion of a $6.1 million Center for Energy and Advanced Manufacturing. The Nuclear Power Plant. Students gain experience with a technologically college has mounted a capital campaign to fund the center, which will supadvanced flow loop replicating the functions of a nuclear power plant. port academic programs in manufacturing, nuclear and alternative energy “The flow loop is a structure simulating the processes of a power sectors throughout the central Savannah River area. plant,” said Farinos. “It provides a safe, controlled learning environment ATC’s radiation protection technology, nuclear quality systems, welding where subject matter experts can have students replicate activities they will and mechatronics programs will all be housed in the new center. The proencounter in the power plant.” grams in welding and quality control have been developed with additional The PPTI contains all the composupport from a U.S. Department of nents of a power plant except the Energy grant and with curriculum heat source, including two levels of planning input from local nuclear pipes, pumps, valves, controllers, employers. According to industry offiheat exchangers, scaffolding, rigging cials, welding technology is critical to and lifting equipment. Students can nuclear safety because welds are used simulate a variety of potential equipto seal nuclear components such as ment and system faults, and work reactors and steam generators. The individually or as a team on resolvschool received $400,000 worth of ing them under the supervision of computer software to train students in faculty and trainers in a safe, collethe nuclear welding program that was giate, industrial space. donated by Savannah River Nuclear For example, says Farinos, simuSolutions and one of its parent comlated radioactive die can be injected panies, Newport News Shipbuilding. into the pipes and contaminate In addition to the associate equipment. Students would then degree in radiation protection techhave to isolate the contamination, nology, ATC offers certificates in re-route the water, and then safely basic radiation protection technoloremove the simulated contamination gy and radiological control technolby cleaning components contaminatogy. Last fall, four of the college’s ed by the die. radiation protection technology proPPTI has achieved an impressive gram graduates received NUCP certisuccess record. Since its inception fication. The college expects to certiin 1996, the institute has graduated fy more graduates each year.

136 students, with a completion rate Overall, the college graduated of 95.77 percent and a placement 100 students in its radiation protecrate of over 90 percent employed in tion program last spring, and nearly the nuclear energy field. Farinos says all were hired right out of school, there are 72 students in the pipeline, said college officials. enrolled in maintenance and radiaMidlands Technical College tion protection tracks.

(MTC), located in Columbia, S.C., “What makes this partnership offers a nuclear systems technology successful is FPL’s commitment to program that teaches the fundamenJosé Farinos, dean of advanced technology, Indian River State College hiring graduates from this program, tals of nuclear power systems includthe availability of paid internships ing nuclear plant components, radioduring the summer and the facilitating contextual learning and real-life job logical protection, reactor theory and nuclear plant chemistry. Graduates of experience,” he said. the two-year program receive an associate in occupational technology But Farinos also credits the role of each partner in producing well- degree in mechanical technology with a specialization in nuclear systems. trained graduates. He says that students are taught by nuclear energy MTC’s nuclear systems technology program was created, in part, at the employees, members of International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers request of South Carolina Electric & Gas Company to supply the company’s (IBEW) with a wealth of knowledge and experience. expansion of the V.C. Summer Nuclear Station with qualified nuclear tech“IBEW’s subject matter experts providing core subject training and the nicians. The plant, located within the college’s service area in Fairfield shared responsibilities between IRSC, FPL and IBEW contribute to the County, is scheduled to go on line with a new reactor in 2016, with an overall oversight of the quality of the program,” he said. “The active role additional reactor scheduled to start up in 2019. each partner plays in the education and training of our graduates guaranThe expansion of the V.C. Summer facility is expected to require 20 new tees the sustainability of this relationship.” nuclear technicians per year.

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For more than five years, the Nuclear Energy Institute has been working with community colleges to educate and develop operators and technicians for nuclear power plants.

The Changing Face of the Nuclear Industry One of the goals for training a new generation of nuclear energy workers is to hire more women and minorities.

“Improving the diversity of the work force is a priority,” said McAndrew-Benavides.

IRSC’s Power Plant Institute enrollment is 17 percent minority, including African-Americans, Hispanics, Asian Pacifics and American Indians. To date, 6.7 percent of students have been females.

“Supporting our efforts to recruit minorities and females, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission awarded IRSC a grant to provide tuition support for economically disadvantaged students, with emphasis in increasing diversification and leadership potential in this industry,” said Farinos. “The grant allowed us to offer 14 scholarships, including one from the IRSC Foundation, to deserving minority, females and students with potential to pursue career advancement opportunities within the nuclear energy field.”

Salem Community College (SCC) in southern New Jersey has been working with PSEG Nuclear, which operates two generating stations in the area, in an effort to meet the demand for a qualified, diverse work force.

Backed by a federal grant in 2009, the college developed its nuclear energy technology (NET) program and is recruiting and training new nuclear industry employees.

As a result, SCC has seen an increase in enrollment for its NET Associate in Applied Science degree. There are currently 62 students in the program. Last year, 30 students received degrees including four women who were the first SCC females to graduate from the NET program.

Industry experts say they hope this is part of the changing face of the nuclear industry.

“These first female graduates represent the changes we are seeing in the nuclear industry,” said PSEG spokesperson Joseph Delmar. “More and more women are considering nuclear careers, including technical and engineering positions.”

All four women earned instrument and control maintenance technician certification – and one student, Sandra Gannon, gained electrical technician certification – from the Institute for Nuclear Power Operations’ National Academy of Nuclear Training. Another of the SCC graduates, Angela Schweibinz, is pursuing a bachelor’s degree in radiation protection at Thomas Edison State College in New Jersey.

Both Gannon and Schweibinz said they were not concerned about being in a male-dominated field.

“The thought was a little intimidating at first,” said Gannon. “But I quickly found out through my internship and outage work at PSEG Nuclear that it does not present any major issues.”

Schweibinz agreed and said that demographics did not play a part in her decision.

“When I was searching for careers, it did not dawn on me that the nuclear field was male-dominated,” she said. “I never felt overwhelmed by the male-female ratio; it was never an issue.”

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COMMUNITY COLLEGES/REPORTS

Can a Two-Year Degree Be More Valuable than a Four-Year Degree?

As

by Michelle Adam a nation, we have long held the belief that the more education we receive, the greater the payoff in the marketplace. But is this true?

In the face of huge unpaid student debts, rising tuition rates and a struggling economy, Mark Schneider, president of College Measures – a partnership between the American Institutes for Research and Matrix Knowledge Group focused on using data to drive improvement in higher education outcomes in the United States – set out to determine exactly this.

During the past year and into the present, he has worked with numerous states that are asking themselves the same question, and he has come up with preliminary answers that are now available to the general public.

One consistent discovery that took Schneider by surprise was that firstyear wage earnings for those with associate degrees in technical training were often higher than those of bachelor’s degree recipients.

“I never expected that. I have taught in a research university for most of my life, and all of my friends have advanced degrees, so I never got the importance of community colleges. I thought of them as junior colleges you went to because you couldn’t get into other schools, and then you transferred later,” he said. “But then all of a sudden people were talking about these programs being valuable. And when our data came out, it was consistent with what people were saying. The community colleges that are producing technical training are producing valuable skills being rewarded in the marketplace. A technical career with two-year degrees leads to good starting salaries.”

This is an important message for all to hear during hard economic times but especially for Hispanics who make up a large percentage of community colleges, according to Schneider. “The two-year degree in technical fields is a lot cheaper than bachelor’s degrees, a lot faster to earn, and can produce a pretty good salary. There are plenty of adults stuck in service jobs today who are going back to community colleges to get technical training now,” he said.

“The importance of getting jobs and managing debt were all around when unemployment was at 4 percent, but it wasn’t as important as it is now with students borrowing too much money and not finding jobs. The discussion of moving out of your mother’s basement is an essential one.”

In order to produce reports for states on first-year wage earnings for graduates from two- and four-year programs, College Measures gathered information already available in state coffers. “States have already linked student data with unemployment insurance records, but few have made this data public. Half of the states say they have this data, but it is buried in the data warehouse. Others have published reports on it that nobody could read,” explained Schneider. “There is also a limitation in the data. There are some graduates who work out of state, in the military or in missions, and are self-employed or have gone onto a Ph.D. So we only have information on half of the students who have graduated.”

The first state that asked College Measures to take its data, interpret it and make it accessible to the public was Tennessee. The resulting work, The Earning Power of Graduates from Tennessee’s Colleges and Universities, was published last fall and was made available online.

The report revealed that the average first-year earnings of associate degree graduates was over $1,000 more than the average first-year earnings of bach-

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elor’s degree graduates (with variations in areas of study). In addition, the average earnings of individuals with certificates was often close to the average earnings of associate degree holders in the most popular fields of study.

More specifically, community college degree recipients earned, on average, $38,948 in first-year wages while bachelor’s degree graduates earned $37,567. Of course, these numbers varied depending on the degrees obtained. For example, bachelor’s degree graduates in healthrelated programs earned $51,095 their first year out of college, compared to $46,606 for two-year students in the same career track. In business, management, marketing and related programs, bachelor’s degree recipients earned $37,688; and associate recipients, $35,026.

