Topic: Educational Transformation
Blog Post
January 18, 2023
Fellowships at ITHAKA
An Interview with Colette Johnson
Established in 2018, the ITHAKA fellowship program offers a unique opportunity to early career researchers seeking to gain real-world experience and further their careers by working with one of ITHAKA’s services: Ithaka S+R, Reveal Digital, JSTOR Daily, or JSTOR Labs. We spoke with Colette Johnson, director of strategy and operations at Ithaka S+R, who established the fellowship program, to learn about the inspiration behind the program and goals for future development. What inspired you to start…
Past Event
March 7, 2023
Shark Tank: Edu Edition
SXSW 2023 Session
At SXSW EDU 2023, Ithaka S+R’s Catharine Bond Hill, the Chronical of Higher Education’s Goldie Blumenstyk, and Guild Education’s Paul Freedman will serve as “sharks” in the eighth annual pitch-a-thon hosted by the Chronicle of Higher Education. The judges will weight in on transformative ideas from contestants representing new companies, nonprofits, and big dreamers from improving the college experience. The session is scheduled to take place on March 7, 2023 at 4:00 – 5:00 pm CT at the Austin…
Research Report
January 17, 2023
Strengthening Mississippi’s Economic Future Through Postsecondary Investment
As Mississippi prepares to support the statewide postsecondary attainment goal, understanding the returns to higher education is crucial to determining where to invest resources. Ithaka S+R has partnered with the Woodward Hines Education Foundation to provide Mississippi policymakers, advocates, and legislators with information they need to make strategic investments in postsecondary education that can increase attainment of high-value postsecondary credentials, especially amongst lower-income Mississippians, people of color, and residents in rural communities.
Past Event
January 8, 2023
What’s Next? The Job Market After COVID
Session at the Archaeological Institute of America Annual Meeting 2023
Ithaka S+R’s Kurtis Tanaka will participate in the 2023 Archeological Institute of American Annual Meeting in a session on the job market after COVID-19 and alternative academic careers. The workshop, sponsored by Student Affairs Interest Group (SAIG), will take place on Sunday, January 8, at 11:30 am – 1:30 pm CST. Preliminary panelists include Andrew Donnelly, Michael Kicey, Ana-Sofia Meneses, and Kurtis Tanaka, and organizers include Tina Bekkali-Poio, Amanda Cates Ball, and Sarah Toby Wilker. Learn more about…
Blog Post
November 30, 2022
Supporting Mobile Students to Credential Completion through Holistic Credit Mobility
People learn in more places than ever before—earning credits from high school or dual enrollment courses, picking up certifications for job advancement, gaining experience through the military, and more. While many colleges, universities, and employers have begun translating this accumulated learning into transcriptable credits, students frequently find that institutions will not count their previously accumulated credits.
Issue Brief
November 16, 2022
Holistic Credit Mobility
Centering Learning in Credential Completion
In this issue brief, we introduce holistic credit mobility as a framework for making sense of contemporary student mobility and devising solutions that center the success of mobile students with multiple forms and sources of validated learning. In the sections that follow, we define holistic credit mobility and highlight strategies to support its effective deployment throughout postsecondary institutions and systems.
Blog Post
October 31, 2022
Joining Hands to Improve Student Access to College
Successfully addressing student debt, transcript holds, and re-enrollment for adult learners often requires cross-organizational partnerships. The Ohio College Comeback Compact is doing exactly that in northeast Ohio. A regional collaborative of eight public colleges and universities, the Ohio Department of Higher Education, Ithaka S+R, and College Now Greater Cleveland, the Ohio Compact is an innovative program allowing students to return to one of the participating institutions despite owing institutional debt that likely resulted in a transcript hold.
Past Event
November 17, 2022
Stranded Credits: Challenges and Opportunities
Association for the Study of Higher Education (ASHE) 2022 Conference
On November 17 at 2:00 – 3:15 pm PT, Ithaka S+R’s Elizabeth Looker and James Dean Ward will participate in an interactive symposium at the Association for the Study of Higher Education (ASHE) 2022 Conference, which will bring together scholars who are addressing the challenge of stranded credits from multiple perspectives and contexts. The event provides an opportunity for attendees to better understand the causes and consequences of stranded credits, learn about existing solutions, and collaboratively reimagine new approaches…
Past Event
April 3, 2023
Plenary: An Economic Outlook and Environmental Scan for Higher Education
National Conference on Trusteeship 2023
On Monday, April 3 at 4:00 – 5:00 pm PT, Ithaka S+R’s Catharine Bond Hill will participate in a session with Kathryn Dominguez discussing the actionable implications of global economic change for higher education and beyond. Learn more about the session, taking place at the 2023 National Conference on Trusteeship in San Diego, California.
Blog Post
September 27, 2022
Supporting Quantitative Learning in the Social Sciences
New Report Details Challenges and Opportunities
Social science classes play important roles in teaching quantitative literacy to students because they ground quantitative reasoning in contexts that resonate with undergraduates. Understanding how social science instructors teach quantitative skills and identifying instructional barriers can help libraries and other university units support faculty and students. Today, Ithaka S+R releases findings from one of the largest in-depth studies of teaching practices across social science disciplines, conducted in partnership with librarians from 20 colleges and universities in the United States.
