The following describes a journey of collaboration across disciplines to support Universal Design for Learning (UDL) curriculum and assessment enhancements in an Elementary Education teacher preparation program within a college of education (COE). As a collaborative partner with a public university in Florida, a public state college in Florida…

Public colleges and universities are a key driver of social and economic mobility, yet they also face increasingly challenging financial and political environments. In this essay, I discuss four key areas in which state higher education policy can influence student success and equity: the amount of funding provided, funding allocation mechanisms,…

"Chemistry in the Public Library" is an outreach event that has fostered a continuing, long-standing partnership between The Evergreen State College in Olympia, Washington (a public, liberal arts college), the Olympia Timberland Regional Library (the local public library), and the community. It started as a National Chemistry Week event…

The 17-institution Connecticut State Colleges & Universities System (CSCU) formed a systemwide open educational resources (OER) Council in 2017 that was primarily focused on the adoption of no-cost or low-cost (NOLO) course materials as a means to provide equitable access to learning materials. The CSCU consortium of library directors…

This article describes one program's thoughtful and strategic transition to a college and subsequent innovations to its curricular framework. Acknowledging that such a change affords honors practitioners the opportunity to implement best practices established within the honors community, authors describe the unique evolution of the honors college…

Florida's governor and legislature have mounted a multipronged assault on the intellectual autonomy of Florida's public colleges and universities. Florida is not alone, and Governor DeSantis' political success is already a model for other red-state governors to follow. Higher education leaders must find compelling ways to argue that the pursuit of…

Efforts to prevent or persuade increased emphasis on academic research at state colleges and regional universities demonstrate how emerging fields of higher education can be influenced through various policies and incentives. Utilizing the concept of strategic action fields (Fligstein & McAdam, 2012), this paper explains changes in…

Indian River State College (IRSC) transforms lives by offering high-quality, affordable, and accessible education online and on five campuses located on the southeast Treasure Coast of Florida. Between 1988 and 2000, IRSC took the initiative to rally the communities IRSC serves around innovations to stimulate economic development and to prepare…

In 2003, the Kansas State University College of Agriculture established a diversity programs office to assist the college with recruitment, retention, and graduation of underrepresented students. The Kansas State University Tilford Group has established standards for multicultural competency development that are founded in three primary discussion…

This article documents the emergence of a Mexican-American political consciousness in a Central Texas Community and the efforts to dismantle decades of inequitable, exclusionary educational policies and practices. We take readers into a community on the verge of profound change by exploring primary historical data and situating the voices of…

Some student affairs professionals who are employed at public colleges and universities feel conflicted about the degree to which they should or should not discuss their religious and/or spiritual beliefs at work. The purpose of this article is to present an overview of legal, developmental, and ethical considerations that should be factored into…

The Vermont State Colleges Board of Trustees has decided to combine two small state colleges--Lyndon State College and Johnson State College--that have been the access institutions for the northern and often most economically challenged region of Vermont. Northern Vermont University will result from the unification. The unification will multiply…

Urban institutions are typically located in diverse and vibrant cities. This diversity has changed over the decades, thus requiring campuses to address the complexity that is seen as these new American cities evolve. In this article the city of Buffalo is discussed as a city that manifests a continuous change in population diversity with a…

As theater audiences decline society-wide, university theater programs have felt the impact, with many being cut back as institutions face difficult economic decisions. The Tacoma Theater Project at the University of Washington-Tacoma is an innovative effort to resist this trend. By working with professional theater groups in a partnership…

All high school students that wish to continue onto college are seeking opportunities to be competitive in the college market. They participate in extra-curricular activities which are seen to foster creativity and the skills necessary to do well in the college environment. In the case of students with an interest in physics, participating in a…