News Links | October 28, 2014

SYSTEM NEWS | OPINIONS

Lessons learned on competency-based education Western Governors University has unveiled a new website, dubbed CBEInfo, which seeks to be a discussion space for lessons from the nonprofit university's collaborations with community colleges [Bellevue College, Columbia Basin College, Edmonds Community College, and Spokane Falls Community College]. Inside Higher Ed, Oct. 28, 2014 Briefs: EvCC named 'Military Friendly School' Everett Community College has been named a Military Friendly School, ranking it among the top 15 percent of colleges, universities and trade schools serving active duty military personal, veterans and military families. Everett Herald, Oct. 28, 2014 CPTC: Recipes with memories When Maria Medina bakes she welcomes memories of her childhood in Los Angeles. She remembers watching her mother cook and bake for her and her five brothers and sisters. Medina fondly remembers the carrot cake, and when she lists the ingredients she is sure to include “love.” ... Medina didn’t have the opportunity to pursue her passion for a career in baking as a young mother, but she didn’t give up on her dream. Now as a Pastry Arts student at Clover Park Technical College, Medina wants her baked goods to evoke the pleasant memories she experiences. The Suburban Times, Oct. 27, 2014 How I Got Into College: Students will share stories Nov. 15 Are you a student dreaming of a degree but wondering how to get there? A parent wondering how to help your child get into college? Education Lab is partnering with the University of Washington’s Dream Project to present Storytellers: How I Got Into College. ... Bring your whole family. We’ll provide a light dinner. Need child-care or translation services? Please let us know what your needs are by noting them in the registration form or by emailing cmoran@seattletimes.com on or before Nov. 6. The Seattle Times, Oct. 24, 2014 Exhibition: Are you prepared? This is not our parents' “Duck and Cover” version of disaster preparedness. Instead, a new exhibit at Everett Community College's Russell Day Gallery focuses on natural disasters and some ways to prepare for them. Everett Herald, Oct. 25, 2014 Pierce College alum Greg Marks shares personal story Pierce College alum Greg Marks may be well on his way to Hollywood as an actor and filmmaker, but fame is not exactly what he’s after. He’s already achieved his goal to work on just about every film made in Washington state over the past year. But his true passion is to empower people to have the courage to pursue their own dreams and goals. Marks has had more than his share of struggles in life, which he shared with a packed house at Pierce College Fort Steilacoom. The Suburban Times, Oct. 25, 2014 EdCC art show explores the many faces of its students Snohomish County's community colleges are great places to see new or experimental art. Admission is free, the exhibits are intended for viewing by the general public and most of the time they make you think. The Russell Day Gallery at Everett Community College features work by community members, instructors and students. Exhibits this year have included mixed-media work by college instructor Linda Berkley and carvings by Tulalip artist James Madison. In the art gallery at Edmonds Community College the current show is a collaboration involving a former student activist, a longtime member of the art faculty and a musician employed in the college's media services department. Everett Herald, Oct. 24, 2014 CPTC: Campus event caters to student veterans In conjunction with Disability Awareness Month, Clover Park Technical College’s Veterans Resource Center and Disability Resources Office hosted representatives from the Washington Department of Veteran Affairs for a special campus event. The Suburban Times, Oct. 24, 2014 Portland State University partners with NMC, other institutions Portland State University will receive a $24 million research and training grant from the National Institutes of Health to work with Northern Marianas College and other institutions to help underrepresented and diverse students pursue careers in biomedical, behavioral, social, or clinical research and other health sciences. ... PSU is collaborating with Oregon Health and Science University, Portland Community College, Chemeketa Community College, Clackamas Community College, Clark College, University of Alaska, University of Hawaii, University of Guam, American Samoa Community College and Northern Marianas College. Marianas Variety, Oct. 24, 2014 CPTC: Holiday cooking with CPTC’s Culinary Arts It’s nearly time to start planning the menu for the holidays, and Clover Park Technical College Culinary Arts Instructor Chef William Jolly has a dish for you. Chef Jolly and Culinary Arts student Kelson Williams presented a 15-minute “Cooking for the Holidays” demo at the Tacoma Holiday Food and Gift Festival at the Tacoma Dome. The Suburban Times, Oct. 23, 2014 2014 Outstanding Citizen Andee Jorgensen The City of Renton, Renton Chamber of Commerce and Rotary Club of Renton will honor Raymond Kusumi as the 2014 Citizen of the Year and Andee Jorgensen and Judy Craig as Outstanding Citizens. ... 2014 Outstanding Citizen Andee Jorgensen has served Renton in an extraordinary way, demonstrating strong character and leadership. She lives by her philosophy “the more you volunteer, the better you feel.” Jorgensen is the president of Renton Rotary, serves on the board of directors for Renton Chamber of Commerce, has been a trustee of Renton Technical College (RTC), served on the RTC foundation board, and currently serves on the City of Renton’s Civil Service Commission. Renton Reporter, Oct. 23, 2014 Thousands attend job fair for veterans at base Several thousand people participated in a job fair for military veterans at Joint Base Lewis-McChord. ... U.S. Army Staff Sgt. Justin Mahoney, left, holds his son Cameron, 3, as his wife Elena talks with Courtney Akinniyi, right, an outreach and recruitment coordinator at Clover Park Technical College at a job fair that was part of a "transition summit" intended to provide employment and educational information to soldiers who may exit military service in the next year, at Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Wash. CT Post, Oct. 23, 2014 Pierce College welcomes new faculty in DHFT department The Pierce College Diagnostic Health and Fitness (DHFT) department offers students a clear pathway to high-demand careers in a competitive industry.With several new faculty members on board this year, students will have an opportunity to learn from professionals with impressive, real-world experience in a variety of areas. The Suburban Times, Oct. 11, 2014 Disability History Month observed at Pierce College Pierce College announced Friday that it has been designated a 2015 Military Friendly® School by Victory Media, the leader in successfully connecting the military and civilian worlds. The Military Friendly Schools designation is awarded to the top 15 percent of colleges, universities and trade schools in the country that are doing the most to embrace military students, and to dedicate resources to ensure their success in the classroom and after graduation. The Suburban Times, Oct. 11, 2014

