MAE 2010 Volume: 5 Issue: 1 (February)
The Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities (HACU) and the U.S. Army Accessions Command recently signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU), providing a cooperative framework for serving the Hispanic community through Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSI) and Hispanic-Serving School Districts (HSSD).
The understanding highlights expanding test preparation resources for educators and students; building a comprehensive understanding of career and technical choices for students; collaborating on programs designed to increase awareness of U.S. Army resources available to Hispanics seeking higher education, career and leadership opportunities; and increasing HSI and HSSD understanding of the benefits and educational opportunities provided through Army service.
The Army—a HACU partner and resource to HSIs and HSSDs for college preparedness via March2Success and ROTC scholarship assessment tools—has been a strong supporter of HACU’s Annual Conference and its College Tour program, which brings high school students to universities to learn more about college life.
SBI Embraces Military Education Programs
The Sanford-Brown Institute-Jacksonville will participate in the Military Appreciation Program (MAP), the Military Spouse Career Advancement Account (MyCAA) program and the Yellow Ribbon Program.
The MAP is a grant provided by SBI-Jacksonville for active-duty military men and women who wish to further their education. A total of nine individuals are eligible to receive a grant of approximately $5,500 each term toward a diploma in the Medical Assisting, Medical Billing and Coding, or Pharmacy Technician programs. Grants are awarded on a first-come, first-packaged basis to the first nine applicants who meet the institutional grant criteria.
SBI-Jacksonville is also a participant in MyCAA, which offers up to $6,000 in financial assistance for active duty, National Guard and reservist spouses pursuing portable careers. This is a federal program and only select schools are participating.
The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) approved the school to participate in the Yellow Ribbon Program under the Post-9/11 GI Bill. SBI-Jacksonville is enrolling veterans for its September/October academic session. Under the Post-9/11 GI Bill, based on the eligibility of the veteran or active duty servicemember, the VA will pay tuition and fees benefits up to each state’s highest public undergraduate tuition per credit hour and fees per term.
Pennsylvania Community Colleges See Spike in Enrollment
More than 13,000 new students enrolled in Pennsylvania’s 14 community colleges this past fall. This is a 10 percent increase over last fall’s enrollment, but does not reflect the growing number of students in noncredit programs who are seeking to enhance specific skills for entry or re-entry into the job market. All told, total credit and noncredit enrollment is rapidly approaching a half-million in Pennsylvania across community colleges.
According to Sara Goldrick-Rab, author of the recent report from the Brookings Institute on transforming community colleges, the national growth in enrollment in the two-year sector has outpaced the four-year sector (43 percent to 24 percent over the last two decades). This, despite the fact that recent statistics indicate the nation spends less on community colleges than on high schools on a per student basis.
Dr. Jerry Parker, the president of Delaware County Community College and president of the PA Commission for Community Colleges, had this to say: “As open admissions institutions, community colleges attempt to serve every student who enters our doors. This will become increasingly difficult if we cannot find ways to add courses and programs in spite of an infrastructure that is at or beyond capacity.”
Universities Respond to Earthquake in Haiti
University communities throughout the nation are responding to the earthquake in Haiti by donating their services and contributing money for relief. Several universities with medical centers are flying physicians in to Haiti to provide emergency healthcare. Stanford’s medical school sent seven emergency medicine doctors and nurses, and $18,000 worth of medical supplies. George Washington University plans to send medical students to the island, and three physicians from GWU are already there treating those who were injured when buildings collapsed. According to Dartmouth President Jim Yong Kim (a cofounder of Partners in Health, an organization that operates 11 hospitals in Haiti), students, alumni, and friends of the university have volunteered money, seats on planes, and other logistical help to get a crew of about nine Dartmouth trauma surgeons to Haiti. Besides immediate donations, students and others should learn about Haiti, Kim said, so that they can understand how to prevent such disasters in the future. The devastation, he said, “is a result of years of neglect and political turmoil.”
School Briefs
• The Animal Behavior College (ABC), a vocational college specializing in animal-related career training, announced that spouses of active military members are now eligible to attend ABC with full tuition funding provided to them by the Military Spouse Career Advancement Account (MyCAA), which offers employment, career, education/training, counseling and financial assistance to spouses of active duty members of the Department of Defense, and activated Reserve-Component servicemembers worldwide. Schools approved by the MyCAA offer a flexible curriculum and specialized support tailored to the needs of military spouses. Currently ABC offers a certified dog obedience instructor training program and a certified veterinary assistant program.
• Capitol College has established the Center for Space Science Education and Public Outreach as a component of recent strategic initiatives within the space science and STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) fields, building upon the Emerging Leaders Program announced in June 2009. The mission for the Center is to provide hands-on educational and workforce development experiences for K-12, community college and college students, and those who support them in achieving leadership careers in the STEM fields.
• Cuesta College opened a Veterans Affairs Office on its San Luis Obispo campus. Military veterans attending that campus now have a place there to meet and study. “Being in the military, we spend massive amounts of time together, and then you get out and are among civilians, and it’s hard to relate,” said Josh Shepherd, 25, the president of the Associated Students of Cuesta College and a six-year U.S. Navy veteran.
• Alloy Education launched insidecollege.com, a unique online college guide aimed at helping students find the schools that best fit their individual lifestyles. The InsideCollege site helps students find colleges through a targeted, proprietary database of information that is tailored to specialized interests. The site houses hundreds of original college lists that were created based on expert opinions, user-generated content, and individual school statistics. The lists were compiled by Steven Antonoff, Ph.D., a certified educational expert and former college dean who authored the site’s companion book, The College Finder.
• Grantham University added four new Criminal Justice Certificates of Learning to its curriculum. Students can now choose from the following certificates: Emergency Operations Management, Computer Forensic Investigations, Juvenile Justice and Criminal Investigation. GU specializes in educating working adults. ♦