These report discrepancies point out the importance of looking specifically at degrees to determine wage outcomes. But in general, graduates with bachelor’s degrees in health, business and engineering earned more than graduates with liberal arts degrees. Interestingly enough, though, even within these majors, first-year earnings varied depending on the school attended.

For example, graduates in the health professions programs at the University of Tennessee (UT)-Martin earned nearly $60,000 in their first year in the work force while graduates from health professions programs at Tennessee State University earned $46,000. Ironically, UT-Martin graduates in history were among the lowest earners of all bachelor’s degree holders in the state, compared to Tennessee State University’s $37,000 for history graduates.

Being able to explain these differences can be a challenge, since it requires further investigation of the data and of each school. For instance, one program might produce greater outcomes in wage earnings because its school is located near a better job market for that degree. Or graduates from that degree might have received higher earnings than reported but were not a part of the report because they moved out of state or were in careers that didn’t report to or partake in unemployment insurance records. Of course, it also might indicate the strength of one program over another.

While Tennessee’s report provided more detailed information on each individual school and its programs, it also offered readers input on college earnings in relationship to expenditures. For example, the University of Memphis had the highest first-year earnings for bachelor’s degree recipients at $40,401 with an annual price tag of $20,574 for in-state students living on campus and $10,062 for students with financial aid. In comparison, the University of Tennessee had earnings of $36,732 and a price tag of $22,061 and $13,186, respectively.

Price and earnings comparisons were clearly very different for community college students. Jackson State Community College had the highest average earnings results for all graduates at $42,995, and Nashville State University had students in construction trades graduating into an average first-year salary of $66,444. While the report did not publish institution costs, it is public knowledge that community colleges tend to cost significantly less than four-year institutions.

In comparing two- to four-year institutions, students at the University of Memphis pay more than $80,000 for their education (including campus living), compared to two-year programs, which would cost far less due to

lower price tags and a shorter duration in school. one got a job and it was assumed you got a bachelor’s degree. Today peo“In harsh economic times, students need to know what is going to hap- ple need jobs and a salary and can’t assume any longer that going to colpen to them when they go to a school. Are they going to get a job after- lege is going to get them these things. It’s a whole new world.” wards, will they make money, and do they need to borrow for their While institutions have accused Schneider of “hating the liberal arts” and degree?” said Schneider. “Borrowing money is fine to pay for your higher failing to honor students’ wishes to earn degrees that prepare them for service education, but if you are going to major in a program where you expect to in their communities, he’s more concerned about students knowing the price earn a $25,000 salary the first year out, don’t borrow $40,000. All you tag they will pay for not knowing the potential wage outcomes for degrees purborrow should not exceed your first year’s earnings.” sued. “Fine, I say, if our students are committed to low-paying service jobs, but The Tennessee report was the first of a series that have and will contin- don’t let them borrow $100,000 to do this. Right now, you can’t get rid of stuue to come out of College Measures’s partnerships with states across the dent loans in bankruptcy courts, and the Parents PLUS Loan is not dischargecountry. Prior to writing this article, Virginia had also released its study able either,” he said. “We have seen stories of parents whose kids can’t find findings in a report titled The Earning Power of Recent Graduates from jobs and now the collector is telling them that they now own their house.”

Virginia’s College and Universities.

Although his recent state wage reports provide students with some insight That report revealed similar findinto possible earnings associated ings to the one produced by with different schools and degrees, Tennessee. They were as follows: Schneider also admits that this is Graduates of occupational/technical merely the first step in a longer jourassociate degree programs, with an ney. The reports can be misleading, average salary of just under $40,000, given the fact that some students out-earned not just nonoccupational from top-level schools might obtain associate degree graduates by about employment out of state after gradu$6,000 but even bachelor’s degree ating (the studies only show those graduates by almost $2,500 statewide. who stayed in the state in certain proAmong many of Virginia’s comfessions) or pursue higher degrees munity colleges, earnings of graduor aren’t reported for some other ates with a technical associate degree reason. In addition, looking at firstcould exceed $10,000 more than year earnings limits information to those with a bachelor’s credit-orientone year right after graduation and ed associate degree; in three commudoesn’t help the public see potential nity colleges, the difference was future earnings for degrees. greater than $12,000. In addition, the “Just getting this data out was an highest-earning bachelor’s degree important first step, but now we are graduates came from two career-origoing back to the states and are ented programs at the University of working with them to look at what Richmond where graduates in inforhappens 10 years out from a mation sciences and in human degree,” explained Schneider. resources management averaged Looking with more depth at state more than $69,000 per year. And stufindings and eventually understanddents with degrees in nursing and ing the nuances that might make business-related programs (including one program or school perform betfinance, accounting and economics) ter than another in wage outcomes earned more than other graduates. will be the next steps to take as well.

Since the time of the Virginia But for now, Schneider is focused study, College Measures has worked on finding effective ways to get this with Arkansas, Colorado, Texas, information out to students so they Nevada and Florida to produce simican be more educated consumers. lar reports (and possibly more states As more states require publication since then). of wage earnings for higher education “Increasingly, states are being degrees, it opens up a door to alternarequired by law to make this data pubtive funding practices for higher eduMark Schneider, president of College Measures lic. Many require middle school and cation as a whole. Currently, state eduhigh school students receive this inforcation budgets are based on factory mation,” said Schneider. “On a national level, Sens. Ron Wyden, Marco Rubio measures, on how many students come in and out of a school, explained and Mattie Hunter are trying to pass national legislation, the Student Right to Schneider. It would be equivalent to determining how much money a company Know Before You Go Act, that would have all states do this nationwide.” (This gets based on how many items they produced and not whether they actually sold legislation might have passed by the time this article is published.) any of these products – whether students earned actual wages for their degrees.

This seems to be merely the beginning of a nationwide trend of report“I think people are starting to think about degrees in terms of the ing earnings of college graduates. “I am passionate about this because I degree of labor success they achieve, but we’re not there yet,” said the feel students need to know this data. Right now, given the economy and College Measures president. “It is going to be an interesting process.” student debt, the need right now is to know this data. The consequences of For now, Schneider is busy flying from one state to another, helping not knowing it are so real,” said Schneider. “Ninety percent of students each unveil data on degree wage earnings to make accessible for students now say that they go to college for a good job and career advancement. But and the general public. It’s the first step in a longer journey of holding when I was in school, many decades ago, the economy was easy and every- higher education accountable to the true success of all students.

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HI S PAN I C S O N T H E MO VE Vargas Becomes New HSF President and CEO

Arredondo Named Head of Chicago School of Professional Psychology’s Chicago Campus

In December, the Hispanic Scholarship Fund (HSF) announced the selection of Fidel A. Vargas as president and CEO of HSF and its wholly owned subsidiary, the Hispanic Scholarship Fund Institute. Vargas, a member of the HSF Board of Directors for the past two years, assumed the role on Jan. 2. He took over the helm at HSF after an outstanding career in the public and private sectors. Most recently, he was a founding partner with Centinela Capital Partners, a minority-owned alternative asset management firm that invested and managed nearly $1 billion. His many achievements included being appointed by President Bill Clinton to serve on the Social Security Advisory Committee and by President George W. Bush to serve on the Commission to Strengthen Social Security and the Presidential Scholars Commission.

Vargas has both a bachelor’s and master’s degree in business administration from Harvard University.

Dr. Patricia Arredondo recently became the new president of The Chicago School of Professional Psychology’s (TCSPP) largest campus, located in Chicago, Ill. She is the first Latina to serve in that role at TCSPP, a nonprofit graduate school devoted exclusively to psychology and related behavioral and health sciences. Arredondo, a licensed psychologist bilingual in English and Spanish, was formerly with the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee (UWM) where she was associate vice chancellor, interim dean for the School of Continuing Education and professor of educational psychology. Arredondo has received the “Living Legend” award from the American Counseling Association, an honorary degree from the University of San Diego because of her multicultural scholarship, and holds fellow status with the American Psychological Association. She has a doctorate in counseling psychology from Boston University.

Campus Head Librarian Suffolk County Community College seeks highly qualified candidates for the role of Campus Head Librarian on the Eastern Campus in Riverhead, New York. The Campus Head Librarian provides strategic leadership, administrative supervision, and day-to-day management of the Eastern Campus Library, which is located in the Montaukett Learning Resource Center, a new nationally-recognized library facility. The Campus Head Librarian collaborates with faculty to assess evolving user needs; plan and develop methods to enhance and support the curriculum and information literacy; and provide for the information needs of the students and faculty. For the full position profile, please go to:

http://www.sunysuffolk.edu/About/Employment.asp?id=526

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Pérez Uncovers America’s Hidden Hispanic Heritage Miguel Pérez, chair of Lehman College’s (N.Y.) Journalism, Communications, and Theatre Department and an award-winning journalist, columnist and TV analyst, recently launched a new bilingual website devoted to rediscovering and uncovering the Hispanic roots of the United States. “Many Americans simply don’t know that Latinos have a very long history of planting language and cultural roots in what is now U.S. territory,” he writes on the website, www.hiddenhispanicheritage.com. Pérez has been covering the issues and concerns of America’s burgeoning Latino population for over 35 years.

