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JUNE 09, 2014

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Prep Program Steps Up Diversity

VOLUME 24 • NUMBER 17

Developing Performance Model

by Carlos D. Conde

LATINO KALEIDOSCOPE

Ramírez, Nixon and the Latino Odyssey

L

atinos do not take to writing political memoirs involving the White House because frankly we have never been or seemed to be that close to the action, Latino presidential advisors today not withstanding.

When the Latino ascension in national affairs began in the ’60s, incredulous as it might sound today to some of our political heirs, there were none in any ranking Washington position. Maybe there was a federal judge appointee here and there and former El Paso Mayor Raymond Telles was named ambassador to a banana republic, meaningless in foreign affairs but a prideful Latino first nevertheless.

Remember the “sleeping giant”? That’s who we were in the ’60s, the Mexican-American minority, and the political moniker we created to bring attention to our socioeconomic disparities and to sound the alarm to those, particularly our national leaders, that consequences awaited if they continued to deny us and treat us as a backroom constituency.

The Cubans started their diaspora from Fidel Castro’s Cuba bringing their own agenda, and they and other U.S. Latino constituencies, particularly the Puerto Ricans, were nevertheless brought in as part of the ethnic mosaic.

It was the era of John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson, the first a Boston Brahmin who saw Mexican-Americans largely as a rewarding political opportunity which they proved to be and the other a Texan who saw them as social chattel, which they had been most of their history.

Then came Richard Nixon from Southern California, a Quaker from a family of modest means with Republican credentials who was elected president and promised to make the U.S. Latino community inclusionary in American society and politics, instead of exclusionary, which had been their history.

By most measures he did, although many Latino dissidents with political agendas still balk today at acknowledging and accepting this chapter of American political history and its timeliness.

Well, my compadre, Henry Ramírez, (he really is and he baptized my second child, Carla,) has written a book about Nixon and the Latino community, A Chicano in the White House: The Nixon No One Knew.

Henry calls it a first which is about this breakthrough political period and how the U.S. Latino community finally came to be in national affairs, socially and politically, shorn of the lip

service that had been the mainstay of previous administrations, conspicuous for their neglect and deprivation toward this minority group.

Henry’s tome isn’t exactly former Secretary of State Dean Acheson’s epic book, Present at The Creation, about restructuring the postwar world, but in a historical perspective and instructive, it’s every bit as interesting, particularly for minority groups who want to learn about the breakthrough era.

The ’60s were an important period for U.S. Latinos but particularly the dominant Mexican-American community which was straddling two worlds; its native environment that was slowly morphing into a bi-cultural society and its merging with other ethnic Latino groups like the Puerto Ricans and Cubans, the latter a diminutive group quick to integrate and with outsized political ambitions.

There will be some who will say it’s selfaggrandizing and slanted on Henry’s part and perhaps even distorted in certain events to create the desired effect and message but I can attest for most of the general content and Nixon’s Latino world as Henry described it because I was there for most of the action.

When Nixon won the presidency, Henry came to Washington from California where he was enjoying his lifetime passion, teaching, to direct a study at the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights on the U.S. Latino’s socioeconomic environment.

Then Congressman George H.W. Bush, from Houston had invited me to join the Nixon administration and Henry and I later joined forces, he as chairman of Nixon’s Latino Committee and I as a White House press aide.

Henry and I were also subpoenaed by the Watergate grand jury which learned some positive aspects about Nixon’s Latino world.

Henry told it with gusto just as he does in his book.

L K

A T I N O

A L E I D O S C O P E

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® JUNE 09, 2014

CONTENTS

Franklin & Marshall’s College Prep Program Steps Up Diversity by Gary M. Stern

Page 10

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10 Author Rolando Hinojosa-Smith: Writing About Life and Truth in Border Towns by Sylvia Mendoza 14 Business Leaders for Michigan Develop a Performance-Based Funding Model by Frank DiMaria 16 Helping Latino Students Develop Confidence to Learn and Succeed by Mario Rivas

19 Graduation Rates Improve Dramatically via Accelerated Associate Degree Program

by Angela Provitera McGlynn

Page 14

You can download the HO app FREE

Page 19 Cover photo courtesy of Franklin & Marshall College

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Published by “The Hispanic Outlook in Higher Education Publishing Company, Inc.”

Executive Editor – Marilyn Gilroy

Managing Editor – Suzanne López-Isa News & Special Project Editor – Mary Ann Cooper

Administrative Assistant & Subscription Coordinator – Barbara Churchill

Washington DC Bureau Chief – Peggy Sands Orchowski

Contributing Editors –

Carlos D. Conde, Michelle Adam

Contributing Writers –

Gustavo A. Mellander

Art & Production Director –

DEPARTMENTS Latino Kaleidoscope

Avedis Derbalian

3

by Carlos D. Conde

Ramirez, Nixon and the Latino Odyssey

Interesting Reads

Book Review

by Mary Ann Cooper

by Peggy Sands Orchowski

Scholars’ Corner

by Daniela Torre

Priming the Pump...

On Paying Attention to Details

by Miquela Rivera

Joanne Aluotto

Sr. Advertising Sales Associate – Angel M. Rodríguez

Article Contributors

Frank DiMaria, Angela Provitera McGlynn, Sylvia Mendoza, Mario Rivas, Miquela Rivera, Gary M. Stern, Daniela Torre

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Degrees of Inequality: How the Politics of Higher Education Sabotaged the American Dream

Uncensored

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13 18 Back Cover

Editorial Policy

The Hispanic Outlook in Higher Education Magazine® is a national magazine. 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®. From time to time, The Hispanic Outlook in Higher Education Magazine® will publish articles dealing with controversial issues. The views expressed herein are those of the authors and/or those interviewed and might not reflect the official policy of the magazine. The Hispanic Outlook in Higher Education Magazine® neither agrees nor disagrees with those ideas expressed, and no endorsement of those views should be inferred unless specifically identified as officially endorsed by The Hispanic Outlook in Higher Education Magazine®.

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Esquina E ditorial Hispanic Outlook Managing Editor’s Farewell: As many of you know, I have been with Hispanic Outlook for the past 18 years. I am proud of all that we have accomplished and the unique perspective we have provided for the higher education community. The past few years have been especially challenging due to the economics of print media and the Great Recession’s financial impact on higher education, but through it all we have maintained our journalistic integrity and commitment to our readers even as we made the transition to a digital publication.

Recently, there has been a change in the management of Hispanic Outlook and I will no longer be managing editor. The new manager and founding publisher of Hispanic Outlook, Jose Lopez-Isa, is making a series of organizational changes to reflect his views and vision for how the magazine will move forward. I am sure you will be hearing more about his future plans for the magazine.

I would like to personally thank our readers and advertisers as well as the many organizations that I have had the pleasure to work with and that have supported Hispanic Outlook throughout the years and contributed to our growth and success. It has been a pleasure and honor to work with all of you.

My very best wishes, ¡Adelante!

Suzanne López-Isa Managing Editor

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Interesting Reads

Raza Studies: The Public Option for Educational Revolution

by Julio Cammarota (Editor), Augustine Romero (Editor), David Stovall (Foreword) The Mexican-American studies (MAS) program in Arizona’s Tucson Unified School District set out to create an equitable and excellent educational experience for Latino students. Raza Studies: The Public Option for Educational Revolution offers the first comprehensive account of this progressive – indeed revolutionary – program by those who created it, implemented it, and have struggled to protect it.

2014. 224 pp. ISBN: 978-0816530793. $28.45 paper.

