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A Look at College Completion

VOLUME 23 • NUMBER 19

Comprehensive Immigration Reform

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by Carlos D. Conde

LATINO KALEIDOSCOPE

To Be or Not to Be — A U.S. Expatriate

seems a bit ironic that in today’s world there are over 12 million undocumented people living in the shadows in the U.S., some desperately trying to remain here and legalize their residency while concurrently there are many U.S. citizens choosing to live abroad, some saying good riddance to American life. The number is growing and one of the principal reasons is onerous tax liabilities by the mother country which, with a bit of a stretch, is reminiscent of another long ago, home spawned taxation without representation revolution. Comparatively speaking, the issue is miniscule but still telling as to why some Americans prefer life abroad to the extent of giving up their coveted U.S. citizenship. The U.S. government and other private entities have never bothered to authenticate the exact number of Americans living abroad and usually have dealt with this exodus in broad strokes except when it comes to upholding the tax liabilities of all Americans wherever they may be: at home or anywhere in the world. That means you can go to the ends of the earth but if you are an American, Uncle Sam wants you to pony up U.S. taxes. Anywhere, every April, Americans have to declare and pay U.S. taxes until they die or renounce their citizenship. That’s on top of whatever tax liabilities you have in your adopted country of residence. The term for this type of U.S. citizen stature is expatriate. Some expats go abroad for business or professional reasons – military personnel don’t count as expats – and others for a variety of reasons like marriage and cost-of-living and retirement factors. I spent a large portion of my career abroad in studies and as an expat in Latin America. My children grew up in a foreign environment and to this day benefit from the experience. They, however, remain fervent Americans although one continues to live abroad. Some expats are plain crooks or scalawags going as far as they can and as deep as they can to escape the reach of the U.S. law. Some of the latter, however, can’t go far enough or vanish forever because of extradition treaties among countries that search out the culprits and send them back to their home country like the U.S. to face justice. The last estimate by the State Department in 2011 was 5.2 million Americans living abroad and of that number, 1,800 Americans gave up U.S. citizenship and turned in their passports. The process includes completing a special application and paying a $450 exit fee. Comparatively speaking, it seems a small number consid-

ering how many Americans live abroad. The renouncement is irrevocable. Still many Americans seek the foreign existence, particularly in Latin America where the Gringo can lead a charmed life of easy living despite the unpredictable political turmoil, and the anti-American sentiments that at times flare up. In many countries, the dollar still goes a long way and many Americans, particularly retired seniors, find a new life almost luxurious with maids, gardeners, good health services and other accoutrements of upscale living. My friend, Truman Becker, is one of them. I met Truman in Lima, Peru, in 1965 when he and I pursued graduate studies on a journalism fellowship. Both of us went on to careers in international venues although my home base always remained the U.S. while Becker traversed the world but eventually returned to Peru where he had met his wife and where his children were born. Becker is the quintessential ex-pat, still a loyal American who loves his country but circumstances and an adventurous streak has made foreign living more palatable He is not ready to turn in his passport and he does pay his taxes but U.S. living no longer appeals to him although he occasionally hibernates in Sarasota, Fla. He has been an American expat in Peru, the Philippines and Australia over a span of 40 years and his vision from afar is that his homeland has become a country of contradictions where social diversity seems to have become more a burden than an asset. Becker says Peru remains his adopted homeland and he wants to be cremated and his ashes scattered in the Gulf of Mexico. He now speaks Spanish fluently and feels fully integrated into the Latino society but he still remembers his first attempts at speaking the language that certified him as forever a gringo. He went into a restaurant in Lima and ordered a chicken sandwich (pollo), and a piece of cake, (keke). He wondered why the waiter almost collapsed from laughter. Still struggling in differentiating the Spanish words, he had ordered ‘un sandwich de ‘pelo’” (hair sandwich) and a “pedazo de caca”, a piece of ‘feces,’.

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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® JULY 15, 2013

CONTENTS Colleges Develop Internships Across Majors and 8 Borders by Marilyn Gilroy Page 8

A State-by-State Look at College Completion Rates by Angela Provitera McGlynn

14 New Website Offers Nontraditional College Students a Special Community by Frank DiMaria

Comprehensive Immigration Reform: Has Its Time Finally Come? by Jeff Simmons

Increasing Latino College Graduation Rates in the Lone Star State by Gary M. Stern

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Immigration Page 17

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To Be or Not to Be – A U.S. Expatriate

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Esquina E ditorial

his editorial in the June 14 edition of the Washington Post entitled “Immigration Reform Can Prove U.S. Strength and Security,” Robert Kagan, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, suggests that the national dialogue on immigration reform may be about more than borders and a path to citizenship. “The debate over immigration will tell us a lot about the state of the national psyche,” he explains. “How do Americans feel about themselves and their nation? Are they confident or insecure? Do they want to go out and compete in new ways in a more competitive world, or do they want to try to shield themselves from the world’s new challenges?” Hopefully, most Americans want to embrace changes and challenges – not shrink from them. In this issue we take on this timely topic in an article entitled, “Comprehensive Immigration Reform: Has Its Time Finally Come?” The answer to this question is not yet clear. Passing legislation is not the only way to measure success of reform. As Kagan suggests, reform is also about keeping America competitive as a nation. Opportunities for DREAMers, agricultural workers and Temporary Protected Status grantees to attain permanent residence and U.S. citizenship on an expedited timeline add to the economic prosperity and education excellence. It also supports the middle class and builds a more affluent consumer class. In our next issue we showcase Hispanic artistry from the schools that nurture and develop the talents of musicians, filmmakers, artists and writers to the individuals like Frida Kahlo who became trailblazers for other aspiring Latino artists currently pursuing degrees. To all of them we say, mucho la creatividad en directo. ¡Adelante! Suzanne López-Isa Editor-in-Chief

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Interesting Reads

In the Country of Empty Crosses By Arturo Madrid

In the Country of Empty Crosses is Madrid’s memoir about lands before the advent of passable roads – places such as Tierra Amarilla, San Augustín, and Los Fuertes that were once among the most remote in the nation. Madrid grew up as a Hispanic Protestant among the overwhelmingly Catholic Hispanic populace. He writes about the tensions, rifts and disputes that affected the lives of his family as they worked through prejudice and racism. 2012. 240 pgs. ISBN: 978-1595341310. $24.95 paper. Trinity University Press, (210) 999-8884. www.tupress.org. Next Up at Fenway: A Story of High School, Hope and Lindos Sueños By Steve Marantz For Marcos Báez, baseball was his passion, but Báez had many loves. First was his mother, next came baseball. He was moved by reggaeton and bachata music, and a girl stole his heart. As the story evolves, Báez finds something else he loves – learning. In the telling of the story of Marcos Báez and Fenway High, Steve Marantz paints a picture of what it was like for a Latino to advance his dreams while part of the public school system. 2013. 208 pgs. ISBN: 978-1592999132. $14.95. Inkwater Press, (503) 968-6777. www.inkwaterbooks.com. Spiritual Mestizaje Religion, Gender, Race, and Nation in Contemporary Chicana Narrative (Latin America Otherwise) By Theresa DelGadillo Gloria Anzaldúa’s narrative and theoretical innovations, particularly her concept of mestiza consciousness, have influenced critical thinking about colonialism, gender, history, language, religion, sexuality, spirituality and subjectivity. DelGadillo analyzes the role of spiritual mestizaje in Anzaldúa’s work and in relation to other forms of spirituality and theories of oppression, interpreting novels, memoir and documentaries. 2011. 296 pages. ISBN: 978-0822350460. $23.95 paper. Duke University Press Books, (919) 688-5134. www.dukeupress.edu.

The Secrets of College Success by Lynn F. Jacobs and Jeremy S. Hyman 2013. 352 pgs. ISBN: 978-1118575123. $15.95 paper. Jossey-Bass, Hoboken, N.J. (877) 762-2974. www.wiley.com.

ccording to a Department of Education survey, little more than half of the students who enroll in U.S. colleges finish a degree within six years. Much has been said or written about why this is so, and The Secrets of College Success aims to provide answers and advice to address this crisis in education. Authors Lynn F. Jacobs and Jeremy S. Hyman have put forth a plan that instructs college students what professors are expecting of them and shows them how to fulfill these expectations. As Jacobs and Hyman explain, “Going to college is a very special sort of experience. A time of tremendous personal growth. A time when some students get their first serious taste of independence, while others find their BFFLs, increase their Facebook friends exponentially, or even meet up with their future spouses. But even more important, college is also a time of great intellectual growth. A chance to study things you didn’t even know existed or to delve into topics you do know about at a level of detail and sophistication that you’ve never before imagined. Because college is so special, it’s important to make the most of it. To squeeze all the juice out of it and drink it all up. Especially when it comes to the academic side of things, where students often don’t reap all the benefits college has to offer. This chapter will help you understand what college is all about – to get a real picture of what you are about to go through or are already going through. And it will offer basic tips about the things that matter most at college – no matter what kind of college you’re going to.” Winner of the 2010 USA Book News Award for best book in the college category, The Secrets of College Success, second edition, combines advice with insider information all students need to know. The book is written in a blog-like style and includes 800 tips for college success. Some cover traditional areas of concern, primarily for incoming and even college-bound students: time management, study habits, making the leap from high school to college, tips for “college-level” reading, note taking and oral presentations. But other tips are geared to more advanced students: picking a major, tips for e-mailing your professor and connecting via Skype, studying abroad, preparing to apply for graduate school, and tips and techniques for landing a job. The book creatively utilizes Top Ten lists, Do’s and Don’ts tables, Visiting Professor pieces, and humorous Fun Facts and Did You Know? tables. Dr. Lynn F. Jacobs is professor of art history at the University of Arkansas. She previously taught at Vanderbilt University, California State University-Northridge, University of Redlands and New York University. Jeremy S. Hyman is founder and chief architect of Professors’ Guide projects. He has taught at the University of Arkansas, University of CaliforniaLos Angeles, Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Princeton University. Reviewed by Mary Ann Cooper

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INNOVATIONS/PROGRAMS

Colleges Develop Internships Across Majors and Borders by Marilyn Gilroy

he popularity of internships has led many institutions to expand these programs beyond traditional majors, such as business, to include almost every field of study. Students who major in English and art are now finding themselves pushed to gain professional experience through internships as part of their degree requirements. They are working for academic credit at small publishing houses, arts education organizations, and public relations firms. In addition, colleges are encouraging students to expand their boundaries and gain valuable experience by doing an internship abroad. While internships have long been seen as an effective way to supplement classroom learning, the current growth is due in part to a tough job market in which having a degree is just not enough. As one analyst said, “employers are looking for more than a good GPA.” As a result, institutions such as Clarkson University in upstate New York have taken the internship to a new level by making it a prerequisite for graduation. Clarkson was ranked No. 1 for having the highest rate (86 percent) of graduating seniors with internship experience in the most recent U.S. News & World Report survey. Of the 330 ranked colleges and universities that reported internship data to U.S. News in 2012, an average of 36.9 percent of students held internships at some point in their undergraduate studies. “We mandate a professional experience for all of our students so that before entering the marketplace or their postgraduate plans, they have some type of real-world experience,” said Jeffrey Taylor, career center director at Clarkson. “Internships are the hallmark of the student’s experience.” Clarkson is not alone. Longwood University in Virginia, with an enrollment of 4,800, is one of the schools requiring internships as part of the student’s degree program. Longwood distinguishes internships from volunteerism or simple work-forpay, such as after-class or summer jobs. It describes internships as a structured and supervised professional experience

