04/09/2012 Are You Ready for Grad School? by Hispanic Outlook on Education Magazine

APRIL 09, 2012

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VOLUME 22 • NUMBER 13

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TOP 25 Grad Schools

MBA Rankings

Scholar or Fellow?

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® Editorial Board Publisher – José López-Isa Vice President & Chief Operating Officer – Orlando López-Isa

Ricardo Fernández, President Lehman College Mildred García, President

Editor – Adalyn Hixson Executive & Managing Editor – Suzanne López-Isa News Desk & Copy Editor – Jason Paneque Special Project Editor – Mary Ann Cooper

California State University-Domínguez Hills Juán González,VP Student Affairs University of Texas at Austin Carlos Hernández, President New Jersey City University

Administrative Assistant & Subscription Coordinator – Barbara Churchill

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

DC Congressional Correspondent – Peggy Sands Orchowski

Gustavo A. Mellander, Dean Emeritus George Mason University

Contributing Editors – Carlos D. Conde Michelle Adam Online Contributing Writers – Gustavo A. Mellander

Loui Olivas,Assistant VP Academic Affairs Arizona State University Eduardo Padrón, President Miami Dade College Antonio Pérez, President

Art & Production Director – Avedis Derbalian Graphic Designer – Joanne Aluotto

Borough of Manhattan Community College María Vallejo, Provost Palm Beach State College

Sr.Advertising Sales Associate – Angel M. Rodríguez Advertising Sales Associate – Cyndy Mitchell

Editorial Policy

The Hispanic Outlook in Higher Education Magazine® is a national magazine published 23 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®. 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®.

Article Contributors Frank DiMaria, Marilyn Gilroy, Miquela Rivera, Jeff Simmons, Gary M. Stern

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Esquina E ditorial

elcome to our annual issue devoted to graduate education, which is now attracting more and more Hispanics, especially Latinas. With the economy still far from full recovery, recent undergrads and older alums are hoping to improve their career options by earning additional degrees and certifications. And business schools are revisiting issues of ethics, as they do whenever an unsightly underbelly of Wall Street or corporate America is made public. Last month, Goldman Sachs employee Greg Smith, who started there as an intern from Stanford, resigned via a New York Times Op-Ed piece in which he mourns the death of a corporate culture that “revolved around teamwork, integrity, a spirit of humility, and always doing right by our clients” – elements of which not one shred remains, he writes. It’s encouraging to hear from both NSHMBA CEO Manny González and Judith Samuelson of the Aspen Institute that many of today’s business school candidates, including Hispanics, want to earn a good living, but one consistent with their social, ethical and community concerns. In other education news, Paula Winke, researcher at East Lansing University, has studied the citizenship tests given to immigrants. And, according to a story by Jeff Karoub of the Associated Press, one of the hardest test questions is this: When was the U.S. Constitution written? Winke says that only 39 of the 414 participants in her study gave the correct answer – 1787 (the same year that Boston Blacks petitioned the legislature for equal school facilities). ¡Adelante! Suzanne López-Isa Managing Editor

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by Carlos D. Conde

LATINO KALEIDOSCOPE

As the Poll Said, There Is No Latino Leader

et’s see if I got this straight. Pew Hispanic Center, the purveyor of Latino thought and opinion, conducted a survey on national Latino leaders, and one of the hot personalities uncovered was Jorge Ramos, a news anchor on Noticiero Univision. Jorge Ramos? It wouldn’t surprise me if you haven’t heard of him, unless you’re a Spanish network viewer and prefer your national evening news in Spanish. Ramos is considered one of the top four Latino “leaders” not for his journalism but supposedly for being one of our public apostles, according to Pew’s national survey in the Latino community. The question asked was who do you consider “the most important Latino leader in the country today?” Sixty-four percent said they didn’t know. Ten percent said no one. Those who ventured a guess placed Ramos among the top four, which, not to malign him, doesn’t say much about our supposed national Latino leadership. Latinos in this survey might have given a new meaning to the word “leader.” As I and others already suspected, nationally we really don’t have any marquee Latino leaders, as the Pew poll unwittingly revealed. No wonder Pew titled its report National Latino Leader? The Job Is Open. The poll also showed that many Latinos might have some difficulty distinguishing the difference between a leader, a hero or a just plain celebrity, unless reading the six o’clock news is the stuff of leadership. About Ramos, maybe the distinction is because some Latinos cast him in the image of the late, iconic journalist, Walter Cronkite, a CBS Evening News anchor for ages who came to be known, for reasons never totally clear to me, as “The Most Trusted Man in America?” That’s considering that Latinos who participated in the poll would even know or recall Cronkite. I’m not picking on Ramos, a fellow Mexican who is a tremendous TV talent. I know him only through his broadcasts and his interviews of prominent U.S. and world leaders and celebrities, but I am still trying to fathom the “Latino leader” image. Not that many people have heard of Ramos unless they view Spanish television, and not many Latinos know the Ramos persona unless they tune in to Univison’s evening news or to Ramos’ occasional special reports. The bilingual national survey included a sampling of 1,375 Hispanic adults and was conducted in November 2010, but it still has relevance because the Latino socio-political spectrum hasn’t changed much since then. The simple question was challenging, and the outcome was striking. You also have to say it was revealing, as far as the definition of a Latino leader is concerned. The majority of Latinos’ limited interest in current affairs and in our national leaders should not be that surprising since many don’t give these much attention unless directly impacted. They were even more challenged in identifying the qualities, or definition of a leader. The results were hardly a tribute to our current would-be national

leaders who considered themselves to be that element. Getting the most recognition was Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor, with 7 percent of Latinos polled saying she was our most important leader in the country, but she might have to abstain on that distinction. Justice Sotomayor might be a prominent Latino personality, but her job as a jurist does not allow her to be a Latino activist or even to be identified with organizations involved in public issues or be linked to groups taking public stands. Respondents didn’t know or fail to consider that her position is apolitical and must be without prejudice as a justice who interprets and rules on our laws impartially on the highest court in the land. Maybe they were just showing their esteem for the judge by their recognition, propriety notwithstanding. After Sotomayor came Chicago’s Puerto Rican congressman, Luis Gutiérrez, a tireless advocate of immigration reform and other Latino causes, with 5 percent of Latinos identifying him as a leader. Gutiérrez’s political reach and influence across the country is limited, even though he gets a lot of mileage out of his involvement in the immigration issue. Three percent of the respondents named Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa as a Latino leader. Villaraigosa has had little national exposure until now, although this should change after he serves as chairman of the National Democratic Convention in September. After Villaraigosa came Ramos with 2 percent identity as a Latino leader. Ramos does not get involved with Latino issues and causes except those that reach his news program. In a second survey, the respondents were given a list of eight would-be national Hispanic leaders and asked if they were familiar with any of the names. Sotomayor and Ramos again topped the list. The poll predated the elections of three Latinos to prominent political office: Florida’s Marco Rubio as U.S. senator and Govs. Brian Sandoval of Nevada and Susana Martínez of New Mexico. Interestingly, the Latino community has a coalition of 30 national and regional Hispanic organizations that include big national players like the National Council of La Raza, League of United Latin American Citizens, Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Cuban American National Council, and National Puerto Rican Coalition. All, through their own agenda, advocate for the involvement and the advancement of the U.S. Latino community, and most of these organizations and agencies are led by prominent Latino personalities. Apparently, the Pew poll showed, the Latino rank and file hasn’t heard of them or of their leaders. As the Pew poll indicated, one of the most unexpected advocates for the Latino agenda, yet one of its most effective communicators is Jorge Ramos because the community apparently believes in him and in his style, epitomizing the Walter Cronkite signature sign off, “And that’s the way it is.”

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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® APRIL 09, 2012

CONTENTS Latinas Fuel Graduate School Numbers

by Mary Ann Cooper

Diversity and the Courts:An Enlightened Perspective from Peter Aranda by Jeff Simmons

Scholar or Fellow,What’s the Difference?

by Mary Ann Cooper

f Page 8

Aspen’s Alternative MBA Rankings Reflect a New Set of Values by Marilyn Gilroy

Who’s Helping with Grad School Decisions and Scholarships? by Jeff Simmons

Preparing for the Changed – but Still Challenging – GRE by Mary Ann Cooper

Alumni, Social Media and Internships Help Graduates Find Jobs by Frank DiMaria

Online Articles How Felipe Penna Won an MBA Scholarship by Gary M. Stern To view this and other select articles online, go to our website: www.HispanicOutlook.com.

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DEPARTMENTS Latino Kaleidoscope

by Carlos D. Conde

As the Poll Said, There Is No Latino Leader

Uncensored

by Peggy Sands Orchowski

Interesting Reads Book Review

by Mary Ann Cooper

The Plain and Noble Garb of Truth

H igh S ch oo l Fo ru m

32 Page 17

Job Shadowing: Career Experience for High School Students by Mary Ann Cooper

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

Hispanics on the Move

Targeting Higher Education Graduate Education

by Gustavo A. Mellander (Online only)

Priming the Pump...

by Miquela Rivera

Back Cover

Study Abroad Enriches Learning Experience for Latino Students

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RANKINGS/GRADUATE SCHOOLS/PROGRAMS

Latinas Fuel Graduate School Numbers

by Mary Ann Cooper

very year, The Hispanic Outlook in Higher Education Magazine publishes a list of graduate schools with the most Hispanic enrollment and degrees confirmed on Hispanics. And while in some ways the compilations are reminiscent of previous years, with California, Texas and Florida schools dominating the lists, there is more to the story of graduate school education than lists of schools with the most enrollees and degree recipients. Two seemingly conflicting facts should be highlighted. As previously noted, Latinos are the nation’s largest minority group, numbering more than 11 million students in America’s public elementary and secondary schools and constituting more than 22 percent of all pre-K-12 students. More than one in five students enrolled in America’s schools is Latino. Yet just 4 percent have completed graduate or professional degree programs – that’s one fact. The other fact is the complete dominance of Hispanic and non-Hispanic women as enrollees or degree recipients in graduate schools. A report issued by the White House, Women in America: Indicators of Social and Economic Well-Being, makes the case for female domi-

nance of graduate school. According to the report, more women than men have received a graduate education. The percentage of women ages 25-34 with two or more years of graduate school has increased dramatically since the late 1970s to about 11 percent in 2009, while the percentage of men ages 25-34 with two or more years of graduate school has remained at or below 8 percent. In 1998, more doctoral degrees were conferred on men than on women. A decade later, more doctoral degrees were conferred on women than men. And the gap promises to widen in the future. In 2008, women accounted for 59 percent of graduate school enrollment, setting the stage for greater numbers of female graduate degree holders in the next few years. Women account for the majority of graduate enrollees across all race/ethnic groups. Non-Hispanic White females comprised 60 percent of nonHispanic White enrollment, and non-Hispanic Asian/Pacific Islander females comprised 55 percent of non-Hispanic Asian/Pacific Islander enrollment. As the report shows, women have made enormous progress on some

Top 25 – 2010 Graduate Schools Enrolling Hispanics Hispanic Totals 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.

Nova Southeastern University Florida International University University of Texas at El Paso University of Texas-Pan American University of Southern California National University University of Texas at San Antonio University of New Mexico-Main Campus University of Florida California State University-Long Beach Arizona State University California State University-Los Angeles University of Texas at Austin New Mexico State University-Main Campus New York University Texas A&M University-Kingsville Texas State University-San Marcos University of California-Los Angeles California State University-Fullerton California State University-Northridge University of Miami University of La Verne CUNY/Hunter College University of Illinois at Chicago University of South Florida-Main Campus

Institution Name

FL FL TX TX CA CA TX NM FL CA AZ CA TX NM NY TX TX CA CA CA FL CA NY IL FL

State

Source: NCES-IPEDS graduate students enrolled as of fall 2010

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22,567 8,395 3,946 2,478 19,516 9,605 4,464 6,212 17,167 5,882 13,878 4,044 12,775 3,772 21,700 2,099 5,126 11,995 5,628 5,133 5,289 3,757 6,723 11,044 9,517

Total

4,340 3,556 2,366 1,934 1,882 1,715 1,535 1,481 1,397 1,295 1,277 1,274 1,258 1,143 1,116 1,012 1,008 1,003 980 956 953 938 922 921 908

All

1,357 1,371 946 706 712 584 557 561 601 419 524 388 563 383 388 317 380 422 299 259 386 282 178 323 358

Men

2,983 2,185 1,420 1,228 1,170 1,131 978 920 796 876 753 886 695 760 728 695 628 581 681 697 567 656 744 598 550

Women

Hispanic Percentage 19% 42% 60% 78% 10% 18% 34% 24% 8% 22% 9% 32% 10% 30% 5% 48% 20% 8% 17% 19% 18% 25% 14% 8% 10%

fronts. Women have not only caught up with men in college attendance, but younger women are now more likely than younger men to have a college or a master’s degree. Women are also working more, and the number of women and men in the labor force has nearly equalized in recent years. As women’s work has increased, their earnings constitute a growing share of family income. At all levels of education, women earned about 75 percent of what their male counterparts earned in 2009. In part because of these lower earnings and in part because unmarried and divorced women are the most likely to have responsibility for raising and supporting their children, women are more likely to be in poverty than men. These economic inequities are even more acute for women of color. In 2008, for all race/ethnic subgroups, a higher percentage of bachelor’s and master’s degrees were earned by women than men. For non-Hispanic Black, Hispanic, and non-Hispanic Native American/Alaskan Native groups, more than 60 percent of bachelor’s and master’s degrees were earned by women. For non-Hispanic Whites and non-Hispanic Asian-Americans, more than 50 percent of bachelor’s and master’s degrees were earned by women.

Turning to what can be gleaned from the lists, once again, this year there are two Florida schools among the list of many other exemplary schools that stand out for special attention. Viewing the entire list for total enrollment, topped by Nova Southeastern University (NSU) with Florida International University (FIU) ranking second, California has the most schools, eight, on the Top 25 list for schools enrolling the most Hispanics. In terms of engineering master’s and doctoral degrees, Texas A&M University granted the most engineering degrees to Hispanics. Engineering is one of the few areas where Hispanic men outnumber or tie Hispanic women. FIU ranked first for most master’s and doctoral degrees conferred on Hispanics in the area of business this year, just as they did the previous year. In the area of education, NSU tops the list. Texas has six schools on this list, California has eight, and New York has four schools. Master’s and doctoral degree earners in education show that education graduate programs continue to be dominated by females.

Top 25 – 2011 Degrees Granted First Major All Master’s and Ph.D. Degrees in Education

Hispanic Totals 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.

Nova Southeastern University National University The University of Texas at El Paso Lamar University The University of Texas-Pan American Northern Arizona University California State University-Los Angeles Touro College American College of Education The University of Texas at San Antonio California State University-Northridge Azusa Pacific University Florida International University Mercy College New Mexico State University-Main Campus Grand Canyon University Loyola Marymount University CUNY Hunter College University of La Verne CUNY City College Texas State University-San Marcos California State University-Dominguez Hills University of Southern California Concordia University Arizona State University The University of Texas at Brownsville National-Louis University

Institution Name

FL CA TX TX TX AZ CA NY IL TX CA CA FL NY NM AZ CA NY CA NY TX CA CA IL AZ TX IL

1,841 1,834 338 1,863 206 1,178 482 1,626 1,616 349 500 703 294 697 276 4,498 366 965 346 596 490 286 402 1,410 1,096 119 1,344

State

Total

275 274 246 236 185 181 179 172 159 157 148 138 138 135 129 126 125 124 116 115 113 110 107 105 105 100 99

All

50 83 67 68 58 37 34 31 26 31 31 44 27 16 18 28 25 22 27 25 22 33 41 17 15 13 22

Men

Hispanic Women Percentage 225 191 179 168 127 144 145 141 133 126 111 94 111 119 101 98 100 102 89 90 91 77 66 88 90 87 77

15% 15% 73% 13% 90% 15% 37% 11% 10% 45% 30% 20% 47% 19% 47% 3% 34% 13% 34% 19% 23% 38% 27% 7% 10% 84% 7%

Source: NCES-IPEDS combined number of MA, and Ph.D. degrees granted in 2011

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Top 25 – 2011 Degrees Granted First Major All Master’s and Ph.D. Degrees in Business/Management/Marketing

Hispanic Totals 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.

Florida International University FL Nova Southeastern University FL Webster University MO Ashford University IA University of the Incarnate Word TX University of Florida FL University of Maryland-University College MD University of La Verne CA University of Redlands CA University of Miami FL University of New Mexico-Main Campus NM Regis University CO Arizona State University AZ Florida Atlantic University FL New York University NY University of Texas at Dallas TX University of Houston TX Our Lady of the Lake University-San AntonioTX University of Texas at El Paso TX Pepperdine University CA University of Texas at Austin TX Texas A&M International University TX National University CA New Mexico State University-Main Campus NM Columbia University in the City of New York NY Fairleigh Dickinson University NJ University of Central Florida FL American Public University System WV Texas Woman's University TX University of Texas-Pan American TX University of Southern California CA Metropolitan College of New York NY Saint Edward's University TX University of Texas at San Antonio TX Golden Gate University-San Francisco CA Saint Thomas University FL The University of Texas at Arlington TX University of Chicago IL

Institution Name

State

1,039 1,222 3,437 1,835 262 1,067 2,348 541 384 237 257 833 1,193 462 1,890 935 705 107 126 686 945 124 478 123 1,289 486 490 451 459 81 963 246 213 205 743 124 666 1,471

Total

436 363 257 130 128 123 104 103 81 75 72 71 71 69 69 67 66 66 64 62 61 61 49 49 48 48 48 47 47 47 47 46 44 43 40 40 40 40

All

239 167 157 56 37 82 53 39 43 45 33 29 45 36 39 41 42 25 34 31 42 34 26 15 25 25 25 38 10 22 28 14 25 33 20 17 21 28

Men

Hispanic Women Percentage 197 196 100 74 91 41 51 64 38 30 39 42 26 33 30 15 24 41 30 31 19 27 23 34 23 23 23 9 37 25 19 32 19 10 20 23 19 12

42% 30% 7% 7% 49% 12% 4% 19% 21% 32% 28% 9% 6% 15% 4% 7% 9% 62% 51% 9% 6% 49% 10% 40% 4% 10% 10% 10% 10% 58% 5% 19% 21% 21% 5% 32% 6% 3%

Source: NCES-IPEDS MA and Ph.D. degrees granted in 2011

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Top 25 – 2011 Degrees Granted First Major All Master’s and Ph.D. Degrees in Engineering 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.

