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Section: Opinion

Supporting International Students in Time of Coronavirus: Looking Beyond Immigration Concerns

The higher education community went into a collective uproar following the ICE guidelines that would have deported international students whose universities go to an entirely online format. Many on social media and in news outlets were writing about the topic. Colleges and universities joined a collective lawsuit against the federal government. And it looked like the pressure worked – the guidelines were rescinded.

July 30, 2020

Community Colleges

Roueche Center Forum: Diversifying the Undergraduate Engineering Education Pathway – An Opportunity for the Community College

Vision 2030, a recently released report from the National Science Board (NSB), is the latest in a plethora of warnings that the American way of life is threatened because we are in danger of falling behind in STEM, the disciplines that have powered American prosperity for decades. The current COVID-19 pandemic demonstrates the power and […]

July 29, 2020

Dr. Irving Pressley McPhail

Points to Consider for Running a Virtual Orientation Program

While institutions across the nation continue to finalize their Fall opening plans, many of them have opted-in for a virtual orientation program.

July 29, 2020

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Abolish the Term “Student-Athlete”

As higher education embraces social justice and abandons oppressive language and symbols, universities should banish one more offensive term.

July 29, 2020

MollyHarryfeatured

International Diverse Universities in the Midst of a Global Pandemic

When we began our Ford Foundation grant, “Women and University Leadership in Post-Conflict and Transitional Societies” in 2015, we could not envision addressing the effects of the global COVID-19 pandemic, particularly on universities and women leaders. Nor would we have anticipated reading about a Kenyan woman who wept, while she boiled rocks for her children, […]

July 28, 2020

Beverly Lindsay, for St. Mary’s College in San Antonio, TX. Photographed at the Library of Congress in Washington, DC. [photo copyright Matthew Rakola]

Three Tips for First-Generation Graduate Students Navigating Education During the Pandemic

There has been a lot of focus on how higher education institutions are dealing with the pandemic. Will classes be online in the Fall? How will the rigor of courses be maintained? Will there be budget cuts? How will the postsecondary model of education focus on the impact on students? Most of these conversations have focused on undergraduate students, faculty, and staff. One population that is often overlooked is the graduate student population. Who can they turn to for resources in this uncertain time?

July 27, 2020

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Community Colleges

As Higher Education Faces a “Corona Swirl” of Transfer Students, Higher Education Must Create Clear Pathways to Degrees

Recent surveys show that a growing number of high school graduates and college students are opting to attend community colleges this fall because they are affordable and closer to home. Those who lost jobs in the post-COVID economy are also turning to community colleges to gain and sharpen skills that lead back to jobs. The combination is creating an unprecedented level of student movement between two- and four-year colleges. There’s even a name for it in higher education circles – the “corona swirl.”

July 24, 2020

African-American

Advancing The Work After The News Is No Longer Breaking

For days following the death of George Floyd, I fell silent. I wanted to speak using my social media platforms, but I was speechless. I was asked to post, respond, write a note to students, apply hashtags to my name, and join in a moment of silence, among other initiatives. However, I knew the death of George Floyd could not encompass the same temporary and emotional responses as so many other Black males who lost their lives at the hands of a system designed to honor and protect citizens of this nation.

July 22, 2020

African-American

Calling Asian Americans to Action: Why We Can’t Stay Silent about Black Lives Matter

Black Lives Matter protests erupted across the United States this year, provoked by the killings of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, and many others that have not seen full justice. As Asian Americans, we need to assess how we’ve been silent or apathetic to Black issues. It’s time we speak up and do something for Black Lives Matter – because frankly, we haven’t done enough.

July 20, 2020

A Work of Heart: Practicing Critical Compassionate Pedagogy in the Face of Adversity

As a faculty member, my biggest concern was the online (re)creation of a deeply engaged and rich environment, while simultaneously supporting students battling various challenges due to COVID-19 including but not limited to the loss of jobs, mental health conditions, and deaths of family members.

July 17, 2020

Sustaining Professional Development in the Midst of COVID

Professional development initiatives that support employees are essential, particularly as we navigate the COVID-19 pandemic and consider how best to reopen campuses. Pivoting to online learning and teleworking while preparing for a new normal has highlighted this need. Perhaps, more than ever before, we are challenged to build the capacity to meet the diverse needs of our students and one another.

July 16, 2020

Roueche Center Forum: Helping Hispanic-Latino Students Make a Good Living and Live a Good Life

The Coachella Valley in Southern California is a series of 12-plus small cities linked by a commitment to big ideas. College of the Desert (COD), the local community college, is one of the biggest and best organizations in the Valley that serves the various communities as the epicenter of social and economic justice through a […]

July 15, 2020

Dr. Kinnamon March 2020-DOW

Intellectual Humility: Re-Imagining a Democratic Virtue

The role of educational institutions—as a supplement to media, economic and governmental institutions—is crucial in developing virtues to balance the tension between the intellectual entitlement to have one’s own views respected and the intellectual humility to see those views as fallible, partial, dogmatic, and often unjustified.

July 12, 2020

Community Colleges

The Early Impacts of COVID-19 on the Community College Student Experience

To help community college leaders understand what their students were experiencing, the Center for Community College Student Engagement offered a free online survey focused on how students were managing all the changes that came with the pandemic. The survey asked students about the information and support they were receiving from their college and from their instructors, the challenges they were facing as a result of the sudden transition to online classes, and their level of concern regarding food and housing security.

July 10, 2020

How to Infuse Trans-Inclusive Housing in Your University-Wide Changes

For colleges and universities that will hold brick-and-mortar classes in the fall, and amidst this unprecedented review of how we keep our students safe in residential life, campuses are presented with the unique opportunity to center trans and non-binary students’ voices in creating new, more inclusive, housing practices. As broad changes on housing are being considered, now is the time to include trans and non-binary students’ experiences in charting a path forward.

July 9, 2020

A Brief History Lesson and Open Letter to the Nation’s Schoolchildren and College Students about White Male Power

Dear Generation Z Students, you are digital natives. So, this letter would better reach you by video, Instagram, Snapchat, maybe Twitter or a hashtag. But I need more letter characters and time than these platforms allow. Please bear with me as you read.

July 9, 2020

Faculty & Staff

Minoritized Senior Faculty in Higher Education, Please Stand Up

Recently, the tenure denials of faculty such as Sibrina Collins at the College of Wooster, Lorgia García-Peña at Harvard University, Paul Harris and Tolu Odumosu at the University of Virginia, and Ashley Woodson at the University of Missouri at Columbia, have reignited a conversation about the role of bias in tenure and promotion processes. But also, the role of tenured senior faculty of color in not only mentoring their junior colleagues, but also working to disrupt and revise these processes. Reimagining these processes in a way that is grounded in equity and justice, we offer a few recommendations.

July 8, 2020

On Slave Patrols, a Pandemic, the NBA, and HBCUs: The Birth of an Historic Alliance?

People from all walks of life, including numerous professional athletes, have been protesting ever since, doing whatever they can to try to affect change. Most notably, several NBA players, whose season has been suspended since March 11, formed a coalition and declared that “Enough is enough.”

July 8, 2020