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Dr. Mario González-Fuentes, visiting assistant professor of marketing, Trinity University

at an approved site, for which the student will gain experience and earn academic credit. Officials say the internship allows the student an opportunity to experience the working world in order to solidify career goals and/or to test possible career choices. For example, Cassie Shiflett, a 2013 graduate majoring in anthropology, did an internship at the St. Augustine Lighthouse & Museum in Florida to test her interest in mar-

itime archaeology. It is not just small schools that are encouraging students to partake in internships. Clemson University, with an undergraduate enrollment of 16,000, is ranked as one of the top 10 schools with the highest percentage of students who hold internships. In recent years, 67 percent of Clemson’s graduating seniors did an internship or co-op position before graduation. “Our entire university is committed to making education matter,” said Neil Burton, executive director of career services at Clemson. “Faculty, staff and administrators are all pulling in the same direction to make sure that what our students are learning has releCheryl Finlay, director, Office of Career Development and Placement Assistance, University of Pittsburgh vance to their personal and professional success.” Burton says it reflects the concept of engaged learning, nomics, international studies and Spanish, which means stuwhich is a priority at Clemson. dents get credit toward graduation. If they are double major“We want to make sure that education is pertinent to stu- ing, the credits count toward both disciplines. dents, not just an academic exercise that stays in the class“Business and Spanish are popular double majors,” room,” he said. he said. Many students are doing multiple internships and traveling Students are placed in internships based on skills, interests to other countries to gain a global credential. Westminster and professional goals. In past years, placements have includCollege in Missouri has sent students to Peru, Finland and ed a small Spanish import/export business with about 50 Mozambique. This year, Westminster students will go to employees. The Trinity students were charged with researchThailand, Rwanda and Grand Cayman. ing and writing a marketing plan for some of the products. At Trinity University in San Antonio, internships have been “We also had students who were placed in the Center for offered abroad in Spain for the last eight years. Students who Immigration in Madrid to work with the influx of immigrants take advantage of this opportunity not only boost their that have come to Spain from South America and Ecuador,” employment outlook but they come back “profoundly said González-Fuentes. “The students improve their own changed” by the experience, says Dr. Mario González-Fuentes, Spanish skills while helping immigrants learn English so they visiting assistant professor of marketing at Trinity, who partici- can become more employable.” pates in the annual summer program in Madrid. Trinity students stay with carefully pre-screened families in “For some students, it is their first time outside Texas and Madrid. There are planned cultural activities and weekend the United States and so they experience a type of cultural field trips, including plays, museums visits, “tapas crawls” shock,” he said. “They come back very different and are and cooking classes as well as Saturday trips to cities such as changed forever. These are experiences that can’t be replicat- Toledo, El Escorial and Segovia. According to Gonzálezed in the classroom.” Fuentes, the experience is one that immerses students in a Student participants sign up for six credits that include a culture completely different from the one they might have full-time six-week internship in a company or NGO in grown up with and gives them an intensive, hands-on setting Madrid and a course about the Spanish economy and culture with both professional and personal benefits. co-taught and coordinated by Dr. Bladimir Ruiz, a faculty “There are so many advantages to students of traveling and member in Trinity’s department of modern languages and lit- learning internationally that I do not know where to begin, but erature. I would undoubtedly highlight three benefits: first, the develAccording to González-Fuentes, the six credits earned in opment of a global mindset through the understanding of how this program are cross-listed in business administration, eco- different countries cope with modern challenges; second,

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building tolerance and respect for cultures different than yours; and third, living an intense experience with other students can build character for a lifetime,” he said. González-Fuentes and his colleagues also have sponsored an experiential learning trip to Vietnam. “The first group of students who participated visited Vietnam in January of 2010, and since then, the program has taken more than 40 students to study the economic and political evolution of this country,” said González-Fuentes. The course, titled Globalization and Economic Development: A Case Study in Vietnam, is offered jointly by Trinity’s business administration and political science departments. The trip and activities give students an opportunity to learn firsthand about the economic, political and social changes in Vietnam, which is considered one of the world’s fastest-growing emerging markets. Both the Spain and Vietnam programs not only expand students’ horizons but also serve as great résumé builders in today’s competitive job market. “Employers definitely take notice and appreciate the global-mindedness,” said González-Fuentes. “It gives the student’s résumé a value-added component. “It also demonstrates that this student is the type of individual who is willing to go outside of his/her comfort zone to gain this experience. It reflects that they are an open and flexible individual.” Burton of Clemson agrees that internships give students an advantage in the search for employment. He says the link between Clemson’s high internship numbers and job placement rates is obvious. In 2011, 34 percent of students graduating from Clemson had job offers in hand compared to an 18 percent national average, according to the National Association of Colleges and Employers. “If you look at our 2011 numbers, 39 percent of students who held an internship or co-op went on to take a full-time job with that same employer after graduation,” he said. “It’s like a multi-month job interview.” Schools such as the University of Pittsburgh have taken notice of the advantages of internships and are beefing up their programs. Although it has a sizeable undergraduate enrollment of 18,500, Pitt has taken on the challenge of guaranteeing the opportunity of internships for its students. Last fall, the university unveiled its Internship Preparation Program (IPP) in which any registered Pitt undergraduate on the Pittsburgh campus is eligible to obtain internship placement. Officials say it is part of the effort to help students obtain a competitive edge and prepare for life after graduation. The program will be managed by Pitt’s Office of Career Development and Placement Assistance (CDPA), which compares it to other programs that enhance classroom learning. “Internships, like undergraduate research and study abroad, provide students with opportunities to deepen their understanding of what they have learned in their classes and are an important component of ensuring that Pitt graduates make wise career choices and are adequately prepared for the

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next phase of their lives,” said Cheryl Finlay, director of the CDPA. Finlay says as one of the nation’s leading public research universities, Pitt places a high priority on having its students engaged in experiential learning, whether that means conducting research with faculty members or performing internships designed to build on what students learn in the classroom. “Employers are looking to hire new graduates with experience, so we are working diligently with employers to make more internships available and accessible to our students,” she said. “At the same time, we want our students to understand the importance and value of completing successful internships.” The IPP process begins with a series of six sessions completed by students at walk-in sessions or by appointment. Each session addresses a different aspect of preparing for an internship: résumé formatting and content, résumé review and internship focus, preparation for an internship interview, networking skills, and internship search, as well as a session focused on succeeding in the internship. Once students complete the sessions, they work with CDPA staff for personal résumé reviews, mock interviews, and support in identifying strong matching opportunities for internships. Finlay said Pitt has started to implement the guaranteed internships and that additional staff members are being hired to meet the anticipated demand for services. Alyson Kavalukas, CDPA internship coordinator, said the internship guarantee program is unique and might be one the first of its kind at comparable universities. “To the best of our knowledge, after researching this issue, benchmarking at other schools, and through outreach at national conferences, we believe the University of Pittsburgh is unique in guaranteeing experiential learning for all undergraduates who complete a preparation program,” she said. The internship guarantee program has multiple goals. It will help students who haven’t yet determined their career paths to explore potential jobs, develop their individual strengths and learn work dynamics. In addition, Finlay said the effort to encourage students toward experience-based learning helps the university reach its goal of 95 percent employment placement for new graduates. She said the closer her office is to attaining that goal, the better Pitt is able to recruit and retain top students and to maintain an engaged alumni population. “Experiential learning provides students with skill sets and professional savvy that they will use in their careers, and these experiences are highly desired by employers,” said Finlay. “It also helps students identify their true passions and strengths in order to make smart academic decisions and choose the right career paths.”

REPORTS

A State-by-State Look at College Completion Rates

The

by Angela Provitera McGlynn

National Student Clearinghouse Research Center (NSCRC) is the research section of the National Student Clearinghouse, a nonprofit formed in 1993. The Research Center works with higher education institutions, states, school districts, high schools and educational organizations as part of the national effort to provide reliable data to inform leaders in the education field and policymakers. The aim of the Research Center is to provide longitudinal data outcomes to enable better educational policy decisions

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STATE STA ST ATE SUPPLEMENT ATE Completing College: State-Level A Stat e-Level View View of Studen A ttainment Rat es Studentt Attainmen Attainment Rates

with the ultimate goal of improving student success outcomes. The fourth in a series of signature reports coming from the NSCRC, Completing College: A State-Level View of Student Attainment Rates was released February 2013 and is a supplement to Completing College: A National View of Student Attainment Rates (Nov. 15, 2012). The Lumina Foundation, an Indiana-based private foundation, committed to enrolling and graduating more students from college – especially 21stcentury students, including low income students, students of color, first-generation students and adult learners – funded this signature report. The report, with two authors from NSCRC, Doug Shapiro and Afet Dundar, and five authors from the Project on Academic Success, Indiana University, including Jin Chen, Mary Ziskin, Eunkyoung Park, Vasti Torres and Yi-Chen Chiang, focuses on six-year student success outcomes and college completion rates by state. The study followed college enrollment behaviors of students starting in the fall of 2006 through the spring of 2012 and focused only on first-time degree-seeking students. Due to the complexity of research in this area, the results are presented in three sections differentiating state-level outcomes based on type of institutions where students began their higher education pursuits: four-year public institutions, two-year public institutions and four-year private nonprofit institutions. Additionally, data was organized based on age of students with tables showing completion rates by state for students 24 years old or younger at first entry to college and students over 24 years old at first entry, and this was correlated with full- or part-time status across the six-year period of the study. First-time enrollees to college were determined by examining student records for the four years prior to the summer of 2006 and finding no postsecondary enrollment. Clearinghouse data also showed that the student population studied in this report had not received a degree or certificate from any postsecondary institution prior to fall 2006. The data is remarkably extensive. The report is based on