He is a syndicated columnist with Creators Syndicate and a political analyst for Telemundo 47. He has been a reporter for The Tampa Times, The Miami Herald, the New York Daily News and The Record of Hackensack, N.J.

CSUN’s Campos Creates Annual Scholarship for Classmates With a $1,000 gift to California State University-Northridge (CSUN), Alan Campos, an undergraduate student majoring in management, has established the Alan Campos Dream Big Scholarship, an annual award for a fellow CSUN student. To ensure that the scholarship fund continues to grow, Campos has promised to donate $5 for every cracked screen he repairs at SCV iRepair, a successful small business that he owns in the Santa Clarita Valley that offers repair services for iPhones, iPods and other mobile Apple products. For more information about the Alan Campos Dream Big Scholarship or to contribute, contact Jerry De Felice, director of development for student affairs, at (818) 677-3935 or jd@csun.edu.

COMMUNITY COLLEGES/INNOVATIONS/PROGRAMS

Re-evaluating AP Courses On

by Frank DiMaria

the surface, high school Advanced Placement (AP) courses might seem to be a no-brainer for those high-performing high school students searching for a challenging academic environment and a fulfilling experience while earning college credits at a fraction of the cost of what they would pay when enrolled in college. The AP program, which is administered by the College Board, offers more than 30 courses and corresponding exams across multiple subject areas that are modeled on comparable college courses and align with collegelevel standards.

A challenging academic environment, college courses for a fraction of the cost, academic fulfillment? It almost sounds too good to be true. Well, to some, it is.

Many independent researchers – those not affiliated with the College Board – have been roundly critical of AP courses over the years. John Tierney is one of those critics, but with a unique perspective. As a former college professor and high school teacher, Tierney is one of only a few individuals in the country who’s been involved in AP at both the college and high school level. As a professor at Boston College, he sat on a committee that designed and wrote an AP American Government test. Later in his career, he actually taught that exact AP course at a high school in Massachusetts.

Despite its many critics, the College Board’s AP program is one of the fastest-growing in the U.S. Participation has more than doubled since 2001. In 2003-04, 1.1 million high school students participated in AP, taking 1.8 million exams. Just four years later, 1.6 million high schoolers participated, sitting for 2.7 million exams. This rapid expansion, Tierney feels, has led to a decline in the quality of AP courses. As the program grows, AP teachers move more slowly through each course, covering material more superficially.

There are two significant reasons for the program’s rapid expansion.

School districts encourage their students to enroll in AP courses because having large numbers of AP students looks good on paper. Today it’s not just America’s colleges that are ranked, so too are America’s high schools.

Some years ago, education writer Jay Matthews at Newsweek started the Challenge Index. Using a simple formula, this index ranks America’s high schools. Newsweek takes the total number of AP, International Baccalaureate or Cambridge (AICE) tests administered at a school each year and divides that by the number of seniors graduating. Newsweek ranks the school solely on this number.

“In my opinion, this is just an absurd exercise. I don’t know how anybody can presume to rank order America’s high schools in terms of quali-

ty,” says Tierney. “But high schools want to increase their standing in the rankings, so they push more kids to take AP classes.”

Like their schools, students also want a high ranking. Taking AP courses is one way students appear academically attractive to colleges. In 2009, the Thomas B. Fordham Institute surveyed about 1,025 high school AP teachers. Ninety percent believed that their students were taking AP courses to improve their chances of being accepted by a selective college.

As more students use this tactic, AP enrollment numbers surge. Tierney says in the Northeast, Middle Atlantic states and in America’s wealthier suburban schools and private schools, students are manic about getting into competitive colleges. “These kids all think that the only way they are going to succeed and be happy in life is if they get into only a small handful of schools. They know their chances of securing admission in those schools go up the more AP course they have on their record,” says Tierney.

The expansion in AP courses is also driven by state mandates.

California, for example, mandates state colleges and universities to automatically bump students’ GPAs up one point for an AP course, 3.0s become 4.0s on students’ transcripts. “I make the argument that one of the things wrong with the whole AP frenzy is that students who are in the know can game the system by packing their high school record with six, seven, eight AP courses knowing they are going to inflate their GPAs and make them look better for college admissions,” says Tierney.

Through mandates, some states even pay the $89 fee the College Board charges for an AP exam. “For some, [this fee] may be a hurdle to taking an AP course,” says Tierney. In those states in which the student is responsible for the exam fee, some of the neediest high school students might be precluded from taking AP courses. Despite rapidly growing AP enrollment, large percentages of minorities are essentially left out of the AP game. As a result, they find themselves at a competitive disadvantage in the college admissions process.

Although the College Board definitively reports that about two and a half million students take AP exams each year, it does not report the number of minority students who take AP courses. It does, however, track and report the number of students who do not take AP courses but are academically qualified to do so based on their PSAT scores. “What they are finding is that there are about half a million high school students being left out of AP classes for which they were deemed capable by their performance on the PSAT. Minority students are disproportionately affected,” says Tierney.

In general, participation in AP courses and honors-level courses are sharply skewed along socioeconomic and racial economic lines. Even within the same school, low-income and underrepresented minority stu-

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dents tend to be tracked into noncollege-prep classes and end up enrolling in AP courses at a much lower rate. Many inner-city schools don’t even offer a single AP course.

About 70 percent of Hispanics and 80 percent of African-Americans who could have performed well in an AP course based on their PSAT scores never had the chance to enroll in AP. “They lacked the opportunity, the encouragement, the motivation to participate,” says Tierney.

On a positive note, Hispanics have been outpacing all other minority groups in AP participation. They now represent about 16 percent of high school graduates, but they represent 15 percent of all AP exam takers. By contrast, African-Americans represent around 14 percent of high school graduates in America, but they represent only about 8 percent of AP exam takers. “So if you look at which minority students are taking AP courses, Hispanics are second only to Asians,” says Tierney.

He warns that although Hispanics are enrolling in AP courses at higher rates and their collective performance on the exams is strong, these numbers might be deceiving. The absolute number of students enrolling in AP courses is rising, so the percentage of Hispanic students relative to the total is not necessarily improving.

Tierney’s biggest criticism of the AP program is the courses themselves.

He says they provide only a broad survey of a subject area rather than the in-depth view a student gets in an actual college classroom. Tierney calls AP courses a forced march through a preordained subject, leaving no time for high school teachers to take students down some path of mutual interest.

The College Board’s broad outlines of AP courses, according to Tierney, are a mile wide and an inch deep. “In my AP class, which I taught for 10 years, I covered virtually every topic connected to American government and politics, what you would find in your typical American government college textbook. I covered every single topic in there,” says Tierney. The reason? He wanted to be certain to cover all the material that would likely be on the AP exam, an approach he would never take at the college level.

In each of his 25 years as a professor of American history, he taught a course that was essentially an introduction to American government.

During those 25 years, he never tried to cover everything about American government in that one course. Instead he would cover the salient topics while offering his students the clearest and best conceptual understanding of how politics works, how the government operates and how the different parts of the system connect. “I would take several days’ worth of lectures to make sure they understood key concepts that lead to a deeper understanding of political conflict, the framing of issues and that sort of thing,” says Tierney.

Although seat hours for a high school AP course far exceed those of a college course, the high school environment did not allow Tierney to teach in the same manner. He says there is not enough time in a high school setting to offer in-depth analysis in a high school AP course.

Another criticism of the AP program is the necessary diversion of resources to offer such a program. School districts must prepare their teachers for AP courses; some give their AP teachers a course remission.

Some AP courses are small compared to general college-prep classes. For every AP course a school offers, it must divert resources from another class, possibly putting other students’ academic futures in jeopardy. Often the students who are losing out by this diversion of resources are minority students who, for whatever reason, are not enrolled in AP courses. Tierney suggests that high schools tone down their enthusiasm for AP courses and improve all their courses. “One of the things that is insidious about AP courses is that they set up a two-tier system in a high school where the AP students think of themselves as academic elites and look down their noses

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“One of the things wrong

with the whole AP frenzy is that students who are in the know can game the system by packing their high school record with six, seven, eight AP courses knowing they are going to inflate their GPAs.” John Tierney, a former college professor and high school teacher

at everybody else. The other kids are conversely left thinking that somehow they are not up to snuff. In the scheme of things, I’d like to see schools make all their classes better,� says Tierney.

The majority of students grappling with AP courses care far less about taking rigorous courses than they do about collecting college credits to shorten their stay in college. A good strategy, but it does not always work.

Colleges are not accepting AP credits at the rate they used to. When the College Board first established the AP program in the 1950s, its goal was to offer high school students a more challenging experience with the added benefit of allowing them to bring college credits with them to a college or university. “You have students who have taken five AP courses – basically they have knocked off a semester of college tuition. That’s a considerable benefit. I’ve known students who have taken 10 AP courses. If they go to a college that accepts those courses in exchange for credits, they can knock a whole year off, if they choose to,� says Tierney.