Texas A&M University-Kingsville University of Texas at El Paso Florida International University Texas A&M University University of Florida University of Southern California University of Central Florida Massachusetts Institute of Technology Stanford University Georgia Institute of Technology Cornell University University of Texas at Austin University of Michigan-Ann Arbor Johns Hopkins University University of New Mexico-Main Campus New Jersey Institute of Technology Arizona State University University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign New Mexico State University-Main Campus Stevens Institute of Technology University of California-Los Angeles University of Maryland-College Park University of Miami California State University-Los Angeles Southern Methodist University Purdue University-Main Campus Pennsylvania State University-Main Campus Missouri University of Science & Technology San Jose State University University of Texas at San Antonio University of Colorado Boulder University of South Florida-Main Campus University of Wisconsin-Madison Duke University University of Texas-Pan American University of California-Berkeley George Washington University North Carolina State University at Raleigh Virginia Polytechnic Institute & State Univ. Carnegie Mellon University Polytechnic Institute of New York University University of Arizona University of Washington-Seattle Campus Polytechnic University of Puerto Rico San Diego State University Columbia University in the City of New York Northwestern University

Institution Name

TX TX FL TX FL CA FL MA CA GA NY TX MI MD NM NJ AZ IL NM NJ CA MD FL CA TX IN PA MO CA TX CO FL WI NC TX CA DC NC VA PA NY AZ WA FL CA NY IL

State

232 140 182 814 1,107 1,184 341 918 899 1,218 692 628 1,031 499 118 395 469 646 152 624 457 515 75 181 210 710 470 334 776 127 467 279 550 312 48 627 327 610 555 632 551 176 364 11 124 624 1,158

Total

Hispanic Totals

55 51 49 49 44 41 40 40 37 33 32 30 28 26 26 25 22 22 21 20 20 19 18 16 15 15 15 14 14 14 14 14 14 13 13 13 12 12 12 12 11 11 11 10 10 10 10

All

55 38 37 37 32 31 31 30 30 28 27 22 18 16 17 16 11 17 13 16 17 13 13 14 14 12 9 13 13 12 11 10 7 7 10 5 8 6 7 11 7 8 11 5 7 7 10

Men

Hispanic Women Percentage 0 13 12 12 12 10 9 10 7 5 5 8 10 10 9 9 11 5 8 4 3 6 5 2 1 3 6 1 1 2 3 4 7 6 3 8 4 6 5 1 4 3 0 5 3 3 0

24% 36% 27% 6% 4% 3% 12% 4% 4% 3% 5% 5% 3% 5% 22% 6% 5% 3% 14% 3% 4% 4% 24% 9% 7% 2% 3% 4% 2% 11% 3% 5% 3% 4% 27% 2% 4% 2% 2% 2% 2% 6% 3% 91% 8% 2% 1%

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Diversity and the Courts: An Enlightened GRADUATE SCHOOLS

Dadmissions process.

by Jeff Simmons

iversity – a polarizing word in the college

Photo © Wiley Price

To some, it speaks of the desire, or need, to ensure a multicultural palette of faces on a higher education campus. To others, it represents a careful interpretation of the law – whether federal or state – to determine who gains access, or a preferential edge. To Peter Aranda, the chief executive officer of the Consortium for Graduate Study in Management, it is a complicated term that “gets used and abused” in myriad ways. “In its most grand interpretation, diversity includes everything,” Aranda said.

upheld the University of Michigan Law School’s application of race in the college admissions process. A challenge to that case – Fisher v. University of Texas at Austin – asks the court to reconsider and overrule that decision. As The New York Times reported before the Feb. 21 decision to take up the case, if the court should ultimately disavow racial preferences, student faces at many public colleges and universities across the nation, not just at the University of Texas, will become Whiter and more Asian, and less African-American and Hispanic. In late January, the Times editorialized on the issue, stating that the political push to “eliminate efforts

Consortium CEO Peter Aranda welcomes students to Orientation Conference.

When it comes to establishing diversity as a goal at American institutions of higher learning, he said, the discussion has traditionally revolved around achieving ethnic and racial diversity, “primarily by making up for past wrongs in the United States with certain underrepresented minorities,” when comparing a group’s representation on campus and in the workforce with its overall population numbers. That discussion has yet to be fully resolved, particularly in light of a legal challenge that has now been taken up by the U.S. Supreme Court. In 2003, the court, ruling in Grutter v. Bollinger,

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to ensure diversity on campuses are squarely at odds with America’s racial history. With the court’s makeup likely to change in the next four years, the presidential election could determine how long such crucial efforts will last.” Amid this discussion, the Consortium for Graduate Study in Management serves as a nonprofit pipeline, advocate and cheerleader fostering stronger diversity on campus and in the workplace. The national organization, based in St. Louis, Mo., over the last 46 years has awarded more than $230 million in full-tuition, merit-based scholarships to thousands of Hispanic American,

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African-American, Native American and other MBA candidates with outstanding academic records and a proven commitment to diversity. The scholarships are made possible by the group’s members, 17 top business schools, such as Yale, Cornell, Dartmouth and New York University, and almost 90 Fortune 500 and other leading corporations. Aranda has served as its CEO for the last eight years. He’s also a 1987 alumnus of the Consortium, considered a leading advocate for diversity and inclusion in American business. He recently spoke with The Hispanic Outlook in Higher Education Magazine – prior to the court’s decision to take up the case – about the legal ramifications of the Grutter case, the current state of racial discussions in the country, and his personal mission.

Diversity in Higher Education The Hispanic Outlook: What is the state of diversity on college and university campuses in 2012? Peter Aranda: It’s been largely unchanged for the past 20 years. The population has certainly changed, but I am talking about the graduate business school arena. When you look at the top 50 ranked MBA programs, the numbers have not changed considerably. Underrepresented minorities, mainly African-Americans, Hispanic Americans and Native Americans, still lag behind their majority counterparts, and far behind Asian-Americans, who can be defined as a minority but in this case are not underrepresented. HO: Is the fact that that has not changed a reason for concern? Aranda: It is reason for concern because our population’s demographics are changing. When you look at the percentage of the United States comprised of minorities, that number continues to rise. From a business perspective, developing goods and services for export requires that we understand cultural differences. If we do not find a well-qualified complement of diverse business executives and leaders who understand the needs of the new multicultural, worldwide market, we risk being outpaced by

Perspective from Peter Aranda companies from other countries. We are no longer the clear leader in much of anything.

HO: What has the Obama administration ignored or overlooked? Aranda: The president is playing with the Supreme Court’s Grutter decision and the popularity of the topic – whether affirmative action is legal or illegal relative to the constitution. That seems to be an important topic in the minds of voters. What the administration has overlooked is that, if the intent of government is to pursue what they describe as a completing state interest, for example, diversity in higher education, then we shouldn’t be arguing obvert semantics. We should be looking to create programs that actually enhance diversity right now. HO: Hasn’t the president taken steps to improve diversity within the confines of the law? [Such as by issuing new guidelines in late 2011 suggesting certain socioeconomic criteria be considered in the admissions process.] Aranda: No. All he did was reiterate what the Supreme Court said in 2003. What’s happening now is just politics, like when former President [George W.] Bush said after the Grutter decision, “no quotas,” when the Supreme Court had said, “not race-exclusive.” After the Supreme Court’s opinion in 2003, President Bush issued a statement reinforcing the decision. President Obama has essentially done the same thing. In both cases, the White House has not really changed anything. HO: The president’s guidelines read: “Institutions are not required to implement

Photo © Wiley Price

HO: Has President Obama established a better climate to foster greater diversity? Aranda: No, and in some ways this is not his fault. The fact that he is African-American signaled to a certain part of the population that race was no longer an issue, and in some ways that hurt us. That was not his intent, and it has nothing to do with policy, but it was the response many people had. In terms of his recent statements about diversity in higher education, he has merely reiterated what the Supreme Court already said.

Sherry Wallace, admissions director at University of North Carolina business school, addresses Consortium students.

race-neutral approaches if, in their judgment, the approaches would be unworkable.” These are guidelines, not the law, so how much muscle do they have? Aranda: They do have muscle. The guidelines were issued in the context of the Supreme Court’s Grutter opinion, so schools have been operating under those guidelines since 2004, or however long it took for them to make those changes. Schools are still subject to scrutiny, subject to challenge, and that’s not a bad thing. HO: To some, “diversity” is a dirty word – it has been polarizing amid the debate over affirmative action. How do you define “diversity”? Aranda: In its most grand interpretation, diversity includes everything. White males. White females. Asians. Arab Americans. International students. Americans with disabilities. Diversity is everything. Is someone an athlete? Is someone an artist? Is someone a first-time college attendee? All of these things contribute to a diverse environment. When we talk about racial or ethnic diversity, we are talking primarily about making up for past wrongs done to certain minorities. I define “diversity” both ways; it depends on the context. I actually think “diversity” is an unhelpful word because historically it

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has been interpreted as racial or ethnic diversity only – a minority problem – rather than as an American opportunity. I was excited when the Supreme Court issued the Grutter opinion stating that diversity was a compelling state interest. I was thrilled that the justices had really read the research and followed the studies and determined that diversity in a learning environment enhances the experience for all students. HO: How do you amplify your message so that more businesses recognize the need to diversify? Aranda: This isn’t just about encouraging diversity in education, but in business, as well. And we don’t have to work very hard with business leaders because they are extremely pragmatic. They are interested in selling their goods and services in the highest volumes possible, so developing products targeting specific segments of the population is a no-brainer for them. But in order to do that, they need to hire people who come from those populations. That’s not the only qualification new hires need to have, but it’s essential. By and large, the business world understands the Consortium’s mission. Companies come to us in large numbers hoping to recruit our students precisely because they

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Photo © Wiley Price

ing] in a way that considered race, sex or ethnicity. [Prop. 209 included state hiring, contracting and state university admissions.] California was the first state to pass that law. Then Michigan passed one, Proposition 2. Other states have since gone down that path. Ward Connerly has attempted to say that the Constitution demands equal rights for everyone; therefore affirmative action policies are unconstitutional, and states should outlaw them. The reality is that, in most cases, even where states have passed these laws, schools continue to consider race and ethnicity.

Broadcast journalist Soledad O’Brien shares her story with Consortium students at Orientation Conference.

recognize the need for multicultural employees. The market is driving that need. This is not just about doing the right thing; there is a real business need here. Legal Battles The Barbara Grutter case, and potentially the Abigail Fisher case, have far-reaching implications on how higher education weighs race in recruitment and admissions processes. Both hinge on an analysis of the 14th Amendment’s guarantee of “equal protection of the laws.” However, while ruling on the University of Michigan Law School’s affirmative action plan, the court at the same time struck down its undergraduate admissions process, finding that the application of race did not apply to case-bycase consideration. In the wake of the Grutter decision, many universities amended their policies and procedures to reflect the judges’ decision. As Aranda indicated, the court may now be faced with determining how race should be applied if a university’s policy is “narrowly tailored” to achieve its goal. HO: Who is Abigail Fisher, and why did she pursue this? Aranda: Fisher was a high school student who applied to the University of Texas but did not meet its threshold for the Top Ten Percent plan [which provides admission to any Texan graduating in the top 10 percent of his or her class], so she was forced to compete with the masses to be among the 19 or 20 percent of students who come in under a holistic review process, and she was not offered admission. What she is arguing is that the program rules or

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policies at the University of Texas were not sufficiently “narrowly tailored” because she was discriminated against. HO: What impact did the earlier Barbara Grutter case have on college admissions across the nation – by allowing states to take account of race in admissions? Aranda: Schools were already taking into account race and ethnicity. What happened was that Barbara Grutter raised her hand and said they could not do that. The outcome of that case seemed to suggest that we would have to be race-blind in higher education recruiting and admissions. But the decision was actually and more effectively framed in terms of what you can and cannot do. You can’t have quotas. You can’t have multiple admissions tracks. But you can and must exercise your best efforts in pursuing race-neutral practices. Essentially, Grutter said that you can use race as one element of a holistic review of any applicant. HO: Has this changed the landscape across the country, with some states following this path while others have opted not to? Aranda: Initially all of the states more or less followed this path. The major institutions in every state began to adjust their practices to fall in line with the Supreme Court’s rulings. What happened after that was an effort led by Ward Connerly [former University of California regent who founded the nonprofit anti-racial preference group the American Civil Rights Institute], through Proposition 209 in the state of California to prevent any institution receiving state funding from spending money [on recruit-

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HO: What does this mean to Hispanic and African-American students who want to attend college? Aranda: Their status as members of underrepresented groups has been clarified to some extent, but the 2003 decisions have not affected the way recruiting and admissions decisions are made in any significant way. HO: And in regards to Fisher? Aranda: The fact that it’s a challenge to Grutter does not mean a lot right now. If the Supreme Court decides to hear the case, it’s possible that that will cause some schools to go into a holding pattern for fear of retaliation, but I doubt it. If Grutter is heard and overturned, however, obviously that will have a profound impact. HO: So what will happen if Grutter v. Bollinger is overturned? Aranda: There will be fewer opportunities for underrepresented minorities because we would no longer be looking at racial and ethnic diversity as a compelling state interest; we would be looking at applications blindly without being able to determine if a certain student would enhance the experience of her classmates. HO: The nine justices – where do you believe they lean toward now, favoring race as a factor or not? Aranda: They are still split. They were split in 2003, though a majority ruled in favor. I think they’re much closer now, but it’s tough to call at this point. The justices are more likely to refine the 2003 decisions than they are to override them. Refining them would result in a better definition of what “diversity” and “narrowly tailored” mean in this context. We would also have a better understanding of how to pursue critical mass without quotas. HO: With the departure of Justice Sandra Day O’Connor, whose vote was pivotal to

Grutter, does it seem highly likely that the court, if it hears the case, will remove racial classifications from the process? Aranda: I don’t think so. She was a major influence, but when we look at other decisions, like Roe v. Wade, we see that initially the Supreme Court determined that abortion was legal in certain situations. Subsequent challenges led to clarifications. That is what’s likely to happen here. It’s very difficult to look at the statistics and say that, as a country, we’ve achieved parity in terms of equal rights and equal opportunity. Unfortunately, we are still paying for past sins. We still have people who are discriminated against, and the repercussions of discrimination from 100 years ago are still being felt today. HO: In your opinion, what role should race play in college admissions? Does affirmative action have a role, and how prominent should that be? Aranda: It does. I’m not advocating for admitting unqualified candidates, and the Consortium’s member universities don’t just look at race by any means. They look at undergraduate transcripts, GPAs, GMAT test scores. That said, we do believe that ethnic diversity benefits all students.

aware of the issue and potential outcome. Leading the Charge The Consortium has fostered inclusion in business education and leadership for more than 45 years. It was founded following the landmark Civil Rights Act of 1964 to provide a pipeline for African-American males to enter management positions in business. It started with 21 African-American men. In 1970, it broadened its mission to include women and, a short time later, Hispanic Americans and Native Americans. Seven years ago, its mission changed to include all U.S. citizen and permanent resident applicants who could demonstrate a commitment to its mission of inclusivity. Its corporate partners now include leaders in banking, airline, fuel, food and other industries.

HO: How has its mission evolved over 45 years? Aranda: The mission and the intent of the Consortium remained largely unchanged until the Supreme Court handed down its decisions in the 2003 admissions cases. Today anyone who is a U.S. citizen or permanent U.S. resident is welcome to apply so long as they can demonstrate a commitment to diversity in a way that supports our mission. So whether you are a Caucasian, Asian-American or a member of an underrepresented minority, you have to show your commitment to diversity by supporting an AfricanAmerican community, or a Hispanic American or Native American community. That could mean tutoring middle school students in a school serving underrepresented minorities, participating in campus-based organizations, promoting diversity, volunteering at a nonprofit working within

HO: Does this become polarizing during the election season? Aranda: It’s not one of the top issues the public is looking at. There are others that are much more significant to Americans, and I would hope candidates would focus on those issues. HO: What do you expect the Consortium’s role to be during the presidential campaign? Aranda: We don’t endorse or contribute to political candidates. But we would certainly make the issue very visible to our various constituencies – MBA students, alumni, diversity and admissions officers, business school deans, corporate leaders and others – and encourage everyone to get out and vote. During the Grutter and Gratz v. Bollinger cases in Michigan, the corporate community was heavily involved. Corporate representatives, including many from the Consortium’s corporate partners, testified and issued statements about the importance of diversity. We would expect they would do the same thing now, and we would make sure that all of the Consortium’s corporate partners were

Photo © Wiley Price

HO: Will this case be decided before this year’s presidential elections? Aranda: It’s hard to imagine the case moving that quickly.

Student speaks to ConAgra representative at Consortium career fair.

HO: Tell me what role the Consortium serves. Aranda: The Consortium provides access and opportunity for underrepresented minorities. We are a national nonprofit coalition of 17 graduate business programs and almost 90 Fortune 500 and other companies. We work to identify and recruit top candidates who will apply to our member schools, and we have a merit-based fellowship program that offers scholarships – most, full tuition, to the most qualified candidates. Once students have been admitted, we connect them with our partner companies, all of whom are committed to diversity.

