Year: 2015

CUNY to Bolster Community College Graduation Rates

The City University of New York has announced a groundbreaking partnership with New York City to significantly increase graduation rates at its community colleges. CUNY will scale-up its already successful Accelerated Study in Associate Programs, with plans to grow the program from 4,000 to 25,000 students over the next three years and raise the graduation rate to 34 percent by 2025.

Reimagining Remediation in Tennessee

With implementation of the Tennessee Promise, higher education is looking to Tennessee for lessons learned during its foray into the world of free community college. The Tennessee Board of Regents (TBR) is no less a stranger to scrutiny for its innovative practices in developmental education. Tristan Denley discusses TBR’s pioneering approach to remediation.

Webster President Beth Stroble on College Leaders Who Tweet

The term “social media” has entered that rare stratosphere of fame and recognition normally reserved for rock stars and presidents. Now, rock stars and presidents bow to the power of social media. Webster President Beth Stroble, an enthusiastic early adopter when it comes to communication technologies, reflects on what this means for higher education.

Talking About Race, Class and College Access

Issues of equitable access and changing demographics weigh heavy on the shoulders of American higher education – and rightly so, write ACE’s Lorelle Espinosa and Matthew Gaertner of Pearson’s Center for College & Career Success. In this post, Espinosa and Gaertner discuss the takeaways from a recent convening on college access and success for minority and low-income students.

New CSUSM Center Helps Latinos Overcome Academic Obstacles

At California State University San Marcos (CSUSM), nearly 40 percent of the student body identifies as Latino. Unfortunately, many first-generation Latino students face major hurdles to pursuing a post-secondary education. And when they do enroll, they often find the transition challenging—which is why CSUSM launched The Latin@ Center earlier this month.

#HBCUWeek: North Carolina A&T Goes the Distance With Distance Learning

As the higher education community celebrates HBCU Week, North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University is among the ACE member institutions in the news for promoting education excellence and innovation. A&T is already the nation’s largest HBCU, but it is now working to increase its enrollment even further by expanding and emphasizing distance education.

Supporting First-Generation and Low-Income Students at the University of Florida

First launched in 2006, the Machen Florida Opportunity Scholars Program supports nearly 1,250 undergraduates annually and will soon surpass the 2,000 alumni milestone. For the first-generation and low-income students in the program, early estimates indicate that they are 44 percent more likely to graduate in four years and 47 percent more likely to complete in six years compared to their peers.

Institutions Using Required Reading to Forge Campus Connections

As colleges and universities gear up for the fall semester, many students are likely scrambling to finish one last task: summer reading. Many schools require incoming freshman, and sometimes the entire student body, to read one book in order to create academic and other connections across the campus community. Here’s what several of our member institutions are reading for this fall.

As We Remember Katrina and Recovery, Don’t Neglect Higher Education’s Role

As we reflect on the 10th anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, we will no doubt read and hear stories of rescue and rebuilding and the people who made a difference. When we do, we must also recall the way the higher education community pulled together to save and restore a critical element of the Gulf Coast’s infrastructure—its wide array of colleges and universities.