Past Event
October 18, 2022
Giving Credit Where Credit Is Due: An Exploration of Articulation of Credit Transfer (ACT)
Grantmakers for Education Annual Conference
Martin Kurzweil and Lexa Logue will participate in a panel with the Hecksher Foundation's Peter Sloan and the Carroll and Milton Petrie Foundation's Miss. Cass Conrad focusing on new ways the Articulation of Credit Transfer project is helping students gain their credentials. The panel will discuss a transparent, public facing resource developed within The City University of New York system. The panel is scheduled to take place on October 18 at 1:45 - 3:00 pm CT. …
Blog Post
August 26, 2022
Remembering Deanna Marcum
We are so terribly sad about the passing of our beloved colleague Deanna Marcum on August 16, 2022. Deanna was a humble and private person, so she would not want a lot of attention focused on her, but her impact on me and us here at ITHAKA is so profound that we must recognize and share it. I first met Deanna in 1996, when she was the president of the Council of Library…
Blog Post
August 18, 2022
Diversity, Equity, and the PhD Pipeline
Expanding the Toolkit
The growing mismatch between the profiles of current full-time faculty, 75 percent of whom are white, and the nation’s increasingly diverse undergraduate student bodies, 45 percent of whom are people of color, represents a serious threat to socioeconomic and racial equity and intergenerational mobility. In spite of a generation of comprehensive targeted enrichment interventions from the undergraduate through postdoctoral fellowship stages, public and privately-funded efforts to increase the number of PhDs from historically underserved populations has been painstakingly slow.
Issue Brief
August 18, 2022
Post-Baccalaureate Bridge Programs
An Underutilized Tool for Strengthening Faculty Diversity
Over the last 50 years, the US has experienced significant shifts in its racial and ethnic makeup, making it a much more racially diverse country than it was a half century ago. The racial and ethnic composition of the higher education system has shifted too. In spite of this progress, various forms of racial bias, socioeconomic inequality, and academic gatekeeping continue to limit access of students from underrepresented minority (URM) and low-income backgrounds to higher education’s resources and potential benefits.
Blog Post
August 15, 2022
Stranded Credits: State-Level Actions and Opportunities
Over the past several years, state and federal regulators have increasingly scrutinized the practice of transcript withholding. As of June 15, 2022, five states have pending bills and eight states have enacted bills that prohibit postsecondary institutions from withholding transcripts. Without transcript holds, students will be able to re-enroll in college, transfer to an institution that better fits their needs, apply for jobs that require postsecondary degrees, and potentially be in a better position to pay off their educational debt.
Blog Post
August 2, 2022
New Opportunity for Stopped-Out College Students in Northeast Ohio to Settle Debt and Access Stranded Credits
Ohio College Comeback Compact Launches Summer 2022
Thousands of college students in Northeast Ohio who left school without a degree and owe money to their former college now have a pathway back to settle the debt and continue their education. Beginning this month, the Ohio College Comeback Compact is contacting approximately 15,000 students with a new proposition: come back to any public college in the region, even if you owe money and your transcript is being held because of it. Eligible students who…
Blog Post
July 26, 2022
An Interview on QuadEx, Duke University’s New Equity-based Residential and Learning Model
Dr. Jenny Wood Crowley and Chris Rossi on Driving Campus Change
As part of our Academic Equity Interview Blog series (see linked our previous posts on campus climate and mental health), we explore how Duke University, a member of the American Talent Initiative’s (ATI) Academic Equity Community of Practice, is driving campus change through their inclusive living and learning model, QuadEx. QuadEx…
Past Event
July 27, 2022
Benefit Pros Weigh In: Unpacking the Limited PSLF Waiver
On Wednesday, July 27 at 1:00 pm ET, Ithaka S+R's Managing Director Catherine Bond Hill will discuss the Limited Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) Waiver and what it means for nonprofits and public sector employers, as well as benefit advisors and employees, as part of a virtual panel. Other panelists will include Dr. Grace Ingram, Paul Joo, and moderator Bridget Haile. Learn more about the webinar, hosted by Summer, here.
Blog Post
July 12, 2022
The Show Goes On: Growing an Ecosystem Devoted to Academic Equity
2022 Academic Equity Summer Institute
in 2019, 18 colleges and universities from across the country came together at Georgetown University for the inaugural Summer Institute on Equity in the Academic Experience, devoted to surfacing strategies and programs to help ensure the success of students from underrepresented backgrounds. Three years later, the number of participating colleges has nearly tripled (50), with over 400 institutional representatives joining the 2022 Summer Institute on Equity in the Academic Experience last month to advance this mission.
Issue Brief
July 7, 2022
Lost and Found: State and Institutional Actions to Resolve Stranded Credits
This brief provides a roadmap for stakeholders interested in the underlying practices that create stranded credits and what can be done to improve them. To begin, we provide specific definitions of the terms and practices implicated in the creation of stranded credits. While researchers and policy leaders have increased their attention on the problem of stranded credits, this brief lays out in detail how they are created, why they matter, and what can be done to better balance the interests.