As students shave off semesters of college through AP courses, they also shave profit from the school’s bottom line. From a business model standpoint, says Tierney, it doesn’t make sense for schools to continue to give college credits in exchange for AP courses. Schools are just not willing to give incoming freshmen credit and lose that revenue. Rather than offering students credit for AP courses, they are now only allowing students to opt out of an introductory course. “So if you took AP U.S. History in high school, when you get to college you don’t have to take the introductory American history class. You can move right into upper-division American history electives,� says Tierney.

Some of the more selective schools are not even allowing this. Many

find high school AP courses far less rigorous than advertised and ineffective at preparing students for upper-division courses. “The financial argument or the leg up advantage argument for taking AP courses is diminishing over time,� says Tierney.

As fewer colleges offer credit for completed AP courses, more students are losing the financial advantage that AP courses originally offered. The College Board, in contrast, is still reaping the financial benefits of administering the program, earning the majority of its revenue from its AP courses. “It’s easy to identify the cost bearers. They are the students and parents who pay for their own exam fees and the states who pick up the exam fees for everybody [in states that mandate this]. In some cases, the College Board will reduce or subsidize a fee for students who can show they have financial need,� says Tierney.

Although critical of the College Board, Tierney will give credit where it’s due. In the past two years, he says, the College Board has revised its curriculum and expectation for its AP Biology course, a course notorious for its broad range of content. It’s new course curriculum offers teachers more flexibility within the course and encourages them to devote time to labs and other teaching methods that engage students in a deeper understanding of the material. The next course the College Board will revamp is its U.S. History course. These are steps in the right direction, says Tierney.

Every year AP expands, the program grows increasingly rigid as more teachers become wed to the curriculum they have taught for years. “Changing it is going to be a challenge,� says Tierney.

BRONX COMMUNITY COLLEGE

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We offer all this and much more on our historic landmark campus.

BCC celebrates the designation of its campus as a National Historic Landmark.

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COMMUNITY COLLEGES/INNOVATIONS/PROGRAMS

Year Up Program Helping to Close the Opportunity Divide

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by Gary M. Stern ear Up, a New York-based nonprofit organization, reports that 70 percent of low-income high school graduates don’t have a path toward a livable wage or postsecondary education. Year Up is trying to fill that void. Its one-year intensive program consists of technical training and a corporate internship that can lead to jobs at companies such as General Electric and Bank of America, starting at $30,000 or more a year.

The program also connects with community colleges and provides college credits for its course work.

The mission of Year Up is to “close the opportunity divide,” explained Kailey Cartwright, deputy chief of staff of Year Up’s office in Boston, Mass.

Year Up provides the “access and skills to move up in the business world or advance in college,” she said. Providing minority urban young adults with the right training and guidance from supportive adults enables participants to become successful. “All these young people need is a boost up, not a handout,” said Cartwright.

involved 1,500 students annually and had offices in nine cities including Chicago, Washington, D.C., and Seattle. In the next five years, it’s looking to expand to training 2,500 students. Of its 2012 and 2013 graduating classes, 61 percent of its students were African-American; 19 percent, Hispanic; 5 percent, White; 5 percent, Asian-American; and 10 percent, other. The average age of a student was 21 years old, and 58 percent were male, and 42 percent were female.

Four month after graduating the program, 84 percent of its students nationally have full-time or part-time jobs or are pursuing full-time postsecondary education. Corporate sponsors too have been satisfied since 90 percent recommend it.

In the Boston office in 2012, 600 students applied for Year Up and 160 were accepted for the first cycle (students are accepted quarterly).

Because students must enroll in community college programs to receive credit, all applicants must possess a high school diploma or GED.

Gerald Chertavian, a Harvard Business School graduate, sold Conduit Communication, the software company that he co-founded, for multimillions in 1999 and launched Year Up in 2000. Chertavian had participated in the Big Brothers Big Sisters program. His fondness for his little brother David Heredia, who lived in the projects in Lower Manhattan, inspired him to start Year Up, of which he is now CEO. He saw that Heredia was intelligent and talented but needed some structure and a better network to succeed.

Starting slowly in 2001, Year Up helped 22 students. By 2011, it

Year Up is seeking students who are motivated and have some direction toward a career. Students must write an essay, submit a résumé and fill out an application. Applicants are interviewed initially by a Year Up recruiter and then participate in a group interview, where they’re screened for how they interact with a group. They also take an academic test to ensure that they have basic skills since Year Up doesn’t provide remedial courses.

“The ideal Year Up student is ready to push themselves outside of their comfort zone. They should have clear goals in mind that they want to enter the financial industry or work in a tech department,” Cartwright said.

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Once the program begins, Year Up participants are paid $570 a month for the first six months of training, and during their internship when their hours increase, payment rises to $600.

But to earn that money and stay enrolled in the program, participants sign a contract agreeing to operate within the guidelines. For example, students must be on time, dress professionally and stay off their cell phones during class. Students are given an overall score of 200 points, which amounts to $200, and then points are deducted and money withdrawn from their salaries for any infraction. If a student is late to class and lets the teacher know, he or she loses 15 points or $15. If the lateness is unannounced, it will mean 25 points or $25. If a student’s score hits 100 points, the student and advisor agree on an amendment plan to change the student’s behavior and address the problems. If a student’s score hits zero, it’s the equivalent of opting out of the program or being fired.

During the first six months of the programs, students study Introduction to Technology, which covers a variety of computer programs such as Microsoft Office Suite, Outlook and PowerPoint. Students also take business communication, which includes writing skills, drafting a résumé, performing an elevator pitch, dressing professionally and making a presentation.

But training goes beyond textbook or technical learning. Mastering time management, how to organize one’s time, is critical to succeeding at most jobs and careers.

“Students are trained how to look a person in the eye, give a firm handshake when meeting someone. That can make a huge difference in the business world,” Cartwright said.

Year Up students are also encouraged to collaborate with a professional mentor at companies such as State Street or Bank of America, which provides invaluable learning. It also connects students having academic problems with tutors.

After the first cycle of classes, students opt for one of two tracks: information technology, which trains student for help desk jobs, or financial operations, which leads them to internships at financial service companies in jobs such as fund accountants or client support.

Students spend six months at their internships but return to Year Up for classes one day on Professional Education Planning. During that class, they discuss any issues arising at their internship and plan their next career move. About 20 percent to 30 percent of students are hired for a full-time position at their internship, so most must plan their next career move.

For the most part, obtaining a job is based on the student’s self-initiative; Year Up can’t do it for them. “We get the ball rolling, have a list of employers who hire and help students update their résumé,” Cartwright said.

Every student who is enrolled at Year Up is also accepted by a participating college, mostly community colleges, though some are four-year. In Boston, it was Cambridge College, a private two-year community college.

And in the future, students will study at Bunker Hill Community College, which is public. Students earn from 18 to 23 credits at Community College of Rhode Island and City Colleges of Chicago. Year Up students have access to all the community college’s facilities.

For example, Year Up’s alliance with Northern Virginia Community College in Springfield, Va., is in its fourth year, said college president Robert Templin. “We refer to this initiative as a boundary-crossing strategy.

We can’t do a job with the population we’re targeting unless we work with other organizations that do a better job than we do,” he said.

Northern Virginia’s deans and faculty review Year Up’s programs to ensure it meets academic requirements. Year Up’s trainers are considered

adjunct faculty. The college offers certificates in IT technical support and network administration, which mirrors Year Up’s curriculum.

Templin said initially about 20 percent of Year Up students advanced to earn associate degrees. But now the college has designated a counselor to work with Year Up students, and Templin expects that number to rise to 50 percent in the future. “Year Up helps kids who had no future, lifts them out of poverty and gives them marketable skills. But they need an associate degree to move on,” he said.

Students who pass classes at Year Up in the Boston office receive 15 credits for the first six months of courses and three credits for their internship – 18 credits total. That provides them with a head start in obtaining

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their associate degree and continuing their postsecondary education.

Founder Chertavian described community colleges as “the mechanism that creates pathways to get young people into the economy.”

Since most Year Up graduates attend community colleges part time while working, it takes them a minimum of three years to earn their associate degree. Of its alumni polled in 2011, 67 percent of them pursued postsecondary education, but only 2 percent have earned associate degrees, and only 3 percent have earned four-year degrees. Cartwright says those numbers will rise, and Year Up is making a concerted effort to help students graduate with a degree. But most students concentrate on earning money and starting their career.

Angeila Hughes, a supervisor at BNY Mellon, an investment management firm in Boston, has worked with Year Up interns since 2003. Year Up “provides us a chance to train and get to know potential employees before making a decision to hire them,” she said. Interns provide client support for automated global and domestic security trades, foreign exchange and cash transfers. “My experience has been very positive. Sometimes I don’t have an available position to offer a student who is a perfect fit for the team,” she said.

Year Up operates on a $50 million annual budget, and it costs about $25,000 to train each student. Its $50 million budget stems from companies paying internship fees, 37 percent; from individual donations, 25 percent; from foundation, 23 percent; and the remainder from public and corporate funding.

