PULLIAS CENTER NEWSLETTER March 2022

Guest Editor Adrian Huerta, Pullias Center Assistant Professor of Education Dear Colleagues, The global pandemic exposed the decades-long lack of sustained investment in local, statewide and national safety nets that once provided strong support systems for the most vulnerable children and their families. Now, as the world slowly transitions back from the never-ending pandemic, colleges and universities are assessing how to re-recruit millions of students who halted their college progress. Some conservative estimates highlight that close to one million students left higher education due to the economic impact of COVID-19 on families, as well as the roadblocks of not wanting to attend a virtual lab or lecture, or child-rearing responsibilities.   Most of the students who left higher education were enrolled in two-year community colleges. This enrollment drop is a serious issue as these institutions serve as the primary gateway into postsecondary education across the country. Simultaneously, as the country managed the onset of the pandemic, there were concentrated areas of increased gang activity and violence, which often stemmed from economic insecurity and anger from the lack of community investment in the most under-resourced sections of towns and cities.   The interrelated themes of this month’s newsletter will highlight two new interconnected projects that elevate the voices and experiences of student populations who are often on the social and academic margins of schools and society – gang-associated youth and student parents enrolled in two-year community colleges. As a scholar of college access, (in)equity and success, I believe that these populations deserve more attention to create stable pathways to a better future.    Warmly,

Adrian Huerta Assistant Professor of Education, USC Rossier School of Education and the Pullias Center for Higher Education

Gang Youth and Young Adults Can Go To and Graduate From College By Adrian Huerta In December 2021, President Mike Muñoz of Long Beach City College (LBCC) sent me a congratulatory text that we were the recipient of nearly one million dollars from the U.S. Department of Education to develop a college access and success program for gang-associated youth and young adults. This grant is the first formal collaboration between the USC Pullias Center for Higher Education and LBCC. As the only recipient of the federal grant, this partnership between the Pullias Center and LBCC provides a unique opportunity to fuse the mutual goals of racial and educational equity.   With this grant, the Pullias Center and LBCC will engage in asset-based and holistic practices to promote educational attainment and social mobility for minoritized students who are often excluded from K-12 and higher education. Read More

Student Parents in Community Colleges: Determining and Implementing Successful Supports   By Adrian Huerta In 2018, my colleague Cecilia Rios-Aguilar at UCLA started a multi-year research project on student parents in community colleges with support from a seed grant from the Center for Research on College-Workforce Transitions at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. We sought to understand how student parents make sense of their career and educational experiences in a two-year college. We interviewed and surveyed close to 100 student parents in a local community college about their experiences trying to enroll, persist and graduate with a two-year college degree or certificate so that they can transition into their professional lives. Many student parents commented that they felt invisible in the eyes of college administrators about the multiple demands of their time that did not fully allow them to study, sleep or eat a meal in peace, while others commented that administrators didn’t understand how to best serve them or help them with their educational journey.   These issues are not new for student parents. Still, the global pandemic illuminated that many student parents must walk alone and with(out) support to feed their families, pay the internet bill or teach their children during virtual classroom sessions. Their cries for help were met by some community colleges with offers of emergency aid or basic needs supplies, but most efforts were a bandage during a moment of triage. What remains is that there is still more room for growth, strategic investment and support for student parents.     Since the first focus group interviews with student parents in 2019, we have produced a report through a partnership with UC Davis’ Wheelhouse Center and one peer-reviewed paper published in the Community College Review. Read More SPOTLIGHT Apply Now for the 2022 Delphi Award And Join Us for a Webinar Featuring the 2021 Delphi Award-winners March 21: "Campus Innovations for Supporting Non-Tenure Track Faculty" Monday, March 21, 10:00am (PDT) Hosted by AAC&U and the Pullias Center Register Now This webinar will showcase the winners of the 2021 Delphi Award: the University of Denver and Worcester Polytechnic Institute. Panelists will discuss how they created policies and practices to support contingent faculty at their institutions, including tenure-track faculty lines for teaching, multiyear contracts for non-tenure track faculty, and participation in campus governance.   In addition to guiding the discussion, moderators from AAC&U and the Pullias Center will provide background on the Delphi Award and application information for interested campuses. You can apply for the 2022 Delphi Award here -- deadline is July 1. The Pullias Center is grateful to the TIAA Institute for their funding of this year's The Delphi Project's Delphi Award.

