Daily Lumina News 031424

When it comes to deciding whether and where to pursue their academic journeys, today's learners have some very distinct priorities.
Specifically, legislative policies related to gun control, reproductive healthcare, curriculum restrictions, and inclusivity matter a great deal, according to a new Lumina Foundation-Gallup State of Higher Education survey.

The newsletter seemed innocuous. In January, the chief diversity officer at Johns Hopkins Medicine kicked off her “Monthly Diversity Digest” with a list of nearby events for Martin Luther King Jr. Day. Then, Sherita Hill Golden outlined a “diversity word of the month”: privilege. Amid blowback, she apologized. Now she has resigned.
What happened to Golden highlights just how much the diversity, equity, and inclusion landscape has shifted: Understandings of power and privilege that once dominated campus discourse for years are now coming under a microscope.

The obstacles to retraining adults in rural areas are many. Almost every day last semester, for example, Lindsey Flather had to commute two hours round trip to Missoula College just to take an hour-long chemistry class that wasn’t offered at the school's local satellite, Bitterroot College.
Can more flexible, skills-based education systems that quickly adapt to workforce needs help? Leaders in Montana and other states are counting on it.

The benefits of college-in-prison programs are well documented, from lowering recidivism rates to increasing employment opportunities post-release.
But earning a degree also gives incarcerated people a chance to re-define themselves. Angie Gordon can attest to that. Gordon graduated last year with a bachelor’s degree in communications from California State University, Sacramento—and she did so from Mule Creek State Prison.

As a high school senior, Amanda Cooper wasn’t planning to go to college. That changed when she got a message on Instagram from Alderson Broaddus University.
Two years later, the university abruptly shut down, just before the start of Cooper’s junior year. Cooper and several other students transferred to Notre Dame College. Now it’s closing, too.

High-quality, short-term credentials make up a growing share of the educational mix that powers our state economies. About 8 percent of people between the ages of 25 and 64 have a certificate or certification as their highest level of educational attainment.
As we seek to grow these opportunities, it’s critical that we do so in a manner that enhances quality and promotes equity, write Lumina Foundation's Chauncy Lennon and Kermit Kaleba in this perspective piece.