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The Hispanic Outlook in Higher Education Magazine® is a national magazine published 25 times a year. Dedicated to exploring issues related to Hispanics in higher education,The Hispanic Outlook in Higher Education Magazine® is published for the members of the higher education community. Editorial decisions are based on the editors’ judgment of the quality of the writing, the timeliness of the article, and the potential interest to the readers of The Hispanic Outlook Magazine®.

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we go to press, Texas is expected to say yes to a bill allowing college faculty and students to carry guns on campus. Half of the Texas House members are co-sponsors. College administrators and faculty are opposed. Utah already has such a law, and Colorado gives colleges the option to permit gun toting.

But as some factions are taking us back to the Wild West days, others have their heads and hands in the future, including our community colleges, renowned for their speed in adapting to new needs and opportunities.

Two examples are described in this issue – a successful joint program at Texas Tech University and El Paso Community College that is prepping Latinos for the architecture pipeline, and the Green Jobs Initiative, an AACC and ecoAmerica partnership that must be very proud of the terrific program at Los Angeles Trade Technical College. Bravo!

New York Times columnist Charles Blow’s Feb. 19 column shows how 33 “advance economy” countries compare on nine measures. The U.S. was among the “best” in level of democracy, Gallup global well-being index, and student performance in science – among the “worst” in its unemployment rate – and among the “worst of the worst” in income inequality, food insecurity, life expectancy, prison population and student performance in math. Our prison population stands at 743 inmates per 100,000 citizens. Israel is second at 325, and 26 of the 33 countries came in at under 200.

Let’s hope we can dodge the bullets and stay out of jail as we work to shore up America’s academic glory with talented Latinos. ¡Adelante!

Suzanne López-Isa Managing Editor

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by Carlos D. Conde

LATINO KALEIDOSCOPE

Help! The Latinos – Mostly Mexicans – Are Coming. No, Wait, They Are Here!

aybe Harvard scholar Samuel Huntington and conservative political activist Patrick Buchanan were right several years ago when they predicted that soon enough, the U.S. would be lousy with Latinos, mostly Mexicans.

It’s already happening, but not to the extreme these two xenophobes predicted in their best-selling books that warned that if the population and migration trend continued – which it has – a wealth of Americans would soon be speaking Spanish and eating tacos.

Huntington, who died in December 2008, was a political science professor who wrote best-selling books on the world’s social makeup, including, in 1966, The Clash of Civilizations and the Remaking of World Order, which portended that future international conflicts would occur less over ideological disputes and more due to cultural differences.

You could say the Afghanistan and Iraq disputes, pitting the world’s Islamic factions against the world’s infidels, principally the U.S., gives some substance to Huntington’s pronouncements.

Then Huntington came out in 2004 with Who Are We? The Challenges to America’s National Identity,” which posits that, at the current rate of Latino immigration, overwhelmingly Mexican, the U.S. stood the threat of becoming a bifurcated nation by dividing the nation into two peoples, two cultures and two languages.

Huntington, by most accounts a brilliant academic, said in a separate essay that a clue to this was that in 1998, “Jose replaced Michael as the most popular name for newborn boys both in California and Texas.”

Then came Patrick Buchanan, the provocative political gunslinger, who failed miserably in his three races for president but was better at tweaking the national conscience with his alarmist discourses.

In his aptly titled State of Emergency: The Third World Invasion and Conquest of America, Buchanan warned we were being overtaken by Latinos, mostly Mexicans.

“This is not immigration as America knew it ... This is an invasion, the greatest in history. Nothing of this magnitude has ever happened in so short a time.”

Buchanan was talking mostly about illegal immigrants crossing the southwest border and added that, if not curtailed, it would mean the end of the United States as we know it and the cities of the southwest will look like Ciudad Juarez and Tijuana, as some do already.

Many would find Buchanan’s dissection preposterous and Huntington’s jingoistic in spite of his learned reputation, yet the latest Census figures, released in February, reveal a phenomenal growth of the authentic Latino population in the U.S., mostly Mexicans, during the last decade, growth expected to continue into the next decade.

You can look at the Census numbers and interpret them whichever way you want, and some can be bewildering, but the numbers in their rawest form are unassailable. The U.S. Latino population – mostly Mexican – has become a force to contend with and, according to trends, is on course to become the dominant group, particularly in the southwestern states.

The Census counts currently 48.4 million Hispanics, making them the nation’s largest race minority as of 2010. Worldwide, only Mexico with 111 million has a larger Hispanic population.

The projections are that by July 2050, Hispanics will number 132.8 million, or 30 percent of the nation’s population.

Forty-seven percent of the Hispanic-origin population lives in California or Texas, with California numbering 13.7 million and Texas 9.1 million.

Latinos are the largest minority group in 21 states.

Sixteen states have at least a half-million Hispanics. New Mexico’s population is almost half Latino, mostly Mexican. In one year, Alabama increased its Latino population 6.6 percent.

Mexicans account for 66 percent of the Hispanic-origin people in the U.S., followed by Puerto Ricans with 9 percent, Cubans 3.4 percent, Salvadorans 3.4 percent and 2.8 percent Dominicans.

In one year alone, between July 1, 2008, and July 1, 2009, the U.S. Hispanic population increased 3.1 percent.

You think you know where most are coming from – Mexico – and why those U.S. olive green-uniformed immigration cops are going crazy manning detection radar and constructing barriers along the border – and still they come.

Actually, the U.S. illegal population is only about 12 million, two-thirds Latinos and, yes, mostly Mexicans.

However, the rest of the explosive Latino population is U.S.born or legal, and Latinos have one of the highest birth rates in the country, so they ain’t going to go away soon.

Twenty-six percent of children 5 or younger were Hispanic. All in all, Hispanics account for 22 percent of children younger than 18. The median age of Hispanics in 2009 was 27.4 years compared to 36.8 years for the entire U.S. In July 2008-09, California had the largest Hispanic numerical increase with 312,000, followed by Texas’ 300,000 and Florida’s 105,000 – but it is Texas whose Latino growth – mostly Mexicans – is called phenomenal.

The Texas population grew to 25.1 million, accounting for nearly 25 percent of the nation’s total growth since the last count, and Latinos, mostly Mexicans, provided two-thirds of the increase, Census officials said.

Non-Hispanic Whites now make up only 45 percent of the Texas population, down from 52 percent in 2000, and if their numbers continue to shrink, they could be on their way to becoming what was once unthinkable in Texas – the minority group.

I never thought I’d ever see my native Texas “going Mexican,” but the signs become more obvious every time I visit my home turf in the Rio Grande Valley, which is several times a year.

Anglos are less ubiquitous, and in ways, their customs are now becoming the exception or are conforming to Latino ways, although many Latinos have corrupted the language and their traditions into an ersatz ethnic lifestyle, if at all.

Latinos, mostly the younger generations – speak to me in English or in barely pidgin Spanish or cyberspeak gobbledygook, and in a weird sort of way, I feel ostracized all over again in this reformist Latino age.

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

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MAGAZINE® MARCH 21, 2011

CONTENTS Cooke Initiative Shows Elite School Students Benefit from Low-Income Transfers by Jeff Simmons

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El Paso Dominates Community College Rankings 11 for Hispanics Community Colleges for Hispanics by Mary Ann Cooper 15 Divided We Fail Suggests Ways to Improve Community College Graduation ... by Angela Provitera McGlynn Helping Students Take the Proper Steps to Earn a College Degree by Melissa Campbell

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Measuring the Cost of First-Year Dropouts

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by Michelle Adam

Page 11

CUNY’s New Community College Gets Ready to Debut by Marilyn Gilroy

Measuring the Cost of First-Year Dropouts

27 Texas Tech and El Paso C.C. Partnership Provides Career Path for Hispanic Students ... by Roxanne Schroeder Going Green – in More Ways than One

by Thomas G. Dolan

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

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DEPARTMENTS Latino Kaleidoscope

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by Carlos D. Conde

Help! The Latinos – Mostly Mexicans – Are Coming. No, Wait, They Are Here!

In the Trenches ...

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by Ana Hernández

Success Lives Here: The Impact of the Residential Experience on Student Success

Hispanics on the Move

Interesting Reads and Media...

Book Review

by Mary Ann Cooper

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The Community College Guide

Hi gh Sch o ol F or um

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National Report Card:Today’s 12th-Graders Lag Behind Their 1992 Counterparts by Mary Ann Cooper

FYI...FYI...FYI...

Priming the Pump...

by Miquela Rivera

Teaching Latino Students Time Management Skills

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Back Cover

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

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Page 30 Cover photo courtesy of Jack Kent Cooke Foundation

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REPORTS

Cooke Initiative Shows Elite T

hey might be high-achieving, but often lower-income students who enroll at community college campuses don’t necessarily see a brighter light at the end of their academic tunnel: the opportunity to continue their studies at a four-year institution.

A recent study, though, is shedding light on the dilemma and detailing the effective endeavors of one initiative to shepherd these students down a clearer path through higher education.

The college enrollment gap for underrepresented students in U.S. higher education has been substantial for decades, prompting policymakers, foundations, educators and experts to repeatedly clamor for strengthened efforts to improve college access, particularly for first-generation and low- to moderate-income students.

While a variety of local, statewide and national efforts have aimed to narrow the gap – whether through redirecting funding or overhauling programs – some have looked toward community colleges as a solution and a potential gateway to four-year institutions.

The Jack Kent Cooke Foundation recently announced the results of a five-year study of community college transfers to some of the nation’s most highly selective colleges. The report, Partnerships that Promote Success: The Evaluation of the Community College Transfer Initiative, examined the success of programs and policies that encouraged talented lowerincome community college students to transfer to eight participating institutions.

An evaluation of the foundation’s Community College Transfer Initiative (CCTI) identified whether practices appropriately recognized these students in community colleges and improved their experiences in transferring to the eight, including whether they were able to achieve academic and personal success.

“I don’t think that people ever thought about elite colleges being connected to community colleges,” said Emily Froimson, director of higher education programs at the foundation, where she oversees the higher education scholarship programs and grant-making initiatives involving

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Photo © Jack Kent Cooke Foundation

by Jeff Simmons

colleges and universities. “People did not think of it as a potential pipeline. It seemed incongruous six or seven years ago.”

“Many talented community college students from low-income families would not consider applying to a selective four-year college or university without encouragement and support,” noted Cathy Burack, a senior fellow at Brandeis University’s Center for Youth and Communities and a senior researcher of the report. “The CCTI truly transforms their lives. It offers an opportunity to students whose talents might have otherwise gone unrecognized to reach their potential and set examples for other low-income, firstgeneration community college students.”

Since 2001, the private foundation has helped young, promising students to reach their full potential through education, and provided challenging opportunities to high-achieving students from lower-income families through a Young Scholars Program, scholarships for undergraduate and graduate study, and grants to nonprofit organizations and educational institutions.

The foundation asked 150 four-year institutions to apply for the CCTI program, and in 2005

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launched CCTI to promote sustainable, longterm increases in the number of high-achieving community college students from low-income families transferring to the nation’s selective four-year institutions so they could complete bachelor’s degrees.

Accordingly, the foundation awarded grants totaling approximately $7 million over four years to the eight four-year institutions: Amherst College and Mount Holyoke College, both in Massachusetts, Bucknell University in Pennsylvania, Cornell University in New York, the University of California-Berkeley, the University of Michigan-Ann Arbor, the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill and the University of Southern California.

Since then, with the foundation partnering with them, the institutions collaborated with community colleges to create sustainable pathways for exceptional students. And, the report noted, coordinators worked with potential transfers to advise on transfer admission options and financial aid, and offer orientation, tutoring and other support mechanisms for newly transferred community college students.

“Initially, the foundation required a couple of

School Students Benefit from Low-Income Transfers things from the institutions,” Froimson said. “We required that they increase the number of slots available for low-income community college transfer students. We were looking to increase opportunity. It also was essential that the fouryear institutions be able to provide financial aid.

We did that because many institutions were using transfers to fill in for attrition, and were not making financial aid available. That really

fers. They were started from a very early stage, and this allowed them to create something that would entirely fit their culture.”

The initiative recognized both the importance of attendance at selective colleges and universities on students’ future success, particularly for those from lower-income families, and the contributions that the students could make at the four-year campuses.

tiative, and that all eight strengthened their ability to recruit qualified students and support their success. CCTI programs and practices also enhanced transfer students’ readiness for academic and social success, facilitating their smooth transition into highly selective colleges and universities.

The report noted that six out of eight campuses were expected to continue their efforts.

does not allow for the transfer of low-income students if you do that.”

The foundation chose the Center for Youth and Communities at Brandeis University’s Heller School for Social Policy and Management to assess the program. The recent study highlighted selected findings from the evaluation, focusing on promising practices and lessons learned, with a goal of conveying information in hopes that other interested institutions could not only find them instructive but replicate them.

“We were mindful of the fact that each institution has its own culture and each started from a different place,” Froimson said. “Some, like Bucknell, had very few community college trans-

“The biggest obstacle for most of the students was financial. Many students did not imagine that they could afford the tuition,” said Susan Lanspery, who served as the study’s co-principal investigator, along with Burack.

“We always expected that CCTI would benefit the students who transferred, so that they would understand what they needed to do to succeed, and they would see these institutions as the right places for them,” Froimson noted.

“That was the goal.”

The new study found that, over a period of three years, the institutions enrolled nearly 2,000 additional lower-income community college students, far exceeding the goals of the ini-

And, in fact, CCTI significantly transformed students’ lives, and the students have made significant contributions to the institutions where they matriculated.

“The students made huge contributions to the universities and colleges through the classrooms, through development of new associations and organizations, through their engagement in campuses overall,” Froimson said. “At many of these institutions, the students became sought after by the faculty and by the institution.

But what surprised us was the impact or benefit that the program provided to the institutions themselves.”

The report drew conclusions not solely on

Photo © Jack Kent Cooke Foundation

The foundation awarded grants totaling approximately $7 million over four years to Amherst, Mount Holyoke, Bucknell, Cornell, UC-Berkeley, University of Michigan-Ann Arbor, University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill and the University of Southern California.

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interviews but also after a careful review of student records, academic data and financial records.

According to the report: • CCTI improved collaboration and communication among the four-year campuses, and in their departments and administrative offices.

• Meaningful partnerships with community colleges made recruiting and preparing the right students much easier.

• CCTI also benefited students, at times transforming their lives. Many had not envisioned themselves even finishing community college, or succeeding at a four-year institution or planning to attend graduate school.

• Critical to program effectiveness and sustainability were institutional readiness and buy-in from the start of CCTI. • Promoting CCTI students’ academic and social integration while using data to improve and sustain programs supported student success at the institutions.

• CCTI made intellectual contributions to the campuses and classrooms, became heavily involved on campus and increased diversity.

“Some of these programs were relatively small, but in terms of taking nontraditional students with diverse backgrounds, I think that it had a pretty significant effect on diversity,” Froimson said. “Many of these institutions, particularly liberal arts colleges, did not have many nontraditional students. In terms of the classroom discourse, to have these students who were mature and not taking school for granted, and were not privileged, was a different perspective and was particularly important.”

Several institutions had a head start because “they already had a strong mission around equality and diversity,” she said. For instance, women’s colleges were founded to serve a population not being properly served by other institutions, so, she said, “This has been a natural fit for them to take on community college students.”

Among the CCTI students surveyed, 41 percent were the first in their family to attend a four-year college, and many of them would not have considered attending a selective institution without the encouragement of CCTI programs.

Pivotal to success was assistance with admissions and financial aid applications, as well as with orientation and academic support.

“Partnerships were really the key to easing the transfer process and making it more manageable,” Lanspery said, pointing out that institutions initially sought to achieve diversity goals by

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striving to recruit high school students, overlooking the opportunity to entice community college recruits.

So the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill started a team involving deans and transfer advisors from community college partners as well as representatives from its College of Arts and Sciences, Student Affairs and Student Aid, among others.

Cornell’s similar Pathway to Success Advisory Committee included admissions staff, deans and other administrators as well as representatives from community colleges.

Amherst hosted an annual Community College Collaborative Faculty Workshop, which included Amherst CCTI students, workshops on teaching and learning for Amherst and community college faculty, and opportunities for community college advisors and students to learn more about the CCTI. Other examples of how institutions navigated partnerships included identifying partners in the community to boost involvement. For instance, using CCTI grant funds, Mount Holyoke funded a full-time transfer liaison to coordinate the Pathways Program at Holyoke Community College. The liaison, an alumna of both Holyoke Community College and Mount Holyoke, encouraged and advised eligible students.

Bucknell maintained consistent communication with point people at its five community college partners, using its grant funding to help partners cover participation costs.

As part of the research, investigators interviewed a number of students and administrators, as well as faculty, and found the benefits to cut across all segments of campus life.

For instance, the report noted that CCTI itself improved cross-campus collaboration and communication between campus units.

Researchers said the students made intellectual contributions to the four-year campuses and even transformed classroom discussions. Faculty pointed out that on several campuses, CCTI students often do supplemental reading and asked for extra reading. They had insights and “edgy” questions that enriched class discussions.

Schools and departments that initially resisted accepting CCTI students are now doing so, and faculty who initially resisted the program have since inquired about how to recruit more CCTI students.

“We found that for all of the sites, some to a greater degree than others, they were very careful about recruiting students who were likely to

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be able to handle the work, and at the same time they were very focused on low-income first-generation students,” Lanspery said. “They found there were more students than they had room for who were capable of handling the work, so they could focus on students who were the best fit.”

Their attendance on campus inspired administrators, faculty and other students through their “appreciation for resources that other students might take for granted,” as one administrator said.

CCTI students formed transfer student organizations at three campuses, improving life for all transfer students by raising awareness of, and helping to address, transfer students’ concerns.

“The campuses came to quickly realize that beyond this being the right thing to do, these students were real assets and really became part of and enriched their communities,” Burack said.

“Once they got admitted, they just took advantage of every second of the experience.”

Added her colleague, Lanspery: “We felt they were people who never had a chance to shine in some ways, and once they had the opportunity to do so, they took advantage of every opportunity.”

