NCCRS conducted a productive and fruitful virtual evaluation session last month of the highly-regarded Hagen Core Training Program offered by the renowned HB Studio in New York City. The organization, an NCCRS member since 2017, was founded by Viennese actor/director Herbert Berghof in 1945. Berghof was later joined as a partner by celebrated actress Uta Hagen. HB Studio is one of the original New York acting studios, providing cutting edge training and practice in the dramatic arts. Each of the seven courses reviewed by NCCRS evaluators received high marks and a five-year credit recommendation extension.

NCCRS assistant director Phil Kahn (top row, center), and evaluators Nicholas Petron, chair and professor of theater at Adelphi University (center row, center), and Peter Sander, professor emeritus of drama and dance at Hofstra University (bottom row, center), recently hosted a successful virtual program evaluation session with HB Studio staff members Catrin Lloyd-Bollard (top row, left), Edith Meeks (top row, right), Jim Boerlin (middle row, left), and Paul Pryce (middle row, right).

Franklin University recently celebrated its 25th anniversary as an NCCRS cooperating higher education institution. Based in Columbus, Ohio, Franklin, a private, four-year institution, offers transfer-friendly associate, bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral degrees in business, education, healthcare, nursing, and technology. As a university dedicated to meeting the needs of working adults, Franklin provides online degree programs, as well as online access to free academic support resources.

“By awarding credit using recommendation services provided by NCCRS, as well as individualized assessment of prior learning conducted by our faculty, Franklin is able to recognize the knowledge and competencies our students possess and move them closer to their goal of earning a college degree,” said Christopher Washington, PhD, Franklin's provost and executive vice president of academic affairs.

The 140th anniversary year of the former Nyack College has arrived with the unveiling of a name change to Alliance University. Affiliated with the Christian and Missionary Alliance denomination, the institution offers fully-accredited degree programs in nine divisions. With its new university status, the school, located near Battery Park in New York, will move into an era as an institution rooted in partnership and community. Alliance President Rajan S. Mathews said, “Our goal is to attract students in our undergraduate, graduate, and seminary programs who will make Alliance University their first choice for pursuing a transforming Christian education.”

The National Advisory Committee on Institutional Quality and Integrity recently voted to recommend the Distance Education Accrediting Commission (DEAC) receive another five years of recognition from the Secretary of the U.S. Department of Education as an accreditor of distance education institutions.

“DEAC takes its responsibility as an accreditor very seriously and has worked diligently to not only comply with all accreditation criteria, but to advance the field of distance education quality assurance,” said Leah Matthews, PhD, executive director of DEAC. “As the only accrediting agency recognized by the Department of Education and the Council for Higher Education Accreditation that is dedicated solely to serving distance learners, we have a unique opportunity – and obligation – to ensure the students served by our institutions are receiving a quality education. As we have for the past 96 years, we will proudly continue to advance this essential mission moving forward.”

Ashika Brinkley, PhD, who joined NCCRS last year as an evaluator, recently shared the news she has moved on from her position as program director of Health Sciences and Public Health at Goodwin University in Connecticut to relocate to Texas, taking on the role of health initiative research director at the University of Houston. This development is one of many exciting chapters in Ashika's evolving and impressive career in the field of community health, which includes work as a public health practitioner in healthcare, research, and nonprofit settings, and a stint as the executive director of the Connecticut Association of Directors of Health.

Despite her storied career, Ashika is perhaps most connected to and proudest of her doctoral research while studying at the University of Connecticut. While at UConn, she focused on the impact of work stress on the health of community health workers, a highly vulnerable group of professionals. "My career has consistently focused on improving equity for historically under-represented groups," said Ashika, "I love working with NCCRS organizations on behalf of their students. It's right in line with my passion for helping provide opportunities for those who may not otherwise have a path toward improving themselves. It is incredibly gratifying."

Nearly half of American adults without college degrees think they need additional education to advance their careers — and just more than half said they will likely pursue that education in the next five years. That’s according to a new survey of 350,000 adults from Strada Education Network and Gallup. The level of interest in higher education is a potential dose of good news for colleges amid grim enrollment declines over the past few years. But the adults hoping to seek more education reported they were most likely to do so from employers, instead of colleges or universities.

Professors across the country have been sharing stories of what feels to them like widespread student disengagement as a result of the pandemic. They have noted fewer students have been showing up to class, or turning in their work on time, if at all. Many instructors describe accommodations they’ve tried, like loosening homework deadlines, or offering asynchronous alternatives to class conversations, but some now wonder whether this kind of leniency actually makes the situation worse. An EdSurge article states leaders at traditional colleges and universities can learn from institutions that specialize in online higher education because they've designed systems, strategies, and tools to better engage their students.