But that money invested is transforming the lives of young people like Flor Valencia, native of El Salvador who graduated from East Boston High

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School in 2010. She wanted to attend college but didn’t qualify for financial aid and was languishing in a sales job at PCX clothing store, coming to work in sweatpants. When her sister who graduated from Year Up told her the program paid her and didn’t require financial aid, she applied.

After she was accepted and signed the Year Up contract, Valencia admitted that she didn’t know if she was capable of living up to the creed.

“Everything was new such as dressing professionally. It seemed so hard,” she said. But the staff encouraged and guided her, particularly her mentor Sue Meehan who is chief operating officer of Year Up. The business class taught her how to write e-mails, handle business etiquette and improve her writing. In her technical class, she learned how to reconfigure a computer and solve desktop problems. During her internship at Wellington Management, a financial services company, she provided computer desk support. She was hired by the city of Boston as a help desk technician. She started as an independent contractor but was named a fulltime employee in 2012.

Valencia helps Boston’s employees log on when they’re having problems and deal with error messages. She reconfigures their computer if something is awry. Most of all, she enjoys “helping people solve problems.”

At night, she’s studying for an associate degree in information technology at Bunker Hill Community College. She needs only 18 credits to earn her degree and then plans to apply to the University of MassachusettsBoston. Her goal is to become a help desk manager.

“Year Up,” she said, “has changed my life completely. It helped me reach my potential that I didn’t even know I had. Now people look up to me,” she said.

Interesting Reads Americans By Heart: Undocumented Latino Students and the Promise of Higher Education

By William Pérez This book examines the plight of undocumented Latino students as they navigate the educational and legal challenges presented by their immigration status. Many of these students are accepted to attend some of our best colleges and universities but cannot afford the tuition to do so because they are not eligible for financial aid or employment. This account brings to light the hard work and perseverance of these students and their families, their commitment to education and civic participation, and their deep sense of uncertainty and marginality.

2011. 208 pgs. ISBN: 978-0807752838 $32.95 paper. Teachers College Press, New York, N.Y., 800-575-6566. www.tcpress.org

New Narratives: Stories and Storytelling in the Digital Age Ruth Page (Editor), Bronwen Thomas (Editor) New electronic modes of storytelling have demanded a rapid and radical rethinking of narrative theory. This volume considers the relationship between digital technology and narrative theory in the face of the changing landscape of computer-mediated communication. New Narratives reflects the diversity of its subject by bringing together some of the foremost practitioners and theorists of digital narratives. New Narratives focuses on how the tools provided by new technologies might be harnessed to provide new ways of both producing and theorizing narrative.

2011. 296 pgs. ISBN: 978-0803217867. $40.00, paper. University of Nebraska Press. (402) - 472-3581. www.nebraskapress.unl.edu.

Space of Detention: The Making of a Transnational Gang Crisis Between Los Angeles and San Salvador

By Elana Zilberg The author follows Salvadoran immigrants raised in Los Angeles, who identify as – or are alleged to be – gang members and who are deported back to El Salvador after their incarceration in the United States. Analyzing zero-tolerance gang-abatement strategies in both countries, Zilberg shows that these measures help to produce the very transnational violence and undocumented migration that they are intended to suppress. She argues that the contemporary fixation with Latino immigrant and Salvadoran street gangs must also be understood in relation to the longer history of U.S. involvement in Central America.

2011. 360 pgs. ISBN: 978-0822347309. $24.95, paper. Duke University Press Books, (919) 688-5134. www.dukeupress.edu.

The Wrong Kind of Different: Challenging the Meaning of Diversity in American Classrooms

by Antonia Randolph 2012. 144 pgs. ISBN: 978-0-8077-5384-2. $34.95, paper. Teachers College Press, New York, NY, www.tcpress.com. 800-575 6566.

It’s

clear that this was a difficult book to write because of the complexity of the subject matter. The ideal of diversity in education is a sacred concept that people point to as proof that society has evolved. It’s a symbol of the ideal of color blindness in our schools.

Author Antonia Randolph pushes back on these institutional standards by pointing out what she says are uncomfortable truths about the lack of progress certain minorities have made under the guise of diversity.

The author opens the book with a comparison to the 1950s. At that time, White teachers viewed multiculturalism as a problem to be solved.

The mindset then was that students needed to adapt and assimilate to create a more homogeneous classroom and atmosphere. During that same time, Black teachers who operated in primarily minority schools celebrated the Black identity, considering it a sacred trust and duty to teach in a mostly racially segregated school.

Flash forward to the 21st century. White teachers in multiracial schools now consider diversity a plus in the classroom. Having different cultures represented in the school makes for a better school environment, they say.

The Black teacher, at a primarily Black school, now sees the lack of diversity as a burden, a problem that needs to be addressed, she says. On the surface, that seems to be moving the public conversation in a positive direction, but what the author points out is that lip service to the idea of diversity does little to address how to treat different races and ethnic groups in the classroom. And worse, the term “diversity” is used as a panacea to “paper over” still-existent barriers and problems minorities experience in schools. She calls it the unintended consequences of a kind of “colorblind multiculturalism.”

Randolph, who is an assistant professor in the Department of Sociology and Criminal Justice at the University of Delaware, conducted interviews with school officials and personnel in a “large Midwestern district” about how multiculturalism has impacted their schools. What she says she learned was that there is a trend to favor certain poor immigrant minorities to the exclusion of their school’s poor Black students. In addition, she says she discovered how some teachers distinguish their support for certain forms of student diversity from curriculum diversity, such as accommodating bilingual education. Social justice and equity have been brushed aside, she asserts, in favor of being proudly cloaked in diversity. Teachers, she explains, see diversity as a “good” thing as long as it doesn’t inconvenience them or lower their schools’ scores on standardized tests. She also notes that some immigrant children receive favorable treatment sanctioned by multicultural ideology and practice while many AfricanAmerican students and schools suffer racial penalties for being “the wrong kind of different.”

While the topics and arguments are provocative, the author has presented them in a thoughtful way and deserves credit for bringing them to light – whether you agree or disagree with her conclusions.

Reviewed by Mary Ann Cooper

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Community College Certificates

TARGETING HIGHER EDUCATION

In

by Gustavo A. Mellander the early 1900s, William Rainey Harper was president of the University of Chicago. By all accounts, he was a brilliant administrator who helped lead the university to many academic achievements.

He was determined and quite outspoken on a variety of topics, and although I dislike the term, he was truly an “innovator.”

In a strange sort of way, he became the father of the nation’s modern community colleges. He wasn’t an admiring father. In fact, he was disdainful. He felt and publicly stated numerous times that his university faculty were wasting their time teaching and dealing with freshmen and sophomore students.

If he could only get “those students” off his campus, he could fashion his university to reach its highest academic potential. With them gone, he could provide superior upper-level courses and graduate education. Let others teach the yet-to-be-washed and undisciplined hoi polloi.

So thanks to Harper’s unfailing encouragement and efforts, the nation’s first junior college was established in 1901 in Joliet, Ill. It started with six students, and today it serves over 35,000.

It really was a junior college for it only offered the first two years of college work with the intention that its graduates would transfer upon graduation. There were no public service courses, no developmental classes and most assuredly no vocational education. Junior colleges would not serve the local community; their role was to prepare students to transfer to senior colleges and universities.

The experiment worked, and similar institutions sprung up. After World War II, their numbers and mission expanded dramatically. Today there are some 1,200 community colleges nationwide.

They are a far cry from the early junior colleges. Most of them still offer the first two years of transfer college-level courses. But they now are communityoriented service institutions offering a dizzying variety of programs and courses.

Many of today’s university graduates began their academic careers at their local community college. They include hundreds of thousands of medical doctors, nurses, Ph.D.s, lawyers, teachers, architects, engineers, professors and virtually every other professional one can imagine.

Thousands of them are nationally prominent.

Hispanics and Community Colleges These institutions have been by far the most utilized pathway for Hispanics to enter higher education. They are invariably situated close to residences or workplaces. They are reasonably priced, well-equipped to meet the needs of emerging students and staffed by competent and caring faculty and administrators.

As mentioned, most of the 1,200 community colleges still offer transfer curricula now dubbed Associate in Arts and Associate in Science programs.

Most four-year colleges now accept those transfer students. But at the beginning, many four-year institutions were reluctant to grant transferees full credit for all their courses. It was a bit ludicrous at times, but in the fullness of time, the “senior” institutions embraced community college students.

Many reasons exist for the change of heart. First, the transferees did well. In fact, at many institutions, they were more successful as juniors

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than students who had started at the university as freshmen. Secondly, as university administrators found their freshman and sophomore classes decimated, they needed a way to secure more juniors and seniors to fill the classrooms and make up the lost revenue. Bluntly put, there were economic advantages to accepting community college graduates.

Accommodations and relationships have been developed by such avenues as shared and jointly created curricula, parental and institutional advocacy, joint faculty appointments and the fostering of personal interactions. But in many states, it took legislative action to legitimize, not to say force, the acceptance of community college education.