Since enrolling, many CCTI students won awards and honors and assumed leadership roles on campus. Several won competitive scholarships that were open to all students, and many conducted research with faculty. Others became formal or informal peer mentors and ambassadors to potential CCTI applicants currently at community colleges.

“They take on this role because they want to ‘give back’ and to offer the kind of information that professional staff can’t necessarily provide,” the report stated.

The study further noted that developing processes and systems to increase transparency and flexibility between institutions, along with a willingness to negotiate, were often more effective than formal articulation agreements and strict policies.

Froimson and the researchers stressed that the lessons learned from the study can be achieved on a national scale by some of the country’s best four-year institutions, although each would need to tailor its programs based on different academic environments and starting points.

“The report has been getting a fair amount of attention,” she said. “I hope it will be used to increase a number of partnerships between community colleges and elite institutions.”

RANKINGS

El Paso Dominates Community College Rankings for Hispanics

C

by Mary Ann Cooper ommunity colleges are attended by close to half of the undergraduate students in the United States and have become more important than ever in the nation’s goal to elevate the numbers of the college-educated entering the work force.

Since 1985, more than half of all community college students have been women. In addition, the majority of Black and Hispanic undergraduate students in this country study at these colleges.

As in years past, The Hispanic Outlook in Higher Education Magazine has prepared an analysis of community colleges based on enrollment, faculty diversity and degrees granted from a Hispanic point of view. Our analysis comes from figures provided by the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES). This year, however, we’ve added the element of looking back at degrees granted five years ago.

Our comparison of figures for 2004 and for 2009 tells a story of consistency in some cases and inconsistency in others. Some schools that weren’t even on our radar screen in 2004 were among the Top 25 or Top 50 in granting A.A. degrees to Hispanics.

As for consistency, El Paso Community College (EPCC) in Texas once again ranked first nationally in all three categories – enrollment, degrees granted and Hispanic faculty members. And five years ago, it ranked first in Hispanic enrollment.

In the category of highest percentage of Hispanic enrollment, El Paso ranked second to another Texas school, Laredo Community College, with 86 percent compared to Laredo’s 96 percent.

In the categories of the percentage of degrees granted in 2004 and 2009 as well as Hispanic faculty, El Paso ranked in the top five schools of those Top 50 lists.

What accounts for El Paso’s consistent success? Under the leadership of President Richard M. Rhodes, El Paso Community College boasts more than 130 academic programs and more than 350 personal enrichment/continuing education courses. In addition to services that have become the norm in community colleges, such as distance education, online courses and dual credit, EPCC has instituted Student Technology Services (a student-run technology training program) and Early College High School (where students earn an associate degree at the same time they are earning a high school diploma). EPCC, says Rhodes, has also established close ties to its community, making it “the leading provider of training for local area business and industry.”

There is an important change in this year’s data report that must be noted.

Data are derived from various lists compiled by NCES and its Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System. NCES has created a new data-gathering system. Because of the new system, not all schools are on every data list.

Schools have been given two years to comply with the new NCES data-gathering system. The Hispanic Outlook has combined all available data from all NCES lists to give fair representation to all institutions during this transition.

The White House Summit on Community Colleges In fall 2010, Jill Biden, wife of Vice President Joe Biden, hosted the first-ever White House Summit on Community Colleges. It was further recognition that, as she put it, “Community colleges are uniquely positioned to provide the education and training that will prepare students for the jobs in the 21st century.”

The summit was one of several initiatives launched by the Obama administration to fulfill the president’s stated goal of regaining superiority in producing college graduates in the United States. At the summit, President Obama explained the urgency of this goal. “In just a decade, we’ve fallen from first to ninth in the proportion of young people with college degrees. That not only represents a huge waste of potential; in the global marketplace it represents a threat to our position as the world’s leading economy.”

He directly connected community colleges to meeting that national goal. “We know, for example, that in the coming years, jobs requiring at least an associate’s degree are going to grow twice as fast as jobs that don’t require college. We will not fill those jobs – or keep those jobs on our shores – without community colleges.”

The president pointed out the strengths of the community college system this way: “These are places where young people can continue their education without taking on a lot of debt. These are places where workers can gain new skills to move up in their careers. These are places where anyone with a desire to learn and to grow can take a chance on a brighter future for themselves and their families – whether that’s a single mom, or a returning soldier or an aspiring entrepreneur.

“The importance of the community college reaches far beyond the borders of America. And community colleges aren’t just the key to the future of their students. They’re also one of the keys to the future of our country.

We are in a global competition to lead in the growth industries of the 21st century. And that leadership depends on a well-educated, highly skilled work force.”

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El Paso Community College TX East Los Angeles College CA Houston Community College TX Riverside Community College CA Southwestern College CA Santa Ana College CA Rio Hondo College CA Lone Star College System TX San Antonio College TX Central New Mexico Community College NM Mt. San Antonio College CA Valencia Community College FL San Jacinto Community College TX Pima Community College AZ Austin Community College District TX Long Beach City College CA Fresno City College CA El Camino Community College District CA Chaffey College CA Pasadena City College CA Santa Monica College CA Tarrant County College District TX Cerritos College CA Laredo Community College TX Palomar College CA Bakersfield College CA Los Angeles Trade Technical College CA Los Angeles Valley College CA Los Angeles City College CA CUNY/Borough of Manhattan Com. Coll. NY Los Angeles Mission College CA College of the Canyons CA Los Angeles Pierce College CA Del Mar College TX San Bernardino Valley College CA City Colleges of Chicago-Richard J. Daley Coll. IL Reedley College CA Northwest Vista College TX Ventura College CA Northern Virginia Community College VA City Colleges of Chicago-Wilbur Wright Coll. IL San Joaquin Delta College CA San Diego City College CA CUNY/LaGuardia Community College NY Hillsborough Community College FL CUNY/Bronx Community College NY New Mexico State University-Dona Ana NM Sacramento City College CA Oxnard College CA Imperial Valley College CA

Source: 2009 ED/NCES

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TOTAL

ENROLLMENT 28,168 35,717 54,942 36,586 21,597 31,073 22,432 46,504 24,135 27,999 29,935 39,008 27,011 35,880 40,248 27,894 25,511 27,237 21,399 26,453 32,313 44,355 21,776 9,361 27,442 18,402 15,968 19,951 19,873 21,424 10,792 21,575 21,928 12,069 14,916 9,991 15,384 14,587 14,395 46,619 12,866 20,223 18,074 17,028 26,964 10,420 9,021 27,171 8,642 8,831

HISPANIC ENROLLMENT

TOTAL

24,196 22,913 15,836 14,917 13,313 13,107 12,904 11,622 11,557 11,222 10,640 10,531 10,397 10,170 10,065 9,945 9,881 9,449 9,317 9,208 9,192 9,125 8,971 8,964 8,360 8,242 8,122 8,087 7,980 7,583 7,569 7,206 7,156 7,152 7,108 7,087 7,049 6,691 6,540 6,390 6,380 6,304 6,270 6,199 6,115 6,065 5,893 5,876 5,854 5,824

MEN

10,034 9,480 6,517 6,274 6,205 6,766 6,271 4,676 4,794 4,631 4,809 4,315 4,446 4,386 4,365 4,652 4,634 4,369 3,666 4,123 4,003 3,803 3,812 3,765 4,246 3,477 4,542 3,387 3,392 2,974 2,750 4,289 3,079 2,878 3,093 2,927 2,744 2,903 2,760 2,852 2,629 2,568 2,699 2,447 2,514 2,333 2,501 2,413 2,389 2,365

WOMEN 14,162 13,433 9,319 8,643 7,108 6,341 6,633 6,946 6,763 6,591 5,831 6,216 5,951 5,784 5,700 5,293 5,247 5,080 5,651 5,085 5,189 5,322 5,159 5,199 4,114 4,765 3,580 4,700 4,588 4,609 4,819 2,917 4,077 4,274 4,015 4,160 4,305 3,788 3,780 3,538 3,751 3,736 3,571 3,752 3,601 3,732 3,392 3,463 3,465 3,459

%

86% 64% 29% 41% 62% 42% 58% 25% 48% 40% 36% 27% 38% 28% 25% 36% 39% 35% 44% 35% 28% 21% 41% 96% 30% 45% 51% 41% 40% 35% 70% 33% 33% 59% 48% 71% 46% 46% 45% 14% 50% 31% 35% 36% 23% 58% 65% 22% 68% 66%

Community Colleges by Hispanic Faculty

RANK

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

7.

8.

9.

10.

11.

12.

13.

14.

15.

16.

17.

18.

19.

20.

21.

22.

23.

24.

25.

26.

27.

28.

29.

30.

31.

32.

33.

34.

35.

36.

37.

38.

39.

40.

41.

42.

43.

44.

45.

46.

47.

48.

49.

50.

INSTITUTION

FACULTY TOTAL MEN WOMEN

El Paso Community College, TX 1,340 San Antonio College, TX 1,426 Houston Community College, TX 3,193 Northwest Vista College, TX 818 Santa Ana College, CA 1,004 Laredo Community College, TX 304 St. Philip’s College, TX 712 East Los Angeles College, CA 917 Palo Alto College, TX 535 Central New Mexico Com. Coll., NM 1,098 Lone Star College System, TX 2,845 Del Mar College, TX 700 Riverside Community College, CA 1,442 Pima Community College, AZ 1,553 Southwestern College, CA 821 Mt. San Antonio College, CA 1,279 Austin Community College District, TX 1,822 Central Texas College, TX 2,467 City College of San Francisco, CA 1,849 Valencia Community College, FL 1,491 Grossmont College, CA 851 Pasadena City College, CA 1,074 Texas State Tech. Coll. Harlingen, TX 244 Cerritos College, CA 758 Tarrant County College District, TX 1,904 Fresno City College, CA 985 Rio Hondo College, CA 523 Imperial Valley College, CA 343 CUNY/Hostos Community College, NY 357 Chaffey College, CA 859 CUNY/Borough of Manhattan C.C., NY 1,298 Reedley College, CA 670 New Mexico State Univ.-Dona Ana, NM 471 Palomar College, CA 1,143 San Diego City College, CA 855 San Jacinto Community College, TX 1,209 Long Beach City College, CA 975 Santa Barbara City College, CA 950 Hillsborough Community College, FL 1,271 CUNY/LaGuardia Comm. Coll., NY 984 Santa Monica College, CA 1,320 El Camino Comm. Coll. District, CA 921 San Diego Mesa College, CA 880 American River College, CA 1,098 Luna Community College, NM 154 Milwaukee Area Technical Coll., WI 1,639 San Bernardino Valley College, CA 577 Arizona Western College, AZ 425 CUNY/Bronx Community College, NY 674 Mt. San Jacinto Comm. Coll. Dis., CA 745

Source: 2009 ED/NCES

680 744 1,539 417 422 176 426 512 278 514 1,228 343 730 693 392 617 918 1,517 790 705 449 514 153 363 900 483 263 196 177 390 656 325 225 577 409 560 448 370 649 452 606 432 427 563 72 839 254 230 382 371

660 682 1,654 401 582 128 286 405 257 584 1,617 357 712 860 429 662 904 950 1,059 786 402 560 91 395 1,004 502 260 147 180 469 642 345 246 566 446 649 527 580 622 532 714 489 453 535 82 800 323 195 292 374

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HISPANIC FACULTY TOTAL 726 390 320 260 229 224 221 218 205 199 199 198 197 176 176 174 174 163 156 155 146 146 146 145 144 138 135 134 125 119 118 117 117 116 112 112 111 107 107 103 102 96 90 88 87 86 85 84 82 81

•

MEN

377 195 176 133 105 129 134 121 101 108 86 92 110 71 81 88 90 103 84 65 75 74 91 75 78 51 67 78 63 42 56 51 57 64 56 57 48 41 55 49 38 43 43 49 45 48 41 46 51 37

H I S P A N I C

WOMEN 349 195 144 127 124 95 87 97 104 91 113 106 87 105 95 86 84 60 72 90 71 72 55 70 66 87 68 56 62 77 62 66 60 52 56 55 63 66 52 54 64 53 47 39 42 38 44 38 31 44

O U T L O O K

%

54% 27% 10% 32% 23% 74% 31% 24% 38% 18% 7% 28% 14% 11% 21% 14% 10% 7% 8% 10% 17% 14% 60% 19% 8% 14% 26% 39% 35% 14% 9% 17% 25% 10% 13% 9% 11% 11% 8% 10% 8% 10% 10% 8% 56% 5% 15% 20% 12% 11%

13

F i v e - Ye a r C o m p a r i s o n Degrees Granted to Hispanics RANK

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

7.

8.

9.

10.

11.

12.

13.

14.

15.

16.

17.

18.

19.

20.

21.

22.

23.

24.

25.

26.

27.

28.

29.

30.

31.

32.

33.

34.

35.

36.

37.

38.

39.

40.

41.

42.

43.

44.

45.

46.

47.

48.

49.

50.

INSTITUTION

El Paso Community College, TX Valencia Community College, FL Mt. San Antonio College, CA Riverside Community College, CA Texas Southmost College, TX East Los Angeles College, CA Southwestern College, CA Santa Ana College, CA Houston Community College, TX CUNY/Borough of Manhattan C. C., NY Pima Community College, AZ Laredo Community College, TX San Jacinto Community College, TX Lone Star College System, TX Del Mar College, TX Central New Mexico Com. Coll., NM Rio Hondo College, CA Chaffey College, CA Fresno City College, CA Cerritos College, CA San Antonio College, TX CUNY/LaGuardia Comm. Coll., NY New Mexico State Univ.-Dona Ana, NM Hillsborough Community College, FL Tarrant County College District, TX Bakersfield College, CA Northern Virginia Comm. Coll., VA Pasadena City College, CA Southwest Texas Junior College, TX Ventura College, CA Fullerton College, CA CUNY/Bronx Community College, NY Allan Hancock College, CA Imperial Valley College, CA Mt. San Jacinto Comm. Coll. Dist., CA Palomar College, CA Central Texas College, TX Nassau Community College, NY Citrus College, CA Oxnard College, CA Los Angeles Valley College, CA El Camino Comm. Coll. District, CA Reedley College, CA Suffolk County Comm. Coll., NY Hartnell College, CA San Bernardino Valley College, CA Santa Monica College, CA Bergen Community College, NJ Long Beach City College, CA Phoenix College, AZ

Source: 2009, 2004 ED/NCES

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2009 TOTAL 2,104 5,128 2,107 2,501 865 1,215 1,152 1,292 2,720 2,387 2,232 626 1,815 2,450 1,065 1,373 833 1,274 1,436 1,050 1,125 1,601 744 2,452 2,385 993 3,210 1,683 466 1,068 1,140 812 983 466 1,511 1,611 2,425 2,703 945 515 887 1,139 694 2,618 499 697 1,329 1,481 968 782

TOTAL HISP. 1,792 1,127 868 846 790 769 695 652 648 632 612 600 573 567 561 538 529 523 523 511 504 484 456 438 431 412 411 409 400 398 396 392 390 382 366 365 361 350 342 334 321 320 316 316 311 309 309 297 287 286

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2009 2004 % HISP. TOTAL 85% 22% 41% 34% 91% 63% 60% 50% 24% 26% 27% 96% 32% 23% 53% 39% 64% 41% 36% 49% 45% 30% 61% 18% 18% 41% 13% 24% 86% 37% 35% 48% 40% 82% 24% 23% 15% 13% 36% 65% 36% 28% 46% 12% 62% 44% 23% 20% 30% 37%

1,705 3,996 1,264 2,133 801 1,254 1,064 1,373 1,923 2,207 1,835 794 1,680 1,841 790 1,079

N/A

1,110 1,468 1,232 932 1,361 479 1,937 1,870 898

N/A

1,844

N/A

TOTAL HISP. 1,443 628 485 598 750 873 586 680 470 532 473 754 418 312 389 393

N/A

418 428 588 394 471 283 275 280 325

N/A

478

N/A

2004 % HISP. 85% 16% 38% 28% 94% 70% 55% 50% 24% 24% 26% 95% 25% 17% 49% 36%

N/A

% DIFF.

same

6% 3% 6% -3% -7% 5%

same same

2% 1% 1% 7% 6% 4% 3%

N/A

38% 29% 48% 42% 35% 59% 14% 15% 36%

3% 7% 1% 3% -5% 2% 4% 3% 5%

N/A

N/A

N/A

26%

N/A

-2%

869 1,104 819 1,120 328

305 304 364 349 285

35% 28% 44% 31% 87%

1.93 2,817 684 510 893 1,377 586

262 314 252 311 298 399 314

14% 11% 37% 61% 33% 29% 54%

1% 2% -1% 45% 3% -1% -8%

N/A N/A N/A

N/A N/A N/A

N/A N/A N/A

N/A N/A N/A

N/A N/A

N/A

547 700 1,409

N/A N/A

N/A

296 288 350

N/A N/A

N/A

54% 41% 25%

2% 7% 4% 9% -5%

N/A N/A

N/A

8% 3% -2%

N/A: Indicate schools that were not in the top 50 community colleges in granting degrees to Hispanics in 2004 from NCES

REPORTS

C

Divided We Fail Suggests Ways to Improve Community College Graduation Rates and Close Achievement Gaps

by Angela Provitera McGlynn olleen Moore and Nancy Shulock at the Institute for Higher Education Leadership & Policy at California State UniversitySacramento produced the document titled Divided We Fail: Improving Completion and Closing Racial Gaps in California’s Community Colleges (October 2010).

With nearly one in four community college students in America enrolled at one of California’s 112 community colleges, and educational attainment in that state slipping with each generation, improving associate degree completion, certificate completion, and transfers to baccalaureate institutions is imperative for the future of California’s economic competitiveness.

Given the state’s enrollment numbers, California’s progress is tied to the success of the nation’s agenda of restoring America’s competitiveness in the global economy.

Nationwide, too, few Americans complete some level of postsecondary education.

Internationally, the United States has fallen to 12th place among 36 industrialized nations from its number one position in decades past. The Global Education Digest (2009) reports that in the United States, 40 percent of Americans hold an A.A. degree or higher, and that attainment rate has been about the same for the last 40 years.