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one of those communities or any similar activity. HO: Share your thoughts about how the Consortium has helped Hispanic students succeed. Aranda: In my own case, the Consortium afforded me the opportunity to attend graduate school on a full-time basis. Without the Consortium, I probably would have stayed at my undergraduate institution and gone into a program part time. The Consortium also created opportunities for me to meet corporate representatives, network with other people of color and learn about different career options. It provides these same opportunities to students today, and the corporate community is especially inter-

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ested in Hispanic students and other students of color. The Hispanic population is growing faster than other groups, and companies know the importance of finding qualified Hispanic MBAs to join their organizations, and of the people they hire to succeed. HO: What does the future hold for the Consortium? Aranda: Barring the overturning of Grutter v. Bollinger, we have a bright future. In some ways, that’s bittersweet. Like all good nonprofit organizations, we would like to see the day when our mission is no longer relevant. I would like to see that in my lifetime, but I’m not sure that will happen. But if the U.S. does reach the point of real equality, I would celebrate the day we shut our doors. In the meantime, underrepresentation is still a big issue in the top business programs. The Consortium has grown tremendously. In 2003, when I came on board, we admitted 200 students. Last year, we admitted over 340. Soon we will have 20 partner universities [there are now 17], which will help us reach our goal of having 500 students in each class. The Consortium can’t solve the problem of underrepresentation on its own. But we’re playing an important role in helping achieve full equality and full representation. Personal Obstacles Aranda grew up in Southern California and is of Mexican, Native American and Jewish descent. He worked a number of part-time jobs during his life, to scrape together enough money – and, fortunately, received scholarships as well – to attend college. The son of a nurse and a truck driver, he admits the road to success was not easy, and pockmarked by episodes of blatant discrimination. HO: Why is it important to you that colleges become more diverse? Aranda: Partly because I am a member of an underrepresented minority myself, and grew up in a time when there were fewer opportunities than there are today. Things may not be completely equal; back then, they were dramatically less so. HO: Tell me about the obstacles you faced. Aranda: I had only one B in high school, and that was in typing. Every other grade was an A, and I scored in the 99th percentile on my SAT test. Still, my guidance counselor recommended I go to junior college or join the military rather than try for a four-year college. Those are not bad alternatives, but they were not the right ones

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for me. I remember being held at gunpoint by the police while trying to drive my family’s car out of an alley behind the Chinese restaurant where I worked. I had just left work and turned on the ignition when a police car stopped me, and officers with shotguns pointing at me told me to get on the ground. My crime? Driving while brown. They let me go, but that didn’t have to happen. I also remember being followed by department store detectives because I didn’t look like I belonged there. And, I remember being told to leave a local convenience store because “my type” wasn’t welcome. HO: Were you first in your family to go to college? Aranda: My father was, although he was a nontraditional student. He left high school, went into the Marine Corps, and drove a truck until he was hurt on the job. He went on to college and graduated when he was 35. I was intimately aware of his college experience, because as a kid, I sat with him in his classes. I think my father wanted me to see what was going on, although sometimes I suspect it was because we didn’t have a babysitter! In any event, he was the first to go to college, and I lived through his college experience so that certainly shaped my own. When I was 5 years old, for my birthday, my parents gave me a passbook for a college savings account. I knew then that I was going to college. HO: When did you know what major to pursue? Aranda: In high school, I was very strong in mathematics, so I went to the University of Southern California to pursue a degree in engineering. Some life events forced me to stop going to school full time. Since engineering did not work part time, I changed my major to business and ended up being very happy. I also did a graduate engineering program at Washington University, so I never completely left it completely behind, and I then pursued a Ph.D. in business at Columbia. HO: Who else in your life led you to consider college? Aranda: My grandfather. He fled Mexico when he was 17 years old, and the Mexican Revolution was about to start. His father was a judge and highly educated, but my grandfather came here without finishing high school and worked on the railroad until he retired. He always said that education was something no one could take away from you. HO: What advice do you impart to Hispanic

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students who believe there are too many obstacles preventing them from attending college? Aranda: My father was a high school teacher in the California school system, which was 96 percent Hispanic. The dropout rate was horrific. Hispanic students weren’t necessarily dropping out due to evil things; many needed to get jobs to support their families. Hispanics’ commitment to family is just as strong today, and in many ways it is admirable. But what I tell Hispanic students is that investing in education will enable them to support their family in an even more significant way. Dropping out of high school and getting a job will help make ends meet in the near term, but it won’t help in the long one. I also encourage them to find mentors who look like them and mentors who don’t. Hispanic students should have Caucasian mentors and African-American mentors – as many mentors as they can. We all too often insulate ourselves from other parts of our communities, which means we don’t have a broad understanding of our environment. When I visit Hispanic conferences, I often see something interesting happen. People form little groups and start speaking Spanish. Those who don’t speak Spanish are automatically and immediately excluded. The lesson is that when we find ourselves in the majority, we should not act like the majority but instead continue to be sensitive to everyone around us. I encourage Hispanic organizations to help their constituencies not to assimilate to the extent that they lose their cultural identity, but to integrate into the mainstream of society, so that we are all “Americans.” HO: What do you tell them about your story? Aranda: I tell them about the things I experienced and the challenges I faced, and that they might face; experiences that are extremely difficult and might make them want to quit. When that happens, I tell them they should not stop trying to achieve and advance, that if a person like me, who came from the “barrio,” can succeed, if they work hard enough and stay focused, they can, too. HO: What is next for you? Aranda: I would like to retire from the Consortium knowing that I’ve helped the organization achieve its mission of racial and ethnic parity. That is the greatest accomplishment I can imagine. I’ve spent a significant portion of my career in corporate America, and I am not chasing that challenge any longer. I am not looking for a bigger paycheck. I am looking to make a difference, and this is the place where I best can do that.

GRADUATE SCHOOLS/SCHOLARSHIPS

Scholar or Fellow, What’s the Difference?

by Mary Ann Cooper

ndergraduate school is a great source of debt for college-bound students. However, when graduate studies are added to that tab, it is no wonder that students seeking an advanced degree, particularly minority and Hispanic students, aggressively search for scholarships and grants to lighten the load. The competition for those dollars gets tougher with every budget cut and economic downturn. And you can’t win that competition unless you understand the financial aid process. Step one is to know the difference between a fellowship and a scholarship. They are both technically grants, but that’s where the similarities end. What’s a Scholarship? Scholarships are like the gift you open on Christmas morning for being good all year long. They are either based on merit or need and, like any great gift, generally do not have to be paid back – either in real dollars or “sweat equity.” The money is paid toward books, tuition, housing or other legitimate education-related expenses. It comes from many different sources, including institutions of higher education, corporations, nonprofits, individual endowments, religious organizations, or state or federal government. What’s a Fellowship? Fellowships are like being given a free gym membership on your birthday. It’s a great gift, but it comes with an imperative to work out. Fellowships are merit-based, and pay for fieldwork or internships. They are designed to give the students practical experience in their field of choice. They usually are attached to a contract that specifies how long the internship will last, and what work is expected to be completed in exchange for the fellowship funds. Think of it as a “salary” for performance in such professions as teaching at the college level, working in a hospital or going into government service. These jobs are designed as practical experience or mandatory lab hours leading to a graduate degree. Unlike scholarships, which operate on a money release timetable only, fellowship dollars are doled out based on the time period of the fellowship. Since fellowships can last weeks, months or years, the monies are allocated

in the form of monthly stipends or in time sensitive increments instead of the lump sum awarded by scholarship grantors annually or semiannually. Does Your Fellowship Have Legs? The greatest flexibility in a fellowship comes with what are called portable fellowships. These are grants that cannot only be applied to any area of graduate study, they also can be applied to graduate study at any accredited institution. These fellowships are usually available through federal funding or through a nonprofit or for-profit organization. Institutional fellowships, on the other hand, don’t have legs. They are tied to attending a particular school, and more than likely a particular program within that school. Examples of institutional fellowships include the Harvard University Fellowship in Minority Health Policy and the Tufts University Graduate Fellowship for Masters Degree Candidates in Child Development. Graduate students have to decide what form of financial aid will work best for them. It might seem prudent to pursue both, but the complexities of applying for and obtaining a fellowship should be understood by all prospective graduate students. The fact is that many of them can’t commit to an internship program at this time in their lives, or lack the specificity in their career choice to properly complete a fellowship application.

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Becoming a Jolly Good Fellow Make no mistake about it; the fellowship application process (sometimes known as the proposal process) is rivaled in intensity only by the time and energy devoted to settling on a master’s thesis topic. What they have in common is the research and writing skills associated with both. It’s not a process you can knock out in a weekend or even a month. It takes planning and execution. Approach the task as if you were taking a course, and landing a fellowship was the main project of the course to be completed. No kidding. You will be navigating strange waters, so the more help you can get, the better. Target a school that has the graduate program you like and start your research. If the school has a separate office dealing with fellowship issues, all the better. Make an appointment to speak to someone there and arm yourself with as many questions as you can. In all likelihood, any financial aid office in your school of choice will have a wealth of written material about fellowships that it can give to you. If the fellowship you seek requires a detailed proposal, and the office has successful fellowship proposals on file, ask to see one. It will give you a clear indication of what works in terms of approved topics and writing style. Even if you are only required to submit an “essay” with your application and résumé, material available at a fellowship office will give you a clue about how important it is to make any written submission “relatable” to the organization or entity granting the fellowships. In this case, it is critically important to signal in your writing that you understand who it is and what it stands for. Finally, before you begin, learn from the past. Network your way around to meet past recipients of the fellowship you are seeking and pick their brains. What did they do right, and what did they do wrong? If you are required to write a topic-specific proposal as part of your application for your fellowship, get information about what topics have been previously accepted or rejected so you don’t waste your time on a failed topic or one that has been done to death. When it comes time to write your essay or proposal, don’t try to impress the reader with as many thesaurus-derived words as possible. Be succinct, plain spoken and grammatically impeccable. Let Them Know the Real You It’s sometimes easy to forget that you are not just the sum of your academic achievements and writing skills. Those in charge of granting fellowships should see you as a real person with personal qualities and experiences that make you the ideal candidate for the fellowship. One place you can really shine is in your résumé or CV, but only if you break some of the standard rules associated with creating a résumé. Normally, a résumé is one page, with just the bare facts about who you are. You should not restrict yourself in this way when applying for a fellowship. Use your résumé to create a narrative about who you really are. A more in-depth discussion of your extracurricular activities that either gives insight into your personality and passion or applies to your current interest for study gives fellowship boards a better feel for you, the person, not just the impersonal applicant. Flesh out specific areas of your academic record if they are relevant to your fellowship application. If you took a course related to the internship or fellowship you are seeking, don’t just list it, explain its relevance by listing any independent study or projects that were part of the course. Include in your references those who can uniquely make the case for this particular fellowship, rather than those who can give you a general, albeit outstanding, recommendation.

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Fellowships Every Hispanic Undergrad Should Know About There is much written about Hispanics who don’t earn undergraduate degrees. And the emphasis is often on finding ways for them to succeed. These organizations and agencies recognize that Hispanic students who have either cleared that hurdle or are succeeding in their efforts need to have some help to complete their studies and pursue a graduate degree if possible. Undergraduate as well as graduate fellowships are included, because without undergraduate assistance, some of the best Hispanic minds might never get the chance to advance to graduate school. CHCI Public Policy Fellowship This paid fellowship program offers the opportunity to gain hands-on experience at the national level in public policy to high-achieving Latinos who’ve earned a bachelor’s degree within two years of the program start date. Fellows have the opportunity to work in congressional offices and federal agencies, depending on their area of interest. Some past focus areas have included international affairs, economic development, health and education policy, housing, or local government. www.chci.org CHCI Graduate Fellowship Program This paid fellowship program offers unparalleled exposure to hands-on experience in public policy to high-achieving Latinos who have earned, within three years of the program start date, a graduate degree or higher that is related to a chosen policy issue area. www.chci.org Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute Inc. Candidates for this fellowship must be a Latino enrolled as a full-time graduate student and a U.S. citizen or permanent resident. They must demonstrate financial need, be active in public service-oriented activities and have good writing skills. www.chci.org American Planning Association Fellowship Candidates must be nominated by planning schools or departments that are recognized by the National Education Development Committee of the American Planning Association. Students are eligible to be nominated if they are or will be enrolled in full-time programs for the Master of City Planning or equivalent degrees, and are members of the following minority groups: African-American, Hispanic American, or Native American. Amount: $1,000-$4,000. www.planning.org Diversifying Higher Education Faculty in Illinois Applicants for this fellowship must be a U.S. citizen, African-American, Hispanic American, or Native American and accepted for admission to a doctoral program at one of the participating universities in fields where there is severe underrepresentation, specifically in sciences, physical sciences, engineering, and mathematics. Amount: $15,000. www.dfi.siu.edu National Physical Science Consortium (NPSC) – Graduate Fellowships for Minorities and Women in the Physical Sciences Open to U.S. citizens who are Black, Hispanic, Native American, and/or female who have an undergraduate GPA of at least 3.0 and are eligible to pursue graduate study in the above areas at a participating NPSC member university. Renewable for up to six years. Total value of award up to $180,000. www.npsc.org/ The Heritage Foundation-Lawrence Wade Journalism Fellowship Must be full-time students working toward a degree, however it does

not necessarily have to be journalism or a communications related field if the student works in journalism outside of school. The fellowship is for excellence in journalism and preference is given to African-American, Hispanic, Native American, and Asian students. www.heritage.org HSA/Pfizer Inc. Fellowship Program Available to Hispanic graduate students at selected universities and in selected majors. The fellowship includes a $10,000 award for the academic year, and a paid summer internship in New York. www.hsf.net Hispanic Alliance for Career Enhancement (HACE) The Alliance provides several undergraduate scholarships and graduate fellowships to Hispanic and Latino students. Eligible majors include accounting, business, chemistry, communications, computer science, engineering, pre-law, mathematics, media relations and physics. Recipients are selected on the basis of academic excellence and community service. www.haceonline.org Smithsonian Institution The Smithsonian offers the Latino Studies Predoctoral and Postdoctoral Fellowships to facilitate research related to Latino history, art and culture using Smithsonian resources. For more information, call 1-202-633-7070, fax 1-202-633-7069, write to Office of Fellowships, Smithsonian Institution, 470 L’Enfant Plaza Suite 7102, PO Box 37012 MRC 902, Washington, DC 20013-7012 or send e-mail to siofg@si.edu.

National Society of Hispanic MBAs (NSHMBA) The National Society of Hispanic MBAs (NSHMBA) offers graduate fellowships in management and business. Applicants must be of Hispanic heritage and be U.S. citizens or legal permanent residents. A minimum 3.0 GPA is required of students who are applying from a bachelor’s or master’s degree program. The GPA requirement is reduced to 2.75 for students who are applying from a bachelor’s degree program and have two years of fulltime work experience. Applicants must be student members of NSHMBA. www.nshmba.org/scholarship/ The LAGRANT Foundation The foundation sponsors scholarships for full-time undergraduate students at accredited four-year colleges and graduate fellowships. Applicants must be of African-American, Asian/Pacific American, Hispanic/Latino or Native American/Alaska Native heritage. U.S. citizenship or permanent residency is required. Applicants must major in a field related to public relations, marketing or advertising and want to pursue a career in one of these fields. Undergraduate students must have at least a 2.75 GPA on a 4.0 scale, and graduate students must have at least a 3.2 GPA. www.lagrantfoundation.org

WILLIAM & MARY School of Education Graduate Programs in: ;LHJOLY ,K\JH[PVU 3LHKLYZOPW *V\UZLSPUN :JOVVS 7Z`JOVSVN` 2 (KTPUPZ[YH[PVU /PNOLY ,K\JH[PVU (KTPUPZ[YH[PVU Small. Smart. Historic. It’s the William & Mary difference. http://education.wm.edu

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GRADUATE SCHOOLS/INNOVATIONS/PROGRAMS

Aspen’s Alternative MBA Rankings Reflect a New Set of Values

This

by Marilyn Gilroy year, more than 250,000 students will set their sights on a coveted MBA degree. They will take the GMAT tests and begin the process of sorting through the many options for pursuing their goal. But an increasing number of these students will choose an MBA program based on a different set of values than their predecessors. Instead of looking at the usual Return on Investment (ROI) model focusing on what fields of study might be the most lucrative, this group will make their decision based on values, ethics and issues of social concern, such as the environment. And that’s where the Aspen Institute’s Business and Society Program can help. Through its Beyond Grey Pinstripes initiative, the institute offers a ranking of MBA programs that have successfully integrated social and environmental stewardship into the curriculum. In other words, these rankings abandon the usual approach based on admission criteria, starting salaries for graduates and surveys of management consultants. Instead, the institute issues rankings that use an analysis of how well business schools are training future executives to deal with the broader social and economic issues impacted by their profession. “Many young business school candidates want to make a good living and stay true to their ethics, environmental concerns and social causes. So they turn to the institute to find the right school,” writes Judith Samuelson, executive director of the Aspen Institute Business and Society Program, in a 2011 article titled “The Business of Education.” Manuel (Manny) González, chief executive officer of the National Society of Hispanic MBAs (NSHMBA), agrees that the change in attitude is noticeable in Hispanic MBA applicants. “I spoke with 80 Fortune 500 companies last year, and we talked about this,” he said. “We see some new behavior in that a different generation is coming into the workplace with a different set of values. They are very interested in social issues and giving back to the community.” González says the trend started years ago, even before the economic collapse. During his travels, he often talked with Hispanics who wanted to go to business school but also wanted to integrate social issues into their careers. “They are looking for balance in their lives,” he said. “They want to be able to spend time with their family and in the community. They are not single-minded.” This year’s Beyond Pinstripes survey is especially timely given the prominence of the Occupy Wall Street Movement in which protesters rallied against the high unemployment, economic inequality, greed, and corruption that have made headlines during the Great Recession. The demonstrators laid much of the blame on the leaders of the financial sector, many of whom were trained at the nation’s top graduate schools of business. No matter how one felt about the protests, the message resonated with many Americans who believe that today’s business leaders, especially investment bankers, have betrayed societal interests.

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Manuel (Manny) González, CEO, National Society of Hispanic MBAs

Several critics, including Samuelson, would like to see business education that “works for the planet.” Helping MBA candidates pick a business school that reflects this point of view is instrumental in bringing about change. “Business education is a major enterprise; it is setting the tone in boardrooms and executive suites across the planet,” she said. “We need to spotlight the best thinking and teaching about the complex realities and multiple objectives of business. And we need to help students vote with their feet – to enlist them in creating demand for the kind of coursework that engages business in the most critical issues of our day.” Others from within MBA programs also believe it is time for a change. Rakesh Khurana, a professor of leadership development at Harvard, has written and spoken about the need to create career paths for those who want to use their MBA credential as a way to improve society. His book,

From Higher Aims to Hired Hands: the Societal Transformation of American Business Schools and the Unfulfilled Promise of Management as a Profession, describes how business schools, originally established to teach individuals to use their knowledge to advance societal interests, have evolved into a market model in which managers are trained to increase profits and serve shareholders. Khurana advocates for reforms that recommit MBA programs to an agenda that serves “the well-being of society” and incorporates the very ethical, environmental and economic concerns addressed in Beyond Grey Pinstripes rankings. The latest rankings show that there has been progress on this front in B-schools at home and abroad. Sample findings from the 2011-2012 Beyond Grey Pinstripes report include: • The percentage of schools surveyed that require students to take a course dedicated to business and society issues has increased dramatically over time: 34 percent in 2001, 45 percent in 2003, 54 percent in 2005, 63 percent in 2007, 69 percent in 2009, and 79 percent in 2010 • Since 2009, there has been a 38 percent increase in the number of required courses in finance departments that include social, environmental or ethical content • 64 percent of this survey cycle of schools are located in the U.S. with the remaining 36 percent located across the globe, from the Philippines and India to France and the Netherlands Manny González says he is not completely surprised by the B-school

Nicole Buckley, program manager, Beyond Grey Pinstripes

curricular changes. “Let’s not forget that the business schools have something to gain,” he said. “They have identified this as a concern among MBA candidates, and so they want to market their programs as having this component.” How the Survey Is Conducted The history of the rankings dates back to 1998, when the World Resources Institute (WRI) created Grey Pinstripes with Green Ties, a report that examined the inclusion of environmental management topics in 37 MBA programs. In 1999, WRI partnered with the Aspen Institute’s Business and Society Program (Aspen BSP) to balance the report by examining MBA programs for the teaching of social impact management. This led to the creation of Beyond Grey Pinstripes. In 2007, Aspen BSP took over sole management of the survey. Over time, Beyond Grey Pinstripes has grown and is used by students, academics and major corporations. Additionally, the program has been written about in media outlets such as the Wall Street Journal and Bloomberg Businessweek, which called the current trend on teaching students to be both successful and ethical “the new B-school mantra.” The Beyond Grey Pinstripes survey is conducted every two years. The Aspen Institute sends invitations to 600 business schools around the world. Schools that meet the eligibility criteria are then asked to provide basic information about the school and then provide in-depth content in three areas: 1) MBA coursework with evidence that content relates to social, ethical and environmental content; 2) institutional support in which schools describe activities, internship institutes and other initiatives that help prepare students for social and environmental stewardship in their professional endeavors; and 3) faculty research which includes abstracts of all relevant articles published by faculty in the previous two years that focuses on social, ethical and environmental issues. After collecting the data, the Aspen Institute uses a team of 12 Ph.D. scoring fellows, selected in a competitive process, from leading institutions around the world. The fellows who participated in the current survey were drawn from business schools in the U.S., Canada, Denmark, Spain, the United Kingdom and the Netherlands. The fellows receive thorough training on survey protocol and scoring. It is rigorous work; they must sort through approximately 12,000 courses and research abstracts to find relevant content. “The fellows work with us for several months to prepare for scoring. They review all of the data individually and with their partners,” said Nicole Buckley, program manager of Beyond Grey Pinstripes. “They are reimbursed with a stipend for their arduous work.” Scoring is done in pairs and “blindly,” meaning to the extent possible, schools and faculty names are not associated with the data. The purpose of this methodology is to maintain scoring consistency and minimize possible biases. The scoring categories the Aspen Institute uses for Beyond Grey Pinstripes are: Availability of relevant courses (20 percent); Student exposure to content (25 percent); Relevant courses on business impact (30 percent); and Business school faculty research (25 percent). For some schools, the act of participating in the survey is a catalyst to strengthen their social, ethical and environmental (SEER) offerings. “Participating in the Beyond Grey Pinstripes survey is a process like no other survey,” said Buckley. “Business schools invested in the survey use this opportunity to conduct a deep dive on their own campuses, collecting

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syllabi from professors, demographic data around numbers of students in different types of core and elective courses, faculty research published over the past two years in peer-reviewed journals, and information on other offerings outside the classroom. “When a school conducts this type of review and collection of data, it serves as a benchmark for their own progress and for how they compare to what other programs around the world are doing. It is an opportunity for schools to reflect on their own offerings and initiate dialogue around how their own curricula and extracurricular offerings can be strengthened.” However, several prominent business schools, including those at Harvard, MIT and Dartmouth, have found the process too cumbersome and have chosen not to participate. Dartmouth’s Tuck School of Business was one of the schools that dropped out of the survey, citing the “cost in time and effort needed” and criticizing the methodology. Specifically, officials expressed concern that the co-curricular information is collected but not used in ranking, although it is available on the Beyond Grey Pinstripes website. “We believe that what students learn outside of the classroom, especially through experiential learning, is as important as what courses they take and the research a school’s faculty choose to undertake,” said Penny Paquette, Tuck’s assistant dean for strategic initiatives, in The Dartmouth, the college’s student newspaper.

