The diagonal line in Arkansas separating academic and economic strivers from those less likely to make the grade--and then land a decent job--runs roughly from Texarkana in the southwest to Blytheville in northeast. "The wealthiest people live above that line," said Dr. James Jennings, a history professor and education department…

The accelerated master's degree in nursing program at the Georgia Health Sciences University, formerly the Medical College of Georgia, has seen its minority student enrollment grow from just a smattering when it launched in 2006 to 16 percent last fall. Incremental increases in minority student enrollment--GHSU's nursing program currently enrolls…

The first Innocence Project (IP) was founded in 1992 by attorneys Barry C. Scheck and Peter J. Neufeld at Yeshiva University's Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law. The original goal was to free people whose innocence could be proven using DNA. So far, IPs have helped free nearly 300 men and women who had served an average of 13 years for crimes they…

Emerging in recent years from the need for increased energy efficiency and conservation, greater reduction of greenhouse gas emissions, and stepped-up action to clean the environment, green jobs have arisen as a distinct employment sector within the U.S. and around the world. While social and political activists have taken the lead to make sure…

Typically, the period between the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday in mid-January and the end of Black History Month in February sees serious and sober public discussions about the state of Black America. Those discussions have heated up earlier than expected due to the November release of a national survey on Black social progress by the…

The escalating cost of college tuition seems to be on everyone's minds these days. Particularly concerned are low-income students, who are often averse to taking out loans for fear of jeopardizing their own, as well as their families', financial situation. Experts say economically disadvantaged students of all races are worse off if the only aid…

Public universities in Virginia, as in many states, have generally not paid much attention to diversity among their suppliers. For years, state expenditures for outside contracts went to the usual suspects--White contractors from well-established companies. Four years ago, former Governor Mark Warner, a progressive Democrat from the high…

It is an adage that holds true in almost any context--practice makes perfect. In golf, like in many other sports, experience is a central factor in success as well. Children who take up golf early have a distinct advantage when they hit high school and begin competing for the attention of college coaches, and the national junior tournaments are…