The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), an international organization of the 30 most economically advanced countries, put the rate at 39 percent in 2008. Degree attainment rates in other countries continue to climb while America’s rates remain flat.

One chart from the Divided We Fail report shows the percent of adults with at least an asso-

ciate degree by age group, by leading OECD countries, in the United States, and in California.

Korea, Canada, Japan, New Zealand and Norway lead the world. Notice that Ireland, Denmark, Belgium and Australia are not depicted on the chart, and they are all ranked ahead of the U.S. on higher educational attainment among young adults.

The United States is slipping. One of the reasons for the slippage is that the world leaders graduate far more A.A. degree earners and certificate completers than America does.

Attrition is a bigger higher education problem in America than access. More than 40 percent of college students throughout the United States who earn more than 10 college credits never complete a two- or four-year degree. Our nation is number one of first-world nations whose younger people (18 to 24 years old) are

Percent of Adults with Associate Degree or Higher

Percent of Adults with an Associate Degree or Higher by Age Group Leading OECD Countries, the U.S., and California 60% 50% 40%

55 to 64

30%

45 to 54

20%

35 to 44 25 to 34

10% 0%

Korea

Canada

Japan

New Zealand

Norway

United States California

Source: National data are from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development’s Education at a Glance 2010. Not shown on the graph are Ireland, Denmark, Belgium and Australia, which also rank ahead of the U.S. on attainment among young adults (and have increasing attainment levels for younger populations). Data for California are from the American Community Survey 2006-2008 three-year estimates.

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A Model for Improving Student Outcomes Institutional Practices

Public reporting of milestone achievements

Colleges perform cohort analysis of student progress through milestones, by race/ethnicity: Where do students get stalled? Which students?

State/System Policies Stakeholders (interest groups, community advocates, policy researchers, etc.) compare current performance levels with desired outcomes

What known successful patterns are they not following?

Colleges do additional analysis (e.g., student interviews, data on student use of services) to learn why students are getting stalled and why they are not following successful enrollment patterns

Stakeholders examine current policies to determine if they support or create barriers to student success

Colleges implement new practices based on data analysis, share results with other colleges, identify effective practices as well as barriers to implementing such practices

Stakeholders draw from practices in other states to construct new policy agendas

Identify opportunities for policy changes to support and bring to scale successful practices Governor, Legislature, community colleges board of Governors

California Community Colleges System

Changes in policy

Changes in practice Increased completion Reduced racial/ethnic gaps in completion

Source: Institute for Higher Education Leadership & Policy, Divided We Fail: Improving Completion and Closing Racial Gaps in California’s Community Colleges

less well educated than its adults between between 25 and 65 years old.

Another chart from the report (page 17) shows racial/ethnic distribution of degree seekers compared to those who earn a degree. We can see from the pie chart that minority students make up a much smaller percentage of degree completers. Forty-three percent of Latino/a and Black students seek a degree, but only 30 percent actually earn the credential.

The percentage drop is largely accounted for

by Latinos representing a third of incoming degree seekers but less than 25 percent of degree completers.

Americans 35 years and older still rank among world leaders in percentages of college educated, reflecting the educational progress of earlier times. Basically, we are losing “educational capital” among our younger generation.

Divided We Fail states that poor educational attainment in California mirrors what is seen throughout the nation. National data suggest that today’s young adults will be less well educated than the previous generation, without quick

16

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interventions to increase both college enrollment and degree completion.

Demographic changes in America make it imperative to graduate more Latino/a, Black, low-income and first-generation students, categories that often overlap. In California, as in the nation as a whole, educational attainment of Latinos is low relative to that of other groups.

The Latino working-age population in California is currently 34 percent and is expected to grow to 50 percent by 2040. Unless there is significant progress in Latino/a degree completion, California is in deep economic trouble.

Moore and Shulock found that racial/ethnic disparities persist. Their key findings, shown in the executive summary, include: • Too many students fail to complete postsecondary degrees and certificates. Specifically, 70 percent of students seeking degrees when they started had not completed a certificate or a degree and had not transferred to a university within a six-year period. Those noncompletion statistics are even greater for Black students (75 percent) and Latino/a students (80 percent).

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Additionally, they found that most students had dropped out of the postsecondary education system completely; only 15 percent of the noncompleters were still enrolled.

• Too many students miss critical milestones in their educations. Certain milestones, that is, intermediate markers of student success, are correlated with degree completion. For example, one such milestone is completing 30 credits – the minimum number of college credits to show a marked economic benefit. Only 40 percent of students seeking degrees had earned at least 30 college-level credits at a California community college after six years. Again, a lower rate of Latino students (35 percent) and Black students (28 percent) reached the 30-credit threshold.

• Latinos face more hurdles at the end of the road. Completing 30 credits often provides momentum to earn a degree. However, fewer Latino students (47 percent) than White students (60 percent) who reach the 30-credit milestone complete a certificate, associate degree, or transfer to a four-year college. For Asian-Pacific Islander students, the rate is 58 percent; and for Black students, 53 percent.

• Transfer to a four-year institution does not necessarily mean the completion of a two-year program, and this is especially true for Black students.

• Transfer success is low. Only about 23 percent of students seeking a degree transferred to a university. Latinos were only half as likely as White students to transfer: 14 percent vs. 29 percent.

• The majority of students don’t follow an educational Master Plan. In other words, many students who transferred did not complete a transfer curriculum at the community college (57 percent did not complete a two-year program).

Only half of California’s community college students (52 percent) transferred to a California public university.

• The for-profit educational sector’s role is growing. An increasing proportion of transfer students are enrolling in the for-profits. Little is known about student outcomes of this sector, and with high costs that lead students into great debt, this trend is worrisome. A complex transfer process and enrollment limits at University of California (UC) and California State University (CSU) contribute to the trend. Black students are especially likely to transfer to the for-profit sector.

• Demographics are not destiny. The report confirms what previous research has shown.

Some colleges of similar size, demographic makeup and resources do better than others in graduating their students, showing that practices and policies at colleges do make a difference.

Completion rates and levels of disparity vary widely across colleges.

• Patterns of student enrollment provide clues for improvement. Students who followed certain enrollment patterns did much better academically. For example, 59 percent of students who earned at least 20 credits in their first college year went on to complete a certificate, a degree or transferred within six years. This compares to 21 percent of students who had not earned at least 20 credits in their first year. Additionally, 55 percent of students who passed college math within two years completed a certificate, a degree or transferred compared to only 21 percent of those who did not. And 50 percent of students who completed college-level English within two years earned a degree or certificate or transferred compared to 20 percent of students who did not.

• Few students followed the success patterns, and there were large racial/ethnic gaps. The numbers are bleak: Only one-fourth of students seeking degrees earned at least 20 credits in their first community college year. Only 29 percent passed at least one college-level math course within two years. Only 36 percent passed at least one college-level English class within two years. Black students were the least likely to follow the success patterns and completed only half the credits they attempted. On average, students seeking degrees dropped or failed more than a third of the credits they attempted.

Moore and Shulock offer recommendations for practice, policy and their integration that are data-based and can improve degree and certificate completion rates in general and especially for historically underserved students. They say that increasing overall completion rates and reducing racial/ethnic disparities in degree completion must occur on two mutually supportive fronts – changes to institutional practices at the college level and changes to state and system policy. Both fronts rely on the strategic use of data to track student milestone achievement and enrollment patterns. Public reporting of the data is crucial, along with meetings of educators and administrative leaders to discuss and change

policies that prevent the implementation of effective practices.

Campus practices must be improved.

Moore and Shulock suggest that the chancellor’s office should coordinate a systematic and systemwide effort to analyze student progress through milestones and enrollment patterns throughout the community college system in California and then create a formal process whereby colleges share best practices. Colleges should report their milestone data by subgroups (race/ethnicity, gender, age).

degree completion rates and a reduction in racial/ethnic degree completion gaps.

Many states are addressing declining educational attainment and the White-underserved achievement gap. Twenty-three states participate in Complete College America, a foundationfunded initiative that addresses state policy change. The Education Trust and the National Association of System Heads are working with 24 public higher education systems throughout the nation to reduce achievement gaps. The Lumina Foundation and the Gates Foundation

Racial/Ethnic Distribution of Degree Seekers Compared to “Completers” Degree Seekers

Latino 23%

Latino 34%

Black 9%

Completers

White 40%

White 48%

Black 7% API 22%

API 18%

Source: Institute for Higher Education Leadership & Policy, Divided We Fail: Improving Completion and Closing Racial Gaps in California’s Community Colleges

Funding should be based on a model that rewards colleges for helping students achieve milestones, including completing college-level math and English and for helping underprepared students meet milestones for success. The board of governors should ensure that all students who want to earn a degree should be assessed for college readiness and receive appropriate guidance into courses that will facilitate their transition to college and their academic success once they are enrolled.

The legislature should ensure that students are encouraged to complete an associate degree prior to transferring, ensure sufficient capacity at UC and CSU for transfer students, and investigate recruiting practices and completion rates at for-profit colleges.

The chart “A Model for Improving Student Outcomes” (page 16) from the report’s executive summary offers a visual depiction of how institutional practices and state and system policies could interact to produce an increase in

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have both been actively involved in improving college graduation rates and narrowing achievement gaps as well.

California’s model for improving student outcomes is a valuable contribution to addressing this national priority.

For more information, consult the complete Divided We Fail document available online at: www.edexcelencia.org/research/divided-we-failimproving-completion-and-closing-racial-gapscalifornia-community-colleges.

Angela Provitera McGlynn taught psychology at a community college for 35 years and is currently a national consultant on teaching and learning.

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Helping Students Take the Proper REPORTS

A

by Melissa Campbell

recent report from Jobs for the Future, a nonprofit architect of educational and work force strategies to increase America’s economic competitiveness, recommends the creation of intermediate milestones along the path to degree completion as a way of helping students succeed in college, and ultimately ensure long-term economic growth and prosperity.

Published in September 2010, Taking the Next Step – The Promise of Intermediate Measures for Meeting Postsecondary Completion Goals distinguishes between milestones that must be attained in order to obtain a degree and success indicators that increase a student’s chances of completion.

“Just gathering the data on degree completion and other final outcomes is too little, too late if the ultimate goal is improving outcomes rather than just reporting them,” said Nancy Shulock, Ph.D., the report’s co-author and director of the Institute for Higher Education Leadership and Policy.

To that end, the report reviews 11 initiatives that make use of this intermediate milestone approach, from individual institutions to cross-state work groups, explores the ways they are being used and considers how they can be used effectively.

The initiatives featured in Taking the Next Step are: • Access to Success initiative, managed by the National Association of System Heads and the Education Trust • The Achieving the Dream Cross-State Work Group • American Association of Community Colleges’ Voluntary Framework of Accountability • Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Student Progress and Completion Measures for Grantees • California Leadership Alliance for Student Success • City University of New York • Complete College America • National Community College Benchmarking Project • Ohio Performance Funding • Tennessee Performing Funding • Washington State Student Achievement Initiative “Tracking milestones can help us understand where students are falling off the pathway to a college degree, and tracking success indicators can point to why they may not be progressing,” said Shulock.

The concept of milestones was first explored in 2006 by Peter Ewell, who outlined a continuum of events a student would progress through, from pre-college coursework to college completion, including ESL classes, earning the first college credit, completing one year of college, earning a certificate or degree, getting a job.

The Community College Research Center built upon Ewell’s work and further expanded the concept to pair milestones with momentum points, which are defined as measurable educational attainments that predict completion of a milestone. Some examples include: completion of one pre-collegiate course, completion of a career exploration or introduction course, completion of one college-level gatekeeper math or English course, completion of 15 college-level or vocational credits, completion of 30 college-level or vocational credits and completion of 30 college-level/vocational credits in one year.

A 2009 report from the Institute for Higher Education and Leadership Policy, authored by Shulock, also employed the milestones concept but

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paired them with success indicators that included: • Completing a specific number of credits in a specified period of time • Completing gateway course in a specified period of time • Completing a student success course • Earning summer credits • Enrolling continuously • Avoiding excessive course withdrawal and late registration for classes In 2009, the National Governors Association (NGA) also weighed in on the matter, suggesting that figuring out where students get stalled on their path to degree completion could help policymakers find ways to smooth the way to improve student outcomes. In an issue brief, the NGA describes three types of milestones: remediation milestones, retention milestones and attainment milestones.

Despite some differences in the various milestone frameworks, one commonality is that they all stress the importance of looking at the milestone data for specific subgroups to identify tailored approaches to different student populations. These subsets of students include full-time, part-time, transfer students, students in STEM files, adult students, students with limited English proficiency, underrepresented minorities and level of preparation for college.

Examples of the application of milestone tracking show a number of approaches. The first initiative to use the concept, Achieving the Dream, was deployed by Jobs for the Future when it created the Cross-State Data Work Group, which consisted of college systems in Connecticut, Florida, North Carolina, Ohio, Texas and Virginia. By sharing approaches and data, the participants were able to identify areas of strengths and weaknesses.

For example, more students earned degrees in Florida than in Texas, perhaps because Floridians who complete an associate degree are automatically granted admission to a four-year school.

Another large-scale milestone initiative is the Access to Success Initiative of the National Association of System Heads (NASH) and the Education Trust, which is comprised of 24 public higher education systems. Collectively, they have pledged to cut achievement gaps for lowincome and minority students in half by 2015. This program stands to have far-reaching effects if successful: NASH member institutions serve 40 percent of the country’s college students.

Complete College America is a nonprofit dedicated to increasing the country’s college graduation rates, particularly among underrepresented populations, through state-level policy change. To date, 22 states have committed to being accountable for specific outcomes, which include a series of milestones, and for reporting on those outcomes using a common set of measures.

Several single-state or single-institution initiatives are noted, and interestingly, all four involve performance-based funding.

In Washington, the Student Achievement Initiative is spearheaded by the Washington State Board for Community and Technical Colleges. Six sets of achievement points, relating to basic skills through degree or certificate completion, provide an opportunity for colleges to earn points based on the number of students who reach these milestones. Performance-based funding, awarded in addition to regular state appropriations, is based on year-over-year increases in the number of points a school earns. Currently, the amount of funding allotted for the program is less than 1 percent of the

Steps to Earn a College Degree system’s budget, but there appears to be interest at the state level in success issues and collect data on common milestones, such as completion increasing the performance-based funding pool. of the first college-level course in English composition, U.S. history and colAnother state-based initiative in Ohio also applies performance-based lege algebra, or percentage of courses completed successfully. funding but uses different criteria for four-year schools and community The American Association of Community Colleges’ Voluntary Framework of colleges. Criteria for two-year colleges include milestones as well as the Accountability, which will release its first reports in fall 2011, is modeled on a accumulation of points for meeting those milestones, both of which grew similar project at the four-year university level, with institutions demonstrating out of the state’s participation in the Achieving the Dream Cross-State Data accountability to state policymakers for their educational outcomes. It is likely Work Group and were influenced by that milestones will play an important the program in Washington state. part in demonstrating accountability Unlike Washington, however, perforat the community college level. mance-based funding is a portion of Another nascent initiative at the each school’s basic state allocation, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation currently 5 percent, but proposed to aims to develop a common reportincrease to 30 percent in the future. ing template for grantees in its comAt the City University of New York, munity college portfolio, which will performance-based funding is promake it easier to share best pracvided when funds are available, but tices through the use of common the important element of this institumetrics. Many of the foundation’s tion’s use of milestones, at both the current metrics involve milestones two- and four-year schools within the and success indicators, so it is reasystem, is that the university has sonable to assume that the ultimate highlighted its commitment to reporting tool will use them as well. improving performance in these After analysis of these 11 initiaareas and is clear about communitives, the report’s authors make sevcating it as an institutional priority. eral recommendations for maximizThe Tennessee Higher Education ing the ability of intermediate meaCommission implemented perforsures to increase student success. mance funding measures for the 2005• The first recognizes that clearly 10 funding cycle, targeting student perdistinguishing between a milestone sistence for community colleges. and a success indicator can be helpful Milestones include looking at fall-toto institutions in fine tuning both their fall persistence rates as well as eight data collection and their practices. additional measures that include devel• Milestones also appear to be useopmental course grades, enrollment in ful in implementing performancea college-level course and completion based funding and should perhaps be of college algebra, to name a few. given more attention in this regard, Nancy Shulock, Ph.D., Report Co-Author, Director of the Institute for Higher Education Leadership & Policy Four multi-institutional initiatives particularly because of a new focus of are discussed as well. The National Community College Benchmarking points along the continuum versus the final outcome of degree completion.

Project involves 210 participating colleges who report on how well they • While data collection based on milestones provides valuable insight into are performing on a common set of more than 130 benchmarks. Although the issues of degree completion, it appears that breaking down the data to not all schools report on all 130 benchmarks, participants are privy to the study specific cohorts or groups can facilitate more targeted interventions. complete dataset, which is not publicly available. The premise is that the • Of course, the collection of this data relies upon the ability of institutions availability of comparative data can help states develop appropriate to efficiently and accurately collect information about their students, as well accountability measures. as an institutional commitment to the collecting and reporting of data.

The California Leadership Alliance for Student Success includes 12 comOverall, though, the use of milestones to increase college degree community colleges, a little more than 10 percent of the state’s total number of pletion shows great promise as a way to advance the careers of our countwo-year schools, but the data these schools are generating have the poten- try’s citizens across all populations. tial to be extrapolated to benefit the entire community college system in the “Understanding how these different measures can be used will encourage state and influence the creation of state-level policy. Funded by a number of more institutions and states to use them in their efforts to help more students foundations, the alliance brings together college leaders to focus on student succeed,” said Shulock. And at the end of the day, success is the goal.

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ADMISSIONS/RECRUITMENT

Measuring the Cost of First-Year Dropouts M

by Michelle Adam

ore than one out of five students nationwide don’t return to college after their first year, and two out of five don’t graduate after six years. These are statistics that Patrick Riccards, executive director for communications and public affairs of the American Institutes for Research (AIR), already knew when embarking upon unprecedented research, the results of which were revealed in October 2010.

