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November 1, 2005
SUMMIT TO HIGHLIGHT ISSUES, CHALLENGES FACING HIGHER ED
SPRINGFIELD - For every 100 students who enter ninth grade
in Illinois, 28 will not finish high school, and only one in five
of them will receive a college degree by age 24.
Two-thirds of Illinois graduating seniors in 2002 left high school
unprepared, or only minimally ready, for the academic rigors of
the college classroom. But approximately half of them went directly
on to college.
Needy college students face a growing "MAP gap" - the
difference between Monetary Award Program (MAP) grants and their
tuition and fees. For community college students, MAP covers just
three-quarters of their tuition and fees; for public university
students, 63 percent.
Eighty percent of the fastest growing jobs in the U.S. require a
minimum of a two-year college degree. The fastest growing populations
in the U.S. are those with the lowest academic achievement rates.
More than 200 Illinois lawmakers, state government officials, business
executives, and higher education leaders will gather November 9
for a Higher Education Summit to discuss these and other pressing
issues facing the state and its system of colleges and universities.
The Summit is sponsored by the Illinois Board of Higher Education,
and will be held from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the Embassy Suites Hotel
at 600 North State Street in Chicago.
"There are many challenges, as well as opportunities, facing
higher education today," James L. Kaplan, Chairman of the Board
of Higher Education, said. "The Higher Education Summit will
give state leaders and the higher education community a valuable
forum to discuss these issues and their implications for the state
and our colleges and universities."
The Summit will feature several nationally recognized experts, legislators
and other state leaders, college and university presidents, and
business executives. Richard Stephens, senior vice president for
human resources at The Boeing Company, and a member of the National
Commission on the Future of Higher Education appointed recently
by U.S. Education Secretary Margaret Spellings, will deliver a luncheon
keynote address.
Presentations and panel discussions involving legislators and others
will examine several issues of concern to the state and its higher
education system, including:
- The critical role that postsecondary education plays in preparing
people - young and old, traditional students and adult learners
- for a workforce that is increasingly unforgiving of the under-educated.
- The pivotal connection between financial aid for low-income
students and access to higher education.
- The need for a more expansive view of education - the P-16 notion
that education extends from preschool to grad school - to ensure
that high school graduates are ready for college, that new teachers
are well-prepared to enter K-12 classrooms, and that underrepresented
groups have access to collegiate opportunities.
- A panel discussion featuring higher education leaders in the
General Assembly and college and university presidents will conclude
the Summit with reflections on lessons learned and next steps
to pursue.
Speakers and panelists for the Summit include:
- Legislative participants: Senators Edward Maloney, chairman
of the Senate Higher Education Committee; Miguel del Valle, Bradley
Burzynski, Christine Radogno, Kwame Raoul, and Richard Winkel
Jr., and Representatives Kevin McCarthy, chairman of the House
Higher Education Committee; David Miller, chairman of the House
Appropriations-Higher Education Committee; Bill Black, Will Davis,
Roger Eddy, and Michael Bost.
- Dennis Jones, President of the National Center for Higher Education
Management Systems, and an expert on demographics and the value
of higher education in the modern economy.
- Paul Lingenfelter, President of the State Higher Education Executive
Officers.
- Roderick Chu, Chancellor of the Ohio Board of Regents.
- Nicole Barry, Deputy Director of the national Advisory Committee
on Student Financial Assistance.
- Randy Dunn, state Superintendent of Schools.
- Elliot Regenstein, Director of Education Reform for the Office
of the Governor.
- Jennifer Presley, Director of the Illinois Education Research
Council.
- Stanley Ikenberry, President Emeritus of the University of Illinois.
- Jeffrey Mays, president of the Illinois Business Roundtable.
- Anne Ladky, Executive Director of Women Employed.
- Beverley Anderson, Provost at Chicago State University.
- Judith Flink, Executive Director, Student Financial Services,
University of Illinois at Chicago, Vice-Chair, Advisory Committee
on Student Financial Assistance.
- J. Robert Barr, former Chairman of the Illinois Student Assistance
Commission.
- Ashley Dearborn, a student at Wright College and student commissioner
for the Illinois Student Assistance Commission.
- Adam Howell, a student at Eastern Illinois University.
- Danielle Gaines, a student at the University of Illinois at
Urbana-Champaign.
- Father John Minogue, member of the Illinois Board of Higher
Education and former President of DePaul University.
- College and university presidents include: Jonathan Astroth,
Heartland Community College; Al Bowman, Illinois State University;
Stuart Fagan, Governors State University; Father Michael Garanzini,
Loyola University of Chicago; Charles Middleton, Roosevelt University;
Christine Sobek, Waubonsee Community College.
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