Daily Lumina News 052824

There are currently 53 million working adults—nearly half of the U.S. workforce—who do not earn a living wage. Many of these workers are hard-pressed to find affordable, fast, and flexible options that allow them to advance into family-sustaining careers.
In this interview, Connor Diemand-Yauman and Rebecca Taber-Staehelin of Merit America describe how their organization's innovative coaching and financial models are changing this scenario and making in-demand careers accessible to those left behind by the traditional education system.

This is the time of year when university officials might usually take a deep breath. Campuses are emptying out for the end of the academic year. Gone, for the most part, are the tent cities that student activists erected as a symbol of opposition to Israel’s war in Gaza.
But this summer might feel longer than most. Many college leaders may be confronting federal investigations, disputes over student discipline—and the prospect that the protests start all over again in the fall.

Kevin Guskiewicz, the new president of Michigan State University, is on a listening tour to learn the ins and outs of a campus he’s been hired to stabilize after nearly a decade of leadership turmoil.
Governance strife is what drove Guskiewicz from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill to Michigan State in the first place. As part of his hiring, he has a pledge of good behavior from a board known for its meddling. Will it last?

House Republicans spent a little over three hours last week admonishing the leaders of Northwestern University, Rutgers University, and the University of California, Los Angeles, for their responses to antiwar protests and antisemitic incidents on their campuses.
But for all their attempts, lawmakers didn’t appear to land any knock-out punches in the third hearing focused on campus antisemitism, though the committee seems undeterred in expanding its oversight of colleges and universities.

Innovation and military are two words you don’t often hear in the same sentence when it comes to higher education. The rigid traditions and hierarchical structures of the armed forces don’t necessarily lend themselves to the kind of agile, experimental mindset required to push boundaries and challenge the status quo in academia.
Just don't tell that to leaders at the United States Naval Community College. They intend to write a different story.

It's a familiar and relatable scene: students don colorful caps and gowns and sit in neat rows of folding chairs. They line up to walk the stage and shake hands with deans and college presidents while “Pomp and Circumstance” plays in the background.
But, as Chris Provido, 22, knows, this year is different. This year, Provido and thousands of others in the Class of 2024 will finally get what they didn’t four years ago: recognition of realized potential.