While Riccards and his crew at AIR were far from satisfied with these statistics, they wanted to explore this reality a step further. They wanted to find out what the actual cost is to our nation when this large percentage of students doesn’t make it past the first year of college. How are taxpayers and government monies impacted when money invested in the education of our people has little or no return on its investment? And how can states, colleges and universities make changes that would ensure a better return – and, ultimately, a better-educated nation?

According to AIR, most students attend public colleges that are subsidized by taxpayers through state appropriations and grants to students.

Nationwide, these subsidies average nearly $10,000 per student per year.

Understanding this, AIR set out to determine exactly how much money was spent on the total number of students who, after one year, didn’t follow through. Researchers analyzed 2003-08 data from the federal Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) and published their findings in a report titled Finishing the First Lap: The Cost of First-Year Student Attrition in America’s Four-Year Colleges and Universities.

The results of study were eye-opening: Researchers found that the 30 percent of first-year college students who failed to return to campus for a second year accounted for $6.2 billion in state appropriations for colleges

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and universities and more than $1.5 billion in grants to these students. The study did not look at community colleges, but did point out that first-year dropout rates were even higher therein.

“Every year, first-year college students receive significant funding from colleges, states and the federal government. And every spring, hundreds of thousands of students decide not to return to college,” said Dr. Mark Schneider, an AIR vice president and former commissioner of the federal National Center for Education Statistics (NCES). “When students enroll in a college or university and drop out before the second year, they have invested time and money only to see their hopes and dreams of a college degree dashed. These costs can be heartbreaking for students and their families, but the financial costs to states are enormous.”

The results of this report come at a time when more and more states are slashing their budgets and cutting back on educational dollars, and the federal government is seeking ways to balance its own budget. It comes as little surprise, then, that in publishing this report, AIR has received a tremendous response.

“The response has been overwhelming. Folks didn’t realize the kind of impact that this has. We’ve spent so much time in the country talking about graduation issues at high schools that we haven’t really looked at these issues in terms of higher education,” said Riccards. “People are surprised by the number of students who don’t return for their second year, and how few actually get a degree. And then by the cost.

‘We’ve talked a lot about how everyone needs to go to college and how it’s a pathway to a career. But just in terms of grant money alone, we’ve spent nine billion dollars over five years on students who don’t return for a second year of college. In this economy, this is a real issue.”

In addition to releasing figures on overall costs incurred by states and the federal government for first-year dropouts, the report posted the losses experienced by each individual state. According to these results, 13 states had more than $200 million of state funds during a five-year period lost to students dropping out before their second year of college. These findings were the combination of state appropriations and state grants provided from 2003-08.

The states that incurred these high costs included the following: California ($467 million), Texas ($441 million), New York ($403 million), Illinois ($290 million), North Carolina ($285 million), Ohio ($277 million), Florida ($275 million), Indiana ($268 million), Michigan ($239 million), Georgia ($237 million), Louisiana ($213 million), Tennessee ($205 million) and Kentucky ($201 million). The average state spent $120.5 million in state subsidies to first-year dropouts between 2003 and 2008.

Many of these states with high dropout costs tend to have large and diverse populations, with significant numbers of Hispanics and other minority populations. The report, however, did not break down costs related to any specific populations.

“There are a couple of factors with the top 13 states. They are larger states and have a large number of colleges and universities. The free-ride approach is also more common in the West than the East. In Texas, one out of four drop out after the first year. You look at California, and they do a better job with this. Their first-year retention rate is 86 percent, and less than one out of three graduate.”

According to Riccards, the actual number of college students dropping out after their first year hasn’t changed that much nationwide, but the costs for these dropouts have. “The numbers have been relatively steady – the dropout rate and graduation rate is not that different from 10 years ago.

But the costs are becoming more acute and a greater issue because states

have less money to spend. The cost of colleges has increased over 300 per- go to college here in the U.S., it should continue to be encouraged. What cent over a time where we’ve had little inflation. The majority of costs for AIR would like to see happen, in the face of rising education costs and a schools are for faculty and utilities, and these costs continue to go up with- continuation of students dropping out, is to see colleges, universities and out more students,” he said. states become more accountable for those dollars spent – to improve colThe report measured how these actual costs for states increased from lege retention and graduation rates so that there is a return on investment 2003 to 2007. “Starting out at just under $1.2 billion in the 2003 academic in education. year, costs increased by about 15 percent, to $1.35 billion, by the 2007 aca“It is important we don’t use this data to write off students. Policymakers at demic year (the last year for which data are available),” it stated. While 2007 the state level have to hold universities accountable for a return on investment. figures were the last ones available at that time, these costs are accelerating.

We also have these grant monies that are supposed to get people to graduate In addition to state appropriations, AIR researched the changes in state from college, but there is nine billion dollars that aren’t delivering their grants to students during this same promise,” said Riccards. “It is up to time period. “Both Bush and Obama schools to provide the support and administrations increased the fundimprove the odds of students returning for the Pell program, and the ing a second year and graduating. We losses through that program are subreally struggle with our state-run instistantial,” the report cited. “Among tutions with this, whereas our Ivy four-year colleges, in the 2003 acadLeagues have these supports.” emic year, about $240 million in state Asked how colleges and univergrants and $270 million in federal sities have responded to the findings student grants went to students who of Finishing the First Lap: The Cost did not return for a second year at of First-Year Student Attrition in the same college. State and federal America’s Four-Year Colleges and government grants to college stuUniversities, Riccards said he was dents who dropped out before startpleased by the results. “We have had ing their second year increased draa number of institutions who have matically; state grants to these stulooked at the numbers and have dents increased by a third; federal been equally surprised, and have ones, by close to 40 percent.” said that this is something we need While the cost of educating stuto address. They are being respondents nationwide has gone up, along sive to this and seeing that there is with the loss of invested dollars an issue here that we need to start when students don’t follow through addressing,” he said. “Many colon their education, this is less the leges and universities are also saycase in other countries, according to ing that these numbers can’t be the report. true. But the data we are using is “The United States spends more what the colleges and universities on higher education than any other give to the federal government. The nation in the world. We spent about dollar figures really catch them.” twice as much per student as the Riccards and AIR are hoping that United Kingdom, Germany, or Japan, the reality of that price tag during and about three times as much as hard economic times will create most other industrialized countries among schools a much greater in Europe and Asia,” the report statsense of urgency to address the high ed, based on information from the dropout rates – and the equally high OECD Factbook (issued by the rates of students who don’t graduate Organisation for Economic Co-operfrom college despite the invested ation and Development). hours and money (the study didn’t Riccards attributed these differeven include the cost of students ences in cost to the fact that here in dropping out after their second year, Patrick Riccards, Executive Director the U.S., “we say every kid goes to or students leaving community colcollege. This is not true in other leges before graduating). “With of Communications and Public Affairs, Hispanic student graduation rates at countries. Also, the brightest in those countries come to the U.S. for 45.6 percent, it’s even worse. If you American Institutes for Research education.” And given that such are Hispanic, you have a one-in-two large numbers of students do aim to chance of earning a degree,” said

“As a good consumer, we

need to make sure we go to colleges with a better than half chance of graduating.”

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Riccards. “What is it that colleges are doing to help students? What kind of tracking are we doing to make sure we have a better than 50-50 chance of graduating students?”

In an effort to support this kind of change, AIR has provided all of the study results on a website, www.collegemeasures.org. Anyone visiting the site can look at data by institution, state or by federal level. Students can also benefit from the information listed, since they can become better consumers about the colleges they are considering attending.

“When a kid is making a decision regarding college, he or she can look at a lot of factors, including seeing how many students are graduating from that college after six years,” said Riccards. “As a good consumer, we need to make sure we go to colleges with a better than half chance of graduating. Far too many times, the chances of graduating is no better than a coin flip, and most colleges don’t show their graduation rates.”

The data researched and released by AIR will also provide states, colleges and universities with a clearer sense of what they are spending on students who are not obtaining degrees.

“K-12 schools are measured based on students receiving diplomas. But we don’t have incentives for colleges to graduate students. Yet, if I were running a state board of education and looking at these numbers, I’d find it interesting to see how one school does better than another at graduating students. If I were trying to decide how to spend tax dollars, it would be wiser for me to spend money on schools that graduate kids,” said Riccards.

“Colleges need to make sure that more kids who receive taxpayer money can stay in longer and later graduate and contribute to the economy afterwards.”

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In the Trenches...

The

Success Lives Here: The Impact of the Residential Experience on Student Success

by Ana Hernández

opportunity to join a community sharing the common goal of pursuing one’s academic dreams, coupled with the unique experiences and perspectives each member contributes, creates a truly rich environment.

Impromptu late-night debates over political, philosophical and social issues outside a residential setting are hard to match. Imagine living in a community where diversity is embraced, social responsibility is valued and lifelong friendships are formed. These communities develop in residential halls on university campuses around the world.

Living on campus is an important step for any student in building a solid foundation for success in college and beyond. More than convenience, it is about making connections, building community and finding one’s place both academically and socially at an institution of higher education. Residential students are invested and involved in campus life and are more likely to be satisfied with their university experience, develop a strong affinity to the institution and persist and progress at a higher rate than those who have never lived on campus.

The life skills developed as part of a residential community will stay with students well after graduation. The residence hall environment offers not only the convenience of easy access to campus resources, events, organizations and job opportunities, but also unique leadership and service-learning options.

Recognizing the importance of a high-quality residential experience to students’ success, the University of South Florida (USF) recently implemented a live-on requirement for all first-time-in-college students to encourage this enhanced engagement. USF’s Housing and Residential Education department uses a multipronged approach to support student success and a seamless transition to the campus community – emphasizing relationship building, programs and sense of place.

Dedicated professional and paraprofessional staff are instrumental in any student success initiative. The connection starts with the individual resident assistants who serve as peer mentors and campus resources as residents navigate the campus, classes and roommate relationships. The residence life professionals living in the halls create a safe and welcoming community focused on student development. The faculty-in-residence who live in the halls and faculty fellows who share their time and talents over lunch or a cup of coffee enrich the experience of all those who cross their path. Their approachability and genuine interest in residents break down any perceived barriers that might exist between student and professor.

The engagement with students through programming, classes in the halls or casual conversation pay dividends to faculty as well by informing their research and approach to teaching.

Housing and residential education professionals at USF take a holistic approach to facilitating students’ academic and personal success. The pro-

grammatic efforts in residence halls are built upon intentional learning outcomes such as social responsibility, multicultural maturity and competence, effective communication, personal responsibility, academic competence, critical thinking, and leadership development.

Strong living learning programs are the hallmark of a successful residential education program. They offer smaller communities within the larger residential environment. At USF, eight living learning communities provide distinct living options for students interested in communities with a specific academic focus (Honors College, Business, Engineering, Advertising, or INTO USF international program) or affinity (Transfer Cluster, Wellness, Green Sustainability). Each learning community allows residents to build upon their common interests to form strong networks that personalize their university experience while also allowing connections across academic disciplines. The success of these programs compels new living learning communities to be introduced each year.

Academic initiatives in the halls take many forms and touch thousands of students with their breadth and depth. Collaboration with academic and student affairs partners across campus is critical to the success of residential academic initiatives.

Initiatives range from personalized letters offering resources and academic coaching for students who have not been successful on midterms to large-scale final review sessions with dozens of faculty and thousands of study participants. The outreach efforts continue with the Achieve-a-BULL learning program supporting residents placed on academic probation after their first semester.

Students have the opportunity to return to campus early to participate in a workshop on study skills, time management, test-taking techniques and tutoring resources. Residents also enjoy casual interaction with faculty and staff through “Lunch and Learn” programs, “Evening with the Experts,” “House Calls” and various career exploration programs.

The residential facilities themselves support student success by providing a safe, comfortable atmosphere where students thrive. A variety of living options are available to meet the unique needs of each student. The opportunity to share a meal in a dining hall, gather in hall lounges for study groups, or learn how to share space with another individual all happen in the residential environment.

Communities are formed in the halls. Lifelong friendships are forged in the halls. Learning about yourself and others occurs in the halls. Lives are changed by the residential experience.

Ana Hernández is dean of housing and residential education at the University of South Florida.

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CUNY’s New Community College INNOVATIONS/PROGRAMS

Gets Ready to Debut

Itlege experiment.”

by Marilyn Gilroy

has been dubbed the “great community col-

This is the phrase being used to describe City University of New York’s (CUNY) New Community College (NCC), opening in 2012 and now entering the final phase of planning.

It is a bold endeavor that aims to create the first new CUNY college in four decades, one that is quite different from its predecessors because it will require students to attend full time and only offer a limited number of majors. In addition, students must undergo a preadmissions process and Summer Bridge program before they enroll. Once in school, students will be part of first-year learning communities and study a common curriculum that provides twice the normal time for math. The goal of the new college is to raise graduation rates by helping students transition successfully to college and by fully engaging them in their academic programs.

“The new community college employs an innovative model for improving student performance and graduation rates,” said CUNY Chancellor Matthew Goldstein, who envisioned the new college in 2008 and received support from New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg to develop it. The plan also garnered funding from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Josiah Macy Jr. Foundation, and the Carnegie Corporation.

For more than two years, a team of faculty and staff from CUNY’s undergraduate and graduate institutions and the central administration have been fleshing out the concept based on a 120-page draft presented in 2008. Dr. John Mogulescu, senior university dean for academic affairs and dean of the School of Professional Studies, along with Tracy Meade, director of the New Community College Initiative, have led the effort to create the school. Mogulescu says the rationale for a new community college goes beyond the fact that enrollment is rising and the college needs to expand the number of seats.

“We are trying to create a college that will enable us to do some things differently and to

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hopefully end with somewhat better results,” he said in a videotape interview. “Graduation rates are one of the major indicators of success, and unfortunately, the majority of community college students do not end their experience with a degree. In fact, only about 35 percent nationally get a degree after six years. We want to see if we do things differently, that we can increase graduation rates.”

The university’s drive takes place against a national backdrop in which community colleges are both overwhelmed by demand for training and retraining and by lagging graduation rates that fail to prepare enough students with associate degrees to meet the country’s needs.

President Obama has set major goals for increasing community college capacity and the number of graduates. The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation has pledged millions of dollars to try and double the number of individuals receiving a postsecondary degree by 2025.

While there is no magic solution in sight for reaching that goal, there are various strategies and programs underway, including some that rely heavily on technology-based instruction to produce more graduates. The CUNY experiment is one of the most closely watched because it has the potential to redefine the community college experience.

It starts with how students are recruited. The new college still maintains an open admissions policy, but there will be outreach efforts to inform students of the opportunities offered by the college and to promote the advantages of the new structure.

“We are not going to wait for them to come to us,” said Mogulescu. “We are going to go into the high schools and GED programs to make sure they know what this college is about and

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what it means to be a college student.”

Planning committee members have worked with the understanding that prospective students have complicated lives and probably are grappling with academic skill deficiencies, family commitments and limited financial resources as they try to enter college. To meet this challenge, students will be thoroughly advised about curriculum, financial aid, and transfer and career opportunities. Those who do make the commitment to enroll will receive help in preparing for college, progressing toward a degree and completing that degree.

“We are going to have a rigorous summer experience in which students have to come before they start school,” said Mogulescu. “This will be a first-year experience that is intensive in reading, writing and mathematics.

“We are going to ask the students to go more hours per week and go through this intensive preparation, but at the end of the first year, they will not only get academic credits but they will be prepared to go on and avoid the danger of dropping out after the first year.”

Part of the model for NCC has come from CUNY’s own Accelerated Study in Associate Programs (ASAP) initiative. More than 1,100 students at CUNY’s six community colleges now enroll in ASAP, created in 2007 to help motivate students to earn their degree as quickly as possible. The program features block scheduling for student cohorts by major, small class size, required full-time study and comprehensive advisement and career development.

The initiative appears to have paid off in higher graduation rates. By last September, 55 percent of ASAP students had earned associate

degrees within three years as compared to 24 percent throughout the CUNY community college system. Additionally, 2010 statistics show 64 percent of ASAP graduates had transferred into CUNY four-year colleges.

Transfer and career opportunities were the basis for deciding the number and type of majors to be offered at NCC. Students will be able to select among a limited number of programs that have well-defined steps to a degree or employment. The current list of majors includes: business administration, health information technology, human services, information technology, liberal arts and sciences, and urban studies.

New York to examine issues of public health, safety, education and commerce as a basis for problem solving and building literacy and quantitative skills.

“The signature City Seminar will plumb the complex physical, social, environmental and political realities of New York,” said Mogulescu.

The new college will be situated in the heart of Manhattan. CUNY has leased the former Katharine Gibbs School at 50 W. 40th St. as a startup facility. Already built for classroom use, it needs little renovation. The 10-year lease will give the university time to build a permanent home for the new college that will replace an old building at John Jay College of Criminal Justice

Eduardo Martí, recently appointed as CUNY’s first Vice Chancellor for Community Colleges

The list is relatively short, compared with other community colleges, which often offer more than 50 programs of study. However, the number of majors has been purposely kept at a minimum because the curriculum calls for students to work in jobs and internships related to their field of study. In addition, the first-year curriculum includes a course that uses the city of

Kay McClenney, director of the Community College Survey of Student Engagement at the University of Texas-Austin’s community college leadership program, have challenged the wisdom of creating a new institution rather than transform existing ones.

George Boggs, who recently retired as president of the American Association of Community Colleges, worries that even if the new college succeeds, it might not be replicable in other parts of the country because the support services, such as the personal advising, are so costly.

But Scott Evenbeck, who will serve as president of the new college, says many of these services and programs already exist at community

Scott Evenbeck, Founding President of CUNY’s New Community College

on the northeast corner of Ninth Avenue and 59th Street.

The blueprint for the new community college has generated much excitement, but the plan is not without critics. Faculty members in the CUNY Senate have grumbled in press interviews about being shortchanged in the planning process.

Nationally, community college leaders such as

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colleges across the nation and the new college is drawing on those successful models.

