Terry Hartle, senior vice president for government relations and public affairs at the American Council on Education (ACE) since 1993, announced he will retire at the end of this year. Before joining the higher education lobbying group, Hartle was a key aide to the late U.S. Sen. Ted Kennedy (D-Mass.) and the Senate Committee on Labor and Human Resources, which Kennedy chaired. ... Sally M. Johnstone announced she will retire as president of the national higher ed finance group NCHEMS as soon as a successor is in place. Johnstone joined NCHEMS six years ago after serving as vice president for academic advancement at Western Governors University (WGU). In the WGU post, Johnstone was a key speaker at NEBHE's 2014 conference, The Case for Competency-Based Education: A New Age of Teaching and Learning? and NEBHE's 2012 conference University Unbound! Higher Education in the Age of “Free." ... See more on these and other changes in NEJHE's Comings and Goings tally of new appointments in New England higher ed and beyond.
Pictured: Terry Hartle
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U.S. Reps. Bobby Scott (D-VA) and Frederica Wilson (D-FL) introduced the Lowering Obstacles to Achievement Now (LOAN) Act “to lower the cost of college for current and future student borrowers and their families.” This proposed legislation would double the Pell Grant and improve the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program. ... Community college enrollment among Black students fell 18% from fall 2019 to fall 2021, according to a new report by the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies. ... Read the latest from NEJHE's DC Shuttle, featuring national news drawn from our friends at the New England Council.
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Tidbits from the NEJHE Beat ... |
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Brief items from the "NEJHE Beat"—that unique constellation of issues connected to higher education and also to social justice, economic and workforce development, regional cooperation, quality of life, academic research, workplaces and other topics that together say "NEJHE."
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Blasts from the Past ... ICYMI from The New England Journal of Higher Education ... |
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Another women's conference? Those three words haunted MIT alumni relations officials in 2018 as they considered which programs to fund for MIT alumni. To be sure, there were more relevant issues than ever, including equal pay, the STEM pipeline, leadership in government, workplace safety and reproductive rights. Eventbrite listed about 400 events called "women's conferences" in 2017, a trend that spiked after October, when the term #MeToo took off. Amid this crowded field, MIT organizers developed the unConference. They invited women to submit proposals for panels, nominate lightning speakers, choose startup competition winners, crowdsource mentors, explore new jobs at a career fair, and volunteer for various nonprofits showcasing their missions. Onto this agenda-less canvas, hundreds of alumni and students fielded lineups, pitched business plans and explored topics ranging from research on women's health to machine learning bias to investing in women.
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Public Agenda President Will Friedman captivated educators gathered in Boston in March 2018 at a NEBHE panel discussion focused on "The Changing Public Perceptions of the Value of Higher Education: Is It a Public Good?" The discussion was moderated by Kirk Carapezza, managing editor at WGBH, a NEBHE partner. N.H state Rep. Terry Wolf, a NEBHE delegate, offered one state's response. Among other things, Friedman noted that American confidence in higher education began waning at just the time that more people began to see colleges as more concerned about their bottom lines than about education and making sure students have a good education experience.
Pictured: From left, Carapezza, Friedman and Wolf at the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston (Photo courtesy of Brian Scios, publicagenda.org)
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NEBHE and The Educational Justice Institute (TEJI) at MIT have launched the New England Commission on the Future of Higher Education Behind Bars. More than 201,800 people are incarcerated, on parole or on probation in New England. Incarcerated people who participate in higher education behind bars are 48% less likely to recidivate than those who do not, according to a report by the national organization Vera Institute of Justice. Other studies have shown that, while many prison education programs have profound impacts, their effectiveness is increased by aligning resources, stakeholders and policies. For example, turnover and transfer between prisons and jails results in many incarcerated students being unable to finish courses and degree programs. And a silver lining of the Covid-19 pandemic has been the development of synchronous distance learning technologies to reach incarcerated students. The NEBHE and TEJI Commission—funded with a $250,000 grant from the Ascendium Foundation—will formally convene approximately 60 individuals throughout New England who represent key stakeholders to explore such issues. Commission members will include postsecondary and corrections leaders, current and previously incarcerated individuals, employers, legislators and governors. The Commission will work for approximately 12 months, then release a formal report providing specific recommendations for state policy and higher education institutions, departments of correction, public-private partnerships and multistate or regional initiatives.
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NEBHE Issues Statement on Loan Forgiveness
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Meet NEBHE's Newest Directors |
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NEJHE NewsBlast is a summary of NEJHE content and other news around NEBHE prepared weekly by NEJHE Executive Editor John O. Harney and emailed every Wednesday to opinion leaders and practitioners. When responding to NEJHE content, please make sure that your remarks are relevant, courteous and engaging. Individuals are responsible for their comments, which do not represent the opinions of the New England Board of Higher Education. We urge commenters to briefly note their occupational or other interest in the topic at hand. Please refrain from offensive language, personal attacks and distasteful comments or they may be deleted. Comments may not appear immediately. Thank you for staying engaged.
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