But the institute stands behind its decision to make judgments based on what is taught and researched in business schools. “While we would love to be able to include extracurricular offerings in our MBA ranking criteria, it is very difficult to assign a meaningful quantitative value to different types of activities and support offered that could maintain the integrity of our scoring methodology,” said Buckley. “We understand that extracurricular offerings are one of the central parts of the MBA experience offered at many schools, and for this reason we do collect extensive information on things like internship opportunities, career services, speaker series, and student clubs to share with our online audience.” That kind of information can be especially useful for Hispanics who are trying to find the MBA program that best fits their needs. “These kinds of ratings are definitely useful to Hispanics,” said NSHMBA’s González, “They don’t just look at one source. They blanket the market and look at lots of different data to make their decisions. They still have an eye on getting a return on their investment, but they are weighing many factors in choosing a program.” Beyond Grey Pinstripes Top MBA Programs 2011-2012 Here is a partial listing. A complete list of the top 100 MBA programs is available at beyondgreypinstripes.org.

TOP TEN LISTS

UNITED STATES

OUTSIDE THE U.S.

1. Stanford Graduate School of Business

1. York University (Schulich)

2. U. of Notre Dame (Mendoza)

2. IE Business School

3. Yale School of Management

3. ESADE Business School

4. Northwestern University (Kellogg)

4. Erasmus University (RSM)

5. U. of Michigan (Ross)

5. U. of British Columbia (Sauder)

6. Cornell University (Johnson)

6. Griffith Business School

7. U. of North Carolina (Kenan-Flagler)

7. ESMT

8. UC Berkeley (Haas)

8. U. of Navarra (IESE)

9. GWU School of Business

9. U. of Calgary (Haskayne)

10. Columbia Business School

10. INSEAD

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UNCENSORED

by Peggy Sands Orchowski

WILL ALL “DREAMERS” GET DEPORTATION WAIVERS? – It’s called “prosecutorial discretion,” and since November, it is the hottest immigration issue in the country. Everyone agrees that there are more than 10 million foreign nationals currently living in the United States illegally (some say 20 million) and more resources than ever before have been dedicated to enforcing immigration laws. But it is clearly impossible for all to be deported. So who then? In November, the Department of Homeland Security publicly stated that it had set a maximum of 400,000 deportations a year, and they will be only those convicted of serious crimes. The rest have a good chance of getting prosecutorial discretion – a waiver from deportation; they might even get a work permit. Certainly, most of the 2.1 million young adults who qualify for the DREAM Act currently in Congress might qualify as well for prosecutorial discretion. Some immigrant advocates have urged that “DREAMERs” be given the waiver as a group. But immigration officials are adamant: the waivers are only for those in deportation proceedings and will be granted only on a case-by-case basis. Individual considerations will include length of time in the country, English-language ability, family status, achievements, etc. For those millions not in the formal deportation process – they’re home free, so to speak, until they’re caught.

HISPANICS LIVE LONGER – In a special feature on ageing in the United States, the National Journal in its winter 2011-12 edition came up with a chart comparing the average life expectancy at birth by race and ethnicity. While the average life expectancy age in the U.S. is 78.4 years, the chart showed that Hispanics in the U.S. lived on average some five years longer than Whites and 10 years longer than Blacks and Native Americans. Hispanic males lived an average of 80.6 years; and Hispanic females, 86.3 years. Only Asians lived longer on the average: 84.6 years for Asian males and 89.7 years for females. There were no explanations given. But one guess could be the Latino and Asian strong tradition of extended family living, care, support and respect for the elderly.

CIVIC ENGAGEMENT: SHOULD PROFESSORS’ PROMOTIONS DEPEND ON IT? – The recent White House conference on civic engagement launched a national campaign to get high school and college students to form a lifetime habit of participation in diverse community activities. It is called democracy building and is supposed to be incorporated into every course and field of study. While many examples of best civic engagement practices presented at the conference involved professors, there was no suggestion that colleges go back to an earlier time that I remember when my father was a professor at the University of California in the 1950s and 60s. In those

days, community activity was part of the evaluation for a professor’s advancement. Most professors lived in and were active in their communities. Even tenured professors taught undergraduate courses, their spouses were active on campus in faculty/student clubs, and many hosted their graduating students to dinner at their homes. Professors’ examples were considered important: civic engagement was to be practiced as well as preached. And community activities counted for 25 percent of their evaluations for promotions.

OBAMA’S CONFLICTED THREAT TO COLLEGES: CUT COSTS OR ELSE – Once again, in his State of the Union speech in January, President Obama focused on the state of higher education. But this time he scowled as he confronted the rising tuition costs of America’s postsecondary education industry. His ultimatum: either colleges cut tuition prices or they will lose federal funding. It sounds simple, but it’s a many-sided conundrum for public colleges. As state funds diminish, where should they cut costs? Some say they will cut tuition but increase student fees. Or they might downgrade quality with larger classes, fewer offerings, longer graduation times and ever-growing percentages of part-time and graduate student faculty. For some, the magic answer is online courses. Cheap they might be, but are students really learning? As colleges cut out the so-called “bells and whistles” of campuses, classroom face time with professors, discussion with students in dorms and libraries, won’t they be throwing out the baby with the bath? One idea never heard: reduce the increasing number of seven-figure salaries of college administrators. IS ESL TAKING OVER ADULT ED? – A vast array of adult education courses at prices as low as $5 for a six-week course has long been a unique and invaluable product of American community colleges, especially in states like California. But increasingly, adult ed classes are on the chopping block as state fiscal crises grow – except for one segment: ESL. “It’s hard to argue the importance of teaching a grown man a craft over an adult immigrant who crucially needs English skills,” one advocate argued. But that’s not really the reason. Fact is, there is federal money for ESL classes, not general adult education. 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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Who’s Helping with Grad School GRADUATE SCHOOLS/SCHOLARSHIPS

by Jeff Simmons

overflow crowd filled the room at the Grand Hyatt New York Hotel at New York City’s Grand Central Terminal. Many were suited up, briefcases in hand, iPads and notebooks primed to record pearls of wisdom over the next half-day. All 150-plus people were potential MBA applicants, gathered on a warm winter’s day in February for The MBA Tour conference, a chance to acquire the skills necessary to apply and earn acceptance to their next level of higher education, and to meet recruiters from dozens of schools from across the globe. “Your decision should be what you feel is best for you,” Dr. Don Martin, former dean of admissions at the University of Chicago’s Booth School of Business, said in opening remarks to the standing-room-only crowd. “Don’t let rankings be the resource; let them be a resource.” Martin, who has nearly three decades of experience in graduate enrollment and student services, collected pieces of paper from audience members, a largely White male crowd, with several Hispanic, AfricanAmerican and Asian-American members. He had asked everyone to jot down their prime criteria for school selection, and then read off their submissions: “Values.” “Prestige.” “Location.” “Money.” “Research Opportunities.” “Getting a job in my desired industry.” “Cost.” “Reputation,” Martin repeated several times, leafing through the papers, then looking up upon finishing the last piece. “Quite an array.” “One of the biggest mistakes that folks make, the biggest mistake prospective graduate students make, is not doing adequate research before they apply,” he said, leading many in the room to quickly keypad or scribble in “research.” Amid a shaky economy and evolving employment demands landscape, forums like these, and scholarships offices, are seeing a steady if not rising demand for graduate school studies, experts say. Students trying to improve their odds of finding work – and greater financial rewards – are navigating the road to MBAs and other graduate degrees. “I’m actually not surprised, primarily for two reasons, one of which is the economy,” Martin said after the session. “We’ve seen traditionally that when the economic situation in this country is a bit

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more tenuous, jobs are a little harder to come by, companies are cutting back, individuals tend to think of a graduate education during that time.” “But something else that has happened in the last 15 or 20 years is that the master’s degree seems to be replacing the bachelor’s degree as an entry-level requirement for many employers,” he added. “It does seem to me that in many fields, higher education being one of them, a bachelor’s degree isn’t enough anymore, even an entry-level position. The folks hiring are looking

Cathy Makunga, vice president of scholarships, HSF

for individuals who have a higher degree.” Nevertheless, steep tuition costs can be daunting to the point of derailing plans and quashing enthusiasm for attending graduate school. Tuition costs become more worrisome when salaries don’t increase at similar rates, but Martin insisted they should not be insurmountable. “If costs are going up, it may be that students will wait a year or two later, or they may choose to work and go to school part time,” said Martin, the author of the book Road Map for Graduate Study. “I definitely think scholarships are important,

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but I would never encourage someone to let the lack of scholarship money hold them back from getting a degree if it’s something they want to do.” “Scholarships,” he added, “are actually in some ways more important to the institutions offering them than they are to the students receiving them because the purpose of offering them is to recruit students to come.” That scholarship route is the path many students chart to pare costs and ensure they can realize their educational and career plans. While many scholarship offerings cast a wide net and are not specific to ethnicity or race, others are, hosted either by organizations seeking to elevate Hispanic success or co-branded with corporations seeking to tap into a talent pool. Fastweb, Etc. The Internet provides a bounty of searchable options, though experts also caution that applicants should closely scrutinize options to avoid scams, particularly ones that require up-front costs. “My go-to source on scholarships is Fastweb, which is a national database,” said Evelyn Guzmán, director of the Office of Scholarships at Brooklyn College in New York City. “There are all types of scholarships for all types of disciplines, and obviously for students of different backgrounds.” On Fastweb, graduate students can complete a profile that helps to deliver suitable scholarship offerings. Other popular sites are www.collegeboard.com and www.scholarships.com. An initial, crucial step, Guzmán said, is for students to submit a Free Application for Federal Student Aid, or FAFSA. Furthermore, she encourages potential graduate school applicants to look close to home – the companies they work for, or hope to work for – to determine whether they provide financial support to students seeking graduate degrees. And, if looking at schools, explore department-specific scholarships, not just university-wide ones. “With graduate students, there are also things called assistantships, where you can go ahead and do work for the department and they pay you, and that also becomes part of the financial packaging that helps students,” she said. Guzmán has witnessed an increase in Hispanic students pursuing graduate degrees, along with an

Decisions and Scholarships increase in applications for scholarship support. “With a downturn in the market, people go ahead and pursue a master’s degree to be more competitive in the job market,” she said.

Hispanic Scholarship Fund One resource she recommends is the Hispanic Scholarship Fund (www.hsf.net). “If I am looking for something, specifically for a Hispanic student, this is a place where I would go to get oriented,” she said. The Hispanic Scholarship Fund (HSF), the country’s leading Hispanic higher education fund, works to improve access to higher education for Hispanics. Since its inception in 1976, HSF has awarded more than $330 million in scholarships. HSF scholarships initially accommodated students attending or hoping to attend undergraduate programs. But offerings later expanded to help graduate students. Overall, demand has steadily risen: 16,000 students submitted applications (for both graduate and undergraduate scholarships) to seek scholarships for the coming academic year, up dramatically from 12,000 the previous year. “You see that tuition has gone up, a big spike in the last few years, as well as a leveling off or cutting of state aid,” said Cathy Makunga, vice president of scholarships at the HSF. “A lot of those programs are shrinking or decreasing, and this has students searching for other sources of funding.” Among HSF’s scholarship programs are many supporting graduate studies, within two tracks: general college scholarships and cobranded scholarship programs. Each scholarship program has its own requirement and deadlines, but in general, the HSF notes, they have a 3.0 cumulative Grade Point Average on a 4.0 scale. Additionally, applicants most often must be citizens of the United States or legal permanent residents with a valid permanent resident card or passport stamped I-551; be pursuing or plan to undertake their first undergraduate or graduate degree; and, be enrolled or plan to enroll full time as an undergraduate or graduate student at a U.S.-accredited institution in the country, Puerto Rico, U.S. Virgin Islands or Guam. Additionally, students often must submit the FAFSA. A recent review of HSF’s website showed graduate scholarship opportunities currently available due to collaborations with a number of organizations or companies. And, in fact, most of its scholarship programs – about 100 of them, or 80 percent – are funded by corporations, Makunga said.

The review showed programs involving: ALPFA (ranging from $1,500 to $10,000); CVS Caremark (a $5,000 scholarship for students pursuing a Doctorate of Pharmacy degree); Nissan North America, Inc. (up to $2,500); and, Staples ($2,500 scholarships). Other collaborations include the Gold Standard Scholarship Program, which provides $10,000 academic scholarships in six cities; the HACEMOS Scholarship Program (offering $1,500$2,500 scholarships), which helps Hispanic students and dependents of HACEMOS members

financial assistance to outstanding male and female Hispanic students, while a similar partnership with the Women’s National Basketball Association and Bacardi Gold grants $15,000 scholarships to female students. “Each of these programs may have its own general criteria, and some may be geographic,” Makunga said. “We do have programs that are a little bit more competitive and have a higher GPA requirements. Our programs vary widely, and a lot has to do with the corporations themselves.” She added: “Certain companies have inter-

Annually, the HSF awards around 3,000 to 3,330 scholarships, with about 8 percent to 10 percent earmarked for graduate studies. obtain a college degree; the Marathon Oil Corporation College Scholarship Program ($15,000 scholarships for each of two years); and, the McNamara Family Foundation Creative Arts Project Grant, offering up to $15,000 grants to Hispanic undergraduate and graduate students enrolled in creative arts programs, including media, film, performing arts, and communications. The National Basketball Association and Bacardi Gold also partnered with HSF to provide

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ests in certain markets, while others may look for specific majors. We have a lot of interest in supporting students in STEM fields and students in business. You see a lot more money going in that direction.” Annually, HSF awards around 3,000 to 3,330 scholarships, with about 8 percent to 10 percent earmarked for graduate studies. Students, she said, should start early when researching which scholarships are best for them.

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“There are so many programs out and so many steps they have to go through,” she said. “I always tell students when they consider what their course of study would be to always look at programs that are the least popular, because if there is a need there, they are more likely to find funding in that area.” Scholarship Directory, Tomás Rivera Policy Institute The nonprofit Tomás Rivera Policy Institute, which advances informed policy on key issues affecting Hispanic communities, hosts a website (www.latinocollegedollars.org) offering a directory of scholarship opportunities, many involving graduate school. The website originally began as a resource targeting eligible Hispanic students in California. But in 2007, the John Randolph Haynes and Dora Haynes Foundation, the Sallie Mae Fund, and the Walt Disney Company provided funding so that it could be broadened to include all organizations across the country that award grants and scholarships to eligible Hispanics. The website currently lists dozens of scholarship opportunities, with several focused on providing assistance to students seeking to continue their studies in mathematics, engineering, technology, journalism and business. NSHMBA Programs One listing is for the National Society of Hispanic MBAs (NSHMBA), which fosters the development of graduate MBAs and advances them into leadership roles in the corporate world. Since its creation in 1989, it has awarded $8.7 million to 2,500 scholars. NSHMBA, which has 37 chapters in the U.S. and Puerto Rico serving nearly 15,000 members, strives to increase the number of Hispanics graduating from master’s business degree programs through scholarships, professional development, and mentorship. NSHMBA offers two scholarship programs to help qualified Hispanics pursue MBAs; the NSHMBA Foundation Scholarship Program and the University Partner Scholarships Program. The NSHMBA Scholarship Program provides an opportunity for full- and part-time MBA students to study at accredited institutions with scholarships, assistantships and fellowships. Bibiana Am, NSHMBA’s senior manager for education and university relations, said that historically NSHMBA’s scholarship program has attracted more applications each year, and in 2011 presented scholarships to 106 students. NSHMBA partners with more than 60 colleges and universities across the United States to

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increase the number of Hispanic students completing masters’ degrees. “We actively secure sponsorships from corporations for scholarships, and the amount varies from year to year and depends on the economy,” said Sharon Neal, NSHMBA’s director of development and university relations. “We know that, especially in the Hispanic community, because they have been underrepresented, historically there has been a significant lack of funding for scholarships,” she said. However, she pointed to one recent study that noted that 68 percent of Hispanic MBA students claimed they would not have been able to seek their higher education degree were it not for the financial support offered by scholarships. “When you’ve got an economy like this, it’s a buyer’s market,” she said. “Fortune 500 companies, which tend to be our sponsors – it’s their market and they can get premium talent MBAs.” NSHMBA strengthens relationships with the scholars by not only providing financial assistance but career guidance as well. “While people come to us to get their MBA financed, they stay with us to help with their career development,” said Lynn Handle, director of business development, marketing and membership at NSHMBA. NAHJ Scholarships Such career development is key to the National Association of Hispanic Journalists (NAHJ), as well. NAHJ has promoted the involvement of Hispanics in the news industry since it was founded in 1984. Anna López Buck, interim executive director of NAHJ, said that it provides the most substantial journalism scholarships aimed at Hispanic students in the nation. “We are the only organization focused on mentoring students who want to go into journalism,” she said. The organization, as well, has witnessed growing interest in scholarship support. NAHJ offers five different scholarships, about 30 each year; about a quarter are for graduate studies. Overall, NAHJ has presented more than 200 scholarships amounting to $1.2 million. “We see more students applying,” said López Buck, “because of the higher costs of higher education, and the fact that less funding is available. I think that because our organization is very focused on journalism, it’s even harder to find funding for these students.” “We are really trying to encourage more Latino students to go into journalism,” said López Buck, lamenting the ongoing transformation of traditional journalism and its negative impact on newsroom staff levels across the nation. “It’s not just a problem in the Latino

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community but overall; fewer students are going into journalism.” Scholarships, she said, are helping to increase the pipeline of Hispanic students that achieve graduate journalism studies. Additionally, she encourages those seeking scholarships to actively participate in journalism organizations. “They should get mentors to help them while they are in college,” she said. “Recruiters are always looking and tracking students and their progress. I also encourage them to do internships during the summer.” The organization works closely with media companies – such as News Corporation and Gannett – to provide scholarships, internships and training. “We provide internships with some of our scholarships, and we open the door to other opportunities,” she said. One incredibly public opportunity is NAHJ’s annual scholarship benefit, held for the last 15 years. At the last event, in the Time Warner Center overlooking Central Park, future Hispanic journalists mingled with accomplished Hispanic television and newspaper journalists, such as Juan González from the New York Daily News, Jim Acosta from American Morning and Marysol Castro from The Early Show, each offering advice about pursuing dreams and overcoming odds. For those students who still find the fiscal responsibilities too daunting to overcome, Martin insists they should not give up. “There are ways of finding funding to help yourself, if there is not a scholarship, and even if costs go up,” he said. Those attending the MBA Tour, which has hosted more than 165 MBA events in 28 countries, peppered Martin with questions, even waiting along his route between sessions to solicit further advice. He took all questions, because after all, it was part of the vital research component he stressed to applicants. “In terms of the numbers at some of these MBA fairs, the average number of admissions representatives that each student will see is abysmally low. It seems to me that people come to something like this with preconceived notions, they’ve decided they know where they are going, and, once they’ve seen that school, they can leave. I think that that is extremely shortsighted, and that’s why I focus on research so much.” “For those students who are considering a graduate education,” he added, “I say ‘Go for it. You can do it.’”