“Our aspiration is to replicate the terrific programs now in place on so many community college campuses by putting them together at our college and creating a comprehensive array of programs and policies serving all students,” he said. “And through a focus on assessment

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and evaluation, we will be able to share with others how the combination of interventions has come together to enhance student success.”

Evenbeck, a psychology professor and founding dean of University College at Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis, was appointed to the CUNY post last summer after a national search. His background includes extensive experience in assessment and initiatives that boost student achievement. As the college’s founding president, he says he was drawn to the opportunity to work in the CUNY system with the backdrop of New York City and its many resources.

“This is about people working together in an exciting venture,” he said. “The college will be a place of continuous learning and improvement, with attention to assessment and evaluation as we develop, implement and assess these programs.”

Evenbeck has spent the last eight months overseeing the progress of the various planning committees. He has been directly involved in the hiring of the first core full-time faculty and other critical staff members. While the new faculty has come from institutions in Utah, Pennsylvania and the surrounding New York area, they were all hired against a common set of criteria.

“In general, we are looking for faculty com-

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mitted to the mission of the new community college to shape policies and practices in ways that will strengthen student academic achievement and persistence,” said Evenbeck. “These practices are based on a thorough review of the literature and wide-ranging conversations with faculty and staff across the country who are engaged in serving low-income and first-generation students.”

The college structure has several components that might be especially effective in helping Hispanics and other minorities, who usually face multiple obstacles in navigating higher education. As research shows, Hispanics often have financial difficulties, frequently come from poorperforming high schools and have parents who are unfamiliar with college. All of this adds up to low completion rates in college and a high number of dropouts as students get caught in the cycle of remedial courses. To help motivate students, the new college moves away from the traditional remediation/credit divide and builds in developmental coursework for those who need it while immediately starting academic work.

No one understands the problems that Hispanics and other first-generation students face better than Eduardo Martí, recently appointed as CUNY’s first vice chancellor for community col-

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leges. Martí was previously president of Queensborough Community College, which consistently ranks in the top tier nationwide for the number of associate degrees earned by Hispanics.

He was tapped for the higher position as part of the chancellor’s plan to give greater prominence to the community colleges and to invigorate their programs. Martí said that he believes the new college is part of CUNY’s “educational renaissance” that is improving academic opportunities and experiences for countless numbers of students.

“The City University of New York is like an academic Ellis Island because it is a portal of entry for so many in higher education,” he said.

“We have a special responsibility to provide the tools to help our diverse students navigate this complex society.”

Martí also believes that linking the new college’s programs to internships and other occupational learning is a powerful motivator for students as well as a way to meet local employment needs.

“We know that when students participate in these kinds of programs it increases their sense of connectedness with their peers, faculty members and the institution they attend, which, in turn, leads to improved outcomes and persistence to degree,” he said.

INNOVATIONS/PROGRAMS

Texas Tech and El Paso C.C. Partnership Provides Career Path for Hispanic Students to Become Architects

A

by Roxanne Schroeder ward-winning El Paso, Texas, architect Guillermo “Memo” Barajas tells his urban design class, which includes many Hispanic students, that a bright future as an architect is possible if they challenge themselves continually and are not afraid to meet and overcome the inevitable obstacles – educational or work-related – from potential clients, colleagues, politicians, or people with intransigent attitudes. He also encourages them to “push the envelope now, as students” and to try “cuttingedge design ideas that are for the future, perhaps, more than the present.”

It is certainly evidence of a challenge being met, right now, that these rapt students listening, agreeing and hanging on his every cautionary and hopeful word represent a population segment woefully underrepresented in the field. A 2005 AIA (American Institute of Architects) study found that roughly 2 percent of its architect members are Hispanic. And a 2009 statistical report compiled by the National Architectural Accrediting Board estimated that only 9 percent of bachelor’s and master’s degrees were awarded to students of Hispanic origin. Of the 42 students enrolled in the new Bachelor in Architecture program offered

by Texas Tech College of Architecture, El Paso, 95 percent are Hispanic and six of them come across the bridge each day from the drug-war-torn city of Juarez, Mexico, to achieve their dream.

The four-year degree program is a collaboration between El Paso Community College (EPCC) and Texas Tech University College of Architecture, initiated in 2007 at the request of the local architectural community after several unsuccessful efforts by EPCC to partner with the University of Texas-El Paso (UTEP) to establish a four-year architecture program. The students enrolled in this inaugural effort are all passionate about pursuing a career in architecture or a related field, but without the opportunities offered by the school, such a dream would be impractical or even impossible.

Last August, seven students, representing the

Student Frankie Beasley in the Urban Design and Planning Class

first graduating class, received a Bachelor of Science degree in architecture from Texas Tech College of Architecture-El Paso. Five have since transferred to the Lubbock campus for their fifth year. The graduates include Isela Guevara, Luis Bustamante (cum laude), Jorge Acosta, Crystal Lindstrom, Bernabe Jara, Brittney Molina and Jordan Gómez.

The Texas Tech College of Architecture-El Paso is the first of its kind, a partnership between a community college and a university school of architecture. The graduates completed 66 credit hours through EPCC’s pre-architecture program and 65 through Texas Tech’s College of Architecture, 131 credit hours total, an amount comparable to what they would be required to take on the Lubbock campus but all completed in El Paso. For talented students who have been unable to leave El Paso to finish a baccalaureate, for reasons of family and educational background or economic hardship, this program has

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confirmed the presence of a tremendous talent pool in the region and been the answer to career goals delayed or abandoned.

Students at the El Paso campus are required to meet the same enrollment standards as those at the Lubbock campus (a 3.0 GPA and successful portfolio review) and are exposed to a vigorous curriculum to prepare them to transfer to Lubbock for their fifth year of study, toward a master’s degree, a necessary step toward qualifying for licensure.

Instructors such as Barajas expect students to do their best work, daily.

“I want top-level work to be ordinary for you,” he insists. It is an ongoing mantra that motivates each student. Barajas also uses his lab class to expose students to leading-edge planning and design concepts and the kinds of knotty problems licensed architects and planners face daily, from rapidly evolving computer technology, to increased incentives to “go green”

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and to build environmentally sensitive buildings and sustainable communities – countered by “can’t-be-done” attitudes among some developers, city planning departments and local politicians. He challenges his students with advice and “war stories” from his own practice and the experiences of visiting speakers, and assigns projects that will force his students to be visionaries as well as good designers/planners and “storytellers,” as he phrases it.

For example, during the final weeks of his

“walkable, sustainable community.” Several in her audience were skeptical that these “green” and “sustainable” ideas are catching on or even workable in the U.S. She agreed that there are many bumps in the road.

“Often the sustainability movement and city hall are clashing. And I have worked with developers that were very narrow-minded at first,” she said.

But she believes the solution is education, a passionate insistence on the potential for such design,

Student Luisa Estrada in the Urban Design and Planning Class

spring lab class, Barajas invited one of his former colleagues (who started as an intern in his El Paso firm IDEA) to share her real-world struggles and successes in developing an LEED-ND pilot project in Georgetown, Texas. LEED-ND (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design for Neighborhood Development) is a recent and powerful tool in the ongoing battle to control sprawl and revive dying urban communities by certifying sustainable “smart” development. The rating system, developed in 2007 by the National Resource Defense Council, the U.S. Green Building Council and Congress for the New Urbanism, integrates the principles of smart growth, new urbanism and green building into the first national standard for neighborhood design.

Katherine Avalos is now an architect/planner practicing in Austin, Texas, and a passionate advocate of evolving, environmentally responsible design concepts. She told the students that her experiences growing up in South America, “where no one could afford luxuries,” convinced her of the value and importance of a

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and successful prototype projects for others to follow. She does believe attitudes will change, codes will change, but it is never easy. She advises that “architects can make change happen by demonstrating the feasibility of sustainable design through private projects, and push and push.”

Her enthusiasm and can-do attitude seemed to spark excitement in her audience, including the skeptics. Student Mark Winton, who plans to take his expertise into the family business (Winton Flair Custom Home Builders), asked if there was a certification program yet for suburban developments that can provide a walkable, sustainable community. “Is it coming?” he asked, “because I think developers would like to move in this direction, but there is not yet a LEED category that applies.”

Student Kevin Gold identified with the political side of the issue. “I think I might get a master’s in public policy rather than architecture,” he said. “This way, I can have more impact in addressing the political side of innovative urban planning, because if you don’t get in there as a

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trained architect/planner, there is going to be this divide. I’m thinking of being that person, being part of the politics of development.”

In the corner, Barajas was beaming at the enthusiasm and cogent comments of his students.

Morris Brown, M.F.A., AIA, interim director of the Texas Tech College of Architecture-El Paso, is amazed at the impact the new program is having at EPCC and Texas Tech. “Texas Tech’s decision to come here and establish an architecture program allowed them to link to a huge Hispanic market,” he states. The president of Texas Tech University has heralded the success of the endeavor, and Andrew Vernooy, dean of Texas Tech School of Architecture, praised the program.

Brown thinks it’s “a great move that all the other colleges in Texas should start thinking about.” For him, the advantages far outweigh the disadvantages. In fact, he sees few disadvantages.

“We are serving a population that before had no way to turn except to go up and away from El Paso to get a degree in architecture. I was teaching so many talented students in pre-architecture [EPCC’s two-year program] who couldn’t go on, but they really wanted to be architects.”

Since 2005, student enrollment in architecture at Texas Tech has leapt by seven points. In El Paso, the baccalaureate program has attracted 42 students (16 seniors and 26 juniors), and Brown expects enrollment to continue expanding. Junior- and senior-level classes utilize three studios and a lecture classroom in the EPCC Administrative Services Building. A new or renovated building is hoped for “in the near future” as the school grows.

There are three full-time instructors, all licensed architects, and three to five part-time instructors who hold graduate degrees in architecture and are working in professional offices.

EPCC’s commitment to training future architects (from among its 85 percent Hispanic enrollment) has borne amazing fruit.

The pre-architecture program, which began in the 1980s with 16 students in a mobile classroom, has grown to some 400 students, and according to Ken Gorski, professor and discipline coordinator of the program, a high percentage of these students are likely to move on to the baccalaureate program. An associate degree in architecture will be required to move on to junior and senior classes, but this requirement is being phased in over a three-year period.

Brown explains, “If a student now has nine credit hours remaining of course work, which may be a math course or an English course, etc., we will let him – or her – come into the architec-

ture program. Next year, students can transfer with six remaining credit hours needed; and the following year, three.” Junior and senior students pay the same fee as Texas Tech students, but because they are not on the Lubbock campus, part of this is credited back to them. At Texas Tech, the fee is $112.50 per credit hour. Doña Ana Community College is also a signatory partner in the program, and the same requirements are applicable to its pre-architecture students.

Last summer, the new school was visited by a team from the National Architectural Accrediting Board (NAAB), which was conducting a followup re-evaluation of Texas Tech University College of Architecture for continued accreditation.

“They were extremely inquisitive,” states Brown, “intensely interested in who we are and why we are here and whether the students here are actually getting the quality education that they get in Lubbock. Our program is set up to provide all the courses required by the NAAB, and we are aligned with the Texas Tech curriculum.”

However, Brown acknowledges that “we still have some massaging to do, but so does Texas Tech.” For four days, the NAAB team met with staff, instructors and students, both in El Paso and Lubbock. “They really went to the heart of the program with the declared intent to find out where our weaknesses are,” said Brown.

However, the overall view was very positive.

“They commented that we are really doing something tremendous, something that no other university in the country is doing. And they believe we are at the right place at the right time, doing the best that we can.” NAAB team member Tamara Redburn of Fleming Associates Architects, P.C. in Memphis, Tenn., especially applauded the new school’s efforts to train minority students in El Paso.

Brown would like to see the El Paso campus grow in three needed areas: addition of a woodworking/model-building lab with laser-cutting tools and other equipment that costs thousands, a print lab, and a full-fledged library (although students have complete access online to the huge Texas Tech architecture library).

After the NAAB visit, Texas Tech School of Architecture received renewed accreditation and a glowing report as one of the best architectural schools in the west, ample reason why the EPCC/Texas Tech connection is so vital for El Paso architecture students. Notes Brown, “a close friend, the former president of the Texas Society of Architects, tells me, ‘Morris, I would always hire a Texas Tech graduate, more than anybody else, always!’”

Back in the lab, Barajas’ students are com-

Students Arnulfo Ramírez and Paola Muñiz

pleting detailed 3-D visuals and floor plans for their class project, a multiuse “spa” each has designed for one of three possible sites in downtown El Paso, part of a long-term revitalization plan. The assigned design program calls for spaces that provide a mix of “healing” activities, for the individual (body and mind), for the social structure of downtown, and for nature through integration of gardens, green belts and water features. This design project is definitive, taken right from the real-world planning needs and challenges facing downtown El Paso.

Four years ago, El Paso City Council approved a master plan for downtown redevelopment to include restored, multiuse high-rise buildings and redevelopment to “keep downtown El Paso alive 24/7” through a mix of commercial, residential, dining, shopping and recreating and entertainment zones.

Students could select one of three downtown sites (or all three) to develop, and their individual designs certainly reflect Barajas’ injunction to experiment with cutting-edge design, take risks, design for the future. Paola Muñiz, a junior who comes across the bridge daily for classes, has created a flowing, interlocking series of structural elements defined by a bridge and ramp system that embraces two sites. “I want to express the four elements: water, air, fire, earth, using people bridges between the buildings and ramps to move from level to level.” On the roof is a garden. “The bridges and ramps challenge people to walk, to move through space [air], healing body and mind.” Other social and healing spaces are

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provided by saunas and baths on the third floor (water), a second-floor exercise/gym area, and a first-floor worship/meditation space, “worship in the sense of where more than three people are gathered,” she explains.

Caesar López, the youngest student in the program and the first in his family to attend college, is perhaps the most visionary. He elected to use all three sites to configure “a labyrinth — with one entry [birth] and a journey to the center [life].

Through a labyrinth, the individual and the city can experience reconnection of mind, body, spirit,” he described. “The city needs this, not so much the people of El Paso.” To underscore his concept of rejuvenation and reconnection, he spreads or “multiplies” his structures throughout the city, projecting the concept to 2020 or 2040. “Of course, it’s a dream, he muses, “but ...” When López presented his vision for a future El Paso to a jury of prominent practicing architects from El Paso and Las Cruces, their response was: “wow, amazing, dynamic!”

Student Mark Winton praises Barajas for allowing his students to be visionaries. “When you become an architect, you are not going to be able to do this stuff, the designs that are out in the future; but this is the chance that you get to be creative, to expand beyond conventions, and maybe someday the concepts can see fruition. You never know where technology is going. In five, 10 years who knows what is possible and feasible?”

Indeed, but it is equally evident that this new collaborative architecture program will assure that more and more talented and “amazing” Southwest region architects will be Hispanic.

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INNOVATIONS/PROGRAMS

The

by Thomas G. Dolan

in More Ways than One

movement toward a green environment has been accelerated by a corresponding movement toward a green economy.

To meet this challenge, America will need millions of new skilled workers for jobs involving renewable energy, energy efficiency, green buildings and sustainability. To bring this about, two Washington, D.C.-based organizations, the American Association of Community Colleges (AACC) and ecoAmerica, have partnered in the first nationwide initiative to collaborate on and implement programs to train students with the education and skills they need to succeed in this arena.

“Community colleges are uniquely positioned to be leaders of the sustainability movement, focusing on local economic development and partnering with businesses and government to provide access to jobs,” says John J. Sygielski, president of Mt. Hood Community College in Oregon and chair of the AACC Board of Directors. “Community colleges are the backbone of American work force training, and now is the time for us to step up and help our students and communities restore American prosperity.”

The 1,200 community colleges AACC represents serve nearly 12 million students. Of these, 36 percent are minorities, with Hispanics at 16 percent being the largest minority. First-generation college students make up 55 percent of the mix, with 60 percent being women, 40 percent men and the average student age being 29. Moreover, community colleges are the fastest-growing segment of the educational system. And 90 percent of the U.S. population lives within 25 miles of a community college.

Jerry Weber, president of the College of Lake County in Illinois and chair of the AACC sustainability task force, says the initiative got its start at AACC about two years ago because “basically the board wanted to recognize the growing importance of sustainability education and training for green jobs. In January and February of 2010, we received significant funding from different foundations and partnered with ecoAmerica. By then, we had attracted about 35 community college presidents on the task force and communicated back and forth in strategic planning.”

Todd Cohen, sustainability initiative manager at AACC, relates that, to make the program work effectively, three main goals had to be met. “First, we needed informed faculties, so we put together a national panel of experts from industry and government, and we have all of the critical resources.” Second, Cohen continues, there was the need for a centralized venue to facilitate cooperation among the 1,200 schools so that “best practices could be established and the wheel need not be reinvented.” Third, says Cohen, “We know that any real change on campus requires leader-

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ship. So we want college presidents to take a pledge to participate in and cooperate with the program.”

By the time of the formal announcement of the program on Oct. 10, 2010, at a conference in Denver for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education, more than 300 presidents had already signed up.

A key component is the clearinghouse, called the SEED Center, which allows community colleges across the county to access curated information, teaching materials and other tools from experts in the various clean tech/green tech fields that will help them to develop and strengthen their green tech programs.

“There is a vast amount of information on green jobs training out there, but SEED cuts through the clutter and brings together the best resources, providing them for free to all community colleges,” says Amy Golden, executive director at ecoAmerica. “Until now, there hasn’t been a nationally available network or resources to connect schools with advanced programs with schools still developing their curricula. The SEED Center will fill that important void.”

The SEED Center (www.theSEEDcenter.org) offers a broad array of free resources. Content includes curriculum resources, industry and employment information, case studies and other information, with additional support for program implementation, faculty development and funding.

Initial subject areas include solar, wind, energy efficiency, green building and sustainable education, curated by a Technical Advisory Group of leading academic, government and industry sustainability and clean tech authorities. An online sharing environment, including discussion boards and a wiki, provide the opportunity for faculty to share best practices and learnings, ultimately contributing to the continual growth and refinement of the resources offered.

