Proactive Partnerships

Atlanta Metropolitan State College has received a $250,000 grant from the PepsiCo Foundation that will work to "eliminate the barriers Black and Hispanic students face to achieving an academic credential that will help them enter the workforce and earn a livable wage." Complementing participating students' coursework will be interaction with PepsiCo mentors and visits to the company's worksites (Metro Atlanta CEO).

AAR has added Rock Valley College to its EAGLE Career Pathway Program, which "focuses on growing the talent necessary to meet the maintenance demands of the future." Under the partnership, selected students will enter a fellowship program providing financial support and a minimum of two years of employment at AAR (AAR).

North Carolina A&T State University, the largest HBCU, is an education provider under Walmart's Live Better U program. The program "pays 100 percent of college tuition and books, and approximately 1.5 million part-time and full-time Walmart and Sam's Club associates in the U.S. are eligible" (WGHP).

Tarrant County College has established a new office dedicated to meeting workforce training needs. The Corporate Solutions and Economic Development office will arrange customized training that can make its region more competitive for corporate site selection while providing "underserved populations a shot at climbing up to decision-making positions" (Fort Worth Report).

As the nationwide shortage of nurses and adjacent professions, which was a problem even before COVID-19, continues, Ballad Health is investing $10 million in the creation of the Appalachian Highlands Center for Nursing Advancement at East Tennessee State University. The center will feature additional partnerships among colleges and universities, "bringing nursing, business, liberal arts, education, and other academic and support programs together to increase the pipeline of opportunity and augment the supply of nurses and nursing support in the Appalachian Highlands" (Ballad Health).

Doing Good With Grants

Benedict College will be applying a grant from Strada Education Network to enhance its Career Program, which links academic learning with students' leadership and career goals. Participating students will receive a renewable scholarship and financial assistance for accessing internship opportunities. The grant includes 28 HBCUs and aims to "scale experiential learning and leadership development for students" (Benedict College).

Grant funding from the Association of Public and Land-grant Universities and Coalition of Urban Serving Universities will be helping the University of Memphis "identify and address barriers facing adult students of color." The university will use the grant to enhance the impact of its Prep Academy and African American Male Academy (University of Memphis).

The Maine Community College System is rolling out a statewide program that will feature an online platform to train workers for roles facing challenging staffing shortages. Over the next four years, the system hopes to train more than 24,000 workers and that by targeting "fields such as education, healthcare, and manufacturing, businesses can emerge from the pandemic and keep up with a changing labor market" (Main Public).

Access to child care can be "life changing for students," and Herzing University is working to make that change positive. Through a U.S. Department of Education grant, it will help students cover the cost of enrolling their children in a "quality child care center" (Herzing University).

Kennebec Valley Community College will be applying grant funds to improve educational access for students in underserved rural communities (Bangor Daily News).

College completion -- whether by those who never began or those who didn't have a chance to finish what they started -- is the target for federal TRIO grant funding at San Juan College (Farmington Daily News).

Creative Credentials

Enrollment has nearly doubled in one year in a recently rolled out accelerated degree completion program for adult learners at Grand Valley State University. The flexible program is tied to high-demand occupations and "offers a high-quality experience learners expect in a format that acknowledges their needs" (Grand Valley State University).

The School of Continuing Education and Professional Development at Miami Dade College is introducing a property management certificate program that will offer year-round enrollment and access to licensing and employment in the field (Miami Dade College).

George Mason University's School of Business has launched a chief diversity, equity and inclusion officer program that will confer a badge upon completion of the five-month hybrid certification (George Mason University).

The University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee has created a graduate certificate for civil and environmental engineers who want to explore options for pursuing additional education as they continue to work. The certificate stacks toward a master's degree; completion of it satisfies half of the credit requirements (University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee).

West Virginia Northern Community College has become only the third testing site in the state to be accredited by the American Welding Society (AWS). Offering AWS certification adds another way the college can help learners "expand their knowledge, enhance their career, and raise their earning potential." The college is also in discussions with companies on offering certification to their employees (The Weirton Daily Times).