Preparing for the Changed – but Still Challenging – GRE GRADUATE SCHOOLS/PROGRAMS

by Mary Ann Cooper

est preparation is nothing new for students who want to attend college or graduate school. They know that the secret to opening those academic gates is performing well on a standardized admission test. One test, the Graduate Record Exam (GRE), holds the ticket to being admitted into graduate school. And while this has always been important, an anemic job market makes this test even more important to many Americans. Many are opting to take the GRE hoping admission to a graduate school and an advanced degree will get them a better-paying job or simply allow them to enter the workforce after having no luck doing so with their undergraduate degree and skills. Each year, about 675,000 prospective graduate and business school applicants from 230 countries and regions take the test. Applicants come from varying educational and cultural backgrounds, and the GRE revised General Test provides a common measure for comparing candidates’ qualifications. GRE scores are used by admissions or fellowship panels to supplement undergraduate records, recommendation letters and other qualifications for graduate-level study. In August 2011, the GRE revised General Test replaced the GRE General Test, featuring what the Education Testing Service (ETS) calls a test-taker friendly design and new questions. ETS says the revised test more closely reflects the kind of thinking students will do in graduate or business school and demonstrates that they are ready for graduate-level work. On its website, ETS explains that the new test is divided into three parts: • Verbal Reasoning – measures your ability to analyze and evaluate written material and synthesize information obtained from it, analyze relationships among component parts of sentences and recognize relationships among words and concepts • Quantitative Reasoning – measures problem-solving ability, focusing on basic concepts of arithmetic, algebra, geometry and data analysis • Analytical Writing – measures critical thinking and analytical writing skills, specifically your ability to articulate and support complex ideas clearly and effectively The timely release of the seventh edition of GRE for Dummies, by Ron Woldoff and Joe Kraynak, purports to be a tool that demystifies the GRE and improve the scores of the people taking it. “Knowledge, skills and preparation are the three components for scoring well on any test, and the GRE is no different,” says Woldoff. “One of the easiest ways to reduce any test anxiety and optimize your performance on the GRE is to become familiar with it. Knowing what to expect gives you less to think about and fret over come test day, so you can focus on what really matters – the test itself.” Woldoff explains that his book guides readers through every area of the exam, providing advice, practice tests and other helpful study aids. The authors provide these 10 things to keep in mind before taking the GRE: • You may return to previous questions in the same section; the GRE allows you to return to previous questions in any given section as long as you haven’t moved on to the next section, which wasn’t true with earlier versions of the GRE; “You can flag questions for review by clicking the

Mark for Review button at the top of the screen,” notes Woldoff • The GRE doesn’t penalize for guessing; questions answered incorrectly count exactly the same as questions left unanswered, so you’re better off guessing than skipping • The GRE uses a percentile-based scoring system; the GRE is a competitive test. Immediately after you complete the test, you receive an estimated percentile ranking based on the test takers’ scores from the previous year; “The number of GRE test takers worldwide increases each year; “find out what the acceptable GRE score range is for admissions and scholarships at the schools you’re applying to and ask whether that range is expected to change,” notes Woldoff • Practice makes all the difference; take advantage of practice tests; familiarize yourself with the practice software ETS provides; write the practice essays as well • You must study for the GRE; “I’d put my money on the average Joe or Josephine who’s well prepared over a budding Einstein going in cold – every time,” says Woldoff; “so be prepared!” • The GRE is different from the SAT; getting into graduate school isn’t as easy, and the GRE is much more difficult than the SAT • The GRE also measures your stamina and performance under pressure; the GRE measures a number of things besides your math and verbal aptitude; it measures your ability to prepare, your stamina, and your performance under pressure • Other than the math, the general GRE is subject neutral; you’re a high school and college graduate; everything on the GRE is stuff you’ve seen before; it does not require specialized knowledge • You can practice the GRE on your own computer; the only way to experience the real GRE is to take it; however, you can simulate the test-taking experience on your own computer and get as close to a real-life experience as possible; GRE For Dummies, Premier 7th Edition, comes with an accompanying CD that includes two practice tests; or you can download the practice software provided by ETS • You can’t bring anything into the testing center; “you can’t take anything in with you, not even a wristwatch,” says Woldoff; “you can store food and water in a locker, but be prepared to empty your pockets and be fingerprinted upon entering the actual testing area” • “Whether you’ve been in the working world for a few years and are now heading back to school or whether you’ve just graduated from college, remember this: The GRE is difficult for everyone who takes it,” says Woldoff; “you’re not alone in thinking it presents a huge challenge, but you can reduce that challenge by being well prepared • “Remember, too, that most test takers do not get perfect scores, and you’re not expected to either,” he concludes; “do the best you can, score in the high percentiles, and get accepted to graduate school! No one expects a perfect score, so you shouldn’t either; start preparing and good luck!”

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GRADUATE SCHOOLS/PROGRAMS

Alumni, Social Media and Internships Help Graduates Find Jobs

by Frank DiMaria

here’s an old saying: A rich man goes to college, and a poor man goes to work. Today both rich and poor have more opportunities than ever to pursue a higher education. But both the rich and the poor man must find jobs when they graduate. That poses these questions: are there jobs for today’s college graduates and, if so, how do they find those jobs?

reports that most schools are stepping up their efforts and employing aggressive tactics to help their students and graduates compete in America’s workforce. Alumni Alumni are playing an increasingly important role in helping college graduates find jobs, as campus career service officials reach out to

sources while you are still a student,” she says. Macalester has recently updated its office of career services, placing a greater focus on alumni. The office is actively partnering with the Alumni Office. Staff from both meet weekly to create and present joint events; allocating a fund to support career events by academic departments – “mini-grants” – focusing support on events that utilize alumni; continuing increased

Denise Ward, associate dean for student services, Macalester College

Beverly Lorig, director of career services, Washington and Lee University in Lexington

Susan Brennan, managing director of career services, Bentley University

According to a report published by the Michigan State University Collegiate Employment Research Institute, Recruiting Trends 2010-11, the 2012 job market for college graduates is expected to strengthen slightly across all categories, such as company size, industry sector, region, major and type of degree. But even with this positive news, university career service professionals are not retaining the status quo. Maggy Ralbovsky of Morrison and Tyson Communication, a public relations firm that works for several colleges and universities,

them for ideas, internships and career connections. At Washington and Lee University in Lexington, Va., Beverly Lorig, director of career services, says that additional staff are working to build relationships with alumni who work for companies searching for talent. And Denise Ward, associate dean for student services at Macalester College in Saint Paul, Minn., advises her students to use every available resource before they graduate. She urges them to use the campus career center, talk to faculty and connect with alumni. “It is much easier to use these

focus on networking with alumni by allowing Macalester juniors and seniors access to the office’s online alumni directory; offering Webinars that feature alumni from outside the area; and shifting employer development efforts to alumni instead of general employer outreach. Macalester has expanded the “Exploreship” program that matches sophomores with alumni in the Twin Cities, Washington and New York. Lauren Martínez, an anthropology and economics major at Macalester, has found Macalester’s alumni very helpful, putting gradu-

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ates in touch with job contacts for general information interviews. “I have probably e-mailed over 50 alumni, and 90 percent of them have responded, even if it was just a note to say they weren’t able to help me. They also all were willing to read through my cover letters and résumés and give me feedback,” says Martínez. Although the media have been reporting a lack of jobs for America’s workforce, says Martínez, she finds a “totally different playing field for college graduates.” Martínez landed a job interview as the result of connecting with a Macalester alum who recommended her after speaking to her by phone and reading over her résumé and cover letter. At Colgate University in Hamilton, N.Y., Teresa Olsen, acting director of career services, reports that her office is working more closely than ever with alumni affairs and advancement to spread the word to alumni that in today’s tough economic climate, engaging as career mentors with students is a very meaningful way to engage with the university, in addition to, or even instead of, financial support. Colgate offers students unlimited access to its online alumni network so they may contact alumni directly. In addition, Colgate has expanded and formalized its alumni mock interviewing program to include alumni who are visiting the campus for other reasons. Like Colgate, St. John’s College in Annapolis, Md., is asking its alumni to play a vital role in its students’ job search. Jamie Dunn, director of career services at St. John’s, says the school is encouraging alumni to sign on as mentors, post jobs and internships and hire St. John’s students. And it’s paying off. “There has been an overwhelmingly positive response on the part of the alumni body to sign up and offer their assistance to current students and fellow alumni,” says Dunn. In Colchester, Vt., St. Michael’s College too is fostering the student-alumni network. The school has staged dedicated events such as the career symposium, co-sponsored with the school’s alumni board, and the Boston career seminar, co-sponsored with the office of alumni and parent relations. These events bring stu-

dents and alumni together in real time and in both educational and social settings. These events supplement the school’s continuing use of its Career Advisory Network, which connects students with alumni in specific fields and geographic areas. In addition, St. Michael’s has added more interviewing resources and is working with several departments to provide faculty information about how specific alumni have successfully applied a St. Michael’s major in the workforce, and present that information on a website. St. John’s has hosted a number of alumni forums, including one in law and another in neuroscience. Both were well-attended, with the neuroscience panel drawing an overwhelming number of students, although it was held on a Saturday morning. “Students were really interested in what the alumni had to say, and connecting with them afterward. Alumni at both sessions emphasized the importance of gaining experience through internships while they’re in school and networking as much as they can,” says Dunn. Social Media College graduates are finding it easier to network with alumni and prospective employees and to land internships thanks to the resources their schools have set up using today’s technology. The most notable of these resources are the social media sites. “Career services, as a profession, is in the middle of redefining the way students and employers find each other. Social media have had a huge impact on the college relations/recruiting process,” says Lorig of Washington and Lee University. Macalaster College has created a technology and operations coordinator position with the sole purpose of managing social media and technology. The school has also substantially expanded its social media presence and developed a LinkedIn subgroup. As companies turn to information technology as a tool to recruit talent, they pay fewer visits to schools. Today, rather than visiting a campus, recruiters are presenting webinars and interviewing prospective employees via webcam

using Skype and Google Chat. Denise Ward, associate dean for student services at Macalester, advises her students to “Become proficient in LinkedIn – and carefully craft your personal ‘brand’ in all your social media. Clean things up, tighten security and send out positive, thoughtful messages that establish you as a professional in your area.” Career services at St. John’s College is continuing to encourage students to join professional networking sites like LinkedIn, while reminding them to be mindful of their personal content on the Internet. Recently, St. John’s career services hosted a social networking “dos and don’ts” workshop. “Many students were surprised at the number of employers who check up on their online activity,” says Dunn. Internships With so many graduates entering the job market each year and competing for a finite number of jobs, it is important for job candidates to separate themselves from the competition. According to Ward, one way they can do that is by performing internships. She urges her students to perform multiple internships before they graduate. Susan Brennan, managing director of career services at Bentley University in Waltham, Mass., says her department is fostering job opportunities in the humanities that lead to internships. Bentley offers an optional second major in liberal studies with concentrations such as health and industry and earth, environment and sustainability. These concentrations have helped students identify career paths at the intersection of arts and sciences and business. Bentley recently hired an adviser dedicated to developing programs for these students, which has resulted in new internships and job opportunities in green or sustainable companies or functions. Many companies that hire interns require them to be present two full days per week. Some college students, especially those who are active on their campus, might not have the time in their busy schedules to commit to such an internship. But there are internships that offer flexible hours.

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Morgan Diamant, a finance major with a liberal studies minor in global perspectives at Bentley, found an internship that fit her busy schedule. “I was advised to go to the career fair and explore my options for a one-day-per-week internship. I met with Deloitte Consulting, which was running an ‘externship’ program exclusively at Bentley which only met once a week, and the other five hours a week could be done off site, on my own time. This sounded extremely interesting to me. I participated in this program from October to late April, giving me valuable experience in the corporate culture of a large corporation,” says Diamant. For those individuals who might not have found time to perform internships while in college, there is still time. Lisa Kastor, director of career services at the College of Wooster in Wooster, Ohio, has seen an increase in the number of students looking into short-term, postgraduation opportunities to strengthen their marketability. Most of these are one- or two-year internships or fellowships with organizations like Peace Corps, AmeriCorps, Catholic Charities and City Year. “Our students find these opportunities very valuable in gaining experience and increasing their visibility,” says Kastor. This option has, in fact, become so popular that Wooster has been sponsoring a Social Service Career Fair on campus for the past several years. Dunn says graduating students will continue to look for an internship as their first experience after college. Not only does it provide quality professional experience and skill-building opportunities, it also gives them more time to seek full-time employment, whether it’s with the internship organization or another employer.

“We had our most competitive internship grant application process last year, with over 70 applications for 25 spots. Students know how important it is, especially at a place such as St. John’s, to have the experience of exploring different career fields while they’re students. A number of alumni have sponsored interns in the past, and we’ve been contacted by many already this year offering spots to our students,” says Dunn. Martínez too has seen an increase in students looking into internships post-graduation. “My friends who aren’t applying for jobs that do specific recruiting seem happy to plan on doing internships that will hopefully turn into jobs, which happened for my boyfriend, who graduated last year, or just gaining more experience and networking for something to happen in the future,” she says. Given the struggling economy and the lessthan-robust employment landscape, another trend seen by career services is that of the entrepreneurial student, according to Geoff Falen, director of the Colorado College Career Center at Colorado College in Colorado Springs, Colo. He says that with the uncertainty of the job market, some confident students are opting to launch their own organization, whether it is a social enterprise or a for-profit endeavor. In light of this interest, the career center at Colorado College has developed programming to support students with entrepreneurial ambitions. In the spring of 2011, the school inaugurated the “How to Start Your Own Nonprofit” program, where students received training and guidance in creating a mission statement, developing a business plan and presenting an actual

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proposal for a nonprofit. The school launched a similar program called “Start Your Own Business” in February 2012, presented by a Colorado College graduate who has enjoyed a long and successful entrepreneurial track record. No matter the school, no matter the career path, Ward offers some sound advice to jobseeking students in general. She tells her students to focus on what they are looking for. “My rule of thumb, if you will take anything, you will get nothing. But that also has to be mixed in with flexibility and a belief in the general value of work. At some point, you have to jump in and take a job, even if it isn’t your dream job,” she says. Students must focus on their strengths and on their accomplishments and outcomes and weave these into stories that will prepare them for interviews as well as reminding them what they bring to the job market. Lastly, Ward encourages her students to have “a Plan A, Plan B and Plan C. That way, most likely, things will always be going according to plan.”

Interesting Reads Green Careers By Jim Cassio and Alice Rush This career guidance book based on labor and market research covers green jobs representing almost every area of career interest. It will appeal to students, job seekers and career professionals, profiling 90 different occupations. 2009. 304 pgs. ISBN: 978-0-86571-643-8. $19.95 paper. New Society Publishers, (800) 567-7311. www.newsociety.com.

The Plays of Josefina Niggli Edited by William Orchard and Yolanda Padilla Although Niggli is perhaps best known for her fiction and folk plays, this anthology recovers her historical dramas, most of which have been long out of print or were never published. These plays are about the aftermath of the 1910 Mexican Revolution, and portray the revolution through the lens of women’s experiences. 2007. 328 pgs. ISBN: 978-0-299-22454-7. $29.95 paper. University of Wisconsin Press, (608) 263-1110. www.uwpress.wisc.edu

Scenes from Cuenca De Los Angeles By Susana Chávez-Silverman This latest memoir from Chávez-Silverman uses linguistic mestizaje, stirring together English and Spanish into a new bilingual idiom. Each chapter takes the form of a cronica, an impressionistic vignette that began as diary entries, e-mails, and letters to lovers, friends and ghosts from her past. 2010. 176 pgs. ISBN: 978-0-299-23524-6. $18.95 paper. University of Wisconsin Press, (608) 263-1110. www.uwpress.wisc.edu

A User’s Guide to Postcolonial and Latino Borderland Fiction By Frederick Luis Aldama By analyzing novels such as Arundhati Roy’s The God of Small Things, Amitav Ghosh’s The Glass Palace, Zadie Smith’s White Teeth, and Hari Kunzru’s The Impressionist, along with selected Latino comic books and short fiction, this book explores postcolonial and Latino borderland fiction. 2009. 192 pgs. ISBN: 978-0-292-71968-2. $55.00 cloth. University of Texas Press, (800) 252-3206. www.utpress.utexas.edu

The Plain and Noble Garb of Truth: Nationalism and Impartiality in American Historical Writing, 1784-1860 by Eileen Ka-May Cheng $44.95. Cloth. The University of Georgia Press, (706) 369-6130. www.ugapress.org

has become fashionable for partisan politicians and activists to take a dim view of the picture painted by today’s historian when depicting recent worldwide and national events of great significance. Our society has become so polarized that conservatives decry tomes prepared by suspected liberals and vice versa. Because so much of history is recorded and taught at the college and university level, some partisans seek to root out those academics with views opposed to their own so that “biased” information isn’t passed along to “impressionable” students or put into books. The Plain and Noble Garb of Truth paints a starkly different portrait of early historians recording the early days of the American Republic from 1784-1860. The author successfully argues that American historians from the early days of the new republic took extra pains to be objective and professional in their writings. They took their role as those who had the responsibility to pass along an accurate portrayal of history for future generations to cherish and build upon. Their work ethic and meticulous attention to detail is not as apparent to those who came after them. This is not to say that all historians of the more modern era are less responsible. It is to say that for historians of the past to behave in a partisan fashion was unthinkable. The author’s extensive readings of antebellum historians show that, by the 1820s, a small but influential group of practitioners had begun to develop many of the doctrines and concerns that provided the foundation for contemporary historical practice. The Plain and Noble Garb of Truth successfully challenges any idea that America’s first generations of historians were romantics or water carriers for a struggling young nation. Quite the opposite, she would argue. To make her point, Cheng presents a full and detailed overview of the works of well-known early national historians such as George Bancroft, William Prescott and David Ramsay; such lesser-known figures as Jared Sparks and Lorenzo Sabine; and leading political and intellectual elites of the day, including Francis Bowen and Charles Francis Adams. She shows that their work, which was focused on the American Revolution, was often full of delicate nuance and surprisingly sympathetic in its treatment of American Indians and loyalists. It was not a black and white view of history with heroes and villains clearly defined. She also demonstrates how the rise of the novel contributed to the emergence of history as an independent discipline. Cheng drives home her point by giving a word to the wise. Modern historians, she insists, should recognize that the discipline of history is itself a product of history. By examining well-known as well as obscure historians of an earlier era, she challenges today’s historians to look to historians of the past for guidance as they add their tomes to the chronicle of history. Reviewed by Mary Ann Cooper

