Daily Lumina News 042321

Jean Rienzo is something of an anomaly at Eastern Connecticut State University. Rienzo is a 32-year-old single mother who lives off campus and has a demanding full-time job—certainly not the typical student at a public liberal arts university in New England.
Still, Rienzo found her place—and succeeded—with the help of a caring, kindred spirit: her advisor. The partnership between Rienzo and Nicolas Simon isn’t unusual at Eastern. In fact, it’s becoming the norm, thanks to the university’s years-long effort to improve student advising.

As chancellor of the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education, Daniel Greenstein is days away from unveiling the details of a plan to consolidate six of the system’s 14 public universities into two new, combined institutions.
Greenstein faces the task of trying to solve a tangle of challenges that many other public-college systems face. Those issues include a dwindling number of high-school graduates, increased competition for those that remain, ebbing financial reserves, and a fraught relationship with state government. The future of PASSHE may hinge on whether or not Greenstein's plan succeeds.

There is a lot to like about Gov. Gavin Newsom’s state budget. It includes funding to expand the High Road Training Partnership model in various industry-specific sectors. It provides relief to assist immigrant communities. It invests in support services—like child care—for working families.
All of these investments will play an important part in California’s economic recovery. But what’s missing is the critical role that digital skills training plays in building a just and equitable recovery, writes Luis Sandoval of Building Skills Partnership in this op-ed.

University of California (UC) Merced Chancellor Juan Sánchez Muñoz is a first-generation college student who became a lifelong advocate for providing education and social mobility for students from underrepresented backgrounds.
In this interview, Muñoz discusses the emergence of new barriers for vulnerable students, strategies and goals for diversity, equity, and inclusion, and his work with Excelencia in Education as its newest board member and president for Latino Student Success.

Every day, Catelyn Morris fills out job applications for positions as a receptionist, office manager, or sales associate near her Macon, Georgia, home. So far, she’s only had one callback. She believes there’s a major drawback to her application: She doesn’t have a college degree.
What Morris is experiencing in her job search is playing out across the country. Hiring has rebounded quickly for Americans with college degrees. In recent months, there’s been a noticeable surge in people with two-year associate’s degrees getting back into the workforce, but Americans with only a high school diploma or less remain deep in crisis mode, even as employers claim they are having trouble finding workers.

While Hispanic-serving institutions make up about 18 percent of all colleges and universities, they enroll and graduate more than 60 percent of the nation's Latino college students.
As higher education leaders mark 25 years since the creation of HSIs, they're assessing how these colleges and universities can enroll and graduate more Latino students amid the fallout of the COVID-19 pandemic.