University of Arizona Press. Tucson, Ariz. (800) 621-2736. www.uapress.arizona.edu The Education of Indigenous Citizens in Latin America

by Regina Cortina (Editor) A collection of papers on the rising political voice of indigenous movements in Latin America, The Education of Indigenous Citizens in Latin America examines the development of intercultural bilingual education throughout Latin America, focusing on practices that preserve the cultural and linguistic diversity of indigenous peoples. A must-read for scholars, students, and others interested in issues of social justice.

2014. 224 pp. ISBN: 978-1783090945. $39.95 paper.

Multilingual Matters. Bristol, U.K. www.multilingualmatters.com Illegal: Reflections of an Undocumented Immigrant

by José Angel N. A day after N. first crossed the U.S. border from Mexico, he was caught and then released onto the streets of Tijuana. Undeterred, N. crawled back through a tunnel to San Diego, where he entered the United States forever.

Illegal: Reflections of an Undocumented Immigrant is his timely and compelling memoir of building a new life in America. Authorial anonymity is required to protect this life.

2014. 136 pp. ISBN: 978-0252079863. $19.95 paper.

University of Illinois Press, Champaign, Ill. (217) 333-0950. www.press.uillinois.edu

Degrees of Inequality: How the Politics of Higher Education Sabotaged the American Dream

by Suzanne Mettler 2014. 272 pp. ISBN: 978-0465044962. $27.99 cloth. Basic Books, New York, N.Y. www.basicbooks.com (212) 340-8136.

The

fight pitting public education against charter schools is a product of shrinking budgets and a sense of desperation about the state of education in this country. Public education is severely underfunded in America’s most depressed neighborhoods, which spawns the creation of charter schools designed to give worried parents arguably better options for their children’s education. So the cycle begins: more money is drained from public education – money that these schools can hardly do without – and diverted into charter schools that, in some cases, service socially and academically exceptional students. What this flawed system sets up is a generation of students who move on to higher education and, according to Suzanne Mettler, the author of Degrees of Inequality, are failed there as well.

Mettler issues a stinging indictment in her rationale for the book.

“America’s higher education system is failing its students. In the space of a generation, we have gone from being the best-educated society in the world to one surpassed by 11 other nations in college graduation rates.

Higher education is evolving into a caste system with separate and unequal tiers that take in students from different socioeconomic backgrounds and leave them more unequal than when they first enrolled.”

Mettler backs up her claim by citing a bit of history beginning with the 1970s. She explains that this was the decade the United States began to abandon its commitment to promoting higher education for its citizens. Previously, the Morrill Act, the G.I. Bill and Pell Grants enabled Americans, regardless of family income, to attend college. These initiatives paid off and the United States led the world in the percentage of young adults with baccalaureate degrees.

Forty years ago parents sent their children to college assured that they would be more prosperous than a previous generation. This was the promise of the American Dream. Now, however, the trend has reversed itself. Young adults from low to middle-income families are less likely to graduate from college than four decades ago. When less advantaged students do attend, they are largely segregated into substandard and often profit-driven institutions, from which many emerge without degrees – and shouldering crushing levels of debt.

In Degrees of Inequality, Mettler dissects what has crippled our higher education system leaving the American Dream out of reach for so many young people. High on her list of problems is the role political partisanship has played to dampen America’s commitment to equal access to higher education. Too many politicians, she says, are beholding to owners of for-profit colleges which leave far too many students with no marketable skills or degrees and crippling student loan debt.

Complicating the problem is the financial burden that has been shifted to students by cash- strapped public universities.

Degrees of Inequality shines a light on how the worst political behavior has undermined higher education and abandoned America’s commitment to students. As Mettler explains, this book is “an impassioned call to reform a higher education system that has come to exacerbate, rather than mitigate, socioeconomic inequality in America.”

Reviewed by Mary Ann Cooper

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PROGRAMS

Franklin & Marshall’s College Prep

When

by Gary M. Stern Daniel Porterfield was named president of Franklin & Marshall College (F&M) in 2011, a private, liberal arts college in Lancaster, Pa., one of the first issues on his agenda was stepping up its efforts to attract multicultural students qualified to handle its rigorous curriculum. One way to achieve that goal was to devise F&M College Prep, a three-week, pre-college summer internship program for talented high school seniors.

Porterfield, a former humanities professor and Rhodes scholar, said F&M College Prep “would allow us to identify strong students from low or modest income backgrounds and provide them with a pre-college experience that would propel them into their senior year and encourage them to submit applications to excellent institutions.” He described the college’s mission as “attracting students from the full American mosaic and best prepare them for college.”

The program piloted in 2011 with 23 students, but grew to 61 participants in 2012 and 71 students in 2013. Not all the students filled out ethnic surveys, but based on about half of the participants over the three years, about 25 percent are Latino and 50 percent African-American.

To keep pace with the program, the college intensified its financial aid. Grants and aid at the college spiked from $5.8 million in 2012 and will reach $11.3 million for the class of 2017, nearly doubling. Moreover, incoming students eligible for Pell Grants rose from 5 percent five years ago to 17 percent for the freshman class of 2014.

When it launched the program in 2011 and faced a tight

F&M College Prep Facilitator Johnny Andrade (left) and students McKenna Brown, Gabriel Núñez and Tyler Reasner listen as "Architectural Design" student Pablo Ochoa explains the amphitheater model that was made with only natural materials to their peers during the project fair. (Photo by Melissa Hess)

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Daniel R. Porterfield

deadline, it collaborated with leading charter schools to speed up the process to identify students who fit the criteria. Hence F&M partnered with the KIPP program the first year and Achievement First Public Charter Schools, among several, the second. By 2013 when the program was up and running, it expanded it so that any high school can nominate two students.

Porterfield noted that rural McCaskey High School in Lancaster, Pa., generated several participants.

In the fall semester of 2013, Franklin & Marshall had 2,500 students enrolled including those studying overseas. Of that number, its student body was 63 percent white, 7 percent Latino, 4 percent each African-American and Asian-American, 13 percent non-resident aliens, 2 percent biracial and 7 percent unknown.

To be accepted into the summer program, students submit SAT or ACT test scores, transcripts, recommendations and an essay on why they want to participate in the program.

Program Steps Up Diversity Porterfield said one of the most important criteria is “readiness for a serious academic experience. We’re looking for high-achieving, strong students, capable of handling the rigors of an education at a top college.” The entire program is free for students, which covers dorms, food, travel reimbursement and includes a $500 stipend at the conclusion in lieu of money they might have earned working during the summer.

The program is trying to tap the reservoir of bright, talented minority students who often overlook private colleges thinking that they won’t fit in or can’t afford them. These students have the “talent, grades and test scores but often don’t apply. They need exposure to what a great college offers,” Porterfield noted.

Aime Silfa, the coordinator of strategic projects at Franklin & Marshall and a recent alumnus, said the summer workshop revolved around three pillars: academic preparation, college preparation and personal development. Participating students choose two courses among 10 offered. Classes cover the humanities, social sciences and arts and included “The Politics of Food” and “Film Production.” Personal development workshops discuss issues such as race or fitting into a multicultural campus.

But personal growth also takes place outside the classroom. Porterfield said that students are developing themselves

Aime Silfa

throughout the day. “Morning to night, they’re taking yoga in the morning, listening to speakers at night or participating in talent shows,” he said.

Silfa says when she participated in the summer workshop as an undergraduate her interaction with Franklin & Marshall’s professors made a strong impression on her. “Access to faculty made a difference because they were able to identify with whatever I was struggling with,” she said. She recalls that a professor who taught a government class sat with her one-onone to sort through an issue she was grappling with.

Both Franklin & Marshall and participants benefit from College Prep. Of the students participating in the first two years, 93 percent enrolled in a four-year college. Those students were accepted, not only at F&M, but also at Georgetown University, Bucknell University, Trinity College, and University of Texas, Austin.