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HIGH SCHOOL FORUM

Job Shadowing: Career Experience for High School Students

The

by Mary Ann Cooper combination of a highly competitive job market and skyrocketing costs of higher education has produced an environment where there is very little margin for error in career choice. High school graduates have to hit the ground running with a clear idea of career goals and how to achieve those goals. Otherwise, they run the risk of being left behind with a huge debt and/or stuck on a career path they don’t like. Job shadowing seeks to address those risks. Some children dream of being baseball players or move stars without any regard to what that entails or how to go about achieving those career goals. That might sound silly until you consider that many high school students don’t have much more of an understanding of career choices to pursue upon graduation as they had when they were children. Most of their career knowledge comes from arms’ length casual observation. This is especially true of Hispanic or minority students who are first-generation high school graduates and college or trade school bound. Is it any wonder that once started down a particular career path, some students do an abrupt about face, changing majors, schools or worse, dropping out? When college was more affordable and jobs were plentiful, students had more time to “find themselves” or course correct. Today they don’t have that luxury. Internships have traditionally been used to insert students into real work situations to match their career choices. Those are win-win situations for students and employers. The students get an unvarnished look at what it will be like to work in the career area they are interested in, and employers get cheap or free labor in exchange for showing students “the ropes.” Job shadowing is an internship on the fast track. Instead of spending months or weeks working in a real work environment, job shadowers work a few hours or just a few days in that

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same real work environment. There is little doubt that the internship total immersion for weeks or months is an optimal way to learn about a career, but internships are getting harder and harder to come by as the college population grows. Job shadowing is an easier commitment for employers to make and therefore more plentiful. Job shadowing is also more specifically designed for high school students than traditional internships. For some students, job shadowing could make the difference between staying in school or leaving it. In The Silent Epidemic: Perspectives of High School Dropouts, a Civic Enterprises and Peter D. Hart Research Associates study funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, researchers found that many students drop out even though they have passing grades – because they don’t see the connection between schoolwork and their future life and career success. Every 26 seconds, another American high school student drops out – 1.2 million students each year. In fact, nearly one-third of all U.S. public high school students fail to graduate – and the rate jumps to nearly one-half for African-American, Hispanic and Native American students. The negative fallout from this failure to graduate isn’t confined to the individual teen and his or her family; it has a potentially devastating economic effect on the United States because it could mean a generation of American workers unable to compete on a global stage. The report notes that 81 percent of dropouts surveyed stated that “more opportunities for real-world learning would have improved their chances of graduating.” Job shadowing can provide that “real-world learning” experience. And that can make an enormous difference in the life choices high school students make. During a typical job shadow experience the

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student observes firsthand what it’s like to work at a particular job, which can range from highly skilled graduate degree jobs such as lawyer or doctor to graphic designers and mechanics. Jobs of every level and type of education background can represent a place to job shadow. It’s an eye-opening experience for the student, who begins to visualize what it would be like to work and interact with others in that environment. If this sounds a bit like take your daughter and son to work day, it is, in a way. Students are treated to a tour of facilities, attend meetings, are privy to the thoughts and advice of the “mentoring” professional and perhaps even get some hands on experience in the field. Public relations job shadowers might get a chance to write a sample press release or assist at a photo shoot, for example. The challenge, as with internships, is to find people ready to step up for a day or two to welcome students into their workplace. More and more high schools are beginning to set up job shadowing programs, partnering with the local community. Colleges and universities have also joined the chorus of guidance counselors and teachers promoting job shadowing. Another important ally is the professional association of any given career. Social networking can identity those associations for interested students and schools. In 2008, recognizing the importance of job shadowing, AT&T launched AT&T Aspire, a $100 million philanthropic program to help strengthen student success and workforce readiness. The program is specifically focused on confronting the high school dropout crisis, to help ensure that students graduate prepared to continue education or enter the workforce. One of the directions of Aspire was a partnership with Junior Achievement to create jobshadowing opportunities for 100,000 students, giving them the chance to see firsthand the job

skills they need to be successful in the future. According an AT&T analysis of that collaboration, 92 percent of students claim that Job Shadow experience made them more aware of career options, and 82 percent said that participating made them realize the importance of staying in school. In its fact sheet describing the program and its progress, AT&T presented testimonials of students who say they were helped by the program. One such student was 17-year-old Abril Hernández, who said her job shadowing experience connected the dots for her. She came away from the experience knowing she had to become a better student if she wanted to be successful in life. “Before Job Shadow, my grades were just B’s, and I thought that was good enough,” explains Hernández. “After spending time with AT&T employees, and learning how they were achieving their dreams, I realized that I better start pushing myself if I want to get anywhere in life. I did it! Now I am on the “A” Abril Hernández honor role, and give 100 percent of the credit to them for helping me wake up.”

Randall Stephenson, AT&T chairman and CEO, sees the Aspire Program and job shadowing as a company imperative for AT&T. “Each of us has a clear stake in the preparation of our nation’s children to enter the workforce. We must be active participants in education reform. The strength of our future economy depends on it.” Statistics about the Aspire program bear out the chairman’s statement. A five-year $5.5 million initiative provides job shadow opportunities for 100,000 students, in grades 9-12 – as well as second semester eighth graders – across the U.S. The effect of this is that Junior Achievement students team up with AT&T employees to get a firsthand look at the job skills needed for future success – learning how the classroom connects to real-world opportunities. Since the initiative started in 2008, more than 81,000 students have participated, in 211 cities. AT&T employees have volunteered more than 28,000 times for Job Shadow, dedicating more than 225,000 volunteer hours, to help students learn. To help students define what their ambitions

and career goals are, AT&T supports Roadtrip Nation, a PBS series and tour that documents college graduates traveling throughout the world interviewing people who love their careers. Roadtrip Nation’s mission is to help students define their own road in life through multimedia curriculum and real-world career exploration experiences, such as interviewing professionals to find out how they found a fulfilling career. These stories are shared with those still questioning what their own path is, under the slogan “define your own road in life.” There also is a consensus that family support is critical when it comes to career and higher education planning. That’s why, with United Way Worldwide, AT&T launched the Family Engagement for High School Success Program, which helps parents and caregivers get more involved in their child’s education. Along with its investment in job shadowing, AT&T has invested $1.5 million to Communities In Schools to increase the number of school-based site coordinators who help the most at-risk students get the resources they need to stay in school and succeed.

Theory into Practice The success of a job-shadowing program depends on coordination between schools and the business and trade community. If you are going to set up a job shadow program in your school, keep in mind the following points: 1. Take a Poll – Be sure you know what your students want. If you ask them what they are interested in, you’ll get a better idea about what businesses and professions you want to pursue as job-shadowing mentors. Having and using this intelligence will also increase student enthusiasm and participation in this program. 2. Do Your Paperwork – Prepare a “pitch” letter to businesses, trade associations and business professionals in your local area that explains what a job shadow program is all about and what would be expected from them if they chose to participate as mentors. Have a legal professional prepare consent forms for them to sign. Prepare a similar information letter to students, explaining the rules for participating in the program and its benefits. 3. Have a Plan – Once you’ve identified the professions your students will be following, figure out ways to coordinate the job-shadowing experience with what’s happening in the students’ classrooms. Preparing a written report on job shadow experiences could be made part of a social studies class, if the student is job shadowing a city councilman, for example. 4. Have a Meeting of the Minds – Have a separate meeting with employers who have agreed to participate to discuss the goals of the program and what you expect from them to achieve those goals. Then, meet with student participants and explain what is expected of them. Spell out everything from the way they are to dress to how they are to behave. Students should be encouraged to research the company they will be shadowing so they can get the most out of their experience. Finally, meet with parents to explain the program and its goals to them. Have a legally prepared permission form at the meeting, in Spanish, English and any other language of attending parents, for them to sign. 5. Wrap It Up – Encourage students to write thank you notes to employers at the conclusion of their program. Present students with program “diplomas” to mark the successful completion of the job shadow program. Send out certificates of appreciation to cooperating employers. Don’t forget to send out a press release to local media detailing the implementation of the job-shadowing program at your school. Meet with employers, parents and students separately to discuss what was successful about the program and what changes need to be made next time around.

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The Hispanic Outlook In Higher Education

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Pew Hispanic Center: Hispanics to Account for Greater Share of Growth in the Labor Force WASHINGTON, D.C.

Hispanics are expected to account for 74 percent of the growth in the nation’s labor force from 2010 to 2020, according to new projections from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). A Pew Research Center commentary notes that this is much higher than in the previous two decades. Hispanics accounted for 36 percent of the total increase in the labor force from 1990 to 2000 and 54 percent from 2000 to 2010. A major reason is that the Hispanic population

Reports Call for Fundamental Changes in California’s Community Colleges LOS ANGELES, Calif.

Almost 75 percent of all Latino and twothirds of all Black students who go on to higher education in California go to a community college, yet in 2010 only 20 percent of all transfers to four-year institutions were Latino or African-American. Pathways to the baccalaureate are segregated; students attending low-performing high schools usually go directly into community colleges that transfer few students to four-year colleges. Conversely, a handful of community colleges serving high percentages of White, Asian-American and middle-class students are responsible for the majority of all transfers in the state. California ranks last among the states in the proportion of its

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April 09, 2012

is growing rapidly due to births and immigration. At the same time, the aging of the non-Hispanic White population is expected to reduce its numbers in the labor force. Another important factor is that Hispanics have a higher labor force participation rate – i.e., the share of the population 16 years and older that is either employed or looking for work – than other groups. The nation’s rate overall was 64.7 percent in 2010 and that of Hispanics, 67.5 percent. The figures for Hispanics come from the latest round of BLS projections for the U.S. labor force for 2010-20, which indicate that growth will slow overall. These projections show the labor force increasing by 10.5 million in this decade, to 164.4 million in 2020

from 153.9 million in 2010. That is less than the increase of 11.3 million from 2000 to 2010, and substantially less than the 16.7 million increase from 1990 to 2000. The projected average annual increase in the labor force from 2010 to 2020 – 0.7 percent – is also less than the annual growth of 0.8 percent from 2000 to 2010 and only about half the 1.3 percent annual rate of growth from 1990 to 2000. The commentary, Labor Force Growth Slows, Hispanic Share Grows, can be accessed on the Pew Hispanic Center website, www.pewhispanic.org.

college students who attend a four-year institution, a key factor in the state’s abysmal record on BA attainment. In a state in which half of all high school graduates are Black and Latino, this situation spells economic disaster for the future of the state. So says the Civil Rights Project at the University of California-Los Angeles (UCLA). The California Community College system is not oblivious to these problems, but the newest report by the Student Success Task Force, Advancing Student Success in the California Community Colleges, falls far short of making recommendations that can turn the situation around, and fails to address the most urgent problems. Three studies released recently by the Civil Rights Project at UCLA shed light on the mechanisms underlying California’s poor record of transfer from community colleges to fouryear campuses and suggest what can and must be done to improve the capacity of the

community colleges to help students of color gain BA degrees. “It is time to have an honest conversation with the people of California about making improvements in our higher education system,” stressed Civil Rights Project co-director Patricia Gándara. “Either we make bold changes in the system or we consign the majority of our students of color to a life with few prospects, and we condemn the state to a future in decline.” To download the complete reports, go to www.civilrightsproject.ucla.edu.

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Community Colleges Address Financial Barriers to Success for Low-Income Students WASHINGTON, D.C.

Do low-income college students who receive public benefits stay in school longer and complete their studies faster? A new initiative that will launch next summer at select community colleges will test this notion and work to provide models that other community colleges can implement and sustain. The three-year $4.84 million initiative, Benefits Access for College Completion (BACC), is led by the Center for Law and Social Policy (CLASP) and the American Association of Community Colleges (AACC) with funding from the Ford Foundation, Kresge Foundation, Lumina Foundation, and the Open Society Foundations. The Annie E. Casey

GEAR UP States Collaborate on Longitudinal Evaluation WASHINGTON, D.C.

Nearly a dozen states with federal Gaining Early Awareness and Readiness for Undergraduate Programs (GEAR UP) grants have agreed to collaborate on a longitudinal evaluation of the effectiveness of the nation’s second largest college access and readiness program. The newly formed GEAR UP College and Career Readiness Evaluation Consortium will work in partnership with ACT Inc. and the National Council for Community and Education Partnerships (NCCEP). ACT Inc. is an independent, not-for-profit organization that provides a broad array of assessment, research, information and program management solutions in education and workforce

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April 09, 2012

Foundation is also contributing to the initiative. “We are committed to student completion and appreciate the major investment these foundations are making,” AACC President Walter G. Bumphus said. “Their collaborative vision will help community colleges identify the best ways for students to access the benefits and services they need to finish what they start.” Of the close to eight million credit students annually attending community colleges, 46 percent currently receive some form of financial aid (state, federal or institutional). The additional benefits the students might access through BACC include a range of federal programs, such as those that provide health insurance, food and child care. Such support services are especially critical for community college students, many of whom juggle work, studies and family responsibilities. Colleges selected for the BACC planning phase are: Cuyahoga Community College

(Ohio), Gateway Community and Technical College and Owensboro Community and Technical College (Ky.), LaGuardia Community College (N.Y.), Northampton Community College (Pa.) and Skyline College (Calif.). Macomb Community College and Lake Michigan Community College also will participate and share perspectives from similar work in Michigan. During the initiative, participating colleges will become social innovators that integrate access to federal and state supports and other existing public resources into college operations, in some ways redefining the concept of financial aid and student supports. It is the hope that by working directly with local and state benefits administrators to eliminate policy barriers and align services, community colleges will help students finish their programs of study faster and move to economic self-sufficiency.

development. NCCEP is also a nonprofit and the lead training and technical assistance organization for GEAR UP grantees. GEAR UP programs serve entire cohorts of low-income students starting in seventh grade through 12th grade or their first year of postsecondary education. Grant funds are used by participating middle and high schools for tutoring, teacher training, test preparation, financial aid education and counseling, college tours and more. In FY 2011, GEAR UP was funded at $302 million. Recognizing the need for high-quality research and evaluation to inform program administration, implementation and value added impact, the consortium will work together to adopt common standards, indicators, data elements, diagnostics and data collection and reporting methods. The data align-

ment will help strengthen the formative and summative evaluation and practice of GEAR UP. “For more than a year, state leaders have been conversing with the Department of Education and ACT, seeking a means to create more useful data in assessing the efficacy of GEAR UP in preparing students to enroll and persist in college,” reported Weiya Liang of the Washington Higher Education Coordinating Board. Each Consortium state will administer ACT’s EXPLORE, PLAN and the ACT assessments to all GEAR UP students in the state, in eighth grade, 10th grade and 11th grade, respectively. They will then share the results of the assessments, as well as the cohorts’ high school graduation rate of their GEAR UP students. The consortium will also analyze the cohorts’ postsecondary enrollment data.

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HI S PAN I C S O N T H E MO VE Cadiero-Kaplan Appointed to State Ed Position

Medina Vidal Researches How Ethnic Media Influences State Legislators

San Diego State University (SDSU) professor Karen Cadiero-Kaplan, a leading scholar and longtime advocate for students, has begun leading the California Department of Education’s (CDE) efforts to help school districts across the state teach English learners effectively. Cadiero-Kaplan, who chairs the Department of Policy Studies in Language and Cross Cultural Education at SDSU, focusing on biliteracy and English-language acquisition, has been leading the CDE’s English Learner Support Division since midJanuary. She has a bachelor’s degree from the University of San Diego in psychology and elementary education; master’s in cross-cultural education, special education and ESL from SDSU; and doctorate in curriculum development and instruction from Claremont Graduate University and SDSU.

Spanish-language media in the United States play a critical role in shaping perceptions of public opinion among Latino voters and public officials of every ethnicity across the country. They also play a far greater advocacy role for the communities they serve than do their English-language counterparts, according to University of California-Riverside researcher D. Xavier Medina Vidal, a Ph.D. candidate in political science who will graduate in June. A former fiscal analyst for the New Mexico Legislature, Medina Vidal has a bachelor’s degree in economics and Spanish, and a master’s in political science from the University of New Mexico.

Hispanic Scholarship Consortium Names Hinojosa Mier New Leader

Roberto Ampuero, assistant professor of Spanish at the University of Iowa (UI), is the new Chilean ambassador to Mexico. The native of Chile, who was granted a threeyear leave of absence from UI, started the job in January. Ampuero is a graduate of the prestigious International Writing Program of the University of Iowa. He has an MA and a Ph.D., teaches literature and creative writing, and has written 13 novels published in numerous languages.

Photo © Daniel Mordzinski

Ampuero Becomes Chilean Ambassador to Mexico

The Hispanic Scholarship Consortium (HSC), a nonprofit based in Austin, Texas, has appointed Octavio A. Hinojosa Mier to head the organization. Hinojosa Mier will work closely with HSC’s 17 consortium members to increase scholarship funds for the 2012 HSC Scholarship Program and expand meaningful mentorship relationships among its scholarship recipients and professionals from across Central Texas and surrounding areas. Hinojosa Mier has a bachelor’s degree from the University of Kansas and a master’s from Syracuse University.

Villaseñor’s Lion Eyes Nominated for Pulitzer Prize Author Víctor Villaseñor’s latest book, Lion Eyes, the true life story of Jan Milburn, whose face-to-face encounter with a mountain lion during a snowstorm in the Santa Cruz Mountains of California set him on course for a miraculous life, has been nominated for a Pultizer Prize. Villaseñor’s body of work includes a number of nonfiction books that are used in schools throughout the country: the trilogy Wild Steps of Heaven, Rain of Gold and Thirteen Senses; Jury: The People vs. Juan Corona; Macho!; and Walking Stars, among other popular novels, short stories and screenplays.

Ruiz Joins Breakthrough Austin Board of Directors Dr. Héctor Ruiz has been appointed to the Board of Directors of Breakthrough Austin, a Texas nonprofit that creates first-generation college graduates. With academic preparation, mentorship, leadership and college guidance services to low-income students, Breakthrough Austin’s students and their families make a commitment, beginning in their middle school years, to complete high school and enroll and graduate from college. Ruiz, CEO of Bull Ventures LLC, is a globally successful technology executive. He has a BS and MS in electrical engineering from the University of Texas-Austin and a Ph.D. from Rice University.