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student data gathered from the Clearinghouse’s more than 3,300 participating colleges and universities, including 97 percent of students attending public and private nonprofit postsecondary institutions. The report focused on student success outcomes based on what states students first enrolled in college rather than their state of home residence. College completion was assessed by using a combination of degree/certificate award records submitted by institutions as part of their participation in DegreeVerifysm and StudentTrackersm enrollment records. Since it is known that students transfer, and that sometimes they move across state lines, the results also include tables showing first completions across state lines in a fourth section of the report. One of the most striking findings of this report is the inclusion of data on students who ordinarily were invisible in previous non-Clearinghouse research – those students who complete their baccalaureate degrees at institutions other than the ones where they started. “... the overall six-year completion rate for first-time degree-seeking students who started college in fall 2006 was 54.1 percent, including 12.1 percent who completed at an institution different from their starting institution. In other words, more than one in five students who completed a degree did so at an institution other than the one where they first enrolled - a situation that renders their successful outcomes invisible within traditional graduation rate calculations. The number was closer to one in four for traditional-age students and more than one in three for those who started at public two-year institutions (Introduction, p.5).” The previous signature report (Nov. 15, 2012) already showed that including nontraditional students, that is, students whose college trajectories are off the beaten path following diverse educational routes, dramatically increases national completion rates from 42 percent to 54 percent. When only full-time student data is analyzed, the results show a 75 percent rate for completing college within six years, a much higher national completion rate than reported in previous studies. Doug Shapiro, executive director of the Research Center, said in a press release, “By drilling down to individual states’ completion rates, we are able to see student behavior in a very specific way. This information will help each state included in the study as well as institutions, school districts and the federal government inform policy as they work toward meeting college completion goals.” In both Completing College: A National View and in this state-by-state supplement, the research approach offers a more differentiated view of students’ movements through the higher education pipeline by considering what the reports refer to as “enrollment intensity.” Enrollment intensity is the phrase used to describe the entire course of students’ college experience. For the six-year period studied, the NSCRC analyzed enrollment intensity in a number of ways. For example, the research differentiates between students who enrolled exclusively full time or part

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time from those students who from term to term varied their enrollment intensity (that is, students who had “mixed enrollments” of full- and part-time status). Combining this data with student age at first entry makes for a much more complete picture of enrollment patterns. Cited in the National Student Clearinghouse press release are the following findings from the state-level report: • Nationally, 12 percent of students who started at four-year public institutions completed at an institution other than the starting institution; in 20 states, students who started at fouryear public institutions had a higher completion rate at another institution with Minnesota having the highest rate at 27 percent • 3.2 percent of all students who started at a four-year public institution received their first degree/certificate at a two-year institution; the rate was over 5 percent in Minnesota, North Dakota, and Wisconsin; conversely, 9.4 percent of all students who started at a two-year public institution received their first credential at a four-year institution; in seven states, more than 10 percent did so with the highest being 13.8 percent • In eight states, more than one in six students who started at a two-year public institution completed at a four-year institution within six years with or without receiving a credential at a two-year institution (compared to 15 percent nationally); Virginia had the highest rate, with one in five students who started at a two-year public [institution] graduating from a four-year institution • In nine states, more than 10 percent of students who started at a four-year public institution and received a degree ended up graduating in a different state (compared to 6 percent nationally); the rate was much higher in Alaska (28 percent) and North Dakota (20 percent) • In three states, more than 10 percent of students who started at a two-year public institution and later graduated did so in a different state (compared to 5.6 percent nationally) • In 14 states and the District of Columbia, over 10 percent of the students who started at a four-year private nonprofit institution and received a credential did so in a different state (compared to 8.8 percent nationally) • In nearly every state, traditional-age students starting at fouryear public institutions had higher six-year completion rates than adult learners; the smallest gap was in Arizona (1 percentage point) and the highest in Vermont (42 percentage points) • In 13 states, over 75 percent of the exclusively part-time students at four-year public institutions had not received a credential and were not enrolled at the end of six years (compared to 70 percent nationally) NSCRC is not the only research organization working on the national agenda to increase degree completion. A commission of six leading higher education associations is calling for extensive reforms to serve a changing student population increasingly composed of older and part-time students. The National Commission on Higher Education Attainment published a report titled An Open Letter to College and University Leaders: College Completion Must Be Our Priority (American Council On Education, January 2103).

The commission calls for colleges and universities to find more ways to give students credit for prior learning, portfolio assessments or other college equivalency evaluations, more services and flexibility for nontraditional students especially in terms of class time offerings, easier transfer processes, and more efficient course delivery systems such as online classes. As reported in The New York Times (Jan. 24, 2013), the president of Ohio State University and chairman of the National Commission on Higher Education Attainment, E. Gordon Lee, says, “This is the first time in the history of modern higher education in which all the communities have come together – community colleges, research institutions, public universities and small liberal arts colleges – and reached agreement that completion needs to be our most important priority. ... We concentrate most on the admissions side of things, getting the bodies in, and there’s no one in charge of seeing that they get through and graduate. I’m going to call this person the completion dean.” Molly C. Broad, the president of the American Council on Education, said that she believed the report would create a sense of urgency. A second report released Jan 24, 2013, The American Dream 2.0 (HCM Strategists), also coming from a coalition of higher education advocates, raised a similar alarm not only about lack of college completion rates but also about the financial burden on those students who take out student loans

but who don’t earn a degree. The report says, “Many students without a credential are plunged underwater financially. ... When students leave college with no credential and a load of debt, they may be worse off than when they entered.” The American Dream 2.0 report says that educational institutions and our government must make the financial aid application process simpler and more transparent, and hold both schools and students accountable for completion. Clearly, there are many sectors coming together, recognizing the problems involved and the ramifications resulting from low rates of college completion. We are not educating and graduating nearly enough students to meet our nation’s workforce needs in a global economy. Understanding that we are dealing with 21st century diverse students whose pathways through the educational pipeline vary, that their financial needs are great in an educational system where costs have grown rapidly, and that there are databased solutions to increase college completion rates available that must be more widely disseminated, is a much needed step in the right direction. 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.

The Hispanic Outlook, with an elite targeted audience of academics on college campuses across America, has been serving the higher education community for 23 years. Focusing like a laser bean on Hispanics in higher ed online and digitally, our exposure is now global. Visit us online or download our free app for your iPad, iPhone or Android devices.

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INSTITUTIONS/ORGANIZATIONS

New Website Offers Nontraditional College Students a Special Community

For

by Frank DiMaria generations, the rooster has represented morning, some college but no degree. In fact, in Los Angeles alone, from the rooster crowing at the end of the Beatles’ where ALL Management is headquartered, there are over 1.2 song Good Morning Good Morning to the rooster million people who did not finish their college education. prominently featured on the Corn Flakes box. Now ALL Some stopped just short of graduating while others went for Management Corporation has only one semester before they seized upon the image of the were forced to pack it in. rooster to encourage those These numbers are important who started a college educafor two reasons. tion but never finished to conFirst, it is estimated that by tinue their pursuit. the year 2018, 60 percent of In February, ALL Managejobs in the United States are ment, a nonprofit dedicated to going to require some form of improving and expanding edupostsecondary education. cation, workplace skills and Second, in 2009 the Lumina economic opportunities, Foundation set a goal of launched a website called the increasing the percentage of Educated Rooster. The site Americans who hold highserves as an education wakeup quality degrees and credencall for those who are thinking tials to 60 percent by the year about going back to school. 2025. Pappas says that Kelly Pappas, associate Educated Rooster is going to director of business developbe a part of helping the nation ment at ALL Management achieve that goal. Current Corporation, says that ALL trends in college completion, Management developed the sadly, will leave a huge gap in website to empower former attaining that goal. Currently, students to gain the knowlPappas says, the national coledge, tips and skills to go back lege completion percentage is to college so they can achieve at about 48 percent. higher levels of education and Although the Educated economic self-sufficiency. Its Rooster website has somemission is to create and prothing for anyone who is about mote a college-completing to register for college, from community. The website prothe laid-off worker forced to vides tools, resources and change careers to the high Kelly Pappas, associate director of business development, guidance to adult students who school senior attending colALL Management Corporation have some level of college but lege for the first time, ALL have yet to complete their Management’s true target degree. “We want people to assume responsibility for and demographic is adult learners. The Web has no shortage of complete their higher education goals so they can positively sites offering high school students resources and advice on impact their own lives and their communities,” says Pappas. going to college. Few, however, are targeted to nontraditional More than 36 million Americans over the age of 25 have students. “We kind of discovered this need for a program tar-

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geted to those adult students who didn’t finish college,” says Pappas. “It’s a population that people tend to forget about so we wanted to address the [returning student] demographic.” During the website design process, Pappas and the rest of the Educated Rooster design team visited and analyzed a number of websites that provide information and advice to those thinking about going back to college. They didn’t have to look too far to find websites offering information on financial aid, directions on filling out the FAFSA or discussions on how to choose a college. But it was not easy to find sites that cater to the nontraditional college student. The education sites that are out there, she says, are merely pushing information out to the masses. “It’s quality information, but what Educated Rooster wanted to do was really involve our users by creating a community where people can learn from one another, ask questions, bounce ideas off of one another. That’s what sets us apart from [the other websites] in this space,” says Pappas. As the description would indicate, nontraditional college students are different, and under the nontraditional umbrella there are as many unique situations and challenges as there are nontraditional students. Educated Rooster is organized into five categories, or as Pappas refers to them, challenges. These are Time, Cost, Support, Right School and Reach Your Goals. Under each category, visitors find articles, videos and quotes about returning to college and the challenges they might face as nontraditional college students. In addition, visitors can use the Educated Rooster search engine to locate information on any of the topics.

All the articles are written by the Educated Rooster staff, with site content being updated and added on a daily basis. Pappas and the Educated Rooster staff are trying to tailor its content to topical subjects, focusing on what people are talking about both in the news and in the Educated Rooster community. Unlike other education sites, Educated Rooster creates and supports its own community. Visitors to the site can create a profile that allows access to the Educated Rooster community. As part of this community, they can post questions, answer questions and post comments. “We’re not saying Educated Rooster has all the answers and information, but what we can do is help you connect with others who were in the same situation and experienced the same challenges and issues so that people have a sense of belonging. We’re really trying to match both the academic challenges with the social challenges people face when they go back to school,” says Pappas. One of the more interesting discussion threads that one would find in the Educated Rooster community is about choosing a major. Many are under the impression that a college student must declare a major during the first year. Among the student population, there is growing “frustration,” Pappas says, about this question because students are finding it difficult to get the classes they need to round out their transcripts. Many are concerned that if they change their major they will find themselves behind. “[Just seeing the input] and personal experiences is really interesting. Some people do believe that you need it by the second year. Having other people comment