Of the approximately 150 participants over its three years, 29 students or about 20 percent, are currently enrolled at Franklin & Marshall. Though he’s happy with that number, Porterfield said its goal is to inspire students to attend college “whether they attend F&M or someplace else.”

When Andrea Martínez was starting her senior year at KIPP Austin Collegiate in 2012, she was accepted into F&M College Prep. Martínez, who is now a freshman at F&M and intends to be either a high school English teacher or English professor, described the summer program as a “great segue from thinking about high school to thinking about college, which KIPP was also trying to get its students to do.”

During the program, Martínez took two classes, “Introduction to Screenwriting” and “Nature of Hope,” which sharpened her writing skills. But she also gained insight into financial aid and dispelled several misconceptions about aid.

“I learned the actual cost for my family (of paying for a private college) would be much lower than a state school,” she said.

She also discovered that admissions officers evaluated students in a multidimensional way, not just on GPAs and SATs. Martínez found the atmosphere at F&M welcoming and challenging. “I also noticed, during my time at College Prep, that I was being pushed to think about things in many new ways,” she said. In addition, she liked the idea of “getting outside of my comfort zone, especially in an environment where I would know no one prior to the program.”

Students of color now constitute 20 percent of F&M’s class, compared to 11 percent five years ago. That rise is attributable to several factors including F&M College Prep, increased financial aid and leadership from the top. It’s worked because as Porterfield says, “We’re recruiting talented students who want to succeed at college and have been well-prepared by high school.”

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PROFILE

Author Rolando

Hinojosa-Smith: Writing About

Life and Truth in Border Towns

Dr.

by Sylvia Mendoza

Rolando Hinojosa-Smith was serving as the chairman of the department of modern languages at what is now known as Texas A & M-Kingsville when a student gave him an interview to read. It featured author Tomás Rivera who had won a prize for his novel, Y No Se lo Tragó la Tierra.

A few weeks later, Hinojosa-Smith headed for a conference in San Marcos, Texas. “By sheer coincidence, a friend introduced me to Tomás Rivera, who was also attending,” he said.

It was as if Hinojosa-Smith had found a kindred spirit, their bond strengthened by their passion for the written word and the telling of their stories.

They formed a fast friendship of respect and inspiration that would last for years.

“Instantly he was someone I could trust without putting on a façade,” Hinojosa-Smith says. “That day, we started walking around the campus and did not attend one session. We also skipped lunch and talked all afternoon about writing.”

Hinojosa-Smith sent Rivera a short story he’d written for a contest.

“Sometime later, he wrote and said the short story had been accepted. It was published and I received $35 for my effort. That was it. I decided I would get down to the business of writing.”

And get to the business of writing he did.

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Even as the Ellen Clayton Garwood Centennial Professor of Creative Writing in the College of Liberal Arts at the University of Texas, Austin, where he has taught for nearly three decades, Hinojosa-Smith has not been deterred in putting pen to paper. Stories, so many

stories, emerged in that time. The setting for most of his novels was about life along the Texas-Mexico border – the Rio Grande Valley – a place he knew well, the very place where he grew up.

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“Most writers write about the place they know, but since the readers come from some other place, I try to write in a way they can identify with characters, the setting or the conflict presented.”

After Estampas del valle and Klail City y sus alrededores were published, he decided to write a series. “I named it the Klail City Death Trip after the fictional town I’d created in The Valley.”

The first book in the Klail City Death Trip series, Sketches of the Valley, won the “Premio Quinto Sol,” for the best fictional work by a Mexican-American author in 1973. The award was first given to Tómas Rivera, and HinojosaSmith was honored to be in his company yet again. The second book in the series, Klail City, won the most prestigious prize in Latin American fiction, “Premio Casa de las Américas,” in 1976.

The series, all published by Arte Público Press (APP), now has 15 novels in its lineup. In April, APP re-issued the series’ opening novel in a first-ever bilingual volume: The Valley / Estampas del valle.

Hinojosa-Smith’s work has suspense and relatable characters and plots, has social protest overtones, spotlights injustices and shows a balance of simple lives and complicated conflicts and all the while, he tries to preserve TexasMexican border culture, he says. “I write because I love it. It may be part of

the creative drive, but I don’t question it.

An idea or two come across, I decide to see what’ll happen next, the characters appear, and they are the ones who tell the story.”

In addition, Hinojosa-Smith writes essays and poetry, articles and short stories. His prolific career has earned him literary prizes, awards, and accolades.

“It was luck. The timing was right for telling the Mexican-American experience,” he said.

But luck is not what brings a writer anything like his most recent recognition –the Ivan Sandrof Lifetime Achievement Award from the National Book Critics Circle (NBCC), which he was awarded in New York in March. Named after the first president of the NBCC, the award is given annually to a distinguished author, editor, publisher, or literary institution that has made significant contributions to book culture over time.

Founded in 1974, the National Book Critics Circle also “honors outstanding writing and fosters a national conversation about reading, criticism and literature published in the United States in six categories –autobiography, biography, criticism, fiction, nonfiction, and poetry.”

To be included in that capacity stunned Hinojosa-Smith. “The NBCC’s Landrof Award is a culmination of my

work, a validation from my peers and critics and means the world to me.”

Yet his work proves vast, the subject matter deep, the storytelling mesmerizing and the award seems fit. His novels include Partners in Crime (2011, 1985), We Happy Few (2006), Ask a Policeman (1998), The Useless Servants (1993), Becky and Her Friends (1989), Dear Rafe / Mi querido Rafa (2005, 1985), Klail City (1987), and Rites and Witnesses (1982). A Voice of My Own is a collection of essays and other stories.

“I’ve simply wanted my work to stand on its own merit and speak for itself.”

With the Ivan Sandrof Lifetime Achievement Award, his work has done just that. Writing has sustained him from childhood to the present, teaching generations of new readers and writers along the way.

From The Valley, The Stories Began Hinojosa-Smith admits to being influenced by every writer he’s read, by his middle school and high school English teachers and by his time and travels while in the Army as a young man. But the biggest influences were his parents and siblings, all readers.

His Mexican-American father and an

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Anglo-American mother were the perfect picture of blended cultures where stories grew with a breath of imagination and steady, expressive voices.

“As for encouragement for reading and writing, I needed none. My father would read out loud to my mother. She would read out loud to him. We, the children, were never told to read; we just did so. A quiet household in that regard, I thought all families did this.

What a gift.”

As the youngest of five, the influence came from the example set by his brothers and sisters as well, and all were avid readers. To add to love of language, his mother, who taught school for three years before she married his father, taught him the Spanish alphabet.

“I must have been 4 years old, and she made me say the sounds. Both languages were spoken at home. It was not uncommon to begin a language in English and to finish it in Spanish or vice versa. It didn’t take long for me to read articles in La Prensa.”

Hinojosa-Smith, who writes in both languages and translates his own works, uses both languages for authenticity, perspective and depth. The languages seem as important as the telling of his stories, using a mix of oral tradition, research and the written word documenting his-

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tory and bicultural presence. “There is no shortcut to writing,” he says. “You do the work, you unload the ideas and you produce a story.”

Depth and perspective came through the use of a well-equipped public library in his hometown, Mercedes, Texas, teachers, and his roots. The transition from reading to writing was a natural progression. He wrote for the eighth grade paper and was encouraged by teachers, Alma P.Whatley, Merle Blankenship and Army Cornish. In high school, he contributed five pieces for Creative Bits, which was only open to juniors and seniors. One was given an Honorable Mention.

He spent summers in the village of Arteaga, Coahuila. “Once I wrote a short story about two farm workers who are about to be impressed into the army during the Mexican Revolution. The story ends when both were killed by the army.”