So the road was a bumpy one. Universities were quick to feel and, worse yet, act smugly superior. Virtually every innovation, and there were many, devised by community colleges were scorned and ridiculed, even though universities had similar programs. An example being that while Ivy League colleges openly offered “Bone Head” English classes for those students needing assistance, they sneered at the remedial, later dubbed developmental, courses created at community colleges. Community colleges early on trained a cadre of student-oriented counselors to help students, usually the first in their families to go to college, to adjust to and succeed in college. That idea was scorned by universities who held on to their “swim or sink” mentality.

If I were to write 10 columns, I still couldn’t begin to describe all the other new higher education ideas developed by community colleges.

Suffice to say, most of them succeeded. And in the last 20 years, we have seen many of them widely adopted by universities.

Certificate Programs One of the innovations that community colleges pioneered is certificate programs. They were at first ridiculed by many in higher education. Some still do. But recently, a prestigious university studied certificates and published a booklet lauding them.

Georgetown University’s Center on Education and the Workforce issued a 68-page study, Certificates: Gateway to Gainful Employment and College Degrees by Anthony P. Carnevale, Stephen J. Rose and Andrew R. Hanson.

What are certificates, and do they fill a postsecondary need?

As the authors explained in their introduction, they undertook this report to help advance the discussion and understanding of certificates and their value. We believe that certificates will continue to grow in our nation’s higher education system in the coming years. Because of the controversy surrounding certificates and the institutions that award them, we believe that efforts to contribute to transparency about their effects are essential.

What and Why? Certificates are earned by completing a course of study in a specific field. They exist mainly in public, two-year schools, although they can also be found in other institutions. They are invariably vocationally oriented and specifically created to train students to qualify for particular positions.

Certificates differ from other kinds of labor market credentials and are not industry-based certifications. The essential difference between a certificate and industry-based certification is that the college certificates are earned through classroom-based education while industry-based certifications are awarded based on performance on a test, irrespective of where the learning might have occurred.

College certificates resemble degrees and are typically classified by the amount of time a program is designed to complete.

Explosion The number of certificates awarded has increased more than 800 percent over the past 30 years. “In 1984, less than 2 percent of adults 18 and older had a certificate as their highest educational attainment; by 2009, the percentage had grown to almost 12 percent. ...”

• 24 percent of all 23- to 65-year-old workers have attended a vocational, technical, trade or business program beyond high school at some point • 75 percent of those who attended these schools earned a certificate Overall, 18 percent of prime-age workers have earned certificates, and of those, 12 percent have certificates as their highest educational attainment.

It is encouraging to note that on the average, certificate holders earn 20 percent more than high school graduates without any postsecondary education. So the effort invested in earning a certificate has a rapid and substantial benefit.

Of course, economic returns vary according to the certificate’s field of study and whether the certificate holder works in the field for which they trained. And as usual, such factors as the certificate holder’s sex, race and ethnicity are important determinants as well.

The Georgetown University study notes that 44 percent of certificate holders work in field and earn 37 percent more than those who work out of field.

Clearly selecting employment in the field for which you were trained has definite tangible benefits. Interestingly, on average, a certificate holder who works in field earns nearly as much as the median associate degree holder, only 4 percent less.

On the other hand, the median certificate holder who works out of field earns only 1 percent more than a high school-educated worker.

What does this tell us?

Two obvious points jump out. First, certificate attainment is most useful when certificate holders are able to work “in field” (in the field for which they trained).

Second, it is advisable for institutions to foster good in-field placement contacts for their graduates. It will positively affect their graduates’ success in securing gainful employment.

The issue also raises the continuing conundrum – are colleges training people for jobs that do not exist? For years, many have contended that graduate schools are certainly doing that. Further, does that practice exist at all levels of higher education?

An Intriguing Twist The study also states that among engaged policymakers and practitioners, a growing consensus has emerged that certificates requiring less than one year of study have little economic value. The fact that they have taken the time to study this issue is refreshing and perhaps should be emulated by others in higher education.

The authors of this report are very thorough and balanced. Having just made that assertion, they challenge it. They state that the evidence and conclusions reached about “less-than-a-year” certificates might be skewed if not overstated. They point out that low earnings returns from short-term certificates come about largely because of the prevalence of health care certificates.

Further the relatively low earnings returns are highly concentrated among women in heath care professions – which have historically been dubbed “pink collar” workers. That group has long been underpaid and marginalized.

Many Hispanic women enter short-term allied health certificate programs. They could easily fall into low-paying positions and thus should be counseled accordingly.

Back to certificates, if we remove health care positions, the relationship between length of program and earnings largely evaporates.

Sex and occupational-field variables seem to explain better the differences in earnings among certificate holders. Many other short-term certificates, such as police and protective services as well as computer and information services, have average earnings.

Clearly, a certificate holder’s field of study influences earnings. It’s higher if they work in the occupation for which they were trained and lower if they don’t.

So which fields pay the most?

Years ago, I was a college president in Silicon Valley. It was at the beginning of the computer revolution that has since morphed into diverse variations and other areas. Career opportunities continue to grow, and they are well-paid.

Today men with certificates in computer and information services can earn $72,498 per year, which is more than 72 percent of what men with an associate degree earn and 54 percent of what men with a bachelor’s degree earn.

Women with certificates in this field can earn $56,664 annually, which is greater than 75 percent of what women with an associate degree and 64 percent of what women with a bachelor’s degree earn.

In electronics, men earn $64,700, more than 65 percent of what men with an associate degree and 48 percent of what men with a bachelor’s degree earn.

In business and office management, women earn $38,204, which is more than 54 percent of what women with an associate degree and 41 percent of what women with a bachelor’s degree earn.

Finally and quite interestingly, one-third of certificate holders also earned associate, bachelor’s or graduate degrees. For some, certificates were their first ventures into postsecondary education. For others, some seek certificates after earning academic degrees to enhance their employment opportunities. In fact, underemployed Ph.D.s have enrolled in community colleges to earn certificates to secure better employment opportunities.

Thus those counseling Hispanic high school students who are not able to go directly to college might help them by suggesting they pursue a certificate program first, thereby qualifying for a good-paying job. They can then continue their education in the evening. It is yet another pathway to higher education.

Dr. Mellander was a university dean for 15 years and a college president for another 15.

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COMMUNITY COLLEGES/REPORTS

Courses in the Way of Community College Completion

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by Angela Provitera McGlynn ommunity College Research Center (CCRC) recently published Not Just Math and English: Courses That Pose Obstacles to Community College Completion (CCRC Working Paper No. 52, November 2012).

The authors of the paper, Mathew Zeidenberg and Davis Jenkins from CCRC and Marc A. Scott from New York University, have added to our knowledge of gatekeeper courses and helped to explain why so many community college students don’t complete their degrees.

For quite some time, research has shown that college-level math and English courses have been obstacles in the way of community college student success. Since these courses are required for graduation and they have high failure rates, it is no wonder there has been an emphasis on remediation in these disciplines, and rightly so.

The basic finding of this new CCRC paper is that there is a much broader range of courses that also serve as gatekeepers that interfere with academic success, retention and degree completion. The researchers suggest methods colleges could use to identify these courses and then measure the extent each of them poses to college completion if students fail to pass them. Zeidenberg et al. compared student performance in certain courses and then analyzed data showing which students successfully completed a degree and which ones did not.

Another interesting finding is that GPA, grade point average, is a stronger predictor of college completion than performance in any one particular course. The implications of this finding are particularly relevant for improving retention and completion for community college students.

Colleges should monitor students’ overall academic performance to identify those at risk for noncompletion. Once those high-risk students have been identified, community colleges should design academic and nonacademic interventions to promote their retention and eventual academic success.

Another implication of the GPA data is that colleges should also keep track of students who did well in the gatekeeper courses but still dropped out of college. Again, intrusive advisement comes into play – colleges should track those students after they have left, discover their reasons for leaving, and encourage them to come back to college.

The finding that there are additional gatekeeper courses beyond mathematics and English suggests that college remediation should go beyond offering developmental courses only in those subjects and broaden support services in other disciplines where students struggle.

As the authors point out, “... because completing college requires much more than simply completing developmental instruction and passing college-level math and English, a focus on these courses is necessary but not sufficient. There are a wide variety of courses that a student must successfully complete in order to earn a credential. Some of these are introductory courses in particular fields such as business, nursing or science.

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As with entry-level math and English, such introductory courses tend to enroll large numbers of students. Failure rates in many of these courses are high, suggesting that they too may serve as significant obstacles to completion.”

In the tradition of implementing completion strategies based on datadriven evidence, the authors of this paper offer methods colleges can use to identify and assess courses that often serve as the obstacles keeping community college students from earning their degrees. Colleges would then be able to allocate resources to promote student success in these other gatekeeper courses.

The goal would be to use such information about student performance to provide assistance to those struggling students before they leave college.

Since these courses appear to be important milestones towards degree completion, the authors suggest that colleges may be able to improve their overall graduation rates by helping students overcome the impediments that stand in their way of academic success.

Although the data presented in this paper shows that completers of community college degrees generally have higher grades and GPAs than those students who leave college, there are substantial numbers of noncompleters who have good grades and yet they drop out. Colleges could improve their outreach to such students to get them back into college and on the path to a credential or degree. In addition to improving outreach to students who have left, colleges could improve both their academic and nonacademic services such as tutoring and counseling, thus reducing the numbers of students who leave without earning a degree.

