How to Save Higher Education:
Conference Continues on Apr. 29
The Center for Higher Education Retention Excellence (CHERE) is sponsoring an innovative two-part conference on “Saving Higher Education.” The first session was held on Nov. 13; the conclusion will be on April 29, 2016. It is a two-part program to foster continuity and longer-term impact. Participants in Day 1 came away with tangible program ideas from some very good campus initiatives. They will return in April to talk about implementation plans and actions.
Part 1: November 13 at Central Connecticut State University - Can Non-Traditional Students Save Higher Education, and Vice Versa?, to explore issues related to non-traditional students including underrepresented and first generation traditional age students and adult learners who have never been to college.
Guest Speaker: Jennifer Smith, Ph.D., University of Texas – Austin. Dr. Smith is Director of the University Leadership Network, a nationally-recognized incentive-based scholarship program with a focus on leadership, professional development, and experiential learning. The program serves students who may meet all or a combination of: high financial need, rural background, first generation, and underrepresented student populations.
Part 2: April 29 at Goodwin College – Saving Higher Ed: Identifying Solutions That Really Work
Guest Speaker: George Mehaffy, Vice President for Academic Leadership and Change, American Association of State Colleges and Universities. His division of AASCU is responsible for developing and managing programs for member institutions in areas such as organizational change, civic engagement, leadership development, undergraduate education, technology, international education and teacher education. He works closely with university presidents and chief academic officers on a variety of national initiatives. Before coming to AASCU, he had more than twenty years of teaching and administrative experience in higher education in Texas, New Mexico, and California.
This two-day, two-part conference looks at promising and best practices on both sides of the higher education continuum, access (“getting in”) and success (retaining to graduation and employment), through the eyes of public and private school educators, community-based organizations, and students themselves.
The November conference also included an expert panel that will include the Provost of CCSU, two institution presidents (from a Connecticut Community College and a private university), a senior elected official from the state legislature and a representative of the Connecticut Board of Regents for Higher Education.
Among the key questions of the day: How do we change that perception in an era of rapidly increasing costs of higher education? How do we make sure that those who advise high school students — parents, counselors, teachers, community agency staff — understand the quality of career and technical education programs and see them as viable choices?
Nov. 13/April 29 Conference Sponsors: The conference is sponsored by CHERE in partnership with the Hartford Consortium for Higher Education, the Connecticut Board of Regents for Higher Education, Central Connecticut State University, Goodwin College and the National Resource Center for First Year Experience and Students in Transition at the University of South Carolina.
“Most middle- and low-income students struggle to complete a degree…but a big part of the solution lies at schools like the University of Texas at Austin, selective but not super-elite, that are able to take large numbers of highly motivated working-class students and give them the tools they need to become successful professionals. The U.T. experiment reminds us that the process isn’t easy; it never has been. But it also reminds us that it is possible.” – New York Times Magazine (2014)