With his parents’ permission, he joined the Army at age 17. And yet another world opened to him. “I had never been outside The Valley. It was the first time I went to San Antonio to get my physical at Fort Sam Houston. I went to Virginia. I met people from New York, California, New Jersey – you name it – and was amazed by the way they talked so differently from me.”

In the meantime, he took classes, and once his duty was complete, he continued in higher education until he received his doctorate in Spanish literature. Then he followed another family tradition, and another world opened up to him. “My maternal grandmother, Martha Phillips Smith, taught school in a farming community. My mother was a teacher. And of the five of us siblings, four went into teaching.”

Teaching & Writing: Two Worlds, One Focus Hinojosa-Smith, who is 84, has been teaching since l963. Perhaps it is the influence of his parents’ reading out loud that produced a cadence and tone in his own voice that can convince students to breathe life in their own writing. “Students in my classes are readers and that’s why they enroll in fiction writing. If they’re not readers, they’ll never be writers. I don’t care what they read, as long as they do so. If they stick with it, they’ll know who and what they like.”

He regularly assigns short stories by American, British, European, and Latin American novelists. He guides them to dissect what a short story needs: few characters, one plot, and characterization. He makes no literary criticism and in the end, the most important lesson for his students is simply to read, go to book readings and meet people who are writers or who want to write.

“The first words of a William Faulkner quote are ‘Read. Read. Read.’ I repeat it to them and to anyone who asks: ‘Read’.

As Faulkner added, "Trash, classics –be like the apprentice carpenter and watch how he does it. If it’s good, you’ll know it. If it isn’t, throw it out the window.”

Legacies and Bucket Lists A widower whose wife had been a poet, Hinojosa-Smith had three children who saw the tradition of reading and writing, as well as the life of a writer. At home, he always had an office and it was revered in a way that children of writers know is sacred ground. “I remember sitting in my office one day with my headphones on, listening to something.

From the periphery of my vision, I saw

the door creak open and heard my daughter whisper to her friend, ‘Shhh.

That’s my daddy. He’s working right now.’ I thanked her. My kids got it.”

Close to his children, his son is a graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis and served for 24 years, one daughter is writing her doctoral thesis, and another works for a newspaper. The common glue? All are readers who buy books. “They are productive and happy and happy that I continue to write.”

He appreciates the simple things which also provide either inspiration or escape to be re-energized for more writing. “I enjoy good health, go for long walks alone, answer the letters I receive, keep up with the family and the two grandsons, watch movies. I’ve good friends all over the U.S. and abroad and we visit. I’m invited to U.S. and to foreign universities to read from my work. I enjoy what I do for a living: teaching and writing or, if you wish, writing and teaching.”

To him there is no need for a bucket list. “Not a bit of it. I’ve done and experienced more than I ever thought or wished I’d do. As long as my children are happy and enjoy good health, what more would I want? I want them to be as happy as I am.”

What’s on the horizon? Wrapping up the Klail City Death Trip series – he’s already in the middle of research on drug smuggling, violence and contraband and the million dollar business it has become in the United States.

Perhaps translating another work or two. Reading new authors. “It’s all fun and it beats working.”

Coming June 30th

Health Professions Issue

adv. deadline: June 24

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UNCENSORED

by Peggy Sands Orchowski

ARE YOU BILITERATE? – A new challenge now confronts educators of K-16 students from all backgrounds and abilities. It’s biliteracy. Hispanic educators are accustomed to bilingualism: teaching a child not only to speak in two languages but also to read and write in them. But being biliterate isn’t about the ability to read two languages. It’s about being able to read and comprehend information in long texts, paragraphs and chapters written on paper, as well as short (140 characters or less) messages on mobile media.

Astounding new research reveals that increasing numbers of good students find it almost impossible to read even one full page of a novel or a nonfiction book written on paper. According to Michael Rosenwald of The Washington Post, the flexible adaptive brains of our children are learning from the earliest ages that reading involves touching, poking, pushing, scrolling, scanning, searching for key words, and jumping quickly up and down a screen; linking onto videos, graphics, hyper-linked texts and interactive probes; and responding instantly to bings, dings, bells, buzzes and vibrations. It’s this non-linear, constantly distracted effort that increasingly, studies find make it almost impossible for young people to read long sentences, comprehend multiple winding clauses full of background information and pages of long paragraphs without pictures or graphics. “After a normal day of scrolling through the Web and hundreds of emails, I sat down one evening to read a classic novel and found I couldn’t do it – I couldn’t slow down enough to get through the first page,” wrote a Tufts University cognitive neuroscientist Maryanne Wolf, an expert on the science of the reading brain. There is no gene for reading. Everyone has to learn how. But now teachers and young people have to learn how to be biliterate: to skim thru vast amounts of web-based content for needed information; and to read slowly, each word on paper, using mental pictures and subtle nuanced connections from words, phrases, paragraphs and chapters without pictures, to comprehend rich meaning.

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ANOTHER EDUCATIONAL MAGIC BULLET BITES THE DUST – It seems like only last month that the magic bullet for student achievement was “persistence” … or “grit.”

“Persistence predicts success,” became the new ed success mantra. But now there is talk about a dark side of persistence: “nonproductive persistence.”

Sometimes it’s better to stop, reassess and try something else, a new study in the Journal of Personality argues. My twin had that experience at CAL in the 60s, in a Spanish I class taught by the Inquisitor himself. Within weeks his unreasonable demands caused 75 percent of the class to quit – down to five people, my twin among

them. All her other classes were slipping as she tried to show him she could do it.

Finally with the help of another Spanish department TA, I was able to get her to request a transfer at the very last minute. But she never liked Spanish after that. I went on to be bilingual. She learned guitar instead.

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SOME VERBS MORE ACTIVE THAN OTHERS; OBAMA’S? NOT! – President Obama, known for his inspirational speaking skills, often calls for action. But almost all the verbs he uses are non-active. Recently he ordered his cabinet “to review” deportation policies. We’re “working through the process” he told reporters shortly afterward; and “will move forward in a constructive manner.” His spokespeople often “emphasize the concern the president feels” for various issues; and they say he “will continue to work on it.” His most famous non-action message of all however was his “promise for immigration reform” that almost everyone agrees he said during his first presidential campaign. But obviously there is a verb missing in that phrase. Promise “to do” what? Pass it, push it, advocate for it? The only verb – his favorite verb actually – I ever heard him use between the words “promise” …… and ….. “immigration reform” was “to address.”

SUPPORT FOR STAND-ALONE DREAM ACT GROWS – In April 2014, the death of comprehensive immigration reform in the House was being predicted, along with the likely demise of the Senate immigration bill if the Republicans took over that chamber in the November elections. Suddenly even obsessive advocates that wanted DREAMers to be the drivers of comprehensive reform, admitted that they might have to support a stand-alone DREAM ACT bill in December. “Moving the ball a little forward is better than nothing,” said Dr. Antonio Flores, HACU president.

Margaret (Peggy Sands) Orchowski was a reporter for AP South America and for the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland. She earned a doctorate in international educational administration from the University of California-Santa Barbara. She lives in Washington, D.C., where she was an editor at Congressional Quarterly and now is a freelance journalist and columnist covering Congress and higher education.

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FINANCE/TUITION

Develop a Performance-Based Funding Model

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by Frank DiMaria

arlier this year, Michigan’s Gov. Rick Snyder announced his intention to use part of the state’s $971 million threeyear surplus to finance a 6.1 percent increase – or an additional $80.3 million – for Michigan’s 15 public universities. It would be the second year in a row in which the state has added education funding, after a decade of year-after-year budget cuts.

Rick Snyder, governor of Michigan

But there’s a catch. The funding would be tied to several performance measures and a 3.2 percent cap on tuition increases. Both criteria fall under the new performance-based funding model provided by Business Leaders for Michigan (BLM) that went into effect last year. The model has been hailed by Hunter Rawlings, president of the Association of American Universities, as “a best of the best model for performance funding.”

