Tierney and Hentschke Release Report on How to Increase College Access and Attainment in CA

Dr. William G. Tierney and Dr. Guilbert Hentschke co-authored a report, which was released today, on ways non-profit and for-profit private higher education must change to meet the demand for an educated workforce.

The new report, "Making It Happen: Increasing College Access and Attainment in California Higher Education," makes eight key recommendations for expanding California private higher education to meet the demands for a more educated workforce. These include having private schools teach classes on public campuses and state funding for non-profit private schools to grow their enrollment by up to 10 percent.

Read the report.

Dean, other USC VIPs, Meet Washington Legislators

Dean Karen Symms Gallagher and a contingent of other USC leaders, including trustee Barbara Rossier traveled to Washington, D.C. last week to meet with legislators and officials.

The delegation urged legislators to continue to invest in education and scientific research, even in difficult budget times, and explained how USC leverages federal funds to educate students, develop cures and ideas that will power the future, create jobs, and improve our community.

View photos from the day.

For more info or to speak with Jennifer Grodsky or Jean Brodeur, please call 202-824-5860 or visit the USC Federal Relations website.

MAT's Growth and Rossier's Quality Noted

TechCrunch featured a story on financing recently raised by 2tor, Inc., Rossier's for-profit partner in the MAT@USC program.

The article points out that the MAT program at Rossier had about 80 students before partnering with 2tor, and all of them were on campus.

"Now it boasts almost 1,500 students enrolled in the program across 45 states and 28 countries. They all pay the same full tuition and get exactly the same degree," the article stated. "Expanding its student population nearly twentyfold with 2tor has not hurt USC's teaching program in the slightest. In fact, it ranks No. 14 in U.S. News & World Report's recently released 2011 college rankings for education, up from No. 38 in 2008."

Read the article.

Fortune also highlighted the online education programs of the USC Rossier School and USC School of Social Work.

Read the article.

Astor Presents to DOEd and Receives Promise Award

Dr. Ron Avi Astor  was the invited keynote at a symposium of the U.S. Department of Education's Office of Safe and Drug Free Schools on March 9-11 in New Orleans, LA.

He presented on school climate measurement in Israel, and led a workshop on balancing utility and research criteria in school climate measurement.

Astor will also be awarded the Promise Award by the American Educational Research Association's Conflict Resolution and Violence Prevention Special Interest Group. The award honors his significant contributions to the theory and research underlying conflict resolution and violence prevention.

Tierney Gives Keynote on Access in America

Dr. William G. Tierney offered the keynote address to the P-20 Council of Educators in Kansas City.

His address was titled "Developing Indicators for Excellence: Improving Access, Completion and Attainment Rates in America."

Ahmadi Speaks at Women's Retreat

Jenkins Coined Term "Transmedia"

The Hollywood Reporter stated that Dr. Henry Jenkins, who has a courtesy appointment at Rossier, coined the term "transmedia" to describe crossovers among video games, TV and film.

Read the article.

Two Faculty Candidate Discussions This Week

Faculty and staff are encouraged to attend the discussion, "Continued Promises and Persistent Tensions in Preparing Teachers for Diversity," facilitated by Dr. Marleen Pugach (left).

Pugach is a candidate for the Robert A. Naslund Endowed Chair. The talk will take place Wednesday, March 23 from Noon to 1:30 p.m. in WPH 403. Lunch will be provided. RSVP at lgivens@usc.edu.

More about Pugach.

Join Dr. Valarie Akerson (right), teacher education tenure track candidate, as she facilitates a discussion on Thursday, March 24 from Noon to 1:30 p.m. in WPH 403.

Her discussion is titled "The Importance of Teaching and Learning Nature of Science in Early Childhood Years: A Research Synthesis across Informal, Urban, and Suburban Teaching Contexts." Lunch will be provided. RSVP at lgivens@usc.edu.

More about Akerson.

Yates, Clark and Sullivan Present at ASE

Dr. Kenneth Yates, Dr. Richard Clark, and Dr. Maura Sullivan will be making two presentations at the Association for Surgical Education (ASE) conference in Boston. Clark is co-director of the Center for Cognitive Technology (CCT), and Yates and Sullivan are senior research associates for the center.

The presentations feature the use of Cognitive Task Analysis (CTA) to capture the knowledge and skills of surgeons. CTA uses a variety of interview and observation strategies to capture the often automated knowledge and skills that experts use to perform complex tasks, like performing surgery.

They will also be conducting two Cognitive Task Analysis Workshops at the conference.

More about the ASE conference.

Burch's Research on SES Highlighted

Education Week highlighted Dr. Patricia Burch's research, presented at the Center for American Progress conference in Washington, D.C., on supplemental education services under NCLB.

The article notes that the tutoring programs have been shown to be "minimally effective," with only small improvements for a small fraction of students who get at least 40 hours of tutoring, according to the research.

 

"What we're seeing is more school in the worst sense," said Burch. And by that, she said, she means more worksheets and desk time, when what these students need is clearly "something different."

 

Read the article.

Kezar Presents on Non-Tenure Faculty & STEM

Melguizo Receives Grant to Study Financial Aid

Dr. Tatiana Melguizo was awarded a grant from the Spencer Foundation for her study, "Evaluating the Effectiveness of a National Level Financial Aid Program on Increasing Access to Postsecondary Education for Low-Income Students."

Melguizo will be collaborating with Dr. Fabio Sanchez Torres from the Economics Department at Los Andes University in Bogota, Columbia on this project. The main objective of the study is to estimate the effect of receiving an ACCES grant and/or loan, on the enrollment and persistence rates of low- and middle-income students in Colombia.

Pathfinder is Coming to Facebook

Dr. Zoe Corwin and the Center for Higher Education Policy Analysis (CHEPA), in partnership with the USC Game Innovation Lab, have received $150,000 from The Rosalinde and Arthur Gilbert Foundation to expand the digital Pathfinder game onto Facebook.

Pathfinder helps students learn how to plan for and navigate the college admissions and financial aid processes, and is currently in a card game format that has been piloted with more than 200 Los Angeles area high school students.

More about Pathfinder.

Bensimon on LEAD Summit Panel

On March 28th, Dr. Estela Mara Bensimon and project specialist Dr. Rosita Ramirez will attend the Latino Education & Advocacy Days (LEAD) Summit at California State University, San Bernardino. The annual event promotes awareness of educational issues that impact Latinos. Bensimon will be a panelist to discuss strategies to attract and graduate more Latinos in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM).
 
Other featured speakers include: U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan; Honorable Hilda Solis, Secretary of Labor; Juan A. Sepúlveda, Director, White House Initiative on Educational Excellence for Hispanics and Dr. Martha Kanter, Under Secretary of Education. Additionally, Michele Siqueiros, Executive Director of The Campaign for College Opportunity, will be a panelist.

CUE Receives $250,000 from the Teagle Foundation

The Center for Urban Education has received a $250,000 grant from New York-based Teagle Foundation for a two-year pilot project that will be expected to expand the transfer pipeline for and success of historically underrepresented students from public two-year community colleges into private nonprofit 4-year institutions. The project will involve Whittier College and Loyola Marymount University and will be launched in July 2011. Since both institutions have previously worked with CUE, the pilot project will build on an existing foundation. The goal is to scale up this pilot to include other private four-year colleges through the Council of Independent Colleges. 

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