SEED will reach beyond the campus. Community college presidents who sign on as members pledge not only to foster the center’s programs at their colleges, but also to build bridges to local business, government and nonprofit communities to connect training to jobs. ecoAmerica (www.ecoAmerica.org) is a nonprofit organization that uses consumer research and strategic partnerships to create innovative programs that engage mainstream Americans in climate and environmental solutions. It develops and launches behavior-changing programs that make environmental solutions personally relevant.

Among the numerous programs ecoAmerica has created are the American College and University Presidents’ Climate Commitment, the

Princeton Review Green College Ratings, and Nature Rocks.

One community college that certainly exemplifies the best in the green initiative is California’s Los Angeles Trade Technical College (LATTC). This school, as reports Dean of Academic Affairs Leticia Barajas, is more than 50 percent Hispanic, with more than 85 percent of those students engaged in green programs, a higher percentage than that of the general population. With an enrollment of 30,000, LATTC serves a very diverse set of students. More than 80 percent of the students are minorities, and many of them have significant challenges. Half have not completed high school or received a GED, live at or below 150 percent of the poverty level, and 65 percent are non-native English speakers.

Barajas says the school’s green programs have been set up to serve both the older student in an over-employed field who wants retraining for a new and more viable field to the recent high school dropout or graduate, whether an immigrant or second or third generation. Age is not a factor.

Targeted are the 50- to 60-year-old immigrants down to the middle and high school students.

“We have a robust outreach program engaging students as early as the sixth and seventh grades,” Barajas says. “We want to increase the college path to over 75 percent. Students involved in science become very interested. We build an awareness and foundation for sustainability into their education.”

The school provides the training and incentives to help students both succeed in school and find a good job. For instance, in focusing on entrylevel occupations for lower-skilled students, LATTC offers a series of preparatory academies (from one to 12 weeks) designed to reinforce adult basic skills in the context of specific green occupations. The Utilities and Construction Prep Program, for example, uses utilities-specific content to teach math and English skills along with work readiness and financial literature; LATTC conducts broad outreach to recruit disconnected adults for the academies, provides intensive support services to increase their likelihood of program completion, and connects successful academy students with local jobs, internships, or certificate or degree programs.

Women also receive a special focus. The Female Line Workers Program is a cohort-based five-week intensive program to train women in nontraditional building trades, where entry-level union jobs pay $6 to $20 per hour. The program builds the strength and climbing ability to meet the physical requirements these occupations demand, such as climbing and servicing a 30-foot-high utility pole. Trainees in these jobs can advance through apprenticeships within six to 18 months.

Although each community college is free to fashion its own green programs, and it’s possible that some may choose to make green technology a major in itself, this is definitely not the case at LATTC. “We have always been adamant that we are not offering a certificate in sustainability, when the current technology might be obsolete in five years,” Barajas says.

“Rather we embed these green practices in the current courses, so the graduate will not be practicing in isolation.”

Whether someone is studying to become a plumber or a nurse, work on construction or on a farm, green issues are at stake.

This is true even in fields where you might least suspect it. For instance, in the school’s yearly fashion show, in which design students display their creativity, part of the criteria has to do with organic fabrics and recycled material. Even an English literature course can have as a component the study of an environmental classic, such as The Silent Spring.

Both short-term and long-term green courses are offered. For instance,

short-term training is provided in areas such as hybrid-vehicle technology, sustainable land use, solar energy and solar auditing. Longer-term certificate and degree programs are offered in subjects such as the chemical technology certificate and the associate degree in renewable energy with emphases in solar photo-voltaics, solar thermal and energy efficiency.

The initiatives are designed so that the greening of the environment has a payback in greenbacks. In Los Angeles, being bilingual is a definite asset, Barajas points out. Many of the graduates are being employed in providing weatherization or solar in the homes of Spanish-speaking residents. The employer base, of course, also serves a diverse customer base, many of whom are Spanish-speaking.

Barajas points out that sustainability has grown from being an idealistic goal of activist fringe groups to simply being a necessary component of doing business, for corporations both large and small. LATTC actively works to connect students with green training with green jobs.

Key to the success of LATTC’s wraparound service initiatives are its front-end regional and industry partnership development efforts. The school’s Regional Economic Development Institute was given regional and statewide responsibilities to act as the “intermediary” for the Los Angeles Infrastructure and Sustainable Jobs Collaborative. In this key role, LATTC facilitates partnerships between major energy companies, labor unions, community-based organizations, the K-12 education system, government entities and other higher education institutions to connect low-income populations to education opportunities and jobs with clear clean energy career pathways.

As a result, LATTC has spearheaded an array of consortia agreements and led the creation of an industry sector strategic plan to achieve a seamless education and work force training infrastructure in the entire Los Angeles region’s K-16 system. Over the past several years, LATTC has engaged in more than 20 federal, state and foundation grant-funded work force development programs totaling more than $40 million.

These partnerships have also led to successes beyond the leveraging of funds. Regional work force boards have provided critical marketing outreach of their training programs, labor unions have worked with LATTC to design comprehensive and complementary training initiatives, and regional industry representatives have become employed as adjunct faculty.

None of this has come about automatically. Asked if pitfalls were encountered along the way, Barajas replies, “Not pitfalls, but it has taken a tremendous effort, from training the faculty to orienting the student population, to engaging with employers on a one-to-one basis, getting feedback from employers and students, often on a weekly basis, making adjustments, and quickening the pace. We’ve had to revamp all of our curriculum.”

The school has rethought even the process of how students have traditionally applied for jobs. For instance, LATTC has launched its electronic portfolio program, in which a student puts on video what he has accomplished in his green education, such as how to operate a bio-diesel engine.

In fact, LATTC students utilizing this technique, which can’t be duplicated on a résumé, Barajas says, “are edging out other applicants.”

“Going green has forced us to look at how we do business here,” Barajas says, in summing up. “It’s fundamentally changed how we operate our community college.”

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HI S PAN I C S O N T H E MO VE García Named to Lead Colorado Higher Ed Department

Murguía, the board re-elected Guarione Díaz, president, Cuban American National Council, as vice chair; Ron Blackburn-Moreno, president and CEO, ASPIRA Association Inc., treasurer; and Clara Padilla Andrews, president, National Association of Hispanic Publications, secretary. Ignacio Salazar, HACR’s current board chair, will continue to serve on the organization’s executive committee as immediate past chair.

Colorado Lt. Gov. Joseph “Joe” García has been chosen to serve as executive director of the Colorado Department of Higher Education. García most recently worked as president of Colorado State University-Pueblo, where he helped the school overcome stagnant enrollment, a mediocre reputation and financial difficulties. “Joe García is in a unique position to wear two hats in state government,” said Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper. “He is a known leader with tremendous expertise in education.”

N.Y. City Tech’s Vázquez-Poritz Wins NSF Grant

The Fu Foundation School of Engineering and Applied Science at Columbia University (N.Y.) announced that one of its researchers, José Blanchet, assistant professor in the Department of Industrial Engineering and Operations Research, won a 2010 Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers. The award, sponsored by the National Science Foundation, gives Blanchet $400,000 to continue his research activities. Blanchet has a Ph.D. and master’s degree from Stanford University and a bachelor’s from Instituto Tecnológico Autónomo de México.

Photo © Eileen Barroso/Columbia U.

Blanchet Receives Presidential Early Career Award

HACR Elects Murguía Board Chair Janet Murguía (pictured), president and CEO of the National Council of La Raza, was recently elected chair of the Hispanic Association on Corporate Responsibility (HACR) Board of Directors for the 201112 term, effective May 2011. Along with

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This past fall, Dr. Justin Vázquez-Poritz, a physics professor at New York City College of Technology, was awarded a three-year National Science Foundation (NSF) grant of $60,000 for “Constraining Gravity Dual Models of Strongly Coupled Plasmas,” to conduct research in string theory. In addition, Nobel laureate David Gross named him a 2010-12 scholar at the Kavli Institute for Theoretical Physics (KITP) in Santa Barbara, Calif.

Baca to Serve on California Student Success Task Force Rio Hondo College Professor Dr. Manuel Baca was recently appointed to the California Community College Student Success Task Force. The task force, which includes a broad array of academic, research and business leaders, will meet regularly during the year to develop a strategic blueprint to help community college students succeed. Baca has a doctorate from the University of Southern California and a master’s and bachelor’s degree from California State UniversityFullerton.

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Romero Named Centennial Poet The New Mexico State Library and the Department of Cultural Affairs selected Levi Romero, research scholar and poet laureate in the University of New Mexico (UNM) School of Architecture and Planning, as Centennial Poet – in honor of the upcoming statehood centennial, 1912-2012. Romero, whose work focuses on cultural landscape studies, recently taught in the creative writing program at UNM.

Rodríguez Watson Named Honorary Chair for 2011 CSUSB Summit The Latino Education and Advocacy Days project at California State University-San Bernardino has named Judy Rodríguez Watson honorary chair of the 2011 all-day summit to be held Monday, March 28. Rodríguez Watson is co-president of the Seal Beach-based Watson and Associates Development Corp. and an ardent supporter of education.

Interesting Reads Equal Opportunity in Higher Education Edited by Eric Grodsky and Michal Kurlaender This book examines how California’s Proposition 9, passed in 1996, reflects national trends that have changed higher education, from diversity issues to setting admission criteria.

2010. 273 pgs. ISBN 978-1-934742-72-3. $29.95 paper. Harvard Education Press. (617) 496-3584. HarvardEducationPress.org.

Work Your Strengths

By Chuck Martin, Richard Guare and Peg Dawson According to the authors, the brain is hardwired to function in a certain way. This book provides a roadmap to combine brain science with business insights for a fulfilling and successful career.

2010. 256 pgs. ISBN 978-0-8144-1407-1. $21.95 cloth.

Amacom Books. (212) 903 7951. www.amacombooks.org.

Writing Pancho Villa’s Revolution

By Max Parra This book reconciles the novels, chronicles and testimonials written from 1925 to 1940 that told the story of Pancho Villa’s grass-roots insurgency – either celebrating or condemning his leadership.

2006. 192 pgs. ISBN 0-292-70978-1. $19.95 paper.

University of Texas Press. (800) 252 3206. www.utexas.edu/utpress.

and Media...

Nuestra Familia Through exclusive interviews with gang members and law enforcement personnel, this program describes the formation of the Nuestra Familia crime family by convicts inside the prisons of northern California.

2006. 59 minutes (plus 56 minutes of bonus material).

ISBN 978-1-4213-6626-5. $169.95 DVD. Films for the Humanities and Sciences. (800) 257-5126. www.films.com.

The Community College Guide

by Debra Gonsher, Ph.D., and Joshua Halberstam, Ph.D. 279 pgs. Dallas, Texas: BenBella Books, Inc., 2009, ISBN 978-1933771-73-1. $14.95 paper.

As

community colleges become more and more important in the world of higher education, it seems only logical that there should be a guide that addresses the questions and concerns of students specifically interested in attending community college. Most guides treat the college experience as a generic higher education experience. This book, however, recognizes the unique nature of community colleges and the special challenges and questions they raise for incoming students.

This guide is separated into three distinct sections that present the contents in a logical progression. The first, Get Ready, covers everything from why to choose a community college to navigating the complicated maze of the application process and money matters, such as the real and hidden costs of college and where to start to search for financial aid. There is also a chapter about making sure the student and the college are a good fit, as well as a detailed guide to get through the registration process without a hitch.

Some handbooks confine their advice to finding and getting into the right school. This book goes a step or two further by guiding the student through the actual community college experience. The Get Ahead section charts a course for the student – through classroom preparation and getting along with instructors to improving GPAs by writing better essays and papers and employing strategies to improve test taking.

A discussion of distance learning comes with a reminder of the importance of time management, and how to avoid the pitfalls of procrastination. The authors also take on cheating and plagiarism, explaining their serious implications while knocking down all the usual excuses used to justify the practice.

The final section of the book, Get Going, is designed as a preparation for students moving beyond the strict classroom experience. Tips for engaging in extracurricular activities, internships and study abroad are presented from the point of view of their worth to the educational and social experience of community colleges.

And the book moves beyond that potentially complicated process of taking the community college credits and transferring to a four-year school – as well as providing useful information on creating a résumé and landing a first job.

One of the most useful parts of the book is not contained in its Get Ready, Get Ahead and Get Going sections. It’s an appendix titled Community College Speak – Terms You Need to Know. Here terms such as “EFC” (expected family contribution) and “articulation agreement” are explained to the higher education novice.

For the community college student, The Community College Guide is the total package. It’s a must read for anyone about to embark on this higher education adventure.

Reviewed by Mary Ann Cooper

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HIGH SCHOOL FORUM

National Report Card: Today’s 12th-Graders Lag Behind Their 1992 Counterparts

At

by Mary Ann Cooper first glance, the 2009 National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) report (also known as the Nation’s Report Card) seems to have great news for 12th-grader progress in reading and math skills. The report results indicate that scores improved since 2005. However, in both reading and math, the scores are still lower than those posted by high school graders in 1992.

Since 1969, NAEP has assessed comprehension levels for 12th-graders in reading, mathematics, science, writing, U.S. history, civics, geography and other subjects. NAEP collects and reports comprehension information on these students at the national and state levels to evaluate and compare the nation’s condition and progress of education. NAEP gets its authorization from Congress and is a project of the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) within the Institute of Education Sciences of the U.S. Department of Education.

Approximately 52,000 students were assessed in reading and 49,000 students were assessed in mathematics. Nationally representative samples of 12th-graders from 1,670 public and private schools across the nation participated in the 2009 National Assessment of Educational Progress.

According to the report, “Reading results were based on students’ responses to questions designed to measure reading comprehension across two types of texts: literary and informational. The average reading score in 2009 was higher than in 2005 but lower than in 1992.

Thirty-eight percent of 12th-graders performed at or above the Proficient level in reading in 2009, which was higher than the percentage in 2005 but not significantly different from the percentages in other earlier assessment years. The percentage of students performing at or above Basic (74 percent) in 2009 was not significantly different from 2005 and was lower than in 1992.

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“Average mathematics scores were higher in 2009 than in 2005 for 12th-grade public and private school students overall, for all racial/ethnic groups, and for male and female students.

While the overall average reading score was also higher in 2009 than in 2005, reading scores did not change significantly for Black, Hispanic and American Indian/Alaska Native students, or for female students. Racial/ethnic and gender achievement gaps did not change significantly in either reading or mathematics.”

The troubling part of the report is that in comparison to 1992, reading scores were lower in 2009 overall and for both male and female students. So while an increase in scores from 2005 is laudable, scores were better in the preNo Child Left Behind days of 1992. The report breaks down the reading numbers for 1992, 2005 and 2009, noting that the average reading score in 2009 for 12th-graders across the United States was four percentage points lower than it was in 1992, even though it was two percentage points higher than in 2005. White students and Asian-American students as well as male students showed increases in scores since 2005, but no racial/ethnic or gender groups showed gains since 1992. And the report points out that gender was not a factor in these lower scores.

Both males and females scored lower in reading in 2009 than they did in 1992. While females outscored males in comprehension overall by 12 percent, this gap doesn’t differ from the gap in both 2005 and 1992.

But location, location, location seemed to matter in terms of success or lack of success in achieving positive comprehension results. The best chance for student success was in a suburban school setting. In 2009, those students had higher comprehension scores than students attending city, town or rural schools. Scores for students attending city, town and rural schools were not significantly different from each other.

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While the comparison to 1992 is disheartening, the report seems to indicate that education is on a midcourse correction, rebounding from even worse comprehension statistics in 2005.

According to the NCES report, “The average mathematics score for the nation’s 12th-graders was three points higher in 2009 than in 2005.

Scores increased across most of the performance distribution. In comparison to 2005, scores were higher for all but the highest-performing students (those at the 90th percentile).

Twenty-six percent of 12th-graders performed at or above the proficient level in mathematics in 2009. The percentages of students performing at or above proficient and at or above basic were higher in 2009 than in 2005. The percentage of students performing at the advanced level in 2009 did not change significantly from 2005.”

The increase in proficiency across the board for 2009 compared to 2005 translated into increases in all student groups – White, AfricanAmerican, Hispanic, Asian-American and Native American. The average score for Asian-American students was up 13 points from 2005, and the average score for Native American students was up 10 points from 2005 to 2009. In 2009, African-American, Hispanic and Native American students scored lower in proficiency average than both White and Asian-American students.

The average score for White students was 14 points lower than the average score for AsianAmerican students. African-American students scored lower on average than Hispanic and Native American students. The report issues a cautionary tale for the persistent gap between White and non-White student achievement.

“Score gaps persisted between White students and their Black and Hispanic peers in 2009. With all three racial/ethnic groups making gains in 2009, neither the White-Black nor the White-Hispanic score gap in 2009 was significantly different from corresponding gaps in

2005. In the case of reading scores, specifically, although the overall average increased since 2005, not all racial/ethnic groups made gains.

The average score for White students was three points higher in 2009 than in 2005.” The report reveals that the scores for Asian-American students were 11 percent higher compared to scores for African-American, Hispanic and Native American students, which showed no significant change from 2005 to 2009. White and Asian-American students scored higher on average than African-American, Hispanic and Native American students in 2009. Additionally, scores for Hispanic and Native American students were not significantly different from each other, but each was higher than the average score for African-American students.

This year’s NAEP survey differed from those of other years in that the Nation’s Report Card included 2009 reading and mathematics assessments from 11 states that volunteered to participate in NAEP’s grade state pilot program. These states opted to participate for a number of reasons, including reaping the benefits of being able to use the national results and other states’ results as points of comparison for their own students’ proficiency and creating a standard for student performance as they graduate high school. NAEP reports that pilot program participants for 2009 were: Arkansas, Massachusetts, Connecticut, New Hampshire, Florida, New Jersey, Idaho, South Dakota, Illinois, West Virginia and Iowa.