BLM, a private, nonprofit statewide organization dedicated to improving the state’s business climate, created the performance-based funding model to combat the growing epidemic of students being priced out of a college education due to skyrocketing tuition costs. The model controls overhead costs

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and tuition and encourages universities to increase graduation rates and the number of completed degrees. Despite going into effect just a year ago, the model has produced a positive effect, say Michigan policymakers. Last year, when Gov. Snyder increased the education budget by $36 million, it was the first time in a decade that the budget was not slashed.

Kelly Chesney, vice president of marketing and communications at BLM, says that the nonprofit is not a typical business organization. “Our organization came together to try and develop a plan to turn the state around. It is our goal to make Michigan a top 10 state for jobs and personal income. Our members live here, they work here and they want to bring up their families here. They want their kids to have opportunities in our state,” says Chesney.

BLM accelerated its efforts in creating the funding model after taking a hard look at some disturbing numbers. During the recent recession the U.S lost 2 million jobs. “To put a fine point on it for Michigan, we lost half of those jobs, a million jobs,” says Chesney.

To address these numbers, BLM created what it called the Michigan Turn Around Plan. The plan is a holistic strategy that addresses a range of issues, such as improving government efficiency, fixing the state’s finances, making the state competitive with jobs and businesses and investing in higher education, says Chesney.

As part of the plan, BLM set benchmarks within a number of critical areas, including higher education. The nonprofit publishes its findings in a scorecard on its Website (http://mipublicuniversities.businessleadersformichigan.com/) At the center of BLM’s efforts to improve higher education is its performance-based funding model, a model, Chesney says, that’s based solely on data. “We needed to strengthen and grow our workforce. We rank 30th in educational attainment across the nation,” says Chesney.

For generations Michigan residents have benefited from America’s manufacturing economy. Through much of the 20th century individuals who earned high school diplomas could expect to make a comfortable living thanks to the economic engine that was Michigan manufacturing. “When the economy changed it became clear that the jobs of the future are going

to require more than a high school education,” says Chesney. in Michigan. Using this scorecard the media, policy makers During its transition from a manufacturing economy to an and Michigan residents can compare all the schools in information and services economy, Michigan, and other states Michigan across any number of metrics. in the Rust Belt, went through a disinvestment in higher educa“You can actually see the charts. They pop up and give you tion. BLM compared Michigan to its peers across the nation to a visual representation of what’s going on. But then you can determine how it stacked up in higher education. “We did not also go to the national peers and you can compare measure one university in our state against another university (Michigan’s) universities to other universities to see how well in our state that had a different mission,” says Chesney. “We they are doing,” says Chesney. “We made all the information used the Carnegie peer classifiavailable so that if you want to cation system and measured slice and dice the information apples to apples,” she says. any way you wanted to, the data BLM opened a dialog with is there.” For example, the state Michigan’s legislature about budget office uses the scorecreating a performance-based card to set its funding levels for funding model. “Any new doluniversities in Michigan. lars that went into higher educaOver the past decade, tion would go through a funding Michigan has seen its higher model, having measureable outeducation funding dwindle. As a comes so we would know that result Michigan’s students, not our universities were being unlike students in other states, accountable with those taxpayer have been forced to carry a dollars and that we would be larger student loan debt burgetting the most from them and den. Currently Michigan is that we might make college ranked 44th in the country in more affordable,” says Chesney. student loan debt, and since BLM developed a number of 2003 its student loan debt has metrics that could be supported increased 44 percent. BLM’s and had several discussions performance tracker offers with universities, policymakers metrics that are directly tied to and Gov. Snyder before the and cap tuition. If a school goes model was adopted. over the cap, says Chesney, it Now in its third year of does not qualify for funding. development, Chesney says, the “That’s one way we control performance-based funding tuition costs,” she says. model has made significant Another BLM metric is tied gains in higher education to Pell Grants so policymakers investment. “The first year we can see how much money is stopped the hemorrhaging; the being spent on Pell Grants. second year they added more “The office of the state budget money; and this year the gover- Kelly Chesney, vice president of marketing and communications at BLM uses total degrees, institutional nor put an additional $80 milspending, graduation rates, lion into higher education as a part of his budget recommen- research funding, Pell Grants – all of that on the performance dation,” says Chesney. tracker,” says Chesney. Schools earn points when they perform Although Chesney is satisfied with the results to this point, better than their Carnegie peers. “That’s how we use the pershe points out that the process was arduous and that BLM did formance tracker to control tuition costs,” says Chesney. not develop the model overnight. Members did a significant Looking to the future, BLM is advocating a $1 billion amount of legwork and research before getting started. BLM increase in higher education funding over the next 10 years as held an educational summit and spoke with experts, editorial part of the Michigan Turn Around Plan. “If you look at how boards, policymakers and community leaders across the state. much our university funding has decreased over the last “We’re in this for the long haul. We think that this type of work decade, it’s roughly a billion dollars. Our goal is to try to is necessary to sustain our economy long term,” says Chesney. restore funding to the 2001 levels. That’s when we saw our BLM has gathered a staggering amount of information on funding at its peak. We were in a top 10 state and we were in Michigan schools and publishes this information in a score- the top 10 as far a university funding. We expect as revenues card on its website, putting the information at the fingertips of increase that we will be able to invest more in all our priorianyone who needs to access data on colleges and universities ties in the state, including higher education,” says Chesney.

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PERSPECTIVES

Helping Latino Students Develop Confidence to Learn and Succeed

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by Mario Rivas ommunity colleges are the main entry point into higher education for a majority of Hispanic students; unfortunately, the completion of community college certificate and degree programs as well as the continuation to graduation from four-year colleges for Latinos is abysmally low.

While the reasons for not persisting to completion of a four-year degree are many, this article focuses on a variable that the author considers of pre-eminent importance to ensure the persistence and success of Latino students in higher education, namely, the ability to psychologically sustain oneself through the many and varied challenges of college.

This includes developing/maintaining economic sufficiency, developing cognitive skills such as writing, quantitative reasoning, and critical thinking, developing behavioral self-management skills (setting goals, identifying steps, making and carrying out plans to achieve goals)and developing the social skills necessary to participate in the classroom. Latino students must especially learn to reach out to teaching and counseling faculty who can help them face the challenges of college in a successful manner.

1. Human beings have a natural potentiality for learning; 2. Learning which involves a change in self-organization—in the perception of oneself—is threatening and tends to be resisted; 3. Those learnings which are threatening to the self are more easily perceived and assimilated when external threats are at a minimum; 4. When threats to the self are low, experience can be perceived in a differentiated fashion and learning can proceed.

The above are core tenets for understanding the learning experience of Latino community college students and for realizing that for students to learn in an effective way there must be maximum freedom from threat to their self-esteem and selfconcept, what Rogers defines as an individual’s “self-organization.” Number one above says that all individuals have the natural power to become effective learners, which is a principle that can inspire both students and educators alike to reach for and expect the highest goals of learning. In Rogers’ second tenet is an idea related to the experience of all Latino students, but especially for the many who come to college with lack of preparedness: In order to become powerful learners Latino The Freedom to Learn students must change their self-organization, which means Carl R. Rogers, a leader in the humanistic psychology to develop new personality characteristics that will suit movement, argued that the following principles were impor- them more effectively for higher education. Three and four tant for understanding the experience of individuals who above shift from the student to the college environment, where develop the “Freedom to Learn”– the freedom to be a person educators are challenged to create learning environments that who can be effective and successful as a learner: both support and stimulate students to grow and reach beyond 16

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themselves to the heights of learning.