California Community Colleges Chancellor Welcomed to the 43rd Pullias Lecture On March 10, the Pullias Center was pleased to welcome keynote speaker Eloy Ortiz Oakley, Chancellor of the California Community Colleges (CCC), to the 43rd Pullias Lecture. "Equity in Higher Education in a Post-Pandemic World: The Way Forward Cannot Replicate the Past," was the title of Ortiz Oakley's keynote. In it, he reflected on the importance of equity in higher education as well as his journey from growing up in a Mexican-American household in South Los Angeles, then to community college and UC Irvine, ultimately serving as President of Long Beach City College before being named CCC Chancellor in 2016. According to the Chancellor, "We need to break down our comfort level as educators and start putting ourselves in the shoes of our students," by rethinking financial aid policies, admissions practices and more, calling for a fundamental new approach to higher education, both public and private. Thank you to Chancellor Ortiz Oakley, Rossier Dean Pedro Noguera, Pullias Center Director Adrianna Kezar and all who attended the event.

Watch the Pullias Lecture Video Here

Pullias Center to Focus on Support Systems for Student Parents with New Grant   Community college student parents experience many struggles and challenges that contribute to being less likely to earn a college degree, credential or certificate, but are more likely to thrive with targeted institutional support systems. The Pullias Center and principal investigator Adrian Huerta will document the best practices for student parents with support from a grant provided by the Leonetti/O’Connell Family Foundation. Read more here.

"The Future of STEM Equity" Live Webinar Coming on April 12 Join leaders of systems change and racial equity in STEM higher education to explore: Why is systemic change crucial to achieving racial equity in STEM? How can research and other efforts to advance systemic change intentionally confront systemic racism? How can funders, researchers, and the higher education community collaborate in this work? Central to the discussion will be two reports commissioned by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation. Panelists include Pullias' Julie Posselt, PhD, Bryan Brayboy, PhD, Tashera Gale, PhD, Shirley Malcolm, PhD, and the webinar will be moderated by Lorelle Espinosa, PhD. Co-hosted by the Pullias Center, the Sloan Foundation and Higher Ed Insights.

Register for the STEM Equity Webinar

RECENT PUBLICATIONS AB705 Implementation in the Los Angeles Community College District: Results from a District-Wide Survey Ching, C., Yucel, E., Ngo, F., Swanson, E., Melguizo, T., & Harrington, D. (2022). AB705 Implementation in the Los Angeles Community College District: Results from a district-wide survey. Pullias Center. Rossier School of Education, University of Southern California.

MORE NEWS Zoë Corwin & Ronald Hallett were invited to speak with University Innovation Alliance members about the Model of Ecological Validation that derives from PASS study findings. Ángel González was awarded the ACPA Coalition of Sexuality and Gender Identities (CSGI) Dr. D-L Stewart Research Recognition Award. The D-L Stewart Research Recognition Award recognizes completed or ongoing research on LGBTQ+ issues. Adrian Huerta was awarded the ACPA Coalition of Men and Masculinities (CMM) Outstanding Research Award for 2022.   Adrian Huerta was awarded the inaugural NASPA Formerly Incarcerated & System Impacted Families Knowledge Community Outstanding Scholar Award.   Royel M. Johnson will present the inaugural Diversity Lecture for the Prevention Research Center at Penn State University titled “Fostering College Students’ Sense of Belonging through Anti-Oppressive Organizational Change.” Inside Higher Ed published an op-ed by Adrianna Kezar titled "The Pandemic’s Silver Lining for Faculty" which highlighted the importance of supporting non-tenure-track faculty and the successes seen at institutions across the country. Julie Posselt gave the keynote address for the Council of Historically Black Graduate Schools/ Council of Southern Graduate Schools in February. Its title was “Systemic Shocks & Systemic Change: What Graduate Education Leaders Can Do.”

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