Prior research concentrated on math and English solely as predictors of college completion. Various reviews of the literature from 2006 on (including McClenney and Marti’s 2006 study showing the relationship between student engagement and community college completion) rely on math and English data.

Dougherty, Hare and Natow (2009) reviewed accountability systems used by states to measure college outcomes and performance improvement models. They, too, noted that completion of developmental courses and college-level math and English courses were often used as benchmarks; broader measures of student learning were not often taken into account.

The Achieving the Dream (ACD) initiative is a national nonprofit organization dedicated to helping more community college students succeed, particularly low-income and minority students. The ACD initiative measures student progress in order to engage in a continuous improvement process at community colleges. The ACD initiative also encourages colleges to use student performance in gatekeeper math and English as one of the primary metrics of improvement and of student progress on their journey towards a degree.

The focus on these math and English gatekeeper courses has led to a number of suggestions on how to improve student retention and completion. Here are some of the findings to improve student performance: • Address students’ fear of failure • Require students to enroll in college-level gatekeeper math and English while still in high school • To improve math performance, ensure precollege preparation, peer culture, classroom culture, and instructional methodology and style • Use contextualization, that is, teach math and English in the context of other subjects such as nursing or business so that students are more engaged and interested in application Zeidenberg and his co-authors believe that these and similar ideas could be used to address other courses apart from math and English that prevent students from earning a degree. Their study contributes to the retention research by using differences in grades between students who complete frequently taken courses and noncompleters so as to identify courses that serve as barriers to degree completion, which they refer to as “obstacle courses,” that go beyond math and English “gatekeeper” courses.

The researchers used a sophisticated methodology involving: • Comparing course performance of completers and noncompleters in order to identify obstacle courses overall and in several popular degree programs among community college students in a given state • Conducting a series of analyses of grades in obstacle courses to determine how much better completers do in those courses than do noncompleters • Comparing the relationships between earning a credential or community college degree and the grades in pairs of courses, where one of the courses is a gatekeeper math or English class and the other is another obstacle course. The purpose of this assessment is to see which courses outside of math and English are obstacles to completion relative to math and English • Using propensity score models to analyze the relationship between first-semester performance in particular obstacle courses and earning a community college degree or credential • Examining the correlation between student GPA and community college completion – it stands to reason that GPA is more strongly correlated with college completion than any other factor since higher GPAs mean that students are able to do well in multiple courses at the same time and is thus a significant predictor of college success The implication of the GPA finding is clear: community colleges – faculty, staff and administration – need to monitor students’ GPAs in their early semesters, especially given that most students who don’t complete degrees leave college during the first year.

Zeidenberg et al. have found that math and English are not the only obstacles for community college students journeying towards a degree, and in fact, they present no greater impediment to completion than the other obstacle courses they identified in their research. Although varying somewhat by program, other introductory college-level courses also serve to keep students from reaching their completion goals.

This paper does not examine the question of whether or not math and English courses are somehow more fundamental to success in other college courses as some have argued. What their findings do show is that while the correlation between success in introductory math and English and college completion is a strong one, it is no stronger than the relationship between completion and the other obstacle courses this paper identified.

The CCRC report, Not Just Math and English, notes that their findings make sense because a particular student’s grades in various courses tend to be correlated with one another. The researchers make an important

point: “... Grade differences between students are not the ultimate cause of success; rather, grades are simply reflections of student attributes and behavior. A grade in any given course, whether it be math, English, psychology, biology or history, is likely to reflect a student’s motivation, amount of time he or she invests in school, mastery of learning strategies, ability to multitask, overall time management skills, and his or her level of prior learning, among other attributes. In a sense, the grade in any given course may be a proxy for these other things, which may be more fundamental to success than the acquisition of knowledge and skills. It is therefore not surprising that we found overall GPA to be an even better predictor of completion than grades earned in individual courses, since it measures a student’s ability to apply these qualities and skills in multiple courses.”

The recommendations aimed at improving degree and credential completion that follow from the findings of this report summarized in a nutshell are that community colleges should do the following: 1) Monitor student performance in a broader set of courses beyond math and English. Colleges can use the report’s methods to identify obstacle courses, track the students who are struggling in them, and offer support to help get them back on the completion path before they leave the college.

2) Monitor performance of students in obstacle courses who did well and yet dropped out anyway. Reach out to these students to try to get them back to the institution and on the path to completion. These students have already proven they can do college-level work. They are a group that needs special attention to increase graduation rates.

3) Widen the focus of college remedial/developmental instruction beyond math and English.

4) Implement more student success courses that promote both academic and nonacademic skills.

5) Broaden student services in both nonacademic and academic support arenas such as counseling and tutoring.

The CCRC Report is a valuable contribution to our understanding of retention and graduation rates issues at the community college level. For more information on the report, please consult: http://ccrc.tc.columbia. edu/Publication.asp?UID=1155.

Angela Provitera McGlynn, professor emeritus of psychology, is an international consultant/presenter on teaching, learning and diversity issues and the author of several related books.

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Miami Dade College Our numbers say it all...

Enrollment Facts: • Miami Dade College (MDC) enrolls more Hispanic students than any other college or university.

• More than 100,000 Hispanic students each year enroll at MDC. • 71% of MDC’s student body is Hispanic.

• 52% of the Hispanic graduates from Miami-Dade County public high schools enroll at MDC immediately after graduation.

• Retention rates are highest for Hispanic students at MDC – 67% of new Hispanic students return the following fall term.

Graduation Facts: • MDC is #1 in the nation in awarding associate degrees to Hispanic students.

• Almost 8,000 Hispanic students earned a degree or certificate from MDC in the last academic year.

More than 174,000 students | Nearly 2 million alumni | 8 campuses | More than 300 academic programs | Numerous baccalaureate degrees

www.mdc.edu www.mdc.edu 305-237-8888 305-237-8888 32

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Associate Professor or Professor and Chair Department of Secondary and Middle School Education William Paterson University invites applications for the position of Associate Professor or Professor and Chair, Department of Secondary and Middle School Education, effective September 1, 2013. This position is a tenure track faculty position with some teaching obligations and with the responsibility to provide academic and administrative leadership for the department. Reporting to the Dean of the College of Education, the Chair provides appropriate leadership for the advancement of academic excellence and the effective functioning of the department, which includes the implementation of university, college and department policies and plans. Department chairpersons are appointed to serve three-year terms and may be reappointed based on the recommendation of the faculty to the President or his/her designee. This is a 10-month faculty appointment, with additional compensation for summer department chair responsibilities.

Candidates must hold a doctorate in Curriculum and Instruction or a related area of expertise and must meet requirements for appointment at the rank of associate professor or professor. Teaching experience in higher education is required, and K-12 teaching experience is highly desirable. Candidates should have a demonstrated commitment to excellence in teaching and the ability to teach in subject-field content methods courses for preparation of teachers in middle or secondary education. The successful candidate must be committed to a leadership style that is inclusive, creative, and collaborative.

Additional required qualifications include: administrative experience at the level of department chair, program director, or coordinator and experience with NCATE or TEAC accreditation.

The Chair retains all the rights and privileges of a faculty member as contained in the statewide collective bargaining agreement. Rank and salary are dependent upon education and experience. For further details on the roles and responsibilities for this position, please see the following link: http://www.wpunj.edu/human-resources/faculty-andprofessional-staff-handbook/roles-and-responsibilities-department-chairperson.dot Candidates should send a letter of application, current curriculum vitae and contact information for at least three professional references to Dorothy Feola, Associate Dean, College of Education at feolad@wpunj.edu (electronic submission preferred) or via mail to William Paterson University, 300 Pompton Road, Wayne, NJ 07470.

William Paterson University of New Jersey is a comprehensive public institution of higher learning. The university offers more than 250 undergraduate and graduate academic programs which range from liberal arts and sciences to pre-professional and professional programs. It enrolls over 11,500 students from across the country and from over 40 nations. It is situated on a beautiful suburban campus in Wayne, New Jersey, twenty miles west of New York City. For further information please see the following link: http://www.wpunj.edu.

William Paterson University is an equal opportunity employer committed to diversity.

Women, minorities, and members of under-represented groups are encouraged to apply.

William Paterson University Wayne, New Jersey

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HispanicOutlook com Employment

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Opportunity Postings Tel. 201-587-8800 ext.

102/106

Thaddeus Stevens College of Technology announces a Fall 2013 opening for a full-time, tenure track, nine month faculty position in Electrical Technology. Faculty work load includes teaching 22 contact hours per week, holding three office hours per week, and participating in college professional activities.

Minimum requirements include an associate degree in Electrical Technology (or a closely related field), with an obligation to complete an appropriate baccalaureate degree within five years of employment. The candidate must also possess a minimum of five current years of commercial/industrial electrical work experience, a solid understanding of the modern industrial electrical industry, and be familiar with the mission of Thaddeus Stevens College of Technology.

Application materials must include a cover letter, a current resume, and academic transcripts. Send applications to Sue Emswiler, HR Department, Thaddeus Stevens College of Technology, 750 East King Street, Lancaster, PA 17602. For best consideration, materials should be submitted by April 1, 2013.