The report reveals how the average reading scores of 12th-graders in the 11 participating states compare to the NAEP scores for public school students nationwide in 2009. Average scores in seven states (Connecticut, Idaho, Illinois, Iowa, Massachusetts, New Hampshire and South Dakota) were higher than the score for the

nation, and scores for three states (Arkansas, Florida and West Virginia) were lower. The average score for New Jersey was not significantly different from the score for the nation.

The report also revealed how the 2009 overall average mathematics scores for 12th-graders in the 11 participating states compare to those of public school students nationwide. Average scores in six states (Connecticut, Iowa, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey and South Dakota) were higher than the score for the nation, and scores for three states (Arkansas, Florida and West Virginia) were lower. The average scores for Idaho and Illinois were not significantly different from the scores for the nation.

The gap between White student and Hispanic student proficiency, as reported in the states that volunteered for the NAEP pilot survey, reveal double-digit deficits for Hispanics in the eight states of the 11 that broke down their numbers into ethnic and racial categories. Florida showed the smallest gap in reading and mathematics between White and Hispanic students (12 percent and 24 percent, respectively). Connecticut and Massachusetts showed the widest (27 percent and 32 percent; 26 percent and 30 percent, respectively). Iowa showed a reading and mathematics gap between these same two groups at 13 percent and 24 percent, respectively; Idaho’s gap was 26 percent for reading and 25 percent for mathematics; Illinois showed a difference for reading at 22 percent and 20 percent for mathematics; New Jersey’s gap was 22 percent for reading and 26 percent for mathematics; while Arkansas had a gap of 18 percent each for both reading and mathematics.

The variables suggested for the proficiency gap in education include location of schools, ethnic differences and language barriers, but it

Anyway Hispanic Outlook available l in digita . t a m r fo .

is not clear from the NCES report what accounts for the decline in proficiency in reading and mathematics since 1992, or why levels have begun to rebound since 2005. A re-evaluation of the education practices and policies over the past 20 years might provide the answers needed to help today’s graders achieve the proficiency of the “good old days.”

CEP Report Also Suggests Proficiency Gap Comparing the national report card released

by NCES with State Test Score Trends Through 2008-09, Part 2: Slow and Uneven Progress in Narrowing Gaps, prepared by the Center on Education Policy (CEP), backs up the NAEP’s conclusion that a persistent proficiency gap exists between White students and students of color as well as between low-income and more affluent students.

Taking a closer look at reading/language arts and Hispanic high school students, the CEP report shows that the median proficiency was 62 percent for Hispanic students and 83 percent for White students. In high school math, the percentage of African-American students achieving proficiency ranged from 7 percent in the lowest state to 89 percent in the highest state while the Hispanic percentage of proficiency in mathematics ranged from 9 percent to 93 percent. For White students, the proficiency gap was smaller but significant, ranging 33 percent in the lowest state to 97 percent in the highest state. The math performance proficiency of males and females was basically equal.

The CEP report also shows that the gap between students from low-income families and those who are not from low-income families is considerable, regardless of the ethnic or racial makeup of these students. That gap averaged about 25 percent in 2009 across the board.

You Want It,

Thats The Way You Read It! Check our website for information

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The Hispanic Outlook In Higher Education

www.hispanicoutlook.com

AEI Study: How Information About Graduation Rates Can Positively Affect Choice in Higher Education

March 21, 2011

about college quality and costs should help students choose high-performing schools and put pressure on colleges that are not making the grade. But will providing such information really affect college decisions?

In their new research study, Filling in the Blanks, the American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research’s (AEI) Andrew P. Kelly and Mark Schneider used an experimental survey to test whether providing graduation-rate information affects the way parents choose between two public, four-year colleges in their state. The study found that providing graduation-rate information for two similar colleges increased the probability that parents would choose the institution with the higher graduation rate by 15 percentage points.

Perhaps most importantly, the information had a large and significant effect on parents with less education, lower incomes and less knowledge of the college applica-

tion process. More advantaged and betterinformed parents, meanwhile, did not significantly change their preferences in response to graduation rates.

In some cases, providing graduation rates led lower-income and less-informed parents to make choices that looked more like those made by their more advantaged peers. These findings suggest that giving parents additional information about college quality could help less-advantaged parents make decisions that are similar to those made by the savviest consumers in the market.

Kelly and Schneider propose that federal rules be altered to require colleges to share their six-year graduation rates with parents and prospective students in all admissions and financial correspondence. They further argue that policymakers should work to provide a broad array of college quality measures to allow students and their families to easily distinguish colleges from one another.

SACNAS Announces New Website and lection of member stories, student and proInformation Superhighway for fessional resources, and three years of past Underrepresented Minority Scientists articles from the SACNAS News publication.

nation’s scientific competitiveness.”

Keeping up with technological advances is a long-term investment for the organization. At its foundation, the new site has been built to serve a larger vision. Along with providing advanced tools to support the community, SACNAS has also made a significant investment in a more secure internal constituent management database. This important technology will not only allow SACNAS to understand its members, their institutional affiliations and their varied associations with the organization, but is critical in understanding the impact SACNAS is having and improving its programs and services.

For more information about SACNAS programs and services, please visit: www.sacnas.org

WASHINGTON, D.C.

Over the past two years, the Obama administration and prominent foundations have promoted a “college completion agenda” designed to dramatically increase the percentage of Americans with a college degree. One barrier to making progress on this goal is simple: colleges that admit similar students often have widely different graduation rates with far too many colleges failing to get a majority of their students across the finish line.

Scholars of all stripes agree that an important step to a better outcome is improving the information available to prospective students and their families.

Providing consumers with better information

SANTA CRUZ, Calif.

SACNAS, an organization promoting diversity in science careers, has announced the launch of a new website, after making a twoyear and $500,000 investment to overhaul its entire information technology infrastructure.

A prominent feature launched with the new site is a robust database of opportunities – searchable by level, discipline, institution and opportunity type – to which scholarships, internships and fellowships can now be submitted for free by the community.

The site also launched with a large col36

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Other new features such as advanced conference management tools, expanded multimedia resources, and interactive community and group networking will launch throughout 2011.

Newly elected president Ernest Márquez, Ph.D. recognizes that the new website is a pivotal transformation for the organization.

“Having these powerful tools will enable SACNAS to fulfill its mission of greater participation by Hispanics/Chicanos and Native Americans in science by enhancing opportunities for students to learn in new and exciting ways, and help build a comprehensive network of scientists that increases our 0 3 / 2 1 / 2 0 1 1

The Hispanic Outlook In Higher Education

Ed Trust Analysis of 2009 PISA Results: U.S. Average in Performance, but Leads the World in Inequity WASHINGTON, D.C.

Despite near-continuous innovation in most fields, the way America educates its young people has changed very little since the Industrial Revolution, says the Education Trust. And new international data show that Industrial-Age schools – schools designed to prepare a handful of students for college, but most for jobs in factories, mills and the like – simply aren’t preparing students for a digital-age world.

In 2009, the United States was among 34 developed countries that participated in the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA). The Education Trust examined the results and provided an analysis.

On that exam, the U.S. has improved in math and science since 2006. But despite

Education Week Report Awards State Grades for Education Performance, Policy WASHINGTON, D.C.

Although economists have officially declared the “Great Recession” to be over, the nation and states continue to struggle back from the most severe economic downturn in generations and face new challenges in delivering a high-quality education to all students, according to Education Week’s annual education report card. The nation receives a C when graded across the six distinct areas of policy and performance

www.hispanicoutlook.com

March 21, 2011

those improvements, the country’s students are – at best – still in the middle of the global pack at a time when education plays a decisive role in the success of its young people and the strength of the nation’s economy.

According to the new PISA data, American high schoolers now rank 12th in reading, 17th in science and 25th in mathematics. Yet despite that seemingly higher rank in reading, only about one-third of 15year-olds in the United States meet reading benchmarks that indicate readiness for higher-level work.

These results reveal the “brutal truth” about the national education system, as U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan observed recently: American students are ill-prepared for the demands they will face after high school.

On average, U.S. White and Asian students actually perform about as well in reading, math and science as the average student in high-performing countries like Canada and

Japan. However, in a startling parallel, the nation’s Latino students perform at about the same level as the national average in nations like Turkey and Dubai; and AfricanAmerican students are on par with the national averages in non-Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development countries such as Serbia and Bulgaria.

At a time when low-income students and students of color together represent the majority in America’s public schools, they are being outpaced and outperformed by students from most of the developed world.

That’s certainly not good for them. But it isn’t good for our country as a whole, either, says the Education Trust.

“We’ll never regain our global edge without closing the domestic gaps that separate low-income students and students of color from their peers within our own borders,” said Kati Haycock, president, Education Trust. “Unfortunately, where America ranks high is in inequality.”

tracked by Quality Counts, the most comprehensive ongoing assessment of the state of American education. For the third year in a row, Maryland is the top-ranked state, earning the nation’s highest overall grade, a Bplus. Massachusetts and New York follow close behind, each receiving a B. The majority of states receive grades of C-plus or lower.

The report reintroduces its K-12 Achievement Index, which evaluates the strength of a state’s performance against 18 individual indicators that capture current achievement, improvements over time, and poverty-based disparities or gaps.

Massachusetts emerges as the top-achieving state this year, earning a grade of B, fol-

lowed closely by Maryland and New Jersey, each with a B-minus. Perennial strong performers, these states also comprised the nation’s top three scorers in 2008, the last time the index was updated. Despite some solid showings, a wide gulf separates the leaders from the rest of the pack, with the average state earning a D-plus on K-12 achievement. Four states – Louisiana, Mississippi, New Mexico and West Virginia – and the District of Columbia receive grades of F on the index.

To access the full Quality Counts 2011 report and interactive state report cards, visit the following Web address: www.edweek.org/go/qc11.

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Chandler-Gilbert | Estrella Chandler-Gilbert strella Mountain | GateWay GateWay Valley Glendale | Mesa | Paradise V alley | Phoenix Rio Salado | Scottsdale ttsdale | South Mountain

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The Maricopa Community ity Colleges are fast-growing, g, lifelong learning institutions ionss with great facilities, full eather er. benefits and glorious weather.

Job opportunities exist in n faculty positions (part-time me ment, t, and full-time), management, technology, support staff, f, facilities and other areas..

All applications and employment nt opportunities are posted online at:

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Maricopa Community ty Colleges District Office 2411 W. W. 14th Street, t, TTempe, empe, Arizona 85281 480.731.8444 .731.8444 All APPLICA APPLICATIONS ATIONS MUS MUST UST BE SUMITTED SUMITTED ONLINE. The Maricopa Community Colleges are EEO/AA A Institutions.

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03/21/2011

POSTDOCTORAL FELLOW POSITIONS ANNOUNCEMENT The Roxelyn and Richard Pepper Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders at Northwestern University is pleased to announce the availability of postdoctoral fellow positions, funded by an NIH translational research training grant. The goal of the grant is to train young scientists in translational research in communication sciences and disorders, bridging basic and clinical research. Special emphasis is placed on translational projects related to sensory perception, motor control, and language processing. Postdoctoral candidates must hold a PhD in Communication Sciences and Disorders, Cognitive Science, Linguistics, Neuroscience, or a related field.

Traineeships are limited by federal regulations to: US citizens, non-citizen nationals, or individuals who have been lawfully admitted for permanent residence at the time of the appointment. Trainees will receive funding for two years on this project. Interested candidates should send the following to Dr. Charles Larson, Chair, Communication Sciences and Disorders, Northwestern University, 2240 Campus Drive, Evanston, IL 60208: • • • •

A cover letter stating your research interests and career goals Most current CV Two letters of recommendation Official transcripts of all postsecondary education

Review of applications will begin on April 1, 2011 for positions starting in summer 2011.

EOE. Hiring is contingent on eligibility to work in the United States

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WESTCHESTER COMMUNITY COLLEGE

In the 150th anniversary year of the Civil War’s beginning, Making Connections: Interdisciplinary Approaches to Cultural Diversity invites submissions focused on the theme “Interdisciplinary Perspectives on the Civil War: 150 Years After” for our fall 2011 issue. The deadline for this issue is June 1, 2011. We publish academic essays from any discipline, poetry, fiction, creative non-fiction, book reviews and original artwork (we print in black and white) that explore cultural diversity. Making Connections is a national journal published by the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education and the Frederick Douglass Institute Collaborative. See our website at http://organizations.bloomu.edu/connect/ for more information about the journal and for recent issues. We prefer electronic submissions in Word format at connect@bloomu.edu. Manuscripts should conform to citation methods as described in the current MLA Handbook. Manuscripts will be peer- reviewed, and authors will be notified in two to three months. Subscriptions to Making Connections are available for $15.00 yearly (two issues). For more information about subscriptions, see our website or email connect@bloomu.edu.

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Del Mar College ranks DPRQJ WKH WRS ÀIW\ FRPPXQLW\ FROOHJHV in the nation granting associate degrees to Hispanic students.

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Corpus Christi, Texas

California State University, Bakersfield School of Social Sciences & Education: Associate Dean at California State University, Bakersfield, to serve as one of the administrative leaders for the eight departments and two programs in the School of Social Sciences and Education beginning September 2011. Associate Professor or Professor; Ph.D. in one of the School’s disciplines; documented record of teaching, scholarly activity, and service. Detailed position description, requirements, qualifications, and application procedures at http://www.csub.edu/provost/MPPSearches.shtml or by contacting Dr. Steve Bacon, School of Social Sciences & Education, California State University, Bakersfield, 9001 Stockdale Highway, Bakersfield, CA 93311-1022; 661-654-2008; sbacon@csub.edu.

CSUB is an EO/AA/Title IX employer.

The Hispanic Outlook Magazine®

A Community College That Works! www.riohondo.edu www.hispanicoutlook.com for additional information

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Westchester Community College is committed to hiring innovative faculty members. Women, minorities and those dedicated to diversity and multiculturalism are strongly encouraged to apply. Full-time positions include excellent benefits.

Full-time Faculty Position

Veterinary Technology Instructor position to start spring 2012.

Successful candidate will be a licensed veterinarian or a veterinary technologist. See website for details.

Adjunct Faculty (summer and fall 2011 openings). Specify day/ evening/weekend availability.

CREDIT ADJUNCTS (Masters and one-year related experience required unless otherwise indicated on website): Anthropology, Biology, Chemistry, Computer Information Systems, Computer Security and Forensics, Economics, EMS, English as a Second Language, Finance (Personal Finance), Food Service (Culinary Arts, Dietetic Technician), Geography, History, Human Services/Social Work, Mathematics (Algebra including Algebra with Trigonometry and developmental courses in Pre-Algebra and Beginning Algebra; Contemporary Mathematics; Pre-Calculus; Statistics), Medical Billing and Coding, Nursing, Philosophy, Psychology, Reading and Study Skills, Sociology, and Veterinary Technology.

NON-CREDIT ADJUNCTS (Bachelors required): Classes are for lifelong learners, may include children, adults, and seniors, and are in various locations with day, evening and weekend options. Also interested in those with corporate training backgrounds and those with English as a Second Language teaching experience. Visit website for information and to submit a proposal for a new non-credit class; please do not submit a resume without a class proposal.

The college nurtures the development of adjuncts including those from underrepresented groups. Once hired as an adjunct, you may be eligible for our Fellowship Program. Visit www. sunywcc.edu/ford for information.

is also available in a digital format

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Faculty Positions

03/21/2011

For details on the college’s various positions, visit www.sunywcc.edu/jobs.

Applications are accepted until positions are filled. Resumes to Human Resources, Westchester Community College, 75 Grasslands Road, Valhalla, NY 10595; fax 914-606-7838; email Word documents to humanresources@sunywcc.edu. Please indicate position of interest on envelope or in email “subject” field. AA/EOE.

Tenure-Track or Tenured Faculty Position in Visualization The University of Utah’s School of Computing is seeking to hire an outstanding tenuretrack or tenured faculty member in visualization. We are particularly interested in candidates with expertise and an excellent research record in information visualization and visual analysis. These interest area reflects our strong research reputation in scientific and biomedical visualization, image analysis, and interdisciplinary scientific computing within the Scientific Computing and Imaging (SCI) Institute.

Applicants should have earned a Ph.D. in Computer Science or a closely related field.

The University of Utah is located in Salt Lake City, the hub of a large metropolitan area with excellent cultural facilities and unsurpassed opportunities for outdoor recreation only a few minutes drive away. Additional information about the school and our current faculty can be found at www.cs.utah.edu. Please send (in PDF format): a cover letter specifying which of the above areas fit your research interests, a curriculum vitae, a research goals statement, a teaching goals statement, and the names and addresses of at least four references via email to coleman@cs.utah.edu.

Applications will be evaluated as received until the positions are filled. Applicants are encouraged to apply at their earliest convenience.

The University of Utah is fully committed to affirmative action and to its policies of nondiscrimination and equal opportunity in all programs, activities, and employment.

Employment decisions are made without regard to race, color, national origin, sex, age, status as a person with a disability, religion, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, and status as a protected veteran. The University seeks to provide equal access for people with disabilities. Reasonable prior notice is needed to arrange accommodations.

Evidence of practices not consistent with these policies should be reported to: Director, Office of Equal Opportunity and Affirmative Action, (801) 581-8365 (V/TDD).

The University of Utah values candidates who have experience working in settings with students from diverse backgrounds, and possess a strong commitment to improving access to higher education for historically underrepresented students.

DEPARTMENT CHAIR

Communication Disorders and Sciences Associate/Full Professor, tenure track position, beginning Fall

2011. Ph.D. in Speech - Language Pathology, clinical certification (CCC-SLP) and experience with University teaching and relevant research/peer reviewed publications required; academic administrative experience in higher education preferred. Teaching and research expertise in acquired Communication Disorders desirable but other areas of expertise will be given strong consideration. The successful candidate will be responsible for the overall administrative operation and leadership of the department.

She/he will teach graduate and/or undergraduate courses, conduct research in an area of interest and, actively participate in department, college and university activities and committees. Salary range is competitive with peer institutions for rank and in keeping with candidate experience and credentials.

Review of applications to begin March 3rd and will continue until the position is filled.

To view the complete position description and/or to apply, please visit https://careers.fredonia.edu/applicants/Central?quickFind=50690 SUNY Fredonia prides itself on an outstanding workforce.

