Daily Lumina News 102723

School custodian Jenna Gros is making her dream of becoming an educator happen, thanks to an alternative pathway called Grow Your Own.
Grow Your Own programs have been celebrated as a way to ease teacher shortages, increase retention, make degrees more accessible, and diversify an overwhelmingly white workforce. There's just one issue, researchers say: It's unclear whether these programs actually work.

Diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts have become a lightning rod for debate in American higher education. In Texas, Republican lawmakers banned DEI offices at public colleges and universities starting next year, arguing they emphasize divisions between different racial or ethnic groups and force liberal ideology onto students.
But Rice University is moving in the opposite direction. The prestigious private research institution is doubling down on its support of equity for all students regardless of their background or lived experience.

Last year, Shaun Harper took to social media to share a personal career announcement that had lots of people talking, both inside and outside of education. Harper told his thousands of followers that in May 2023, he would be stepping away from the USC Race and Equity Center.
From its inception, the center that Harper breathed life into back in 2011 has fundamentally revolutionized the way higher education leaders think about and approach diversity, equity, and inclusion work. In this interview, Harper reflects on his journey as a DEI trailblazer and his next steps.

A new two-story Student Health and Counseling Center is a welcome presence on the University of California, Riverside campus. The facility provides an array of medical and mental health services, including a food pantry, a pharmacy, an outdoor balcony for meditation, and waiting rooms that look like hip hotel lobbies.
But beyond serving Riverside students, experts say the student health clinic may become a national model of how campuses are investing more resources to keep their students physically and emotionally well in the post-pandemic era.

Adjunct faculty members continue to teach in uncertain, challenging environments, often with no compensation for service work, no guarantee of employment beyond the term, and no assurance of academic freedom.
That’s the message of a new report from the American Federation of Teachers on working conditions for contingent faculty members, who make up an estimated 68 percent of higher ed’s teaching workforce.

Information technology jobs are in demand and pay well. But Black Americans comprise only 8 percent of the tech workforce.
Why? Structural barriers make it difficult for Black learners and workers to access and thrive in IT training programs, according to a new report from Jobs for the Future. The study highlights data on Black learners in two-year and credential IT programs, examines the barriers facing Black learners, and includes insight from administrators and faculty at community colleges.