Assistant Professor - Tenure Track The Family and Child Development Program at Texas State University seeks applications for a tenure track position. Applicants should hold an earned Ph.D. in FCD or a closely related field.

Teaching experience at the college level; ability to work with a diverse student population; a record of or the potential for research and publication in the top journals in the discipline are required qualifications. For the full announcement, go to: www.hr.txstate.edu Application Procedures Review of applications will begin on March 15, 2013 and will continue until the position is filled.

Interested applicants should submit a faculty employment application, cover letter, curriculum vitae, a letter of intent describing experience and fit with the position, and three references including phone numbers and email addresses. Application materials can be sent either electronically addressed to the: Chair - FCD Search Committee at fcs@txstate.edu or by mail to: Chair - FCD Search Committee Family and Child Development Program School of Family & Consumer Sciences Texas State University-San Marcos 601 University Drive San Marcos, TX 78666

03/18/2013

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College Associate Dean for Planning and Institutional Effectiveness

Suffolk County Community College seeks highly qualified candidates for the role of College Associate Dean for Planning and Institutional Effectiveness. The College Associate Dean provides college-wide leadership within the areas of functional responsibility outlined in the position description and communicates, as a college administrative team member, with a wide range of academic and student affairs personnel. The College Associate Dean has managerial, supervisory and evaluative responsibilities for respective personnel of the Planning and Institutional Effectiveness function. Annual performance review of College Associate Dean will be conducted by the Vice President for Planning and Institutional Effectiveness on or before June 30 of each year. For the full position profile, please go to:

http://www.sunysuffolk.edu/About/Employment.asp?id=522

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College Director of Development - Alumni Affairs Suffolk County Community College seeks highly qualified candidates for the role of College Director of Development - Alumni Affairs. The College Director of Development - Alumni Affairs will implement and promote alumni and retiree programs that support the College and Foundation's strategic and development plan, as well as the goals of any major gift campaign, in collaboration with colleagues within the Foundation, the President's Office and throughout the campuses. For the full position profile, please go to:

http://www.sunysuffolk.edu/About/Employment.asp?id=532

03/18/2013

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The

University of South Florida System is a high-impact, global research system dedicated to student success. The USF System includes three institutions: USF Tampa; USF St. Petersburg; and USF Sarasota-Manatee. The institutions are separately accredited by the Commission on Colleges of the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools. All institutions have distinct missions and strategic plans. Serving more than 47,000 students, the USF System has an annual budget of $1.5 billion and an annual economic impact of $3.7 billion. USF is a member of the Big East Athletic Conference.

Administrative and Executive Positions: Director of Development (Advancement) Sr. Director of Development-COB (Advancement) Director of Quality Enhancement-Academic Success (St. Petersburg Campus) Director (Associate Director-Alumni) Advancement Sr. Director of Development (Advancement) Regional Chancellor (St. Petersburg Campus) Director of Clinical Affairs (College of Medicine) Faculty Positions: College of Arts and Sciences College of Education Assistant Professor (10) Dean (1) Assistant/Associate Professor (3) Assistant/Associate/Full Professor (2) Associate Professor/Professor (1) College of Business Assistant Professor (1)

College of Engineering Open Rank (Full Professor) (2) Assistant Professor (1) Open Rank (Full/Associate/Assistant) (2)

College of Arts Assistant Professor (2) Director & Professor (1)

St. Petersburg Campus Assistant Professor (5)

College of Public Health Assistant Professor (2)

Sarasota Campus Assistant Professor (2)

College of Medicine Assistant/Associate Professor (10) Assistant Professor (11) Assistant/Associate/Full Professor (5)

College of Nursing Nursing Faculty (2) Assistant/Associate Professor (1)

Mental Health Law & Policy Assistant Professor (2) Professor (1)

Coll. of Behavioral and Comm. Sciences Professor (1) Assistant Professor (2) Associate/Full Professor (1)

Behavioral Sciences Assistant Dean (1) For a job description on the above listed positions including department, disciple and deadline dates: (1) visit our Careers@USF Web site at https://employment.usf.edu/applicants/ jsp/shared/Welcome_css.jsp; or (2) contact The Office of Diversity and Equal Opportunity, (813) 974-4373; or (3) call USF job line at 813.974.2879.

USF is an equal opportunity/equal access/affirmative action institution, committed to excellence through diversity in education and employment. www.usf.edu â&#x20AC;˘ 4202 E. Fowler Ave,Tampa, FL 33620

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ADVERTISING INDEX POSITIONS CALIFORNIA

California State University, Long Beach California State University, San Bernardino South Orange County Community College District

39 33 37

DELAWARE

University of Delaware

39

FLORIDA

University of South Florida

38

NEW JERSEY

Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey William Paterson University

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NEW YORK

Cornell University SUNY/Suffolk County Community College

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PENNSYLVANIA

Thaddeus Stevens College of Technology

35

TEXAS

Texas State University, San Marcos

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VIRGINIA

Northern Virginia Community College University of Virginia

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INSTITUTIONAL

Bronx Community College/CUNY Del Mar College El Paso Community College Mt. San Jacinto College Miami Dade College Rio Hondo College Salisbury University Southwestern College

NY TX TX CA FL CA MD CA

23 34 34 26 32 34 33 4

*To see all our “Employment and other Opportunities,” including all Web Postings, visit our website at www.HispanicOutlook.com

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P.O. Box 68 Paramus, NJ 07652-0068 CHANGE SERVICE REQUESTED

P ri min g the Pump. ..

ALCOHOL ABUSE AMONG LATINO STUDENTS B

Miquela Rivera, Ph.D., is a licensed psychologist with years of clinical, early childhood and consultative experience. She lives in Albuquerque, N.M.

eyond the typical reasons Latino teens should not drink alcohol (getting arrested, driving while intoxicated, developing diabetes or alcohol dependence and using other illegal drugs) is another, less common consideration. The point at which a Latino youth becomes dependent upon alcohol is the point at which they will typically remain fixated socially and emotionally – until the drinking stops and the alcoholism is treated. No wonder the rowdy prankster in high school who is too often drunk on the bus, in the cafeteria, during class or throughout sports practice is the same one who, years later, still behaves like a raucous teen despite the decades that have passed. The quiet, introverted Latino adolescent who drinks alone, to excess, might not show up to a 10-year reunion, but chances are he will still be struggling with alcohol.

The implications for drinking among Latino youth are huge: higher education is geared towards adults. Latino students who drink excessively are not socially or emotionally prepared to handle the demands and stressors of higher education. Given the national climate on many campuses, many students feel pressured to drink to fit in or be accepted.

The perfect storm of adolescent drinking history, peer pressure to imbibe, personal desire to fit in, the availability of alcohol, the pressures of multiple lifestyle changes and minimal supervision result in continued alcohol abuse by Latinos in college.

Alcohol abuse also stymies a young Hispanic student’s ability to fully benefit from the education they are offered. Essentially, they may squander the resources available to them on campus not because they willfully shun opportunities for advancement, but because they are too immature and unable to look ahead and judge soundly what is best. Social complications (like legal problems due to public intoxication, violence and sexual assault) from too much alcohol abound, too. Besides an occasional transitory feel-good experience, drinking is hardly worth it for Hispanic youth.

How can the tide of alcohol abuse among Latino teens be curbed?

First, consider why young Hispanics drink. The primary developmental task Latino adolescents face is developing self-identity, largely through friendships and social networks. If those friendships are weak or nonexistent and if the pain of loneliness persists during high school,

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the chances of alcohol abuse increases. Add the acculturative pressures Latino students face leaving their family home and confronting different values, lifestyles, behaviors and choices – many contradicting those with which they are raised – and the ante for coping (and the chances of drinking) are raised.

Latino families are considered the primary protective factor against youthful drinking. The closer children are to their parents and the more parents abstain from drinking alcohol and spend time talking with their children, the better the outlook for moderate, controlled or no drinking behavior by their children. If families remain the safe place where teenage and young adult children land for comfort and support, these young Latinos will be less likely to find consolation in a bottle. Latino parents must set clear expectations and limits during their children’s early school years, encouraging other appropriate outlets for energy and helping them develop alternative, productive ways of coping with academic and social pressures.

Research has determined that acculturation pressures faced by Latino students also influence alcohol consumption. When a young Latino faces multiple changes in college and is physically or emotionally isolated from others, alcohol can be a source of comfort and escape.

Institutional and community support for Hispanic students facing the challenges of many lifestyle, gender role and generational changes; time away from family; and fewer established networks with which to cope are all essential to assuage the pressure without drinking. The campus environment will greatly influence how Latino students cope.

Changing the image of the college experience from a marathon party to a healthier, well-rounded life on campus is crucial to stemming the tide of excessive drinking by college students. Administrators, professors, leaders, policymakers and the students themselves can set a new standard for healthy, sober living with appropriate social support at the university, including and apart from Greek life. Students – including Latinos – will rise to meet social expectations that include sobriety and healthy living if those are set by the leadership and across the board, reinforced and supported consistently.