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This week in higher education saw schools impacted by Hurricane Ida and the continued challenges of COVID. Most New Orleans colleges will evacuate students and shift to online learning as power outages caused by Hurricane Ida are expected to last weeks. Institutions are dealing with increases in COVID cases. Duke University reported over 360 cases of COVID, all but 8 of whom were vaccinated. With 488 COVID cases on its campus, Liberty University has declared a campus wide quarantine from August 30 to September 10 during which all classes will be online. More faculty members resigned this week in response to students who refused to wear masks in the classroom. Tim Wilson, a professor and chair of electrical engineering and computer science at Embry-Riddle resigned citing the institution’s lack of a mandatory face mask policy; the school has subsequently put one in place.The Governor of Illinois announced this week that all public and private college employees and students will be required to get vaccinated. As many institutions enter their second or third week of the semester, addressing increasing rates of COVID cases continues to dominate higher education headlines.
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Importance of Belonging & Validation to Student Success
This week Diverse Issues in Higher Education examines a six-year longitudinal study taking place at the Thompson Scholars Learning Community (TSLC) at the University of Nebraska's three campuses. This study seeks to find out what is working in a comprehensive college transition program (CTP). Researchers have found that proactive advising strengthens students’ academic self-efficacy and that supporting students requires tailoring services to meet students' needs. Furthermore, researchers discovered that “being part of a comprehensive college transition program can increase students’ feeling of mattering.”
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Listen to our recent Friday 5 Live episode to hear college students from across the United States share their hopes and concerns for the fall 2021 semester. |
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“How do we make students feel like we care? That has to do with creating a culture of care, which connects to how we train our staff and faculty. How do we build the capacities of our faculty and staff so that they work differently with students’ unique needs?” - Dr. Adrianna Kezar, Dean’s Professor of Leadership and Wilbur-Kieffer Professor of Higher Education at the University of Southern California |
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Hispanic Serving Community Colleges Hopeful About Fall Enrollment
Leaders at Hispanic serving community colleges are feeling positive about fall enrollment numbers. El Paso Community College, whose student body is 85% Latinx, anticipates exceeding last year’s fall numbers. Initiatives like Miami Dade Community College’s flexible scheduling and rolling admissions dates better meet the needs of Latinx students. Antonio Flores, president and CEO of the Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities, said “community colleges are an important piece of Latino student enrollment this fall, as more than half (52%) of all Latino college students are in community colleges.”
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Looking to learn more? These upcoming webinars may be of interest: How To Transition Your Face-to-Face Content To Online Delivery In 48 Hours 9/9 Creating A Compassionate Classroom: How To Address Anxiety, Stress, Failure & Grief 9/15 |
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California Community College Reports Potential Scam
Education Dive examines news out of the California Community College System this week of a potential scam. More than 65,000 suspected fraudulent financial applications were created, but it appears no monies were distributed to the fake students. In response, the system is bolstering security measures to prevent more scams; those measures include requiring college districts to report suspected registration fraud monthly. Experts believe scammers may be attempting to get money from federal coronavirus relief programs.
September 3, 2021
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Barbara R Overgaard
Item 1 above said, "Duke University reported over 360 cases of COVID, all but 8 of whom were vaccinated. " In other words, of the 360 cases, 352 were people who had been vaccinated, and only 8 of the 360 were people who had NOT been vaccinated?