Carl Rogers’ principles are especially important for many Latino college students who enter college with a “learning self” that Laura Rendón, a renowned Latina researcher and educator, says requires “validation” to instill a needed personal confidence for college. This is because so many Latino students have experienced extensive threats to self-esteem during their history of becoming learners, both inside and outside of school.

Rendón has written about the experiences of many Latino community college students from underprepared backgrounds and has defined these students as having low confidence, low trust of self and others, and high need for validation. She characterizes these students as individuals who have been treated as stupid or incompetent which causes them to yearn for acceptance and validation. Rendón observed that “many non-traditional students talked about wanting their doubts about being capable of learning erased” and that this was “especially true for community college students, first-generation students, Hispanic, and African-American students.” Rendón also noted that these students continued to be at risk for persisting in college, because, when faced with challenges to their emotionally tentative stance, they too often abandon their studies. It is evident in Rendón’s ideas that many Latino students face very difficult emotional challenges when they attend college.

• A child, usually between the ages of 4 and 8, experiencing verbal and physical anger between the parents and is not able to do anything about resolving the parents’ quarrel; • a child experiencing anger between the parents and being rejected when he or she tried to intervene; • a child being left alone for most of the day because the parents were out working, and the child feeling abandoned and not being able to comfort him or herself; • a child being separated from parent or parents because of divorce or other reasons, e.g., leaving home country to go to the U.S. and the child is not helped to understand the reason or cause for the separation; • physical or verbal punishment of the child where the child is unable to understand the reason for the punishment or is unable to defend self against the abuse; • lack of support and acknowledgement by parent or parents when a child complains of sexual abuse; • a child being in a school situation wherein they are fearful of their ability to learn and feeling isolated and fearful because their teachers or those around them are experienced as threatening to the self rather than supportive for how to change a difficult learning situation for the better; and • related to this last situation, a child is punished and demeaned for having difficulty learning, rather than supported in a calm and loving manner to develop the skills to learn more effectively.

Helping Latino Students Find Confidence The above ideas have formed the foundation for my work with all students, but especially when dealing with many All of the above situations have in common two ingredients Latinos and students of color, who for a variety of reasons that undermine an individual’s ability to develop a self-organizaenter community college with “learning self” that is insecure, tion of confidence necessary to face the difficult learning doubtful, and tentative. This is in contrast to what Carl Rogers demands of college. The first is the experience by the child of not argued is the “natural potentiality for learning” or “actualizing being spoken to, taught, nor learning how to act effectively in a tendency,” which he wrote is inherent to all human beings. difficult social encounter that challenges the child’s ability to inteDuring 36 years of counseling and teaching students, I have grate the emotional, cognitive, and behavioral aspects of the situadiscovered that it is possible to support many Hispanics to tion; the second is the experience by the child of not being treated change from being insecure, doubtful, and tentative about as a valuable person who deserves to be listened to, respected, their ability to learn and succeed in college to becoming indi- and encouraged to speak up when he or she feels the need to do viduals who confidently assume their efforts to learn and suc- this in order to make sense of a difficult situation. Reaching out ceed in college. This latter achievement is attained by guiding to try to learn calls for trust in one’s ability to understand and act Latino students to respect, trust, and support their powers to effectively. But many Latino students do not have a reservoir of actualize themselves as skillful and successful learners. I have confidence in the self-organization; instead, they have a foundadeveloped “Gestalt Educational Counseling,” a model for tion of shame and doubt that threatens the self-organization in increasing personal growth of students to change their “self- learning situations, rather than energizing the self with trust, iniorganization” from imbalance and lack of trust to balance and tiative, and willpower. Too often, pulling back in shame is the self-assuredness as learners. reaction to the challenges of colleges and too often, as Laura Rendón notes, withdrawal from college results.

Understanding Past Experiences A great many Latino community college students enter Learning Self-Support college with doubts and emotional stresses that negatively Gestalt Educational Counseling (GEC) aims to re-integrate affect their ability to learn and succeed alongside other col- the split that has developed in many Latino community college lege students. students’ ability to trust and have confidence in their inherent The situations that cause a split in the development of a ability to learn, develop, and succeed in college. In essence, confident self-organization in Latino students have generally when as children many Latino students experience overwhelmshowed themselves overwhelmingly to be made up of early ing frustrations, they disown/ lose their trust and confidence family experiences or school experiences. Frequently, the stu- in their ability to stand on their own two feet to face difficult dent, then a young child, was placed into an emotionally diffi- life challenges (e.g., developing the skills necessary to succult situation and was not guided as to how to understand and ceed in college); instead, they too often withdraw in shame support the self to effectively manage the situation. Themes and doubt from important life challenges. In the classroom, that re-occur over and over are the following: this shame and doubt can expressed as tentativeness to learn, 0 6 / 0 9 / 2 0 1 4

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shyness and withdrawal, nervousness, etc.

The aim of Gestalt Educational Counseling is to heal the split between the “I-can and I-can’t” self in the experience in Latino students. This is accomplished by supporting the students to learn to develop what Fritz Perls labeled “self-support,” that is, to trust oneself and to not back away from the challenges of college by withdrawing in shame and doubt. At the core of the work is the Gestalt technique known as “La Silla Vacia” or “The Empty Chair Technique.” In “La Silla Vacia” there are two chairs that are placed facing each other. The student carries on a dialogue between the confused child self, which was identified by connecting the negative feelings of today with difficult situations of the past, and the present-day self who continues to be confused and overwhelmed by negative emotions.

Through various step-by-step interventions and interactions with a counselor, this technique helps students learn about

their psychological makeup, including understanding what has happened in their early childhood with respect to withdrawing from challenging situations. They become aware of the importance of staying true to their ongoing experience rather than withdrawing from their self-experience in shame and doubt. This is just a brushstroke outline of the work I do with students; I have written and presented more detailed case studies about the process and the outcomes.

In summary, the work of GEC gives Hispanic students a chance to develop insights and use those to gain life skills needed to meet the academic challenges of a college education.

Dr. Mario Rivas, a psychology professor at Merritt College in Oakland, Calif., has been counseling and teaching students for 36 years.

Scholars’ Corner I began my doctoral studies after five years of teaching in public schools with the aim of studying language policy and access issues for Latinos, and particularly English learners, across the United States. My interest in these topics derives from both personal and professional experience. As a Latina, a first-generation immigrant, and a veteran bilingual and ESL teacher, I have experienced and witnessed my family and my students encounter many of the challenges facing Latino students on a broader scale.

Currently in the beginning phases of the dissertation journey, I am planning on conducting a quantitative study of how identification and reclassification policies in new destination areas impact the educational trajectories and academic outcomes of English learners. I hope my work can inform the drafting and revision of policies affecting the large and increasing population of English learners, especially as more and more states adopt Common Core state standards. In other research, I have investigated the changing ESL and bilingual teacher labor market and the impact of ESL or bilingual education on college readiness. More broadly, I am interested in how school leaders can work to improve schools for marginalized students and, with this as my focus, I recently co-authored a book with Dr. Joseph Murphy on the topic entitled Creating Productive Cultures in Schools: For Students, Teachers, and Parents.

Last spring, I had the privilege of participating in the annual American Association of Hispanics in Higher Education (AAHHE) conference as a graduate student fellow. I was introduced to the AAHHE conference by my mentor and AAHHE graduate fellow alum, Dr. Stella Flores. I looked forward to the opportunity to cultivate relationships with other Latino scholars studying education who could support me in both in my work and in my nascent professional career.

