NAICU Washington Update

White House Schedules Second Summit on College Opportunity

October 29, 2014

The White House plans to convene a second higher education summit on College Opportunity on December 4 with a focus on four areas related to helping more students prepare for and graduate from college. The deadline for nominations to reach the White House is Friday, October 31.

NAICU President David Warren wrote to Association member presidents October 22 at the request of the White House outlining event details, including the nomination process. Each higher education leader in attendance will be asked to announce a new initiative to improve college access and completion for low-income students in one of four areas:

  • College Completion Collaboration—Colleges and universities are establishing collaborations around graduating more students, particularly low-income students. These networks demonstrate what can be accomplished when colleges and universities work together to pilot and evaluate promising practices that help students persist, share what is learned, and scale what works. If you plan to make a commitment in this area, please contact Ajita Menon at the White House Domestic Policy Council at amenon@who.eop.gov.
      
  • K-16 Collaboration—Higher education institutions are working in partnership with school districts, community organizations, business and philanthropy to increase the share of high school students who are on track to enter and succeed in college. If you plan to make a commitment in this area, please contact Lauren Thompson at the Department of Education at lauren.thompson@ed.gov.
      
  • K-12/Postsecondary Counseling and Advising—The third area involves counseling and advising efforts, a topic of special interest to the First Lady through her Reach Higher initiative. The White House is especially interested in initiatives that connect high school counselors with higher education institutions to recruit and enroll at-risk students and projects that align access efforts with college readiness standards. If you plan to make a commitment in this area, please contact Eric Waldo in the first lady’s office at ewaldo@who.eop.gov.
      
  • STEM Degree Production—Increasing the number of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) college graduates is the final area of focus. The White House is especially interested in initiatives that focus on college completion for low-income, women, and underrepresented minority STEM students, improve retention in STEM fields, especially by overhauling introductory STEM courses, and support student connections to research and career pathways. If you plan to make a commitment in this area, please contact Danielle Carnival in the Office of Science and Technology Policy at dcarnival@ostp.eop.gov.

Since the White House is looking for new, not existing commitments, it is less likely that proven programs will have the opportunity to be highlighted.

White House officials will be inviting as many college and university presidents and other senior higher education leaders taking action in these areas to attend the summit as space will allow, so space will be limited. All decisions on who will be invited will be made by Administration officials.

If you are interested in announcing a commitment at the White House summit, please contact one of the four points of contact (above) or, for general inquiries, Sophie Shulman at the White House Domestic Policy Council at sshulman@who.eop.gov.

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