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back and saying ‘I was in the same situation and this is what I did’ seems to be helpful. Watching the back-and-forth is really exciting,” says Pappas. In each of the five sections, there is a subsection called Myth. There, experts try to dispel common myths about going back to school. For example, the myth that a degree doesn’t really matter, a myth that persists because there are some very visible personalities who never attended college yet enjoy significant success – Bill Gates, Steve Jobs and Mark Zuckerberg to name a few. Although Pappas does not want to take anything away from these individuals, she believes that a degree matters and can make a difference for a person. Over the course of a lifetime, a college graduate can earn almost twice as much money as an individual with just a high school diploma. Not to mention that more than half the jobs in the nation will require some form of higher education by 2018. “There is research showing that college graduates tend to be happier, healthier and build strong relationships, and their children are more likely to go to college. Believing in that myth can close the door to a lot of opportunity that they might not have if they didn’t go to college and get their degree,” says Pappas. There are always questions and concerns swirling around the cost of college, and with those questions and concerns come a set of persistent myths, myths that Pappas hopes Educated Rooster Web will lay to rest forever. Some are convinced that they can’t afford to go back to college; others are convinced that they are too old to get financial aid; and still others are convinced that their parents make too much money to get financial aid. All of these, says Pappas, are just myths. When people get more information and are presented with options about financial aid, the myths are shattered. “Taking the time to go through the steps [for financial aid] and maybe sitting down with someone or going to a site like Educated Rooster that can give you a step-by-step guide will help,” says Pappas. She hears many students who want to return to college say that they are too old to qualify for financial aid. To those, she says, financial aid is awarded based on need not on age. As for those individuals who think they will not receive financial aid because their parents make too much money, she wants them to know that income is just one criterion the government uses to determine if an individual is eligible for financial aid. Number of individuals in the household, where one lives and the number of siblings attending college all factor into the government’s equation that calculates whether or not someone is eligible for financial aid. Pappas and her team are using a number of tactics to drive traffic to their site. Educated Rooster has accounts on Facebook, Twitter, Pintrest and Youtube, with nearly 7,000 fans on Facebook, on which it posts daily. They advertise in or have been featured in 40 newspapers, magazines and journals. Most recently, the Huffington Post has asked the Educated Rooster staff to write informational articles. “So people have seen our name there, and that’s generated some traffic,” says Pappas. But she knows the best way to drive traffic to the site is to get a higher spot on a Google search, some-

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thing that is not easy. What’s more, not many even know how to get that spot. “Google has some very intricate types of equations and calculations that no one really knows. There are tips and/or things that people can do, like posting new content to your site or using key words that people are searching for and use those words in your article. Google has made a shift away from just simply using a word 10 times to actually qualifying content within an article,” says Pappas. Although the phrase financial aid might appear in an article 10 times, that alone will not necessarily ensure that the article will rise to the top of a Google search on financial aid. Articles that have content that is true, deep and has substance are the ones that rise to the top, says Pappas. Educated Rooster is in its infancy, and Pappas is on the lookout for strategic partners. Currently, there is nothing in the works as far as partnerships, but Pappas is hoping to get involved with some community colleges, which she feels would be an effective way to reach her intended audience. “Schools have information on their students, and I think we can join forces,” says Pappas. About 1,200 people visit Educated Rooster monthly, with the duration of their visits consistently increasing. Seventythree percent of those who visit do return and, Pappas says, are engaged and interested. About 200 of those visitors have created an account on the site. Educated Rooster collects feedback about the needs of its users by monitoring the questions users ask in its community. By monitoring the content in the discussion, she can determine, for example, if those who are visiting the site are single parents, then the staff in turn will develop more content specific to single parents. The plan for Educated Rooster, at least for now, says Pappas, is to impact college completion and to create a community in which its members have a sense of belonging and can find the information, tools and text they need to be successful. Perhaps one day Educated Rooster will create programs and products that would be beneficial to its users. Also she can see a time when visitors to the site can do a live chat with an Educated Rooster staff member. “We want this site to bend and move and adapt to our users. We don’t want to assume that we know what they want; we want them to let us know what they want and that’s how we plan to adapt through the years,” says Pappas.

IMMIGRATION

Comprehensive Immigration Reform: Has Its Time Finally Come?

The

by Jeff Simmons

initial announcement in mid-April was muted in the wake of the tragic Boston Marathon bombings, a public display of bipartisan collaboration delayed after months of negotiations. Nevertheless, the impact was swift: the potential consequences of the massive measure polarized political camps while escalating the conversation about how to carefully navigate the path to citizenship for some 11 million people. In the days and weeks that followed, the Border Security, Economic Opportunity, and Immigration Modernization Act of 2013 crafted by the so-called “Gang of Eight” Democratic and Republican senators was both praised and hazed and elicited heady debate and compromise proposals to either water down or fine-tune the measure. As Lawrence Benito, the chief executive officer of the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights, put it in a statement: “While it is clear there is much work to be done, now more than ever it is important to remember what immigration reform is really about: families. This past election cycle demonstrated our enormous and growing political power.” “We will harness that power – on the streets, online, through our massive door-knocking and phone banking programs, historic voter engagement and lobbying by immigrant families themselves – to improve this bill and move immigration reform forward to keep our families together,” Benito said. José Calderón, president of the Hispanic Federation based in New York, said: “We have before us a proposed bipartisan bill that would be the most complete overhaul of our immigration system in a generation. The reform framework being debated in the Senate now is a promising first step and potentially historic. “It would allow millions of Latino immigrants to be reunited with their family members and come out of the shadows. Specifically, that means increased economic output and growth for our families and communities. It will lead to more

José Calderón, president, Hispanic Federation

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Max Sevillia, director of policy and legislative affairs, NALEO Educational Fund

Hispanic leaders in every sector of society – in academia, private sector, the arts, political office, the nonprofit sector. Ultimately, it will help accelerate our community’s social, economic and political development and strengthen our nation overall.” What appeared to be a common sentiment threading through the conversation, though, was that the measure served as a starting point to enact reform. The National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials (NALEO) and NALEO Educational Fund, which facilitates the participation of Latinos in the American political process, characterized the proposal as “a big step forward.” “It is critical that everyone gets involved and communicates their support for this comprehensive immigration reform proposal to their representatives in the Senate and in the House,” said Max Sevillia, the NALEO Educational Fund’s director of policy and legislative affairs. “It is through the engagement of the American people that we are going to finally accomplish comprehensive immigration reform, and the time to do it is now.” The 844-page bill was presented by: Democratic Sens. Charles Schumer (New York), Robert Menéndez (New Jersey), Michael Bennet (Colorado) and Richard Durbin (Illinois), and Republicans Marco Rubio (Florida), John McCain (Arizona), Jeff Flake (Arizona) and Lindsey Graham (South Carolina). Among its chief provisions would be the creation of a process that will allow qualified, undocumented U.S. residents to earn citizenship within 13 years, after paying fines, passing 18

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a background check and demonstrating progress toward learning English. NALEO reported that the other major provisions that will have substantial affects include employment- and family-based immigration opportunities, such as: • Opportunities for DREAMers, agricultural workers and Temporary Protected Status grantees to attain permanent residence and U.S. citizenship on an expedited timeline • Changes to family reunification process that will decrease wait times for some but toughen visa qualification for others • Allocation of stepped up federal government and private resources to ensure the successful integration of new Americans • Authorization of new employment visas for both high- and low-skilled workers, precise numbers of which will depend on the available supply of qualified American workers and employer demand • Prohibition of access to federal public benefits, including Affordable Care Act-created subsidized health insurance and tax breaks, for provisional residents • Enhancement of border security, mandatory use by employers of the E-Verify employment eligibility confirmation system, and installation of an entry/exit tracking system at all sea and air entry points Sevillia said the proposed reforms would substantially affect immigrants currently residing in the United States and in particular in Hispanic communities. Their growth and presence already is shaping the electoral processes on both local and national levels. The 2010 Census reported that of the 308.7 million people in the United States, 50.5 million – or 16 percent – were of Hispanic or Latino origin, a sizeable increase from the 35.3 million in 2000. Such growth accounted for over half of the 27.3 million increase in the country’s total population from 2000 to 2010. “Hispanic America is constantly evolving and is incredibly diverse, from its numbers to its youth to its legal status in the United States,” he said. “You have people who have lived in the United States for years while there are others who are newcomers. The issue of immigration has been a priority for the community for years now, and resolving the immigration status of over 10 million Latinos residing in the country will make an impact on both the Latino community and the rest of the country.” The change in their status to Registered Provisional Immigrant (RPI) status would be part of a long process of at least 13 years that will give many of these immigrants an opportunity to become full-fledged citizens. “That would give them an opportunity to work in the country, resident legally and travel outside of the United States,” Sevillia said. “Clearly, the immigration system is broken,” he said. “This is about bad national security, it’s about bad American policy, and it’s bad for our competitiveness and bad for our image to have 12 million or so undocumented individuals living in the United States.” Under the measure, immigrants who have been present in America since at least Dec. 31, 2011, will be eligible to apply

for RPI status, which provides for work and travel authorization and includes spouses and children younger than 18 years of age in the United States. To qualify for that initial status, individuals would need to undergo a background check, pay all tax liabilities and provide a $500 fine plus appropriate fees established by United States Citizenship and Immigration Services. To renew that RPI status after six years, they’d have to undergo another background check and prove that they have been regularly employed and have paid a second $500 fine. After 10 years, their status could be adjusted to Legal Permanent Residency (LPR) after paying a $1,000 fine, proving they know or are learning English, and having paid their taxes. The measure allows former RPIs to apply for U.S. citizenship on an expedited track after three years as permanent residents. Agricultural Workers and DREAMers – individuals who meet the general requirements of the Development, Relief, and Education for Alien Minors (DREAM) Act – additionally would be permitted to embark on expedited tracks to citizenship. “Undocumented immigrants in the country before Dec. 31, 2011, stand to receive temporary status to remain here legally, as well as work and travel while they wait in line to get a green card (permanent residency) and eventually citizenship,” Calderón said. “Clearly, this path to citizenship for our undocumented community is something we’ve fought long and hard to achieve, and we’re excited at the potential of having that finally come to fruition this year. For us, there can be no comprehensive immigration reform without this path being a cornerstone of the bill. However, Calderón said the Hispanic Federation harbors concerns about the proposed length of time to earn citizenship and other provisions within the bill, such as border security triggers, fines, income requirements and application timelines that “will create significant roadblocks” for many undocumented immigrants. “We are working with many of our national sister organizations to make the road to citizenship less cumbersome and onerous,” he said. The proposal’s immigration reforms could not be enacted until certain border security measures are implemented, ones that would maintain effective control of the border. Of crucial import is a provision that the secretary of Homeland Security first would need to develop comprehensive security and southern border strategies within six months. Additionally, a verification system would need to be established and an entryexit tracking system at all sea and air entry points in the United States. Experts noted that the establishment of a path to citizenship will likely fuel greater engagement of Hispanics in the future of the country’s political process as many come out of the shadows and exert more influence. Lenni B. Benson, law professor at New York Law School, noted the proposal’s balanced approach to strengthening border enforcement while navigating the path to citizenship. “I’ve been in the field for 30 years, and we’ve had a couple

of bills that were piecemeal, like the DREAM Act,” said Benson, who specializes in immigration law and political asylum. “This is nothing short of remarkable. 1996 was the last time we had a major overhaul, but that was mostly in law enforcement.” She predicted that the bill – if it were to largely remain intact – would prompt many new citizens to sponsor relatives to move to the United States, with substantially greater numbers coming from Mexico. “There won’t be years and years of delays for those relatives,” she said. However, she cautioned “the bill on the one hand gives the immediate family [spouse or children] a faster path to the United States but makes it much harder to try to bring your brother and sisters.” “So maybe the best thing you can do for your brother or sister is not sponsor them but look for job opportunities for them,” she said. The measure, she said, includes “generous” provisions for certain types of student visas and establishes a dynamic that inevitably could generate more ample numbers of foreign students remaining in the country, generating a ripple effect that bolsters America’s global competitiveness. “I think this is a great provision in the bill. Since Sept. 11, foreign students have been choosing other parts of the world to get an education,” she said. “We are competing with talent from around the world, and those students from abroad pay full ride.” Educational institutions will be able to better recruit foreign Hispanic students, attracted to stronger prospects of living and working in the country. Even those who return to their homelands will prove beneficial to the United States, she added. “Many will take the skills and business connections they make here and will return home, and that will strengthen our trade ties with the Hispanic world,” she said. “I see that adding to the economic power and adding to the recognition of educated Hispanics.” Benson echoed other experts, who noted the substantial changes that confronted the Affordable Care Act from inception to passage. Like that measure, they expected the path to passage would include bitter debate, compromise and the extraction of some provisions. “I do think there will be certain people who don’t like certain aspects of this bill who want to cut back on the path to legalization, or they want to increase fines, or don’t like a particular aspect of worker visas,” she said. By mid-May, the Senate held three hearings on the bill, and more were expected to be scheduled into the summer. The early hearing included testimony on issues such as the impact of illegal immigration on American workers and how the proposed measure would brighten economic opportunities. The second hearing focused more on family-based immigration issues, and the third included revisions to the E-Verify program. “Immigration reform is absolutely necessary. Everybody understands that,” said Eduardo Castell, partner at the New York City-based Mirram Group, a public affairs firm that has worked with many Hispanic candidates and on issues affecting 0 7 / 1 5 / 2 0 1 3