My experience as a fellow was powerful as it opened my eyes to a Latino community that I was only vaguely aware existed. I grew up and was educated mostly isolated from a large Latino community and currently attend a predominantly white institution in which I do not regularly engage with Latino scholars. Attending the AAHHE conference was thus a singular experience in which I was able not only to engage with a group of Latino scholars for the first time in my academic career, but also to feel that I had become part of a community that shared and understood my passions and motivations. It is especially inspiring that the broader mission of AAHHE includes the pursuit of research projects pertinent to Latinos. I hope to maintain the relationships I initiated at AAHHE in the coming years and use the strength of the AAHHE community to continue working for educational equity for Latino children.

By Daniela Torre Peabody College, Vanderbilt University, Department of Leadership, Policy, and Organizations

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Graduation Rates Improve Dramatically via Accelerated Associate Degree Programs REPORTS

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by Angela Provitera McGlynn

merican students are enrolling in college in record numbers, but they’re also dropping out in droves, stated David Kirp in a New York Times opinion piece earlier this year. Kirp, a professor of public policy at University of California, Berkeley, pointed out that barely half of those who start four-year colleges, and only a third of community college students, graduate.

“That’s one of the worst records among developed nations, and it’s a substantial drain on the economy,” he wrote. “The American Institutes for Research estimates the cost of those dropouts, measured in lost earnings and taxes, at $4.5 billion.

Incalculable are the lost opportunities for social mobility and the stillborn professional careers.”

Add to this bad news the fact that graduation rates are even lower for students entering community colleges underprepared and therefore needing developmental courses before starting college-level work. Additionally, most college students take considerably longer to graduate from two-year associate degree programs and four-year bachelor degree programs.

There have been many approaches to boost community college graduation rates – a necessity given that almost half of all college students start their college educations at two-year colleges and we lag behind numerous countries internationally in educating and training a workforce ready for a global economy.

The majority of Latino and black students begin their careers at community colleges so improving graduation rates for this demographic would help to narrow or eliminate the achievement gaps that currently exist. Since Latinos are the fastest-growing population in America, we cannot reach the goals set for increasing college graduates without graduating more students from this ethnic background.

New research offers a promising strategy for dramatically improving community college graduation rates and it is an approach that has the potential to narrow the economic opportunity gap between well-to-do students and low-income students. Community college students and four-year public institutions need to give their students the kind of care and attention that students receive at elite institutions.

At these institutions, where the graduation rates hover around 90 percent in four years, students are given great support from the university. For example, from day one to gradu-

ation, Harvard tells its students “our advisors are here to help and support you at every step.” And they do exactly that. Yes, Harvard students are probably among the best prepared to attend college but they also have a support network that lowincome students rarely find.

Research coming from MDRC, a nonprofit, nonpartisan education and social policy research organization dedicated to learning what works to improve programs and policies that affect the poor recently released a policy brief that details an approach that has had dramatic positive results.

Susan Scrivener and Michael J. Weiss, in a brief entitled, More Graduates: Two-Year Results from an Evaluation of Accelerated Study in Associate Programs (ASAP) for Developmental Education Students discuss the results of a

program launched at City University of New York (CUNY) at its six community colleges in 2007.

CUNY serves over half a million students each year and it is the largest public university system in the United States.

Accelerating students, particularly underprepared students, through an associate degree program seems to be counter-intuitive at first glance. However, the CUNY ASAP program provides a spread of services and supports over a three-year period to help more students graduate and to help them graduate sooner.

This is accomplished by addressing multiple barriers to student success over several semesters – it is one of the most aggressive efforts in the country to improve low-income students’ graduation rates, and apparently is having great success.

MDRC’s research involves conducting a multiyear randomassignment study of ASAP. In their report, the authors describe their findings as “unparalleled in large-scale experi-

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mental evaluations of programs in higher education to date.”

Before describing how ASAP works, let’s start by looking at the dramatic results of the program: beginning in 2007 with college-ready students and then tackling the challenge of students in need of remediation in 2009, the results show that of the first two cohorts of more than 1500 students, 56 percent graduated as compared with 23 percent of a control group that didn’t have the same ASAP experience. Even more impressive is the finding that most of those graduates are currently enrolled in a bachelor’s degree program.

Since lack of money is a roadblock to college success for low-income students, the ASAP program covers tuition not

mentioned above that is noncredit and covers topics such as goal setting and academic planning for at least their first year in the program.

Student services include comprehensive advisement. ASAP advisers are expected to provide comprehensive academic and interpersonal support. Students are required to meet with their adviser at least twice a month.

ASAP tutors provide support both inside and outside the classroom. Some ASAP students, especially students taking developmental courses and those on academic probation, are required to attend tutoring sessions frequently.

ASAP career and employment specialists help with career planning and, if needed, job placement.

Students are required to meet with this specialTABLE 1: ASAP RAISES TWO-YEAR GRADUATION RATES ist once per semester.

PROGRAM CONTROL Recognizing the importance that social OUTCOME (%) DIFFERENCE GROUP GROUP belonging plays in college student success, the program also includes social events for particiEARNED A DEGREE FROM ANY COLLEGE pating students and an ASAP-wide support leadSEMESTER 1 0 0 0 ership program. Groups of students can participate in leadership-building activities.

SEMESTER 2 0.2 0 0.2 Sometimes, the colleges have an ASAP-dedicatSEMESTER 3 2.9 1.1 1.7* ed social work intern from Hunter College School of Social Work (part of the CUNY sysSEMESTER 4 14.5 8.7 5.7*** tem). The social worker is available to meet HIGHEST DEGREE EARNED with students who are struggling with personal issues in their lives that might interfere with CERTIFICATE 0 0 0 their academic success.

The findings presented in this policy brief ASSOCIATE’S DEGREE 14.5 8.7 5.7*** are greatly encouraging for educators commitBACHELOR’S DEGREE OR HIGHER 0 0 0 ted to graduating more low-income, high risk students. Over a two-year follow-up period, SAMPLE SIZE (TOTAL = 896) 451 445 data show that the ASAP program had a proSource: MDRC calculations from CUNY Institutional Research Database and National Student Clearinghouse data found effect on students’ academic attainment. from the MDRC report dated December 2013, p. 9.

The ASAP experimental group showed greater paid for by federal and state grants, public transit costs (free persistence, earned more credits and higher graduation rates metro cards), and free textbooks. There are other designs of than the control group students. The program increased the the program that decrease financial pressure as well such as proportion of students who graduated within two years by scheduling courses in blocks of time (mornings, afternoons, almost 6 percent and this represented a 66 percent increase or evenings) so students can balance their coursework with over the control group’s graduation rate. their paid work, family, and other life obligations.

Scrivener and Weiss say these findings provide some supThe block scheduling involves grouping students organized port for earlier research hypotheses, namely, “in order to subby major who take three or more courses in the same semes- stantially boost students’ success, comprehensive, extended ter during their first year ASAP experience. Usually the block interventions may be needed.” includes a developmental course and an ASAP seminar to be The authors further state: described below.

“As policymakers, college administrators, and philanThe overall design of the program is rigorous and involves thropists seek solutions to the nation’s seemingly commitment on the part of students in addition to faculty and intractable completion problem in community colleges, support services at the institution. Students in the ASAP pro- the results presented in this brief suggest that ASAP is a gram are required to enroll full time (12 or more credits per model worthy of very serious consideration.” semester) in both the fall and spring terms. They are encouraged to take developmental courses early in their college Angela Provitera McGlynn, professor emeritus of psyexperience. Students in ASAP are also encouraged to graduate chology, is an international consultant/presenter on teachwith an associate’s degree within three years. ing, learning, and diversity issues and the author of several Additional requirements of ASAP include the ASAP seminar related books. a

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06/09/2014

ASSISTANT, ASSOCIATE and FULL PROFESSOR FACULTY POSITIONS

The Department of Immunology at the University of Washington seeks highly qualified applicants for three full time tenure-track and tenured positions that could be at the Assistant, Associate or Full Professor level.