To continually support organizational excellence, the university conducts background screens on applicants.

An affirmative action/equal opportunity employer, SUNY Fredonia encourages and actively seeks applications from minorities, women, and people with disabilities.

F

ounded in 1956, the University of South Florida is a public research university of growing national distinction. The USF System is comprised of two separately accredited institutions, USF and USF St. Petersburg. USF consists of the main research campus in Tampa, which includes USF Health, the College of Marine Science in St. Petersburg, and two regional campus-USF Sarasota-Manatee, and USF Polytechnic, located in Lakeland. USF is one of only three Florida public universities classified by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching in the top tier of research universities. More than 47,000 students are studying on USF campuses and the University offers 228 degree programs at the undergraduate, graduate, specialty and doctoral levels, including the doctor of medicine. USF is a member of the Big East Athletic Conference. And, USF is listed in the Princeton Review as one of the nation’s 50 “Best Value” public colleges and universities.

The university is currently recruiting for the following positions; the number in parentheses represents the number of positions available to that specific title:

Administrative Positions:

Director Student Services (Engineering) Associate Vice President, Human Resources Sr. Director of Development (Advancement) Associate Vice President, Student Affairs Director of Development (Advancement) Director, Innovation Incubation (Research Foundation) Director, Division Financial Reporting, Analysis & Planning (Student Affairs)

Faculty Positions: College of Arts and Sciences

College of Business

Assistant/Associate Professor (1) Assistant Professor (8) Chair/Associate/Full Professor (1)

Assistant Professor (2) Assistant/Associate Professor (1)

Engineering

Professor/Chair (1) Professor (1) Director, Urban Transportation Center

Academic Affairs

Education

Assistant Professor (2) Assistant/Associate Professor (1)

Marine Science

PolyTechnic Campus

St. Petersburg Campus

Assistant/Associate Professor (11) Assistant Professor (3) Sr. Associate Vice President (1)

Associate Professor (1)

Assistant/Associate Professor (1)

Assistant/Associate Professor (1)

College of Medicine

Assistant/Associate Professor (8) Professor & Program Director (1) Associate Professor/Professor (1) Professor and Chair (1)

Associate Professor (2) Academic General Surgeon (1) Assistant Professor (14)

College of Nursing

Assistant/Associate Professor (2)

Assistant Professor (2)

For a job description on the above listed positions including department, disciple and deadline dates: (1) visit our Careers@USF Web site at https://employment.usf.edu/applicants/jsp/shared/Welcome_css.jsp; or (2) contact The Office of Diversity and Equal Opportunity, (813) 9744373; or (3) call USF job line at 813.974.2879.

USF is an equal opportunity/equal access/ affirmative action institution, committed to excellence through diversity in education and employment. www.usf.edu • 4202 E. Fowler Ave,Tampa, FL 33620 03/21/2011

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College of Education UNIVERSITY of FLORIDA

DEAN OF EDUCATION The University of Florida is conducting a nationwide search for Dean of the College of Education.

The Dean Search Committee invites letters of nomination, applications (letter of interest, full resume/CV, and contact information of at least five references), or expressions of interest to be submitted to the search firm assisting the University. Review of materials will begin immediately and continue until the appointment is made. It is preferred, however, that all nominations and applications be submitted prior to April 15, 2011. Applications received after this date may be considered at the discretion of the Committee and/or hiring authority. For a complete position description, please visit the Current Opportunities page at www.parkersearch.com.

Laurie C. Wilder, Senior Vice President & Managing Director Porsha L. Williams, Principal Parker Executive Search Five Concourse Parkway, Suite 2900 Atlanta, GA 30328 770-804-1996 ext: 109 lwilder@parkersearch.com • pwilliams@parkersearch.com The University of Florida is an equal employment opportunity employer.

Women and minorities are encouraged to apply. The “government in the sunshine” laws of Florida require that all documents relating to the search process, including letters of application/nomination and reference, be available for public inspection.

Five Concourse Parkway Suite 2900 Atlanta, GA 30328 770.804.1996 parkersearch.com

California State University, Bakersfield Social Work: Program Director at California State University, Bakersfield, to serve as the academic and administrative leader for the Master program in Social Work, beginning September 2011. Associate Professor or Professor. Ph.D. in Social Work or Social Welfare; documented record of teaching success, research/scholarship, and service. Detailed position description, requirements, and qualifications, and application procedures at http://www.csub.edu/facultyAffairs/recruitment/tenureSSE.shtml or by contacting Dr. Jong Choi, Chair of Search Committee, Dept. of Social Work, California State University Bakersfield, 9001 Stockdale Highway, Bakersfield, CA 93311-1022; 661-654-3434; jchoi6@csub.edu.

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03/21/2011

Georgetown University Dean of the School of Nursing and Health Studies February 2011

Georgetown University, one of the nation’s preeminent centers for academic and research excellence, invites applications and nominations for the position of Dean of its innovative School of Nursing and Health Studies.

The School of Nursing and Health Studies is a dynamic academic organization dedicated to the mission of improving the health and well-being of all people. It includes a unique conglomerate of undergraduate and graduate programs in its four academic departments in Health Systems Administration, Human Science, International Health, and Nursing, as well as in two research centers - the Center on Health and Education and the Center for Disease Prevention and Health Outcomes. The School of Nursing and Health Studies has approximately 900 students, 140 faculty members, and 30 staff members, and is located in the newlyrenovated St. Mary’s Hall on the north side of Georgetown University’s 104-acre campus.

The Dean of the School of Nursing and Health Studies serves as the chief academic officer for the school, the primary institutional representative to internal and external constituencies, and the ambassador for all of the School’s innovative research and teaching programs. In addition, the Dean serves a critical role as one of several Deans in Georgetown’s renowned health sciences complex, and, as such, is a key partner in crossschool collaborative programs, particularly in the biomedical sciences.

Georgetown University seeks to appoint as Dean an individual with a demonstrated history of visionary leadership and strategic planning in a complex organizational setting. In addition to a terminal degree in his/her area of expertise, such as a PhD in Nursing, Health Sciences or Health Policy, or an MD, or JD, or other advanced degree, candidates should have a track record of successful leadership in an academic healthcare delivery, education, or public health sector organization.

Review of nominations and applications for the position will commence immediately and continue until the position is filled. All candidate information will be held in strict confidence until the final stage of the search.

Nominations by third parties are also welcomed.

For more information, please see the search website at http://www.georgetown.edu/snhsdeansearch.html.

Qualified applicants should forward an electronic version (.doc preferred) of their curriculum vitae and an optional letter of interest to: Ilene H. Nagel, PhD Leader, Higher Education Practice Russell Reynolds Associates gusnhsdean@russellreynolds.com Georgetown University is an Affirmative Action/Equal Opportunity Employer. In a continuing effort to enrich its academic environment and provide exceptional educational and employment opportunities, the University actively encourages applications from women and minorities.

Education for

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Tenure Track Faculty Position in Computer Graphics The University of Utah's School of Computing is seeking to hire a tenure-track faculty member in computer graphics at the assistant professor level. The state of Utah has funded a new interdisciplinary initiative on Digital Media, which involves the School of Computing and the College of Fine Arts, and has a particular emphasis on computer games. Currently, the University of Utah has strong computer graphics research programs in modeling/manufacturing, animation, perception, and scientific visualization. We wish to build upon these successful areas with a dynamic researcher seeking to develop a strong synergistic program in computer graphics, with special emphasis on areas related to Digital Media such as animation, computer games, computational photography, and other related areas. The School of Computing offers specialized M.S. and Ph.D. Computing Degrees in Computer Graphics and Visualization, a BS/MS program in Entertainment Arts and Engineering, and recently introduced an Entertainment Arts and Engineering Masters Studio program.

Applicants should have earned a Ph.D. in Computer Science or a closely related field. The University of Utah is located in Salt Lake City, the hub of a large metropolitan area with excellent cultural facilities and unsurpassed opportunities for outdoor recreation only a few minutes' drive away. Additional information about the school can be found at www.cs.utah.edu. Please send curriculum vitae, a research goals statement, a teaching goals statement, and names and addresses of at least four references to: Faculty Recruiting Committee, c/o Mr. Chris Coleman, coleman@cs.utah.edu Via email in PDF format. We will begin reviewing applications on Feb 15, 2011.

The University of Utah is fully committed to affirmative action and to its policies of nondiscrimination and equal opportunity in all programs, activities, and employment. Employment decisions are made without regard to race, color, national origin, sex, age, status as a person with a disability, religion, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, and status as a protected veteran. The University seeks to provide equal access for people with disabilities. Reasonable prior notice is needed to arrange accommodations. Evidence of practices not consistent with these policies should be reported to: Director, Office of Equal Opportunity and Affirmative Action, (801) 581-8365 (V/TDD).

The University of Utah values candidates who have experience working in settings with students from diverse backgrounds, and possess a strong commitment to improving access to higher education for historically underrepresented students.

West Chester University of Pennsylvania

Temporary Instructors Join a vibrant campus community whose excellence reflects its diversity and student success. West Chester University of Pennsylvania invites applicants for Temporary Instructor positions available for 2011 fall semester. These positions may include possible off-campus/ distance education opportunities.

For additional information on available positions, requirements, and application materials, please refer to: http://www.wcupa.edu/vacancies/ v-list.asp Submit requested application materials as directed for each position.

Review of applications will begin immediately and continue until the positions are filled. Applicants must successfully complete the interview process to be considered as a finalist.

The filling of this position is contingent upon available funding. All offers of employment are subject to and contingent upon satisfactory completion of all pre-employment background and consumer reporting checks.

Developing and sustaining a diverse faculty and staff advances WCU s educational mission and strategic Plan for Excellence. West Chester is an Affirmative Action Equal Opportunity Employer. Women and minorities are encouraged to apply

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HISPANIC

OUTLOOK

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Hispanic Outlook Issues: 3/21

03/21/2011

PROVOST AND SENIOR VICE PRESIDENT FOR ACADEMIC AFFAIRS One of only four research-intensive centers within the State University of New York system, Stony Brook University is a member of the acclaimed Association of American Universities (AAU). In addition, Stony Brook also co-manages the prestigious Brookhaven National Laboratory. The University is located in Suffolk County on Long Island, a short distance from the island of Manhattan.

At present, Stony Brook University is composed of 12 academic divisions, enrolls approximately 25,000 students, (16,350 undergraduate students and 8,250 graduate and professional students) and offers approximately 265 degree programs (baccalaureate, master’s, doctoral and professional). Home to over 100 research centers and institutes, Stony Brook’s research expenditures for FY 2009-2010 totaled approximately $200 million. With a current annual operating budget of over $2 billion from a variety of sources, Stony Brook has a total workforce of over 14,000 full-time and part-time employees, including approximately 2,200 faculty and encompasses a total of 201 buildings on 1,454 acres.

Under the visionary leadership of President Samuel L. Stanley Jr., M.D., the University has undertaken an ambitious program to increase its stature among the country’s preeminent academic institutions. As part of this program, Stony Brook University invites applications and nominations for the position of Provost and Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs.

As the university’s chief academic officer, the Provost and Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs (ProvostSVPAA) will work in partnership with President Stanley to oversee, direct and guide the university’s strategic, academic, and financial planning initiatives. The ProvostSVPAA will be expected to take a leading role in the execution of the Project 50 Forward Initiative developed under President Stanley’s direction. The new ProvostSVPAA will also be asked to assist in the expansion of the school’s fundraising campaigns and sponsored research, as well as to undertake efforts to promote the diversity of the faculty and student population.

The ideal candidate will be a strategic and visionary leader with a demonstrated commitment to academic excellence and a proven record of inspiring and leading faculty, staff and students. He or she must have an earned doctorate; achieved distinction as a scholar, researcher and teacher; and possess academic credentials for the appointment at full professor in a major research university. Interested parties are encouraged to visit: http://www.stonybrook.edu/sb/ provostsearch/ for a more detailed position description, including information about Stony Brook University, and application/nomination instructions. To ensure full consideration, materials should be received as soon as possible. Review of nominations and applications for the position will commence immediately and continue until the position is filled. All candidate information will be held in strict confidence until the final stage of the search, at which time the express permission of finalists will be obtained before making their candidacy public.

Qualified applicants should forward an electronic version of their curriculum vitae (Microsoft Word documents preferred) and an optional letter of interest to: Dr. Ilene H. Nagel Leader, Higher Education Practice Russell Reynolds Associates sbuprovost@russellreynolds.com 805-699-3050 (PST) Applications from women and underrepresented minorities are actively encouraged. Stony Brook University is an Equal Opportunity Employer/Recruiter.

2011

Publication Dates

dates Save these & Reserve your space SPECIAL ISSUES Coming your way

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Volume 21 Editorial Index

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03/21/2011

•

HISPANIC

OUTLOOK

45

ADVERTISING INDEX POSITIONS CALIFORNIA

Position Opening

Executive Director

California State University, Bakersfield

40; 42

California State University, Dominguez Hills

43

Be the leading advocate for Maryland’s outstanding 16 community colleges as executive director of the Maryland Association of Community Colleges (MACC).

Represent the interests and promote the benefits of community colleges with the governor’s office, cabinet members, state legislators and other stakeholders.

More than 140,000 students are enrolled in Maryland’s dynamic community colleges, from urban campuses with tens of thousands of students to smaller schools in more rural settings. You will supervise a staff of three full-time employees in Annapolis.

The ideal candidate will be an outstanding communicator, and have experience with legislative and regulatory policies and practices, serving as a liaison with boards of trustees, and providing organizational and management leadership.

MACC is an equal opportunity employer. We encourage and welcome a diverse applicant pool. The compensation package is competitive with a salary range of $160,000 to 175,000.

DC

To see a complete listing with position responsibilities, requirements, and application process, visit www.frederick.edu/jobs and select MACC Executive Director. Apply by April 18, 2011, for best consideration. The expected start date is on or before Aug. 1, 2011.

PENNSYLVANIA

Georgetown University

42

FLORIDA

University of Florida

42

University of South Florida

41

MARYLAND

Maryland Association of Community Colleges

46

NEW YORK

Hunter College/CUNY

43; 44

SUNY/College at Fredonia

41

SUNY/Stony Brook University

44

SUNY/Westchester Community College

40

West Chester University of Pennsylvania

44

TEXAS

College of the Mainland

39; 43

UTAH

University of Utah

41; 44

INSTITUTIONAL

Del Mar College

TX

40

El Paso Community College

TX

38

Houston Community College

TX

38

Maricopa Community Colleges

AZ

38

Rio Hondo College

CA

40

Salisbury University

MD

39

Making Connections

PA

40

Northwestern University

IL

39

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

46

HISPANIC

OUTLOOK

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03/21/2011

I

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of economic uncertainty, you

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educators are reading magazines to broaden their Sure, there’s a ton of on the

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Outlook

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

P ri min g the Pump. ..

TEACHING LATINO STUDENTS TIME MANAGEMENT SKILLS

Miquela Rivera, Ph.D., is an author, licensed psychologist, speaker and trainer with years of clinical and early childhood program administrative and consultative experience. Miquela and her husband live in Albuquerque, N.M.

T

Lost time is never found again.

– Benjamin Franklin

ime is a great equalizer. Everyone has 24 hours each day to spend.

We can choose to learn, help others, be productive or squander our time. It’s strictly a personal decision, and one that cumulatively affects the quality of life.

Teaching Latino students the power of time – and time management – is an important step in preparing them for higher education. While low-income Latino students might not have access to the same experiences as more affluent peers, Latino students who understand the power – and the consequences – of how they spend their time are empowered to choose wisely. They understand, too, that time is a resource that is not directly tied to money yet cannot be recaptured once it has passed.

Wealthy students and less-affluent students alike can choose to study or not. They can set their eye on a larger goal and consciously work toward it daily – or not. The wisdom is in knowing how to spend time advantageously. The power is in choosing to do so.

Latinos develop their attitudes towards time early. If there is much structure, routine and high expectations placed on them at home, time will be viewed as a commodity to be used in either building relationships or achieving goals in school or at work. Others might view time differently, as if it is without limits or pressure. Either attitude taken to an extreme can work against a student. A balance between a sense of urgency, appropriately high expectations, and choice supports the Hispanic student’s skill in developing time management – a favorable, lifelong habit.

Planning is the essential first step Latino students must learn in order to develop effective time management skills. Using a calendar planner as early as sixth grade might seem unnecessary or extreme to some, but it provides the student a concrete way of envisioning how to match what is required with the time resource in which to do it. Teaching Hispanic students how to use an academic planner can help them stay organized and timely in their work, too. Transferring information such as assignment

H I S P A N I C

O U T L O O K

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0 3 / 2 1 / 2 0 1 1

or project due dates from a syllabus to a schedule planner helps the student make the initial connection between an academic requirement and the responsibility and power in completing it. It is the first step in developing personal accountability in the use of time.

Teaching Latino students how to set priorities is an important step in developing time management skills. For teens looking to peers for acceptance and belonging, time might not seem like an issue. Beyond those adolescent desires, Hispanic teens need to be taught which responsibilities, beyond relationships, are most important. A Latino with the personal mantra of “first things first” will be prepared to focus on classes before recreation when faced with all the choices (and distractions) of a university. Planning and prioritization also help new Hispanic college students avoid the common trap of thinking they have unlimited “free” time when they are not attending class. Knowing how to break large tasks into smaller steps and then scheduling them to completion (with a cushion of time for emergencies or mishaps) is key to managing increased independence, with the stress of an increased workload and decreased outside support.

Sometimes Latino students struggle with procrastination or prolonging tasks unnecessarily. Holding students accountable in the early teen years helps them identify their own tendencies towards creating crises and sabotaging their own success. If time is viewed as money (and it is as valuable, even if you are not wealthy), students might begin to understand that wasting time is like wasting cash – something they would think twice about doing.

Finally, teaching Latino teens time management helps them learn to work smarter so that when they need to work harder they will meet the challenge.

There are no “do-overs” with time. Teach Latino students early how to manage it well, and they will have one more tool in their personal arsenal for success.