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Hispanics, including immigration. “It is hugely important and a universal area of consensus and interest and passion for the Latino community. Having the community show its political muscle in the last two national elections, I do believe the Latino community’s patience with a baby step approach to immigration reform is wearing thin.” The struggle to reach consensus in Washington, D.C., could inevitably produce a significantly watered down measure that offers a little to many, eliminating much of the muscular elements in the bipartisan proposal. That, he said, would escalate the frustration of the Hispanic communities.

“First and foremost, if you have real and substantive immigration reform, you will send a message that very much changes the Latino community’s feeling that we are being embraced and listened to by the United States government,” Castell said. “This is very important for a community to feel that they are no longer disenfranchised, that you are being empowered and being embraced. That is a very seismic change to how Latinos view themselves and their relations to this country.”

Scholars’ Corner My personal struggle while trying to succeed in college shaped my interest in educational equity and my passion for working with underrepresented students. As a continuation high school teacher in a low income area of Los Angeles County, I was able to understand that policies such as high school exit exams affect more than students’ graduation abilities; they also affect students’ self-esteem and their overall educational aspirations. As a doctoral student, I am able to examine how accountability policies influence access and retention of Chicana/o-Latina/o students. My goal is to become a tenured faculty member while researching issues that can create positive change for the Latino community. As a child, your career aspirations are relative to what you know and what you see the people around you doing. Growing up, my cousins and I were always told that we should aim to be lawyers or doctors. No one, however, told us how to get there or what it entailed because no one we knew were doctors or lawyers. It was part of the image of what it means to be successful in the United States. I grew up in a low income, single-parent family in Southeast Los Angeles, constantly forced to relocate due to financial strains. During my elementary and secondary school years, I sought out resources and guidance from teachers, programs and mentors. Not many people from my background continue on to higher education, and it has been a struggle to find a supportive community in these institutions. In searching for a supportive community, I learned of the Graduate Student Fellows Program as part of the American Association of Hispanics in Higher Education. Participating in the program was an amazing experience that allowed me to create a nationwide network, provided me with invaluable professional development, but mostly it opened my eyes to the endless possibilities that lay ahead. I had never imagined that I could one day become president of a university until I listened to the panel on perspectives of Latinas/os in higher education. Being welcomed in the home of a university president showed me that being a president is a realistic goal and is not impossible, as I had once imagined. Additionally, the inclusion of graduate students, faculty and administrators demonstrated the pipeline trajectory, and I was able to make connections and seek guidance from people in all stages. I have realized that this program is more than a fellowship – it builds a supportive family. The impact that this family has had on my academic journey inspires me to do the same for my peers, but more importantly, it reminds me of why I am here, which is to inspire and mentor the younger generation of students in the hope that they will struggle a little less. One of my favorite artists, Cambio, sings, “for the ones that told me I would never be nothing, I do it for the people, and to me it means something.” By Jessica M. Rodríguez Educational Leadership and Policy Studies, Higher Education, University of Washington, 2013 Graduate Fellow

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INSTITUTIONS/ORGANIZATIONS

Increasing Latino College Graduation Rates in the Lone Star State

by Gary M. Stern the U.S. is to return to the top rankings in awarding college degrees, Latinos must earn 5.5 million degrees by 2020, says the nonprofit organization Excelencia in Education, a Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit organization. In October 2012, Excelencia in Education joined with Educate Texas to convene educational leaders to explore how the group could improve Latino college completion in the Rio Grande Valley. Representatives attended from a wide swath of organizations including the University of Texas-Pan American, University of Texas-Brownsville, South Texas College, Rio South Texas Economic Council, Teach for America, Ford Foundation (which financed the event) and Communities Foundation of Texas. Nonprofit groups, four-year and junior colleges, foundations and civic organizations united to address why Latinos weren’t achieving educational success in greater numbers and what specifically could be done to ameliorate the situation. The Rio Grande Valley College Completion project is part of Excelencia’s Ensuring America’s Future by Increasing Latino College Completion initiative. Excelencia has spearheaded national efforts to augment Latino college graduation rates, Educate Texas targets state issues, and together they converged to jump start educational achievement in the Rio Grande Valley. Sarita Brown, president of Excelencia in Education, said that whether the group pursues a plan laid out by President Obama, the Gates Foundation or Lumina Foundation, “that none of these aspirational goals can be met without a tactical plan for increasing Latino college completion.” Since Excelencia is dedicated to “accelerating Latino student success,” its goals in Texas are aligned with its national agenda. The goals of Latino College Completion in the Rio Grande Valley include: 1) close the equity gap in college completion by 2020, 2) increase the number of degrees awarded, 3) scale up programs targeting Latino students. Brown says that several other factors contributed to creating a special environment in the Rio Grande Valley that isn’t matched in other locales. “You have singular strengths in the capacity of colleges and universities in that community, and you have alignment with civic leadership and political leadership in the state,” she says. For example, University of TexasPan American has succeeded in producing Latino engineers, and the University of Texas-Brownsville increased the number

Sarita Brown, president of Excelencia in Education

of postgraduate students. Educate Texas wanted to collaborate with Excelencia based on Excelencia’s extensive experience on policy issues, explains Chris Coxon, chief program officer at Educate Texas, based in Dallas, Texas. Excelencia could examine state reports on four districts and synthesize them to support the efforts of Educate Texas, which has been working in the Rio Grande Valley for seven years. Creating a collective in which 40 organizations work

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together can result in several benefits. Brown says, “This is the weren’t in the top 25 percent of their class or scored 18 or first time a national organization with many national partners less on their ACTs could take an enriched learning class. It and a state-level organization said, ‘Let’s look beyond organi- trains them how to study and raised retention rates by 12 perzational boundaries and come together on something we cent since fall 2000. believe in. Let’s aggregate our collective resources to employ South Texas College, a community college in McAllen, them in the Rio Grande Valley.” Texas, offered a Valley Scholars program to outstanding stuBut the conference was striving not to reinvent the wheel dents that included financial support, encouragement and that didn’t affect its mission. The Rio Grand Valley Collective mentoring. It had a 97 percent retention rate by 2006. At noted that “Our work is neithe University of Texasther intended to be a new Brownsville, high school stu‘program’ nor an attempt to dents that met course-based compete with existing initiaadmissions requirements tives.” Hence it wanted to pigcould receive credit for cergyback on many of the current tain high school courses. success initiatives and explore Students in this program had new ones that pertain to its college retention rates of 73 goals. percent compared to 59 perMany of the 40 local orgacent for students not enrolled nizations are meeting monthly in it. to discuss which strategies are Despite the fact that only 43 working and which need to be percent of Latino students are further developed, Coxon enrolled in higher education, says. Leveraging each other’s Brown sees progress. success can speed up results. “Compared to where the Rio Grande Valley serves as Valley was and graduation a linchpin in raising Latino rates were in these institutions college achievement in Texas 20 to 25 years ago, there’s because of the preponderance enormous progress,” she said. of Latino residents. Excelencia Poverty and low income are in Education reports that 90 holding back the people of the percent of its population is Rio Grande Valley. Educate Latino and 95 percent of the KTexas reported that “South 12 public school students are Texas has a median household Latino. Yet only 21 percent of income 14 percent lower than Latino students are enrolled in the Texas average.” The medifour-year colleges and 22 peran income of Rio Grande cent of Hispanics attend comValley is $30,000. munity colleges, so 57 percent The group has already have not pursued postsecargued that providing preondary education. By 2012, dominantly merit aid won’t only 16 percent of Latino help raise Latino education adults earned a minimum of success rates. “Addressing the an associate degree compared financial needs of low income Chris Coxon, chief program officer at Educate Texas to 37 percent of Whites who students to succeed in college, earned degrees. graduate and become part of Moreover, the impetus for students requiring college civic life, that is the best intention,” Brown asserts. degrees to find work is growing. The Texas Workforce Providing dual credit work in high school is paying off. Commission cited that the jobs in the next few years that were Educate Texas focused on raising college completion in the increasing by 35 percent require postsecondary education. Rio Grande Valley before the recent project launched. Coxon Those jobs include teachers, registered nurses, accountants says several strategies that were introduced are exerting posiand auditors, and business specialists. tive impact on accomplishing its goals. For example, enabling Excelencia cited that some colleges in the Rio Grande students in Rio Grande high schools to take dual credit work Valley are already taking the lead in forming programs to and receive college credit at no cost has stimulated interest. improve Latino achievement. For example, University of Texas- “First and foremost, we are developing a culture of college Pan American devised a program where freshmen who going. Many in the [Latino] community are first-generation

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college students,” he said. Encouraging Latino students to earn from 12 credits or more in high school, at no cost to the family, has been a major incentive in encouraging them to consider college. What the collective is doing is “trying to connect the dots,” use federal and state money more resourcefully, to motivate more Latino students to attend college and know that they can afford it, Coxon says. Providing jobs on campus for students, which gives them quick access to working and places them on campus, has also had positive impact. While this has proven effective, the Rio Grand Valley project is exploring expanding it and creating more scale. When community colleges collaborate closely with fouryear colleges, Latino students benefit. For example, two-year South Texas College has developed strong articulation with the University of Texas-Pan American. Both colleges have a joint office on the South Texas campus that assists students to advance to a bachelor’s degree after attaining their associate degree. That articulation “has led to a significant increase in the number of college transfers from South Texas to University of Texas-Pan American,” Coxon says. Despite all these beneficial strategies taking place, they need to be increased and expanded on a much broader scale. “We need to impact enough students so that the economic outcomes of this region are changed,” Coxon says. Brown says it aims to “make sure we deploy the financial resources to meet students’ financial aid needs. We need to make sure that low income students receive financial aid and make this part of the discussion in Texas.” One strategy that is also proving effective is using data for all school districts to spur college enrollment. For example, Coxon says Educate Texas studied the percentage of students who applied for FAFSA (Free Application for Federal Student Aid), which ranged from 30 percent in some districts to 70 percent in others. Encouraging superintendents from the districts with low participation to learn what works from the district with higher percentages could boost financial aid for more students. Can counselors be notified which students haven’t applied and send reminders or assist them in filing? Applying to college immediately after graduating from high school is critical in a working class area like the Rio Grande