Applicants must hold PhD or MD degrees in immunology or a similar degree (or foreign equivalent) and have a record of published research in immunology.

The University of Washington faculty engage in teaching, research and service. The successful candidates will be expected to teach at both the undergraduate and graduate level and conduct independent research in the field. The Department of Immunology offers excellent laboratory space and access to contemporary analytical tools. Additional information regarding the department can be found at http://immunology.washington.edu/.

These positions will remain open until filled. Please email a cover letter, curriculum vitae, a brief description of proposed research, as well as names and addresses of three references to: Joan M. Goverman, PhD Professor and Chair Department of Immunology University of Washington Seattle, WA 98109-8059 immapply@uw.edu The University of Washington is an Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action Employer.

Job Description: The Assistant Vice President for International Affairs is charged with developing a shared vision for international affairs within the context of the university’s vision, mission, values and strategic planning process. The individual is further responsible for advancing the international profile and reputation of the university by increasing the number of international students attending Texas State, working with units to attract distinguished international faculty and staff, and developing a wide array of series, programs, experiences and strategic partnerships that promote globalization within the university community. The Assistant Vice President for International Affairs oversees work carried out by the offices of study abroad, intensive English, and international student and scholar services. In addition, the Assistant Vice President coordinates initiatives with campus leadership and works closely with undergraduate and graduate admissions, the financial aid office, and departments, programs, centers, and administrative units that have international components. The Assistant Vice President for International Affairs reports to the Associate Vice President for Academic Affairs.

Required Qualifications: Master’s degree Direct experience with at least two of the following: o study abroad administration/management o international student recruiting o employment or processing of international students, faculty, or staff o intensive English or second language acquisition programs o other international activities Budget experience Excellent communication skills Visionary and collaborative leadership Experience working with diverse populations

Preferred Qualifications: Doctoral degree Prior experience as a director of international affairs or similar unit Administrative experience within higher education Experience with traditional and self-supporting budget models Foreign language proficiency

To Apply: Job Posting Number 2014295

Visit jobs.hr.txstate.edu or call (512) 245-2557 or visit our office at 601 University Dr., J.C. Kellam Bldg., Suite 340.

Additional Information for Applicants: Texas State University is a doctoral-granting Emerging Research University located in the burgeoning Austin-San Antonio corridor, the largest campus in the Texas State University System, and among the largest universities in the state. With a diverse campus community and student body, Texas State ranks among the top 20 universities in the nation for the number of bachelor’s degrees awarded to Hispanic students. International students on the Texas State campus come from 72 different countries, while many domestic students participate in study abroad and faculty-led programs as well as international internships.

Texas State’s 35,000 students choose from 97 undergraduate, 86 master’s, and 12 doctoral programs offered by ten colleges (Applied Arts, The Emmett and Miriam McCoy College of Business Administration, Education, Fine Arts and Communication, Health Professions, Honors, Liberal Arts, Science and Engineering, the Graduate College, and University College). With over 1,050 full-time faculty and over 2,000 full-time staff also conducting research and creative activities, the university attracts growing external support. Texas State has an annual operating budget of $495 million and research expenditures of more than $37 million. The Alkek Library has more than 2.3 million titles in its collection. Additional information about Texas State and its nationally recognized academic programs is available at http://www.txstate.edu.

The confidential review of credentials will continue until the position is filled. The review of materials will begin on 7/1/14. The preferred starting date of the position is 1/5/15. A complete electronic application form, letter of intent addressing how the applicant meets specified qualifications, 1-page single spaced vision statement addressing international affairs in higher education, vita, and list of three references (included on application document) should be submitted. Nominations and questions may be submitted to Dr. Andrea Golato, Dean of the Graduate College and Chair, Search Committee at agolato@txstate.edu.

Employment with Texas State University is contingent upon the outcome of a criminal history background check.

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Texas State University is a tobacco-free campus. Smoking and the use of any tobacco product will not be allowed anywhere on Texas State property or in university owned or leased vehicles.

Texas State University will not discriminate against any person (or exclude any person from participating in or receiving the benefits of any of its activities or programs) on any basis prohibited by law, including race, color, age, national origin, religion, sex or disability, veterans status or on the basis of sexual orientation.

Texas State is committed to increasing the number of women and minorities in administrative and professional positions.

Texas State University is a member of the Texas State University System. Texas State University is an EOE.

06/09/2014

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Assistant Vice President, International Affairs Job Number: 2014295

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Priming the Pump...

ON PAYING ATTENTION TO DETAILS Miquela Rivera, PhD, is a licensed psychologist with years of clinical, early childhood and consultative experience. She lives in Albuquerque, N.M.

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A man’s accomplishments in life are the cumulative hand? How about the appetizeffect of his attention to detail – John Foster Dulles ers that arrive at the table after the entrée? of the first things Latino students realize when Teach Latinos early the they enter higher education is that more is importance of details and develop their habit of paying expected of them and others than ever before. attention to them – in school, work and everywhere else.

Professors expect a higher level of academic performance Start with writing. Grammar counts. So does spelling from students and students expect skilled teaching and good (autocorrect on spell check should not be accepted as an resources. Latino students can meet and exceed expectations excuse for mistakes). Examine content. Check the referby paying attention to details. Attention to details – seemingly ences, assuring that the citations are written correctly. inconsequential to students who just want to “get it done” – (Savvy teachers assure that students are not simply listing can transform ordinary work into extraordinary performance. citations which are either irrelevant or that the student did Lack of attention, conversely, can make things worse. not read).

To illustrate the importance of paying attention to details, After the basic details are covered, encourage Latino stuconsider what happened to the New Mexico State dents to look beyond the obvious in reading. What bias University’s Aggies basketball team after their recent NCAA does the author show? Are the facts or opinions substantiatTournament loss to San Diego State. Teams had been ed? Does the reading call to a specific audience or a broadadvised that the losing team would need to travel home after er one? Where are there inconsistencies or contradictions the game. That game started late and went into overtime. in a published work? Students who can find “mistakes” in It’s a long way from Spokane, Wash., to Las Cruces, N. M., movie editing can find subtleties in academia that can probut the Aggies were expected to follow the rules. Box lunch- pel them beyond a quick “good enough” to recognition and es in hand, they boarded a red-eye flight at 2:00 a.m. honor for excellence. If writing assignments can be done Arriving in El Paso at 5:00 a.m., they found only one bus was across time in a step-wise fashion, all the levels of detail can waiting to drive them back to Las Cruces – perplexing since be checked and corrected before the final draft is submitthree buses had taken them to the airport. The pep band, ted. While it might seem like too much prompting by teachcheerleaders and dance squad had to wait more than two ers, showing Hispanic students how to do what is expected hours while additional buses were dispatched to pick them goes a long way in having the expectations met. up. The NCAA made the rules and arrangements – but was If Latino students think paying attention to detail in acadanyone paying attention to details? Factors like overtime emics is overkill, question how much detail they know about play, home destinations of the competitors, length of flights the calorie or fat count in food, the designers employed by and flight times were some considerations. And remember some celebrities or the cars driven by big names. If they that it all followed a heartbreaking, hard-fought game that can manage that level of detail, they can remember to pay deserved honor, not the shame and degradation that the lack attention to details in assignments. If they are still not conof attention to detail cast on the NMSU team. vinced of the importance of detail, have them talk to sucNeed more examples? What about a florist who gets an cessful Hispanic attorneys, writers, artists, accountants – or order wrong so the men in the wedding party have no bou- anyone else who does excellent work. Details make a differtonnières? Or a conference where hundreds attend but the ence in the work we do and in stating who we are. Certainly audio system does not work because no one tested it before- the New Mexico State Aggies can attest to that.

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