Visit our website for current employment opportunities and job listings – updated daily www.hispanicoutlook.com

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Expand Your Thinking. Discover The Unexpected. Create New Knowledge.

As a world-class research university ranked #20 among 260 national universities, we position our students for career success and leadership in their communities. In today’s job market, a graduate degree from Emory University’s Laney Graduate School is an investment in your career. Located in Atlanta, Georgia, we offer more than 40 master’s and doctoral programs in business, nursing, public health, the biomedical and natural sciences, the social sciences and the humanities. We offer unique professional development opportunities to help students expand their professional networks, connect to successful alumni and travel in support of their work.

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Additional Anticipated Faculty Positions 2012-2013 Kean, a comprehensive New Jersey state University, is committed to excellence and access and to developing, maintaining and strengthening interactive ties with the community. Kean University takes pride in its continuing effort to build a multicultural professional community to serve a richly diversified student population of almost 16,000. The University sits on three adjoining campus sites covering 180 acres, two miles from Newark Liberty International Airport and thirty minutes from NewYork City. All open faculty positions are ten-month, full-time, tenure-track assignments at the rank of Assistant Professor, effective September 1, 2012 unless otherwise indicated. Teaching assignments and related responsibilities may include day, evening, weekend and online courses. Courses are taught at the Union campus but some positions may include assignments at Ocean County College in Toms River, New Jersey or other locations. All faculty are expected to demonstrate a commitment to teaching excellence and an on-going program of research and publication or creative and performance activity. Participation in curriculum development, student advisement and service at the departmental/school, college and university level is also required. Interest or experience in using advanced instructional technologies to improve the teaching/learning process is highly desirable. All positions are subject to availability of funds, due to financial exigencies.

College of Business and Public Management Management (Assistant/Associate rank) Accounting (Assistant/Associate rank)

College of Education Physical Education, Recreation and Health - Athletic Training (Assistant/Associate rank) Special Education - Autism Studies (Assistant/Associate rank) School for Global Education & Innovation - Two Positions English as a Second Language; World Languages Spanish (Assistant/Associate rank)

College of Natural, Applied and Health Sciences Environmental Science/Chemistry and Toxicology Computer Science (Assistant/Associate rank)

College of Visual and Performing Arts Design

Nathan Weiss Graduate College Occupational Therapy Graduate Management Studies (Assistant/Associate rank)

Application, Salary and Benefits Information on All Positions For detailed job descriptions and application information, please visit: http://www.kean.edu/KU/Faculty-Positions. Review of applications will begin immediately and continue until position is filled. Salary is competitive and commensurate with qualifications and experience. Comprehensive benefits program included. Contingent on Budgetary Approval and Appropriated Funding. Kean University is an EOE/AA Institution

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I became a lawyer to give back to my community. Now Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m Ready. Arturo Hernandez graduates in June 2012 from The John Marshall Law School where he served as vice president of the Latino Law Students Association. Arturo was also a student representative on the board of trustees for the Public Interest Law Initiative where he worked with attorneys and partners of major Chicago firms, government agencies and nonprofit organizations. At The John Marshall Law School, we help our graduates develop the professional knowledge, skills, and experience it takes to be practice-readyâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;day one.

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To learn about our JD programs, joint JD/LLM programs and our specialty MS degrees, contact the Office of Admission at 800.537.4280 or visit jmls.edu.

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Associate Dean College of Continuing Education California State University, Sacramento A Premier Metropolitan University, the Campus of Choice for Students, Faculty, Staff and the Community California State University, Sacramento invites applications and nominations for the position of Associate Dean of the College of Continuing Education. Under the general supervision of the Dean, the Associate Dean provides leadership for the development and management of the programs offered by the College of Continuing Education. Program areas include Academic Credit and Non-Credit Programs, Customized Training for Public and Private Sectors, International Programs, and Conference Training Programs. Review of the applications will begin on April 6, 2012, and will continue until the position is filled. Finalists will be asked to furnish transcripts of the highest earned degree. A complete description of qualifications and application instructions are available at: http://www.csus.edu/about/employment/. EEO/ADA.

Assistant Professor School of Social Work Springfield College School of Social Work, a CSWE-accredited leader in MSW graduate education in New England and surrounding areas, invites applications and nominations for a tenure-track faculty position at the rank of Assistant Professor beginning Fall 2012. Springfield College School of Social Work offers a traditional full-time, two-year Weekday Program and a part-time, three-year Weekend Program, responsive to the needs of working students. The School of Social Work offers an advanced standing program for qualified graduates of Bachelor of Social Work Programs accredited by the Council on Social Work Education. In conjunction with Western New England University School of Law, it offers a combined Master of Social Work/Juris Doctorate four-year program. The School offers a single concentration in advanced generalist practice. Faculty responsibilities include teaching and advising in the Master of Social Work weekday and weekend program options, scholarly, creative, and/or professional activity, and service within the College and service beyond the College. Qualifications: earned Doctorate in Social Work or related field; MSW degree and a minimum of two (2) years of experience in agency-based direct practice; a commitment to advanced generalist practice; experience with adult learners and traditional-aged students; ability to work with diverse student populations; and ability to contribute to a dynamic School of Social Work learning community. Please send current curriculum vitae including the names and phone numbers of three professional references to: Dr. Francine Vecchiolla, Dean School of Social Work, 263 Alden Street, Springfield, MA 011093797. Application screening will begin immediately and continue until the position is filled. Springfield College is committed to enhancing diversity and equality in education and employment.

Please visit our website at:

www.spfldcol.edu 04/09/2012

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INSTRUCTIONAL DESIGNER Position Number: FA2000

Center for Teaching Excellence Application Deadline: Open until filled The Center for Teaching Excellence of Virginia Commonwealth University invites applications for an exciting job opportunity as an Instructional Designer. The Instructional Designer will join a team that works collaboratively to support a broad range of faculty needs related to the teaching and learning mission of the University. The Instructional Designer will be responsible for developing pedagogical strategies and providing support and instructional design and delivery expertise to faculty in the development, implementation, and evaluation of online, hybrid and face-to-face courses. The successful candidate is expected to possess an in-depth understanding of pedagogical issues related to online teaching and learning, in addition to having a comprehensive understanding of a wide range of digital technologies to support learning in the online environment. Qualifications: A minimum of a Masterâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s degree in Instructional Technology/ Design, Curriculum and Instruction, Adult Learning or related field. Professional experience in a college or university setting. Three (3) years of experience with eLearning/ online pedagogy and application of instructional design theory, adult learning theory principles and practices for the development of online courses and programs in higher education. Demonstrated experience assisting faculty members with the design and redesign of courses for online and hybrid learning environments. Demonstrated experience working in and fostering a diverse faculty, staff and student environment or commitment to do so as a faculty member at VCU is required. For more information and to apply, go to http://www.pubinfo.vcu.edu/facjobs/facjob.asp?Item=4513 Virginia Commonwealth University is an equal opportunity/affirmative action employer. Women, minorities, and persons with disabilities are encouraged to apply.

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Assistant Dean/Campus Director Milwaukee, WI

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E-Mail us your text to: outlook@sprintmail.com Fax us at: (201) 587-9105 And Visit us on the web www.HispanicOutlook.com

Springfield College School of Human Services is a growing, multi-campus program with established campuses in New England, the midAtlantic region, Florida, Wisconsin, Texas, and California. Our mission is to provide broadly accessible, affordable higher education in the human services field to adult learners, supported by the principles of community partnership and academic excellence to achieve social and economic justice. Courses are offered on weekends to students seeking either BS or MS degrees in Human Services. The interdisciplinary curriculum focuses on the development of social analysis, critical thinking, communication skills, and leadership skills. Reporting to the Dean of the School of Human Services, this position provides leadership and coordination of all campus activities, including, but not limited to: oversee marketing, recruitment, and admissions; supervise academic support services; recruit, supervise and facilitate development of full-time and adjunct faculty; develop academic schedule and assign faculty; develop and maintain budget; develop

community relations towards establishment of collaborative academic relationships and formation of community advisory board. The successful candidate has an earned doctorate; minimum of 5 years administrative experience in higher education; minimum of 3 years of college-level teaching, ideally in teaching adults from diverse backgrounds; excellent oral and written communication and interpersonal skills; ability to work independently and to organize and prioritize multiple tasks and responsibilities; ability to handle sensitive, confidential information in a mature, professional manner; eager to be part of a collaborative work group. Travel and weekend work required. Successful applicants respond to the mission with passion; enjoy and are skilled in teaching and working with adult learners; appreciate the importance and complexity of working with diverse populations; and have content expertise in at least one area within the human service or social science field.

Please forward letters of intent/application, current resume, curriculum vitae, and the names and phone numbers of three professional references to: Dr. Robert Willey, Dean, School of Human Services, Springfield College, 263 Alden Street, Springfield, MA 01109-3797. Springfield College is committed to enhancing diversity and equality in education and employment.

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www.spfldcol.edu 04/09/2012

ounded in 1956, the University of South Florida is a public research university

Assistant Professor in Postharvest Biology and Food Safety Research focus on postharvest plant biology with emphasis on the influence of plant biology of produce or other plant based foods upon associated microbiota, including human pathogens; research on unexplored aspects of plant/microbiota phyllosphere interactions. Develop improved handling strategies in food availability, safety, and defense. Work with academic and industrial contacts to apply knowledge of plant-microbial interactions to optimize postharvest management strategies under different environmental conditions. Identify key phenotypic or molecular traits that could improve handling strategies and food safety. Conduct mission oriented research and outreach of relevance to the California Agricultural Experiment Station; expected to operate well in multidisciplinary teams focused on the development of practical solutions to critical issues related to food safety and postharvest handling of specialty crops grown in California and across the world; expected to contribute to teaching of core courses in the Plant Sciences undergraduate curriculum and to develop new courses in their area of expertise; teach at the graduate level within her/his area of research expertise. Advise and mentor undergraduate and graduate students ; participate in departmental, college, and campus committees and interact with state, regional and national organizations as appropriate.

of growing national distinction. The USF System is comprised of member institutions; USF Tampa, the doctoral granting institution which includes USF

Health; USF St. Petersburg; USF Sarasota-Manatee; USF Polytechnic, located in Lakeland, separately accredited by the Commission Colleges of the Southern

Association of Colleges and Schools (SACS). USF is one of only four 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 of Development (Engineering)

Director of Development (University Advancement) Director of Housing Facilities (Student Affairs)

QUALIFICATIONS: Ph.D. or equivalent level of experience in plant physiology, plant biology, postharvest biology, plant microbial interactions or related fields. SALARY: Commensurate with qualifications and experience. TO APPLY: Register online at http://recruitments.plantsciences.ucdavis.edu “UC Davis is an affirmative action/equal employment opportunity employer and is dedicated to recruiting a diverse faculty community. We welcome all qualified applicants to apply, including women, minorities, veterans, and individuals with disabilities.

Assitant Vice President Student Services (COM)

Faculty Positions: College of Arts and Sciences

Engineering

Assistant (3)

Assistant Professor (6)

College of Medicine

Business

Assistant/Associate Professor (2)

Assistant Professor (7)

Dean (1)

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

Senior Associate Dean for Academic Affairs

Education

Assistant Professor (1)

College of Arts

Division of Administration

Pharmacy

Dean (1)

Penn State Harrisburg Penn State Harrisburg invites applications and nominations for the position of Senior Associate Dean for Academic Affairs. This senior leadership position will report directly to the Chancellor; and in the absence of the Chancellor, will serve as the chief executive officer of the College. The Senior Associate Dean is responsible for overall academic planning and assessment; curriculum development and review; and faculty development. This position plays a leadership role in shaping academic policy and practice, and sustaining academic standards consistent with programmatic accreditation; convenes the Academic Council and sits on the Chancellor’s Council, representing matters related to academic affairs. The Senior Associate Dean represents the College on the University Academic Council on Undergraduate Education (ACUE). Candidates should have significant academic and administrative experience with credentials appropriate for a tenured appointment at the rank of professor. For details, visit the website at http://harrisburg.psu.edu/open-positions. Letter of application, a current vita, and the names, addresses and telephone numbers of five references should be sent to: Chair, Senior Associate Dean for Academic Affairs Search Committee, c/o Ms. Dorothy J. Guy, Director of Human Resources, Penn State Harrisburg, Box HHE - 36151, 777 West Harrisburg Pike, Middletown, PA 17057-4898 or to HBG-HR@LISTS.PSU.EDU. Review of applications will begin immediately and continue until the position is filled. Start date is negotiable. Penn State is committed to affirmative action, equal opportunity, and the diversity of its workforce.

Assistant/Associate Professor (1)

Assistant/Associate Professor (1) Director (1)

College of Nursing

Sarasota

Assistant Professor (1)

Nursing Faculty (2)

Associate to Full (1)

St. Petersburg Campus

Associate/Associate/Full Professor (1)

Associate Professor or Full Professor (1)

For a job description on the above listed positions including department, disciple and deadline dates: (1) visit our Careers@USF Web site at https://employment.usf.edu/applicants/jsp/shared/Welcome_css.jsp; or (2) contact The Office of Diversity and Equal Opportunity, (813) 974-4373; or (3) call USF job line at 813.974.2879. USF is an equal opportunity/equal access/affirmative action institution, committed to excellence through diversity in education and employment. www.usf.edu • 4202 E. Fowler Ave,Tampa, FL 33620 04/09/2012

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INSTRUCTIONAL TECHNOLOGIST Position Number: FAA100

Center for Teaching Excellence Application Deadline: Open until filled The Center for Teaching Excellence of Virginia Commonwealth University invites applications for an exciting job opportunity as an Instructional Technologist. The Instructional Technologist will join a team that works collaboratively to support a broad range of faculty needs related to the teaching and learning mission of the University. The Instructional Technologist will be responsible for developing pedagogical strategies and providing support and instructional design expertise to faculty in the selection and use of digital technologies in traditional face-to-face, online, and hybrid courses. The successful candidate is expected to possess an in-depth understanding of pedagogical issues related to the effective use of technology in a range of educational settings. The Instructional Technologist will have knowledge of and skills using digital technologies in teaching, and engage in continuous research about emerging technologies that have potential to support learning. Qualifications: A minimum of a Master’s degree in Instructional Technology/ Design, Curriculum and Instruction, Adult Learning or related field required. Professional experience in a college or university setting. Minimum three (3) years of experience using instructional technology in an educational setting. Demonstrated experience assisting faculty members with the effective use of technology in traditional, web-enhanced, hybrid and online learning environments. Demonstrated experience working in and fostering a diverse faculty, staff and student environment or commitment to do so as a faculty member at VCU is required. For more information and to apply, go to http://www.pubinfo.vcu.edu/facjobs/facjob.asp?Item=4514 Virginia Commonwealth University is an equal opportunity/affirmative action employer. Women, minorities, and persons with disabilities are encouraged to apply.

Texas State University-San Marcos is a member of The Texas State University System.

Faculty Search, the University Chair in Materials Science and Engineering and Professor, Physics Posting #2012-47 Texas State University is aggressively developing a Materials Science, Engineering, and Commercialization Program based on strong interdisciplinary research for innovative solutions to pressing societal issues. As part of this effort, we are recruiting for the University Chair in Materials Science and Engineering (Associate or Professor in Physics), an endowed academic appointment. We are seeking exceptionally qualified candidates who have active and internationally recognized research efforts in advanced materials for emerging technologies such as biomaterials, biosensing, new epitaxial materials, nanocomposites and polymers, energy harvesting, and other appropriate areas. The successful applicant will establish a vigorous externally funded research program, establish a strong leadership role including mentoring of junior faculty, supervise graduate students, collaborate with other faculty, and be committed to teaching at the undergraduate and graduate levels. Salary and the start-up package will be commensurate with qualifications. Texas State is a doctoral-granting university located in the burgeoning Austin-San Antonio corridor, the largest campus in The Texas State University System, and among the largest in the state. Texas State’s 34,000 students choose from 97 undergraduate and 87 master’s and 12 doctoral programs offered by ten colleges. Additional information about Texas State and its nationally recognized academic programs is available at http://www.txstate.edu. Qualifications: Applicants will hold an earned doctoral degree in Physics or a related field and possess a continuing track record of high level interdisciplinary research and scholarly accomplishments. Other required qualifications include a strong record of external funding of research, a strong record of peer reviewed publications, and demonstration of professional leadership. Industrial or commercialization experience is highly desired. Successful applicant will receive the appropriate rank and title based on university and department established standards. Application: Review will begin May 1, 2012 and continue until the position is filled. To ensure full consideration, submit the following May 1, 2012-- Faculty application (http://facultyrecords.provost.txstate.edu/faculty-employment/ application.html) and accompanying materials which include: a cover letter; vita; statements of the proposed research program (up to 2 pages long) and your teaching philosophy; and list of five references to: MSECHAIR@txstate.edu.

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Training Program in Cell and Molecular Dermatology Postdoctoral fellowships are available in our NIH-funded Training Program in Cell and Molecular Dermatology at the University of Michigan. Training opportunities are available in basic science and translational research. Areas of focus include cancer biology (melanoma and non-melanoma skin cancer), psoriasis genetics, skin immunology, aging, and photoaging. Due to NIH requirements, trainees must be U.S. citizens or permanent residents.

Interested candidates should send their CV and a list of references to Dr. James T. Elder, 7412A Med Sci I, 1301 E. Catherine Street, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI 48109-5675, fax (734) 615-7277, email jelder@umich.edu. An Equal Opportunity / Affirmative Action Employer.

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P ri min g the Pump. .. STUDY ABROAD ENRICHES LEARNING EXPERIENCE FOR LATINO STUDENTS

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

The World is a book, and those who do not travel read only a page. – Saint Augustine

tudy abroad is a trip. With our own rich history and diversity, many Latino students make ideal candidates for internationally based study through a college or university. Younger Latino students preparing for higher education can set their sights and build their enthusiasm by knowing the options and possibilities – including study abroad – available to them in a university. Years ago, international study was an opportunity in higher education afforded by few, but it is now an option available to many students, with scholarships accepted as payment and credits fully transferable. With planning and support, Latino students in higher education can make international travel and study abroad a meaningful part of their learning experience. And preparing for it early – or studying abroad through some high school programs – helps. Perhaps the greatest advantage of those who study abroad is an expanded firsthand experience of other parts of the world, away from the familiar. By traveling and living in a foreign place with the structure and support that a study abroad program provides, a student’s local perspective can become a global view overnight. That wider perspective naturally results in the student’s academic growth, personal development, and appreciation of home. Study abroad also allows an American student to understand another country’s view of the United States. While national media and education stateside are often U.S.-centric, listening to the media in other countries quickly reveals that others do not necessarily hold the same opinions that many Americans hold, especially regarding the United States. That awareness can be a seismic hit to the personal perspective of any student and is huge step in global understanding. It also provides the study abroad student the opportunity to dispel negative stereotypes of Americans to others in the host country by allowing people to get to know them and learn about the United States. Meanwhile, Latino students from the United States must confront their own stereotypes about the host country, reformulating their views of others as they get to know them. Latino students can also explore their own heritage via study abroad.