TRENDS| HORIZONS | EDUCATION

Hirings up for college graduates, but salaries stagnant Hiring of college graduates this year is expected to reach levels not seen since the early 2000s, but the starting salaries of those positions are improving at a much slower pace, according to new reports authored by Phil Gardner, the director of the Collegiate Employment Research Institute at Michigan State University. Inside Higher Ed, Oct. 28, 2014 When an LMS dies The Angel learning management system, after cheating death once, will officially retire in October 2016. Before then, hundreds of institutions will have to search for a new provider. The death of a major learning management system is not an everyday event. In the day-to-day battle for market share, providers make gains by peeling off customers from their competitors, outmaneuvering other suitors when a college or university looks to makes a once-in-a-decade shift. U.S. higher education is considered a saturated market, and as one of those systems now leaves the space, it creates an opportunity for providers to scoop up new clients -- and headache for the colleges and universities urged to migrate. Inside Higher Ed, Oct. 28, 2014 Admissions psychology Some people have a knack for writing, while others will never write well no matter how hard they try. That is an example of a question that will be part of a battery that Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology plans to start asking undergraduate applicants to determine if they think they can control their destinies. Students who answer in ways that suggest that they are confident they can control their fates -- or who have a "locus of control" to use the psychological term -- will get an edge in admissions decisions. And the system could start as early as next year. Inside Higher Ed, Oct. 27, 2014 Black man in the lab For two decades, academic researchers have asked the same questions about black males in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics, known as the STEM fields. ... The scarcity of black men earning STEM degrees has been documented repeatedly. For example, among American citizens and permanent residents, the proportion of black men at the Ph.D. level more than doubled between 1992 and 2012, but from a very low base of only 1 percent to 2 percent of all STEM degrees, according to the National Science Foundation’s annual "Survey of Earned Doctorates." The Chronicle of Higher Education, Oct. 27, 2014 How to pick a college? Data crunchers hope to help For many high-school seniors, fall means deciding where to apply for college and maybe visiting a guidance counselor. Data crunchers hope to help. The popularity of social-media sites and advancements in the ability to analyze the vast amounts of data we put online give members of the class of 2015 more tools than ever to help chart their next step, even if finding the right college is an inexact science. The Seattle Times, Oct. 25, 2014 One message at meeting of community-college trustees: pay attention to demographics The demographic changes sweeping the nation—especially the growth in the population of native-born young Hispanics—will have a profound impact on community-college enrollments and leadership in the years to come, experts told the 1,800 attendees on Thursday here at the annual meeting of the Association of Community College Trustees. The Hispanic and Asian populations are now growing faster than the U.S. population as a whole, and the number of Hispanic students arriving at colleges, particularly community colleges, is on the rise, Mark Hugo Lopez of the Pew Research Center told the trustees, presidents, and other attendees at the four-day meeting, which concludes on Saturday. The Chronicle of Higher Education, Oct. 24, 2014 Opinion: Why elite universities should admit more community college grads Every year about 3 million students graduate from high school in the United States — and only about 50,000 will have the qualifications to begin their academic careers at one of the country’s top 30 private research universities. These are schools that not only teach, but also inspire scientific innovation, social progress and artistic expression. Yet these universities are often branded as perpetrators of high student debt or bastions of privilege. But they need not be. An important step toward reversing this perception would be to expand the ways that low-income, academically qualified students can gain access to these institutions. In this regard, the University of Southern California has been leading the way by widely recruiting and admitting transfer students from two-year community colleges. Washington Post, Oct. 23, 2014

POLITICS | LOCAL, STATE, NATIONAL

The states' 'Great Retreat' When they are being pounded for having raised their students' tuition, public college leaders are quick in turn to point the finger at legislators and governors in their states, whose cuts in financing for higher education are overwhelmingly responsible for the tuition increases. A new report from the Center for American Progress details — on a state-by-state basis — the extent to which recession-driven reductions in public college financing since 2008 have sent tuitions soaring, and how disproportionately low- and middle-income students and the institutions that serve them have been affected. And the report cites that evidence in arguing for a new partnership in which the federal government would — with investments of its own — encourage states to spend more of their own funds to boost college-going and graduation, particularly by those traditionally underserved by higher education. Inside Higher Ed, Oct. 27, 2014 3 senators urge education dept. to make studying abroad safer Three U.S. senators urged the education secretary, Arne Duncan to provide better safety information to college students who plan to study abroad. The letter — signed by Robert P. Casey Jr. of Pennsylvania, Al Franken of Minnesota, and Kirsten Gillibrand of New York, all Democrats — recommends, among other things, that the Education Department better advertise the State Department’s Smart Traveler Enrollment Program. Links to sign up for the program should be provided in the Free Application for Federal Student Aid and on the department’s website, the senators wrote. The Chronicle of Higher Education, Oct. 23, 2014 Opinion: hope helps IHE reported that Senator Patty Murray, of Washington, has proposed a limited reintroduction of the Ability to Benefit rule in the latest draft of the Higher Education Act. This is one of the better ideas I’ve heard from the Senate. And no, I don’t mean that as damning by faint praise. Inside Higher Ed, Oct. 22, 2014