Valley. “If a student doesn’t enroll directly after high school, less than 1 percent ever completes a degree,” Coxon says. Stalling and delaying college almost invariably lead to never attending and earning a degree. Do school counselors know that, Coxon wonders, and are they doing everything they can to ensure that students apply directly after graduating from high school? Sharing data with families about the disparity of lifetime income between college and high school graduates could also make a difference. One of the 40 organizations working in the Rio Grande Valley College Completion efforts is Jobs for the Future, a Boston-based nonprofit, says Joel Vargas, its vice president. For example, it works with South Texas College on “expanding early college programs,” he said. South Texas’ faculty has taught courses in local high schools, for example. South Texas College is doing so under “enlightened selfinterest,” Vargas explains. “We have a stake to make sure high school students are well-prepared” has been their attitude, he suggests. In some programs, students take courses at South Texas after school, taught by a college teacher. Some high school teachers provide courses with college credit at the high school. Working collaboratively with Excelencia and Educate Texas and other organizations creates a “regional approach to help good things spark, expand rapidly and make sure we don’t miss opportunities,” Vargas explains. When superintendents hear about successful programs sparking college enrollment, they too want to get involved. Districts are collaborating more, and friendly competition is encouraging more results. When so many organizations meet and talk strategy, all of them “benefit from lessons learned. We build collective advocacy and mobilize to maximize the use of limited resources,” Vargas says. Two years down the road, Brown expects to see “an increase in the number of students who graduate from postsecondary institutions and growth in practices that led to the increase.” Vargas adds that it “will take a sustained effort and better coordination among the major educational and community agencies and foundation. We need to do it community by community.”

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UNCENSORED

by Peggy Sands Orchowski

NOT ENOUGH TO BE 25 PERCENT – “It’s not enough to just have 25 percent of undergraduates be self-identified Hispanics in order to be an effective HSI [Hispanic-Serving Institution],” said Amy Jones, senior council of the Senate Education Committee, at the April Capitol Forum of HACU (the Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities). An HSI also has to have the passion and sources to service the differences of Latino students, just as the Historically Black Colleges and Universities do for Blacks, she emphasized.

2012 HISPANIC VOTE SMALLER THAN PREDICTED – The official vote count of the 2012 presidential elections finally was released in May by the U.S. Census Bureau, and the big surprise is that the size of the Hispanic vote was far lower than was exalted in November exit polls. The 11.2 million Hispanic voters made up only 8.4 percent of all voters while Black voters (17.8 million) made up 13.4 percent, even though Hispanics make up about 15 percent of the U.S. population and Blacks make up about 13 percent. But the Hispanic electorate (eligible voters who are citizens over the age of 18) is less than half its population. And in 2012, less than 50 percent of the Hispanic electorate voted, only 48 percent, fewer than in 2008 when 49.9 percent voted. In contrast, 66 percent of the Black electorate voted, surpassing the voting rate of all other groups including Whites (64 percent) for the first time. Blacks voted 93 percent Democratic in 2012 while about 70 percent of Hispanics voted for Obama, resulting in double the number of Blacks – about 16.5 million – voting for the president compared to about eight million Hispanics. The Current Population Survey report shows that the size and power of the Black vote in the 2012 election was far greater than the Hispanic vote – just the opposite from the common narrative in the press since November.

HERE WE GO AGAIN – The Washington, D.C., political press was all atwitter in early May because one of the most visible freshman senators was introducing an important piece of legislation only four months after the election. No, it wasn’t Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, on immigration; it was Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., who introduced a bill to prevent the interest rate on student loans from DOUBLING to 6.8 percent on July 1. President

Obama and Education Secretary Arne Duncan lauded her efforts. But this is old news. Keeping the temporary interest rate from doubling was one of the president’s first “accomplishments” when he took office, a tribute to former Sen. Edward Kennedy when it was extended two years ago. It has become everyone’s favorite “first” bill. After all, who would ever approve doubling student interest rates? But it’s temporary! And it does nothing to cut education costs! And while it costs the Treasury over a billion dollars to subsidize, in fact the increased interest rate over the LIFETIME of the loan (10 years plus) costs the former student less than $3 a month.

FOREIGN STUDENT POLITICAL CORRECTNESS – If there was such a thing, an award for the most politically correct industry might go to the foreign student complex. In reality, their politically sensitive terminology is so delicious it can’t resist a little teasing. For one thing, the entire industry is based on the 70-year-old foreign student visa – the F visa. No institution can issue a foreign student visa until it has been approved by the State Department and the Department of Homeland Security and has a specifically designated foreign student officer and office. But somehow, somewhere, the word “foreign” became politically incorrect on campus. So foreign students suddenly are called “international” students and scholars, and the official office on campus is the “International Students and Scholars” centers, and the foreign student advisor is an “international student” counselor. Even the venerable and well-known organization NAFSA, which originally stood for the National Association of Foreign Student Advisors, with their lobbying headquarters in Washington, D.C., now calls itself NAFSA: Association of International Educators. This was on the NAFSA card given me by the organization’s press/public relations officer at a recent congressional hearing – but that wasn’t her title. She is called the “assistant director for media engagement.” Sigh! Margaret (Peggy Sands) Orchowski was a reporter for AP South America and for the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland. She earned a doctorate in international educational administration from the University of California-Santa Barbara. She lives in Washington, D.C., where she was an editor at Congressional Quarterly and now is a freelance journalist and columnist covering Congress and higher education. 24

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HI S PAN I C S O N T H E MO VE NHU Names Ato New Provost The National Hispanic University (NHU) has announced that Dr. Gladys Ato has been named the university’s new provost. Ato will help advance NHU’s teaching and learning environment as well as develop new initiatives that support the university’s mission and vision that every student will graduate. She will also oversee academic programs, including curricula, academic policy development and deployment, and academic integrity. Ato most recently was chief academic officer and vice president of academic affairs at Argosy University, San Francisco Bay Area. She has a BA in psychology from the University of California-San Diego and a MS and Psy.D. in clinical psychology from Baylor University. Rivera Named SDSU’s Acting VP for Student Affairs In May, Eric Rivera became acting vice president for student affairs at San Diego State University (SDSU). Rivera has more than 20 years of professional experience in higher education, with progressively responsible senior-level experience in student affairs. Prior to his appointment as associate VP for student affairs at SDSU in April 2006, he served for more than five years as the assistant VP for student affairs. In his most recent capacity, he was responsible for the division-wide strategic budget planning and analysis. The first in his family to go away and graduate from college, Rivera has a BS from the University of the State of New

brain disorders such as Alzheimer’s, schizophrenia, autism, epilepsy and traumatic brain injury. The BRAIN Initiative – short for Brain Research through Advancing Innovative Neurotechnologies – builds on the president’s State of the Union call for historic investments in research and development to fuel the innovation, job creation and economic growth that together create a thriving middle class. Martínez is a practicing physician-scientist with his own research laboratory, in addition to leading three interdisciplinary research centers at the UA.

York and a master’s degree in public administration from the City University of New York-Baruch College. He also recently completed the Harvard Management & Leadership in Education Program. SACNAS Acting Executive Garza Returning to UTEP The SACNAS Board of Directors recently announced that Dr. Tina Garza, SACNAS’ acting executive director since July 2012 and tenured associate professor at the University of Texas-El Paso, will return to her academic position when her contract with SACNAS concludes this summer. Garza has a long history as a mentor, and her teaching and research responsibilities have called her back to academia. An immunologist, Garza has a BS in biology from St. Mary’s University, where she graduated with honors and summa cum laude, and a Ph.D. in microbiology from the University of Virginia. She did her postdoctoral fellowship in the Department of Immunology at the Ontario (Canada) Cancer Institute.

UFW Vice President Speaks at Fresno State Armando Elenes, national vice president for the United Farm Workers and a U.S. veteran, delivered the keynote address at California State UniversityFresno’s 17th annual César E. Chávez Celebration and Garlanding Ceremony in April. Elenes spoke about Chávez’s life and legacy and specifically his commitment to community service. He also recognized Fresno State student organizations for their community service efforts. One of four national vice presidents for the United Farm Workers that Chávez founded, Elenes serves as the organizing director for the union’s external organizing department in the San Joaquin Valley. He has an AA from Modesto Junior College.

Martínez Helps Unveil BRAIN Initiative at White House The University of Arizona’s (UA) Dr. Fernando D. Martínez, head of the BIO5 Institute, was among the country’s top scientists invited to join President Barack Obama at the White House in April as he unveiled the BRAIN Initiative – a bold new research effort to revolutionize our understanding of the human mind and uncover new ways to treat, prevent and cure

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TARGETING HIGHER EDUCATION

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Associate Versus Baccalaureate Degrees

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by Gustavo A. Mellander

oney should not be the most important thing in one’s life. It will certainly not guarantee happiness. But it should not be dismissed as unimportant either. Money is important to help us achieve independence and to protect our loved ones. A recent television program reported that the salary where people are the happiest is $74,000 a year. I would like to see the research on that assertion! Unfortunately for far too many, money is a means to acquire material things, much of which is unnecessary to lead a productive life.

Income Distribution Thanks to the faceless U.S. Bureau of Labor and the statistics they churn out, we have up-to-date information on what many of us already know, or suspect we do: What experiences and realities influence how and what Americans are paid. At the end of 2012, median weekly earnings in the United States for wage and salary workers was $775; that’s $40,300 a year. We all know that how much one earns depends on a number of factors, including one’s race and gender, and most assuredly the more education one acquires. With few exceptions, the more education one secures the fatter one’s paychecks will be. To be specific, weekly earnings based on education breaks down rather dramatically: $478 for those without a high school diploma, $647 with a high school diploma, $1,071 for a bachelor’s degree and $1,379 for those with an advanced degree. Those are dramatic differences and should be impressed on young people. One’s profession can impact one’s income as well. For instance, among service professions, where many recent immigrants work, the salaries are the lowest in America. Weekly earnings for service occupations are $485. Income rises from there, $655 for those in sales, $740 for construction workers and $1,108 for those in management and business positions. In the last category, graduate education is helpful. It’s well known that women make less than men. But the size of the gap also depends greatly on race. For every dollar a man earns, a woman of the same race earns less. The bureau reports that Asian-American women are paid 72 cents versus a dollar for Asian-American men. The disparity continues – 80 cents for Caucasians, 87 cents for Hispanics and 87 cents for Blacks.