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Even if a student has traveled to his family’s homeland, living there as a student for an extended time allows the Hispanic student to experience a wider slice of life firsthand while learning about his heritage, customs, tradition and history. Understanding where a family or group comes from illuminates for the student many of the reasons why things are as they are. And while a Latino studying abroad might think he knows about his own culture substantially, studying in the homeland proves that there is much more to learn, understand and embrace. For Latino students who wish to strengthen their Spanish-speaking abilities, study abroad offers a rich immersion opportunity – to live within a Spanish-speaking household or community and hone language skills rapidly. It moves the student from classroom to real-world learning and can exponentially improve his or her use of Spanish. That bilingual skill helps a Latino student build a résumé that supports academic goals and longer-term employability. Study abroad can also encourage Latino students in higher education to become full-time, lifelong learners. Programs that offer excursions or other cultural programs, structure group activities and support exposure to the culture provide opportunities for study abroad students to learn around the clock, if they take advantage of the options offered to them. The programs are often structured to allow independent travel to other areas, too. Students who connect well with others and manage their time and resources well can explore a wider geographic area and increase their global experiences vastly in a short time. The relationships formed with people from different cultures are perhaps most invaluable for study abroad students. With social media, those relationships can be sustained long after the study abroad experience has ended. For some, they will inform future choices made for study and work. Leaving the familiar to study abroad can be a defining moment for a Latino student. Whether the Hispanic student decides to venture out during high school or later in college, the lessons learned will influence outlook, expectations and future choices. The entire globe becomes the classroom, and learning becomes a continuous adventure.

These articles appeared online only in the 04/09/12 Issue

GRADUATE SCHOOLS/PROGRAMS

How

Felipe Penna Won an MBA Scholarship

by Gary M. Stern

inancing an MBA is no easy task. The University of Illinois at UrbanaChampaign MBA program costs $20,000 a year for tuition for in-state students and $30,000 for international students or $40,000 to $60,000 for both years. Room and board, books and living expense add about $20,000 annually to the charges. Many students need to take out sizable loans to pay for their MBA, and repaying that debt can affect their career decisions. Brazilian-born Felipe Penna, who is 29 years old and worked in Brazil for five years as a consultant at Deloitte, the largest of the four major global accounting firms, avoided considerable debt by earning a two-year scholarship based on a business case competition at the University of Illinois’ MBA program. In the annual Scholarship Case Competition, prospective students must present the best possible solutions to real-world case studies or business problems. The competition launched in 2011 at the University of Illinois, but is a common practice in many MBA programs. Most competitions are team-based, but the University of Illinois’ centers on individual competitors. The first-place winner receives a two-year, tuition-only scholarship to the Illinois MBA program; the second-place winner receives a one-year tuition scholarship; and third prize is a $10,000 scholarship. The scholarship was introduced because the program wanted to attract “students who excelled. Our program is based on case analysis,” explained Brian Precious, its director of admissions, recruiting and alumni relations. Success in the program “is less about going to a textbook and more about looking at a business or nonprofit that is facing a difficult decision and determining what to do,” he said. Winners of the competition “can analyze a business case, present recommendations in a convincing manner and offer logical answers to tough questions,” Precious noted. “We wanted students to practice case studies before they even attend school. You’re going to do a lot of case analysis; it prepares students for working in larger companies or opening their own business,” Precious

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said. Students who excel in the critical analysis will likely succeed in marketing, sales, finance or other jobs. Students who compete must have applied to the program. Depending on when they’ve applied, some students will know they’ve been accepted, and some will not. Precious says if students incomplete applications look promising, they might be invited to participate in the Scholarship Case Competition before they know of their admission status. Hence, nearly all students competing are accepted into the program, though Precious notes if a student performs extremely poorly at the competition it could adversely affect admission status. In 2011, Penna decided to pursue an MBA to strengthen his credentials, expand his knowledge and enable him to secure a better job. He was familiar with the University of Illinois campus because he spent his sophomore year in high school in Champaign, Ill., living with his sister, who attended graduate school there. Penna considered applying for an MBA program in Asia, where the economy was booming, but decided that the United States education system and its MBA programs were stronger. He started investigating MBA programs, considered the University of Illinois, and saw online that it offered a case study competition and free tuition to the winner. As a Deloitte consultant, Penna was experienced at analyzing business problems and finding solutions so he figured he had the know-how and expertise to compete for the scholarship. Penna applied to the University of Illinois’s MBA program, supplied grades and GMAT scores and was accepted into it. After he was accepted, he started looking into competing in the business case competition. The competition had three levels, and the winner has to succeed at each round and then come out on top. After the initial competition, 10 MBA students are selected for the second round; and then three, for the final round.

Rounds One and Two In the first round, participants were asked to analyze the smart phone industry. If an investment company was going to finance a company in the smart phone industry, on what basis would that decision be made? As a Deloitte consultant, Penna was accustomed to digging into financials and analyzing companies and industries. “I researched the players in the industry, looked for competitive advantages, studied their global presence and financial data and examined price points,” Penna said. Consultants call this process “due diligence” or studying an industry’s financial performance. He analyzed the three major smart phone producers, Apple, Research in Motion, which produces Blackberries, and Nokia. After conducting the research, Penna’s wrote a three-page conclusion, which supported investing in smart phones because of the expected continued growth. He described his solution as “more analytical than financial. All of my conclusions were supported by data. You had to identify the competitive advantage of each of the players and predict how that would be an advantage in the future.” Penna was named one of the winners of the first round and moved into the next round. In the second round, the competition involved analyzing a product launch of a water filtration company. Competitors had to analyze the company’s business plan and decide whether or not to launch a new product. After extensive analysis, Penna decided that the company should introduce this product. Why? “The penetration rate the project required to break even was very small. All they needed to do to become profitable was to attain less than 0.5 percent of the market,” he said. If it managed to reach 1 percent of the market, it would be profitable. The Final Round Penna’s analysis advanced him into the final round with two other competitors. In this round, he presented his analysis of the water filtration company before an audience of about 100 people and answered questions on the spot. Keeping in mind that Penna was raised speaking Portuguese in Brazil and then learned English and Spanish, this was a difficult situation for someone who learned English as a second language. But Penna was up to the task. Penna answered most questions based on his research, but one of the judge’s questions surprised him. A judge asked Penna whether his analysis overlooked the fact that 50 percent of potential consumers for this product might already own irrigation systems. How does that fact alter his analysis? He replied, “You have a good point. Even if you consider that 50 percent of the potential market has an irrigation system in place, you still need under 1 percent to be successful.” Penna reinforced his analysis and said he would still recommend launching the product. In retrospect, Penna says he was nervous answering questions. At times, he had to ask a judge to rephrase a question because the meaning of the query eluded him or wasn’t clear to him. “I stayed calm throughout, and that one question was the only one that caught me off guard,” he said. Effect of Winning the Scholarship After the competition concluded, the winner was named at a University of Illinois MBA alumni dinner held in Chicago. Penna’s name was announced, earning him the two-year tuition free scholarship. “Winning was a big financial relief,” he said. In addition, becoming the case competition winner strengthened his confidence and boosted his résumé. After starting his first year in the program in fall 2011, Penna had already lined up a summer internship in corporate finance at a major

pharmaceutical company, and he thinks winning the competition played a role in his selection. Penna took a loan to pay for room, board and books, but he can graduate in 2013 with a modest debt. Why in Penna’s estimation did he win the competition? “I didn’t think I was the most talented student in the competition,” he admitted. “But I think I worked harder than anyone. If you work hard, you get results,” he said, alluding to the many hours of research he conducted. Starting the MBA Program In the first year of the program, Penna is taking basic MBA classes in accounting, economics, marketing and data analysis or statistics. In addition, he served as a project manager at the student run Illinois Business Consulting Group, where students offer consulting services. Indeed, Penna worked as a consultant to a sustainable energy company, offering advice on business and marketing. He wasn’t paid for this consulting, but he’s using some of the expertise learned in his MBA classes as well as from his former job at Deloitte. Each MBA program has its own education philosophy. University of Illinois stresses experiential learning and doing real-life business case analysis and presentations. In fact, much of the Illinois MBA program mirrors the case competition that Penna participated in and won. Penna thought he had an advantage in the program during the first month because he had spent so much time doing case studies for the competition. Showing his sense of humor, he said that “after a month, everyone caught up to me.” Having already worked as a consultant at Deloitte, Penna is looking to improve his financial acumen. Most of what he concentrated on at Deloitte was operations and strategy. In addition, he’s improving his English and presentation skills. His goal, after he graduates with an MBA, would be to work in finance for a global company with operations in Brazil. Working at Deloitte helped him in several ways while studying for his MBA. “You learn time-management skills. You’re always very busy and never complete your to-do list, just like a student in an MBA program,” Penna said. Consultants learn to deal with client demands, accept feedback and act on it, and MBA students need to learn to deal with professors’ demands and accept their feedback. And what’s the best thing about being the case completion winner? “The single best thing is it lessens the financial pressure. It also boosted my résumé,” he explained. The University of Illinois MBA program has 122 students in its two-year 2012 and 2013 graduating classes, says Brian Precious. Of those 122 students, 72 students are domestic and 50 are international. Of the U.S.-born students, 48 are White, 12 are Asian-American, six are Latino, and six are African-American. The program is committed to increasing the number of Latino students. It recently co-sponsored a career fair in Chicago with the National Society of Hispanic MBAs. “My biggest goal is to increase the quality and diversity of the program,” Precious said. The entire competition serves as a welcome for incoming MBA students. Students get to meet faculty who serve as judges, alumni who attend the dinner and their future MBA colleagues. And the faculty see who their prospective top students will be. It’s a win/win/win for everyone who participates, Precious said, particularly for scholarship winner Penna.

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TARGETING HIGHER EDUCATION

Graduate Education

by Gustavo A. Mellander 1900, most children did not finish high school. To complicate matters, less than 10 percent of those who did went on to college. They were invariably children of the moneyed elite. Today virtually everybody goes to high school, and more than 50 percent of high school graduates attend college. Unfortunately, 40 percent of Hispanics never finish high school, and many Hispanic immigrants did not complete high school, in their native countries. The obvious challenges are legion. To review, Hispanics represent the largest minority in K-12 and comprise the fastest-growing segment of students. Very few Hispanics, however, are earning college degrees. More are attending college, but their college completion rate remains low – a mere 19.2 percent, far below the national average of 41.1 percent. It’s a real problem for Hispanics since a college education is a virtual necessity for the better jobs, the better lifestyle. The GI Bill of Rights America’s college-attending explosion began after World War II. At that time, only 6 percent of Americans had college degrees. Having suffered through the war, veterans were anxious to improve their lives. The parents of those veterans had survived the Great Depression, some just barely. They were determined that their children, primarily their boys, went to college. They did. Their Open Sesame was the GI Bill of Rights. Many historians contend that the good economic times enjoyed since the war were a direct result of the masses who secured a college education. With the passage of time, America’s love affair with higher education has chilled. Yet most families still hope to have their children, boys and girls, attend college. During rough financial times, like the present, naysayers question the value of a college education. They ask, “Is it worth it?” In one word, absolutely! Numerous studies confirm the increased professional opportunities and enhanced financial security college graduates enjoy. Few studies allude to the intrinsic value of a college education beyond financial gains. That’s a mistake. The liberation from prejudices, the appreciation of the wonders of our world, and the quiet independence and confidence college-educated persons acquire are priceless. Those nonfinancial benefits of a college education should be emphasized more often; they are significant indeed. During the 1960s, efforts to encourage and help more Americans to go to college increased. Particular attention was placed on populations not well served in the past. Lower-income students, women and minorities found opportunities their parents couldn’t even dream of achieving. Graduate Education Community colleges exploded. Many four-year colleges expanded and

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flourished. By the 1980s, graduate education was increasingly recognized as a key component to achieving the American Dream. Today graduate education is an established enterprise. Its acceptance and its necessity in many professions are fully acknowledged. Graduate enrollment continues to grow faster than undergraduate education. Over the past two decades, fall enrollment at the graduate and firstprofessional levels has increased by 57 percent, from 1.7 million in 1988 to 2.7 million in 2008. In comparison, undergraduate enrollment grew 45 percent, from 11.3 million to 16.4 million, during the same period. Within 10 years after receiving their bachelor’s degree in 1992-93, nearly 40 percent enrolled in a graduate or first-professional degree program. For more details, see: www2.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ous/international/ usnei/us/edlite-structure-us.html. Most graduate education is at the master’s and doctoral level. But there is also the first-professional degree, which trains professionals such as medical doctors and lawyers. Financing Graduate Studies Graduate students typically use a combination of their own resources (earnings, savings and family contributions) as well as financial aid to meet their expenses. Financial aid is distributed differently at the graduate level. A substantial amount of undergraduate grants (from federal, state and institutional sources) are targeted to lower income students. However, aid at the graduate and first-professional levels is typically awarded on the basis of nonfinancial criteria. Federal aid to graduate and first-professional students is primarily in the form of loans. There is no federal grant program for graduate students analogous to the Pell Grant program for low-income undergraduates. For comprehensive information on financial aid, see http://studentaid.ed.gov/PORTALSWebApp/students/ english/index.jsp.

Distribution About two-thirds of all graduate students are enrolled in master’s degree programs; about half of those are in business or education programs. Students in Master of Business Administration (MBA) programs and master’s or doctoral programs in education commonly delay enrollment in graduate education after earning their bachelor’s for seven or more years. They typically work full time while enrolled; many enroll part time. That is in contrast with most medical and law students, who enroll full time within two years of their bachelor’s degree. Lastly, fewer work full time while enrolled. The average total cost of full-time, full-year attendance ranged from a low of $28,400 for a master’s degree program at a public institution to $52,500 for a first-professional program at a private nonprofit institution. Financial aid packages vary by degree program. Compared with graduate and first-professional students in other degree programs, Doctor of Philosophy students (excluding those in education) were the most likely to receive grants and the least likely to seek loans. Borrowing was more common among first-professional students than among master’s or doctoral students. In what types of programs and institutions do students enroll? It is impossible to have up-to-date figures. The latest government data are for 2007-08. At that time, 65 percent of the three million students studying at the graduate and first-professional level were working on a master’s degree. Another 15 percent were enrolled in doctoral programs, and 9 percent were in first-professional programs. The remaining 11 percent were working for post-baccalaureate or post-master’s certificates (in teaching, for example). Some were taking graduate courses without enrolling in a formal program. Half of all master’s students were in business or education. Students working on a master’s degree in education were by far the leaders. They accounted for 31 percent of all master’s degree students. Another 19 percent of master’s students were enrolled in MBA programs. (When the MBA degree became highly sought after, many a good liberal arts college bent its mission to serve this lucrative market.) Ph.D. students (excluding those in education) were the largest group at the doctoral level. Sixty percent of all students at the doctoral level were working on a Ph.D. in a field other than education. They were found in such varied disciplines as the humanities, social sciences, natural sciences, engineering and mathematics. Another 15 percent of doctoral students were working on a Ph.D. in education or a Doctor of Education, Ed.D. The remaining 25 percent of doctoral students were pursuing other degrees, such as Doctor of Business Administration (DBA), Doctor of Fine Arts (DFA), and Doctor of Public Administration (DPA). We cannot leave this section on doctoral studies without pointing out that only 4 percent of doctoral candidates are Hispanic, and not all of those graduate!

Delay Students in MBA and graduate education programs tend to postpone entering graduate school and to work full time once enrolled. Some business and education students have incentives to combine school and work. Some teachers utilize graduate education to climb career ladders that reward additional education. School districts typically provide salary premiums for advanced degrees and often require them for promotion to administrative positions. MBA students often receive tuition reimbursement from their employers to pursue an MBA. Thirty-two percent of MBA students delayed their enrollment in graduate school for six or more years after their bachelor’s. Among students in education, 34 percent of those at the master’s level and 70 percent of those at the doctoral level delayed seven or more years. Compared with students in any other degree program, a greater proportion of MBA and education students (master’s and doctoral) worked full time while enrolled.

First-Professional Programs Law is the nation’s largest first-professional program. Fifty-one percent of all first-professional students were working on a law degree: a Bachelor’s of Law (LLB) or Juris Doctor (JD). Twenty-four percent were in medicine. Other health sciences accounted for 20 percent of all first-professional students.

Loans Available Graduate and first-professional students with financial need can borrow up to $8,500 per year in subsidized loans through Stafford loans. The government pays the interest while students are enrolled, for the first 6 months after they leave school, and during periods of deferment (such as unemployment). Regardless of financial need, students can obtain unsubsidized Stafford

Assistance While Studying Most Ph.D. students in fields other than education had an assistantship or similar award-involving work. Seventy-seven percent of Ph.D. students in fields other than education had an assistantship or work-study award. First-professional students tended to enroll full time and not work full time. Forty-five percent of students in medicine, 48 percent of students in other health sciences, and 33 percent of students studying law enrolled in their programs less than a year after earning their bachelor’s degree. What types and amounts of financial aid did students receive? To help pay for their education, graduate and first-professional students had access to three major types of financial aid – grants, loans and assistantships. A comparison of students across degree programs indicates that relatively fewer students in master’s programs than in doctoral or first-professional programs received any aid. Further they received lower average amounts. This pattern reflects the lower average price of attendance at the master’s level for students in each sector. It also reflects, at least in part, the relatively larger percentage of master’s students working full time while enrolled and relatively smaller percentage enrolled full time than in most doctoral and first-professional programs. Doctoral students in education, who also commonly attended part time and worked full time, were an exception. Following are some of the major types of financial aid. Grants Grants, which do not have to be repaid, can be awarded as grants, scholarships, fellowships, trainee-ships, tuition waivers. Grants at the graduate and first-professional levels typically are awarded on a discretionary basis and need not be related to financial need.

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loans, for which they pay all interest from the time the debt is incurred. Students can borrow a maximum of $20,500 in subsidized and unsubsidized Stafford loans each year, with a lifetime maximum of $138,500. Students in health professions can borrow an additional $20,000 in unsubsidized Stafford loans annually. In 2007-08, their lifetime maximum was $189,125, but this amount was increased to $224,000 in April 2008. Assistantships Assistantships are important especially for doctoral students and for international students, who are not eligible for federal loan programs. Students receive a stipend for teaching, research, or administrative duties. Academic departments select the recipients so assistantships are considered institutional aid, but funding often comes from federally funded research grants. Who Is Borrowing? Loans are quite prominent in graduate education. Borrowing was least common among Ph.D. students in fields other than education, and most common for first-professional students. Among borrowers, the average loan amounts ranged from $13,200 for education masterâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s students to $34,600 for medical students.

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Education masterâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s students often enroll part time and work full time while enrolled. Part-time enrollment reduces the price of attending and thus lessens the need to borrow. Medical students, in contrast, face high tuition and usually enroll full time. The average for medical students attending full time was $45,000 in 2007-08. In comparison, full-time, full-year students in M.B.A. programs and Ph.D. programs other than education paid an average of $36,200 and $39,000, respectively. Nota Bene: In short, there are many opportunities for those who wish to pursue graduate education. Detailed information on the types of financial aid available and eligibility requirements can be found at http://studentaid.ed.gov/PORTALSWebApp/ students/ english/gradstudent.jsp. Further, more extensive and unending data can also be found at http://nces.ed.gov/pubsearch/pubsinfo.asp?pubid=2011174.23.

Dr. Mellander was a college president for 20 years.