Powerful Partnerships: Independent Colleges Share High-impact Strategies for Low-income Students' Success
Edited by Richard Ekman, Russell Garth,
and John F. Noonan, 2004

This book of essays by independent college and university presidents describes institutional efforts to promote access to and success in college for individuals from low-income families. The range of institutional initiatives includes assistance in preparing prospective students, outreach to increase awareness of opportunities, student financial aid strategies, student advising and support systems, instructional support, and incentives for completion of educational programs. It has been published by the Lumina Foundation for Education in collaboration with CIC as part of Lumina’s New Agenda Series of publications.
     Following Lumina’s publication in 2002 of a report, Unequal Opportunity, which concluded, “private four-year colleges generally are the least frequently affordable types of institutions,” CIC proposed this book and, together with the Lumina Foundation, invited college presidents to prepare essays describing their practices and successes in educating low-income students. The volume provides compelling narratives from 15 CIC presidents that deepens the understanding of how private colleges and universities can not only be affordable to low-income students but can also facilitate their educational achievement.
     Essay authors include Dorothy Blaney, Cedar Crest College (PA); Jacqueline Doud, Mount St. Mary’s College (CA); Lorna Edmundson, Wilson College (PA); Betty Landman, then at Arcadia University (PA); Andrea Lee, IHM, College of St. Catherine (MN); Michael Lomax, then at Dillard University (LA); George Martin, St. Edward’s University (TX); Douglas North, Alaska Pacific University; Gregory Prince, Hampshire College (MA); Kathleen Ross, SNJM, Heritage University (WA); Richard Santagati, Merrimack College (MA); Mary Pat Seurkamp, College of Notre Dame of Maryland; Larry Shinn, Berea College (KY); Barbara Sirvis, Southern Vermont College; and Henry Tisdale, Claflin University (SC).
     A limited number of print copies are available from CIC free of charge (shipping charges may apply to large orders). Copies can also be downloaded from Lumina’s website at www.luminafoundation.org/publications/CIC2004.pdf.
    President and CEO of the Lumina Foundation, Martha Lamkin, discussed the book during her plenary address at the 2004 CAO Institute (click here to view excerpt of her speech).

Teaching Scholar Partnerships:
A Fresh Approach to College/School Collaborations
By W. Hutchinson Bearce, 2004

The Teaching Scholar Partnerships (TSP) program assisted colleges and universities in strengthening mathematics, science, and technology education in the nation’s elementary and secondary classrooms. The centerpiece of this program was the involvement of undergraduate math, science, and technology students in enhancing instruction in school classrooms. These students, with the guidance of both K-12 teachers and college math and science faculty members, were the Teaching Scholars and received annual stipends. With the support of the National Science Foundation, CIC awarded $30,000 each to ten institutions that were working in partnership with K-12 schools over a two-year period.
     This report highlights a range of benefits discovered by the participating institutions. Most importantly, the strong math and science backgrounds of the Teaching Scholars did prove useful to K-12 teachers and in classrooms. In addition, the Scholars themselves gained insights not only into ways to apply their math and science training, but also into teaching as another career avenue. Indeed, as the paper reports, a number of the ten pilot institutions have continued the program without the NSF funds that provided the Teaching Scholar stipends.
     Print copies of the report are available from CIC free of charge, or can be downloaded from the CIC online bookstore.