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Given this well-known actuality, it is not surprising that the prospect of greater income motivates many women to study, to go to college and some to pursue graduate education. There are more women students in community colleges than men. At the other extreme, there are more women in law school and in medical colleges. Further let me point out that more female Hispanics are going to college than Hispanic males. Game Plan A logical question is which path is best for young and notso-young Hispanics to follow. I have a bias predicated on the fact that too many Hispanic students that I have met over 40 years don’t aim high enough, don’t try to reach their fullest potential. Far too many choose to be nurses instead of medical doctors, bookkeepers instead of CPA accountants, and legal assistants instead of lawyers to name a few. I always encourage Hispanics to aim high even if they have to proceed a step at a time. There is also a predisposition among Hispanics to enter service professions, which as we have seen are invariably lowpaid and not highly respected careers. Oh, I know it is noble to give back, to return to one’s neighborhood, to help others, etc. But I suggest that Hispanics can best help the movement by entering the ranks of highly respected and well-paid professionals – and then give back. The Evolving Role of the Associate Degree I am from California, a state well known for many higher education achievements including an absolutely magnificent community college system. Characterized by low tuition, student-oriented faculty and a tradition of meeting students at

their level and treating them as adults, these colleges have helped millions. Over 120 such community colleges are sprinkled throughout the state. They fulfill the early promise of providing a college for every resident within driving distance of their home. In California as throughout the nation, community colleges have been the major entry point into higher education for Hispanics. That trend will continue. When I worked in Silicon Valley during the 1980s, it was a thrill and a pleasure to see the local six community colleges in the area serve their students while building effective partnerships with the budding computer industry. The quality of their education and the employment offers the students received were such that students frequently quit college and took those job offers. Forward-thinking colleges quickly changed their class schedules to offer their former students the classes they needed to graduate. Evening and weekend classes flourished. Recent Realities Even though community college graduates enjoyed good professional opportunities, there was continuing scorn against community colleges. It did not abate for scores of years. Luckily, that is now changing, and money is a key ingredient. Recently, we heard from Georgetown University’s Center on Education and the Workforce that nearly 30 percent of Americans with associate degrees earn more than those with bachelor’s degrees. It is a nationwide phenomenon. Georgetown reports that computer-trained associate degree holders are earning around $50,000 a year. That’s 15 percent higher than the average starting salary for bachelor’s degree holders. Other research data from several states shows that, on average, community college graduates right out of school make more than graduates of four-year universities. They have the skills sought by many employers. The average wage for graduates of community colleges in Tennessee, for instance, is $38,948 – more than $1,300 higher than the average salaries for graduates of the state’s fouryear institutions. In Virginia, recent graduates of occupational and technical degree programs at its community colleges make an average of $40,000. That’s almost $2,500 more than recent bachelor’s degree recipients. Making money should not be the main reason for pursuing higher education – but it’s not a criminal goal either. Hopefully all colleges, two-year through university, provide education and not merely training. I am sure readers of The Hispanic Outlook understand the difference and the necessity of providing both in a college education. Researchers have reported that many students are eschewing universities because they believe “the bachelor’s degree is in retreat.” Thus a technical associate degree is preferred by many. Another factor that is weighed is that securing a fouryear degree is much more expensive than getting a two-year degree.

Education beyond an associate degree should be encouraged. It is well to note that by mid-career, many if not most bachelor’s degree recipients have caught up in earnings to community college graduates. And in the future, many will surpass associate degree holders. Costs A two-year community college degree presently costs about $6,262, according to the College Board. On the other hand, a bachelor’s degree from a four-year, private residential university is a hefty $158,072. Very good and inexpensive four-year public institutions also exist in every state. Further, not working for two years versus four years and thus not having a reasonable income for twice as long is a consideration many low income students have to consider. Middle Skills The increase in wages for community college graduates is being driven by a high demand for people with so-called “middle skills” that often require no more than an associate degree. They include lab technicians, teachers in early childhood programs, computer engineers, draftsmen, radiation therapists, paralegals and machinists. Professions such as nursing, firemen, policemen and others require an associate degree as well. With a two-year community college degree, air traffic controllers can earn $113,547; radiation therapists, $76,627; dental hygienists, $70,408; nuclear medicine technologists, $69,638; nuclear technicians, $68,037; registered nurses, $65,853; and fashion designers, $63,170, according to a CareerBuilder.com report last January. The Georgetown center further estimates that 29 million jobs paying middleclass wages today require only an associate and not a bachelor’s degree. “I would not suggest anyone look down their nose at the associate degree,” Jeff Strohl, director of research at the Georgetown center, noted. In short, community college graduates acquire skills that employers seek and want immediately. U.S. Record Versus Other Countries The bad news is that not enough associate degree holders are being produced in this country even though that degree was invented in this country. Only 10 percent of American workers have the sub-baccalaureate degrees needed for middle-skills jobs. That contrasts with 24 percent of Canadians and 19 percent of Japanese, according to a study by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. It is surprising to read that over the last 20 years, the number of graduates with associate degrees in the United States has increased by barely 3 percent. Even though President Obama and others before him encouraged community colleges to increase their numbers, enrollment at community colleges fell 3.1 percent last year, as per a National Student Clearinghouse Research Center report. That has logically

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impacted graduation rates, which remain abysmally low, especially among Hispanics. More must be done by these colleges to increase their graduation rates. Meanwhile many people with bachelor’s degrees are working in fields other than the ones in which they majored, according to a new report by the Center for College Affordability and Productivity. These higher education institutions must provide better counseling so their students can understand the professions they wish to enter and their reallife opportunities – or lack thereof. To highlight that, I quote from Christopher Denhart, one of the report’s co-authors, “We have a lot of bartenders and taxi drivers with bachelor’s degrees.” The Blessings of Time It is interesting to note that the salary advantage associate degree holders enjoy initially narrows over time. To wit: most bachelor’s degree recipients eventually catch up. Second point: recently, the difficulty some young graduates have endured before securing suitable employment has fueled a canard. That being that it is not worth the time, trouble and sacrifices one endures to go to college. In short, it’s not worth it. That’s an absolutely foolish position. Let’s start with the financial rewards of going to college. Although the figures vary by profession, associate degree recipients, on average, end up making about $500,000 more over their careers than people with only high school diplo-

mas, but $500,000 less than people with bachelor’s degrees, the Georgetown center calculates. It is good to report that many use their associate degrees to secure a well-paying job and then continue their education step by step towards a bachelor’s on a part-time basis. It’s a first-rate model to be emulated. Some employed associate degree holders figure that down the road they might want to become a director or a manager and realize a bachelor’s degree will help them get there. And from there, many discover graduate education provides more opportunities. Note the explosion and success of MBA programs. Bottom Line What can we glean from all this data? And how can Hispanics benefit from it? It might seem trite to some, but it is incontrovertibly true that education helps enrich your life. We have enumerated a few of the financial rewards, and that’s important. But there are enormous intangible benefits of securing as much education as possible. Years of misinformation and the accretion of bias can be exposed and surgically removed. It is a liberating and enlightening experience. No child should be denied that opportunity. Dr. Mellander was a college president for 20 years.

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The City University of New York

ASSOCIATE DEAN SCHOOL OF EDUCATION HUNTER COLLEGE

The School of Education is seeking an Associate Dean who will work with the Dean and the faculty to provide strong, clinically-rich preparation programs to our students. The Associate Dean will work with the Dean to further the Schoolâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s strategic vision and execute ongoing and new reform efforts. Reporting to the Dean, the Associate Dean will have the following responsibilities: â&#x20AC;¢ Work with the Dean to further the schoolâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s strategic vision and execution of ongoing and new reform initiatives. â&#x20AC;¢ Supervise staff responsible for the following functions: admissions; accreditation and assessment; field placements; technology; scheduling; student services; and teacher certification. â&#x20AC;¢ Oversee and develop School of Education budgets, both tax-levy and grant-funded. â&#x20AC;¢ Oversee all basic operations of the School, including monitoring enrollment and retention; overseeing the curriculum proposal process; communicating with faculty advisors; ensuring accuracy of the course schedule and the cancellation of low-enrolled classes; and processing student paperwork and appeals. â&#x20AC;¢ Assist the Dean with other efforts as assigned. This position is in CUNYâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Executive Compensation Plan. All executive positions require a minimum of a Bachelorâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s degree and eight yearsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; related experience. Additional qualifications are defined below: â&#x20AC;¢ Ph.D. or other appropriate terminal degree in education â&#x20AC;¢ Managerial experience, preferably in an academic setting â&#x20AC;¢ A record of working successfully with diverse students and faculty â&#x20AC;¢ Experience in K-12 teaching and teacher education â&#x20AC;¢ Knowledge of New York State teacher certification requirements and initiatives â&#x20AC;¢ Experience in handling budgets, including grant budgets â&#x20AC;¢ Excellent written and oral communication skills â&#x20AC;¢ An ability to multi-task and pay attention to detail â&#x20AC;¢ An ability to interact effectively with multiple stakeholders including faculty, students, staff and outside organizations â&#x20AC;¢ Knowledge of research and practice in the field of teacher preparation Salary commensurate with qualifications and experience. Please submit cover letter, curriculum vitae, and list of references to the Search Committee at: soeadmin@hunter.cuny.edu. The search will remain open until the position is filled.

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07/15/2013

Carleton College has tenure-track positions open in the following departments for Fall 2014: â&#x20AC;¢ â&#x20AC;¢ â&#x20AC;¢ â&#x20AC;¢ â&#x20AC;¢ â&#x20AC;¢

Art and Art History - Art or Architecture of Early Modern Europe Asian Languages and Literatures - Chinese Computer Science Economics - Macroeconomics Philosophy - Early Modern Political Science - International Relations

Positions are at the Assistant Professor level (with Ph.D. completed or substantially completed by time of appointment). In extraordinary cases, higher rank will be considered. Carleton is a highly selective liberal arts college with 1950 undergraduates located 45 miles south of Minneapolis and St. Paul. Carleton is committed to developing its faculty to better reflect the diversity of our student body and American society. Women and members of minority groups are strongly encouraged to apply. Carleton College does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, creed, ethnicity, religion, sex, national origin, marital status, veteran status, actual or perceived sexual orientation, gender identity and expression, status with regard to public assistance, disability, or age in providing employment or access to its educational facilities and activities. For a full description of these positions, visit Carletonâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Web site at http://apps.carleton.edu/campus/doc/position_openings/.

SENIOR VICE PRESIDENT FOR ACADEMIC AFFAIRS AND PROVOST

The University of Georgia invites applications and nominations for the position of Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs and Provost.

The University of Georgia (UGA), a land-grant/sea-grant university, is the largest and most comprehensive educational institution in Georgia. Founded in 1785 by the Georgia General Assembly as the first statechartered university in the country, the University is recognized as the flagship among the 31 institutions comprising the University System of Georgia. UGA is consistently ranked among the top 25 public universities in U.S. News & World Report. The University is located in Athens, approximately 65 miles northeast of Atlanta.

