Lumina Foundation is committed to increasing the proportion of Americans with high-quality degrees, certificates and other credentials to 60 percent by 2025. |
| Johanna Alonso, Inside Higher Ed SHARE: Facebook • LinkedIn The University of Texas at Austin made headlines in April when it laid off approximately 60 staff members, most of them in diversity, equity, and inclusion–related roles, in what the institution called an effort to comply with SB 17, the state’s new anti-DEI law. Shawntal Z. Brown, who worked for UT Austin for seven years, was part of those layoffs. The move shocked her—and changed her views on working in higher education. She explains more in this interview. |
| Lasherica Thornton and Diana Lambert, EdSource SHARE: Facebook • LinkedIn In mid-March, Bullard High School students Merrick Crowley and Craig Coleman taught an interactive science lesson for a fifth-grade class at Gibson Elementary in Fresno. The high schoolers are in Fresno Unified’s Career Technical Education Pathway course, one of the district’s three Teacher Academy programs that has the potential to increase the number of educators entering the K-12 system. Many educators believe that introducing and preparing students for the teaching field, starting at the high-school level, will be key to addressing the teacher shortage—a challenge affecting schools across the nation. |
| Jen Kocher, Cowboy State Daily SHARE: Facebook • LinkedIn Thirty years ago, Martin Gabriel had his entire life in front of him, until he didn’t. Back then, he was a student at Laramie County Community College. Today, he's finishing up his freshman year of college at the Wyoming Medium Correctional Institution. Gabriel, 56, says he cannot turn back the clock, but he's grateful to once again be back in college, even if from behind prison walls. |
| Megan Zahneis, The Chronicle of Higher Education SHARE: Facebook • LinkedIn Two years ago, Mun Y. Choi, chancellor of the University of Missouri at Columbia, was handed a blistering performance review by faculty members on his campus. Now, if the numbers from a fresh review are any indication, Choi has engineered a turnaround. The results don’t mean that Choi is universally beloved at Mizzou. But at a time when college leaders are often facing shorter tenures and constant crises, it’s notable that he managed to go from someone most professors wanted to boot from the job to a chancellor with majority approval from the faculty. |
| J.J. McCorvey, NBC News SHARE: Facebook • LinkedIn Romona Smith nearly dropped out of college twice since enrolling in 2022. Smith, 20, works full time to put herself through school in Nashville. “There wasn’t really a time where I haven’t worked for more than two weeks,” she says. With the election less than four months away, Smith worries about launching her career under a second Trump administration, citing the Republican nominee’s antipathy toward efforts to boost equity in the workplace and proposals in Project 2025 to roll back diversity and inclusion programs. |
| Laura Aka, WorkingNation
SHARE: Facebook • LinkedIn The National Skills Coalition says that 57 percent of the Latino workforce has little or no digital skills. Frankie Miranda, president and CEO of the Hispanic Federation, shares his thoughts on expanding access to digital upskilling for Latino workers and the collaborations that can make it happen. |
| Kathryn Moody, Higher Ed Dive |
| Adam Echelman, News From the States |
| Michael T. Nietzel, Forbes |
| Clayton Henkel, NC Newsline |
| Patrick J. Casey, Inside Higher Ed |
| Joshua Kim, Learning Innovation |
RACIAL JUSTICE AND EQUITY |
| Lois Elfman, Diverse Issues in Higher Education |
| Erika Soderstrom, Marketplace |
| Isaac Kamola, The Conversation |
| Emmanuel Marshall, The Education Trust |
| The Chronicle of Higher Education |
| Lilly Price, The Baltimore Sun |
| Brian Zahn, New Haven Register |
| Brooklyn Draisey, Iowa Capital Dispatch |
| Andrea Chalfin and Paolo Zialcita, KRCC |
| Mark Moran, Public News Service |
| Jessica Blake, Inside Higher Ed |
| Jennifer Smith, CommonWealth Beacon |
| Jeremy Margolis, Concord Monitor |
| The Center for Law & Social Policy |
| The Chronicle of Higher Education |
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