Awards and Other Recognition

The Texas Veterans Commission has recognized Alamo Colleges District for "excellence in education and related services that significantly contribute to the academic success of student veterans and military-connected students." Four of the district's five campuses received a Veteran Education Excellence Recognition Award (Alamo Colleges District).

Texas A&M University-San Antonio has placed 13th and 64th on the lists of top universities conferring bachelor's degrees in Texas and the United States, respectively, according to Hispanic Outlook on Education Magazine (KABB).

Harold Washington College President Daniel Lopez has been inducted to the Illinois State University College of Education's hall of fame (WBBM).

The U.S. Department of Education has designated its first research university in the state of Colorado as a Hispanic-Serving Institution, and that institution is the University of Colorado Denver and Anschutz Medical Campus (University of Colorado Denver).

In fiscal year 2020, Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College generated an economic impact of nearly $400 million for the south Georgia economy, according to the dean of the college's Stafford School of Business. A separate study, "Lifetime Earnings for University System of Georgia Class of 2020," concluded that over a career, the earnings premiums of the "median Georgia resident" who earns a certificate, associate degree, and bachelor's degree were $238,455, $377,000, and  $1,152,500, respectively (Albany Herald).

In Their Own Words

In a recent op ed, Vin Favoroso, coordinator of partner engagement and workforce development at Northern Vermont University, details some of the ways the university links learning and work, including connecting local businesses to its Learning and Working Communities program, which it rolled out in June (VTDigger).

The Art of Articulation

Under a new agreement between the American Public University System (APUS) and the California Community Colleges Chancellor's Office, students can apply a California Community College associate degree toward a bachelor's degree at APUS with no loss of credit upon transfer there (APUS). The California Community Colleges Chancellor's Office also recently reached a transfer agreement with University of Maryland Global Campus (UMGC) that will "expand the reach of UMGC's 90+ online academic programs to more than two million learners enrolled in the California system's 116 community colleges" (UMGC).

Both staff and students at Dalton State College can benefit from a scholarship at the University of North Alabama upon acceptance within the master's of business administration or accounting programs there (Dalton State College).

Seven online bachelor's degree programs and reduced tuition at Alderson Broaddus University are now available to West Virginia Northern Community College transfer students (Alderson Broaddus University).

Arapahoe Community College and CSU Pueblo have formed a registered nurse-to-master of science in nursing, nurse educator, partnership, allowing nursing students to dually enroll (Colorado Community College System).

Eligible students from College of Lake County can now transfer into 24 traditional or 5 accelerated undergraduate degree programs at North Park University (College of Lake County).

An agreement between Collin College and Tarrant County College (TCC) seeks to mitigate the nursing shortage by allowing TCC graduates with an associate of applied science in nursing and a Texas registered nurse license to enter the B.S.N. program at Collin College with no loss of credit. Texas is now facing a shortage of around 23,000 registered nurses (Community Impact Newspaper).

In Nebraska, Wayne State College (WSC) and the University of Nebraska Medical Center are hoping to "boost the B.S.N. pipeline" through an agreement offering guaranteed early admission for qualified WSC pre-nursing students to the Medical Center's B.S.N. program at the College of Nursing Northern Division in Norfolk, Neb. The new agreement "complements the accelerated BSN partnership and the traditional pre-nursing pathways between Wayne State and UNMC" (UNMC).

Franklin University and Edison State Community College are enhancing their existing transfer agreements by implementing a "pathway portal," which "shows students how the classes they take while completing their associate degree at Edison State will transfer to a bachelor's program at Franklin," giving them virtually real-time insight into how their associate degree work will stack into a bachelor's degree (Edison State Community College).

A new agreement between Troy University and Wallace Community College-Dothan will guarantee eligible students who earn a Wallace Community College-Dothan associate degree in applied science entrance into Troy University's occupational education bachelor's program, which "provides a pathway for individuals with specialized skills, such as aviation maintenance, to earn a bachelor's degree while receiving credit for their certified vocational training" (Troy University).