UGA employs approximately 1,700 full-time faculty and 10,000 staff. The University enrolls 35,000 students including approximately 26,500 undergraduates and 8,500 graduate and professional students. Academic programs reside in 17 schools and colleges, as well as a medical partnership with Georgia Regents University housed on the UGA Health Sciences Campus, which will graduate its first class of medical students in Spring 2014. In Fiscal Year 2013, the University had an annual budget of more than $1.4 billion. Reporting directly to the President, the Provost is the University’s sole senior vice president. In day-to-day activities, the Provost serves as both a chief academic officer and a chief operating officer of the institution and advises and assists the President in all internal operations of the University, with particular attention to the development and implementation of academic policy. The deans of the University’s 17 schools and colleges report to the Provost as well as the vice presidents for instruction, research, public service and outreach, student affairs, and information technology.

The next Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs and Provost should possess a distinguished record of strategic administrative leadership in higher education and a thorough knowledge of academic administration and the programs of a large research university with a particular understanding of the land-grant and sea-grant missions of the institution. Demonstrated commitment to diversity as well as the ability to work collegially with a range of internal and external constituencies is critical. This individual should also have an outstanding scholarly record and the highest academic degree appropriate to his or her discipline. Initial screening of applicants will begin immediately and will continue until the position is filled. For best consideration, please submit materials before August 15, 2013. The University of Georgia will be assisted by Ellen Brown Landers of Heidrick & Struggles, Inc. Nominations and applications should be directed to:

LOOKING FOR A DIVERSE GROUP OF APPLICANTS?

LOOK NO FURTHER... We are here to help you reach over 125,000 college faculty and administrators. For more information: 800.549.8280 ext. 106 • Outlook@SprintMail.com

www.HispanicOutlook.com

July 20–23, 2013 Morial Convention Center New Orleans, LA

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The conversations happen here Register now for the 2013 NCLR Annual Conference and take part in more than 50 workshops including: PREPARING LATINO STUDENTS FOR STEM EDUCATION: The NCLR Approach

WOMEN EXCELLING IN THE SCIENCES: Past, Present, and Future presented by American Chemical Society

The University of Georgia Provost Search Committee Heidrick & Struggles, Inc. 303 Peachtree Street, NE Suite 4300 Atlanta, GA 30308 Email: ugaprovost@heidrick.com

THE PERFECT FORMULA: Stakeholders + Strategies = Communities Ready for College and the Workforce

The University of Georgia is an Equal Opportunity, Affirmative Action Institution. Woman and minorities are encouraged to apply.

07/15/2013

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CHANCELLOR River Parishes Community College

The Louisiana Community and Technical College System invites nominations and applications for the position of Chancellor of River Parishes Community College. RPCC, named the fastest-growing public two-year college of its size in the nation, is located in the Ascension Parish town of Sorrento in what is known as the River Parishes region of the state because of the proximity of the parishes to the Mississippi River.

The College is conveniently located approximately halfway between New Orleans and Baton Rouge. RPCC’s recently expanded service area includes Ascension, Assumption, St. James, St. John, St. Charles, Tangipahoa, and Washington Parishes. The designation also includes portions of Iberville and Livingston Parishes. RPCC lies in that unique corridor where the majority of the state’s manufacturing facilities anything from petro-chemicals to raincoats - are located. This past March, groundbreaking was held for Phase 1 of construction at RPCC’s new campus. Phase 1 will include an 81,000-square-foot building that will house academic programs and administrative offices. Phase 2 of construction will include the Advanced Technology Center, a building that will house RPCC’s technical programs. Required Qualifications: • Those holding an earned doctorate with a background in higher education administration are preferred. • Minimum of 5 years successful experience at the Vice President or President/Chancellor level in an institution of higher education, preferably at a comprehensive community college. Desirable Qualifications Include: • An inspirational leader throughout RPCC and all communities served by the College with a passion for the role and mission of the community and technical colleges in changing lives and building communities. • A collaborative leader who will develop and implement strategic initiatives that address student, employer, and community needs. • An open communication style with superior speaking, writing and listening skills. • A demonstrated commitment to ensuring appropriate linkages between career and technical education and the transfer mission of the institution. • A successful track record of fund-raising and demonstrated experience with foundations, grants, strong fiscal management and the fostering of college advocates.

For additional information about River Parishes Community College, please visit www.rpcc.edu. For a full position description and application procedures, you may also visit www.lctcs.edu or www.acctsearches.org Salary and benefits are competitive. The review of applications will continue until the position is filled. The target date for applications is: Wednesday, August 7, 2013 To apply go to: http://www.acctsearches.org

Confidential inquiries regarding the application process or nominations should be directed to Narcisa Polonio, Ed.D., ACCT Executive Vice President for Research, Education and Board Leadership Services, (202) 276-1983 (mobile) or narcisa_polonio@acct.org. or Julie Golder, J.D., Board Services Coordinator, 202-775-4466 (office) , 202-384-5816 (mobile) or jgolder@acct.org. Executive Searches http://www.acctsearches.org

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The City University of New York

RESEARCH ASSOCIATE Centro de Estudios Puertorriqueños HUNTER COLLEGE GENERAL DUTIES Conducts academic research in connection with CUNY programs; may assist faculty, staff, and students in conducting research and lead research efforts involving others. • Develops research plans and proposals and participates in acquiring funding • Collects, analyzes, and assures validity of data • Writes progress reports; writes and publishes findings • Collaborates with internal and external colleagues • Adheres to standards for safety and hygiene and ethical conduct as defined by the University and relevant outside parties MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS Doctoral Degree in a related field and demonstrated research ability. CLOSING DATE The search will remain open until the position is filled. For a complete job description and direction on how to apply please visit: http://hr.hunter.cuny.edu/jobs CUNY is an AA/EO/IRCA/ADA Employer

07/15/2013

MANAGEMENT - The University of North Carolina Asheville Department of Management and Accountancy, accredited by AACSB International, invites applications for a tenure-track Assistant Professor position in Management to begin Fall 2014. Rank and salary will be determined according to degree and level of teaching experience. The successful candidate should possess a PhD in Management or related field (e.g., Business Administration or Public Administration), although ABDs close to completion date will be considered. Preference will be given to those individuals with an academic background in Strategic Management, but other Management disciplines may be considered. The successful candidate will teach Management Strategies and Policy and other related management courses. A research stream in the area of Strategic Management is preferred, but candidates with teaching and research specialization in globalization, workplace diversity, diversity leadership, and social entrepreneurship are strongly encouraged to apply. Candidates must demonstrate excellent teaching skills and an ability to perform research commensurate with maintaining currency in the discipline in a liberal arts undergraduate environment. The University is especially interested in candidates who have a commitment to serving our well-qualified student body and the wider community, each of which are culturally, ethnically, and linguistically diverse. Consideration will also be given to those with demonstrated experience or potential for leadership in serving the University’s efforts in promoting diversity and inclusion. Successful candidates should also be prepared to teach outside the department in our Integrative Liberal Studies program-UNC Asheville’s interdisciplinary liberal arts curriculum, required of all our undergraduates-including our Humanities program, writing and diversity intensive courses, and the first-year seminar series. Candidate should send a current vita, statement of teaching philosophy, three reference letters, and evidence of teaching ability to Dr. Micheal Stratton, Search Committee Chair, mstratto@unca.edu; or, One University Heights, CPO 1850, Asheville, NC 28804. Online submission strongly preferred. Application review will begin immediately. UNC Asheville, located in the Blue Ridge Mountains in Western North Carolina, is the designated public liberal arts institution of the University of North Carolina system, committed to student-centered teaching and to being an inclusive campus community. We encourage applications from women and traditionally underrepresented minorities. UNC Asheville is committed to increasing and sustaining the diversity of its faculty, staff, and student body as part of its liberal arts mission. As an Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action Employer, UNC Asheville does not discriminate in its hiring or employment practices on the basis of race and ethnicity, age, religion, disability, socio-economic status, gender expression, gender and sexual identity, national origin, culture and ideological beliefs.

P ri min g the Pump. ..

TOXIC PEOPLE

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

“The key is to keep company only with people who in one or more of her interuplift you, whose presence calls forth your best.” – ests. It can take a long time for Epictetus others to convince a person that she is worthy of positive eveloping social relationships is an important part of a people and healthy situations, but as a young Latina feels young Latino’s preparation for higher education, but more confident about what she can do, her outlook will the wrong friends can be toxic. Because teens are eventually turn around. Once she knows she is good at greatly influenced by the opinions of others (it’s a develop- something, the negative comments from others will feel too mental thing), it is tougher for many adolescents to rid painful and be too dissonant to reconcile. Suddenly, the perthemselves of negative people and harmful situations. The son long admired is viewed as critical or “talking smack” results of those negative relationships, though, can take about them. The barbs hurt, and the relationship becomes deep root and significantly affect a Latino teen’s future. intolerable. On his own, the Hispanic teen with newly found While an adult can more easily walk away from difficult peo- confidence begins to distance herself and strike out on her ple or an unhealthy situation, an adolescent needs more own. The more confident she becomes, the less she tolersupport to be free of those challenges. ates the negative. A Latina trapped in negative situation – listening to a critiSupport from others needs to continue once the Hispanic cal relative or teacher, believing a caustic friend or sticking youth decides to free himself of the negative situation. by an abusive boyfriend – must believe three things to detoxi- Retaliation or ostracism from the negative person can be fy. She must acknowledge that the negative person or situa- painful, sometimes causing teens to question their decision tion is personally harmful, embrace the idea that she or perceptions. Concerned adults can provide reassurance deserves better and have confidence that she can successfully that their perceptions were correct, their decision was solid separate herself and succeed independently in the long run. and that steadfastness will pay off. When a loyal Latina adolescent’s affiliative needs are strong, The challenge is often greater when the Latino’s family is it is hard for her to believe that the person they seek approval the source of emotional toxicity. When Latinos are raised to from is harmful. Instead of seeing someone who is being mean believe family above all or family no matter what and have or inconsiderate realistically, she continues to admire her. heard negative statements about themselves or others for Many young Latinos can’t reconcile – and therefore they years, they believe these statements to be true. When they accept – that relatives or friends who supposedly love them are are faced with the harsh reality of the emotional abuse or brutally critical and emotionally harmful. Instead, they accept admit loved ones were harmful, it requires great strength the abuse or neglect, listen to the harsh remarks and believe – and resolve on Latino teens’ part to make a change. He or at least somewhat – that these people are correct. she might be outnumbered in his or her opinion, excluded How can a concerned adult help a young Latina stuck in from the fold or ridiculed. This pain can be so unbearable a toxic situation turn things around? for some Hispanic adolescents that they give up and permaThe surest (but not the fastest) way of helping a young nently internalize the negative messages received. For teens Latina detoxify from negative relationships or situations is to who persist despite that loss of family, the support of caring help her raise her self-esteem to the point of realizing that adults can help them recover from toxic relationships. With abuse or mistreatment is happening. Beyond introducing self-confidence and a positive outlook, Latino teens can sucher to and supporting positive new relationships or chal- ceed in higher education. lenges, help her develop a sense of competence or mastery

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