Tag Archives: Obama Administration

February 12, 2012, 9:57 pm

A Call for Success

The Obama administration has been bold in its pursuit of higher-education goals. Most of us are familiar with President Obama’s 2020 goals – by 2020 he wants the United States to be first in the world in higher education. He wants every adult American to have at least one year of college or career training.

In order to meet the goal, the Obama administration has issued a Request for Information (RIF) aimed at gathering and disseminating strategies for improving retention and degree attainment. Throughout the country at myriad colleges and universities, there are superb practices for engaging students and ensuring their success. We often know what works but we fail to replicate positive approaches and strategies.

As most of the traction to meet the 2020 goals must take place at community colleges, historically black colleges and universities, Hispanic-serving institutions,…

December 19, 2011, 3:56 pm

Achieving Diversity in Graduate-Student Admissions

By Marybeth Gasman

At major research institutions around the country, faculty members are getting ready to read graduate-student applications for admission. This year, they not only have their own intuition and experience to guide their decisions, but guidelines from the Obama administration. With regard to ensuring diversity within higher education, they recommend that:

An institution could consider an applicant’s socioeconomic status, first-generation college status, geographic residency, or other race-neutral criteria if doing so would assist in drawing students from different racial backgrounds to the institution.
An institution could include in its admissions procedures special consideration for students who have endured or overcome hardships such as marked residential instability (e.g., the student moved from residence to residence or school to school while growing up) or enrollment in a…