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Homeroom: October 2012 Archives

October 2012 Archives

Colleges and Corporations Try to Bridge the Skills Gap

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Angel Gavidia worked as a construction worker, an auto detailer and a taxi dispatcher before he found his calling as a computer-networking engineer, a high-paying job for which employers are desperately short of workers even at a time of stubborn unemployment.

He found his way in spite of community-college advisors who at first steered him into other fields of so little interest to him that he quit school. Then Gavidia was accepted to a program in which an IT-services company called Atrion collaborates with the Community College of Rhode Island to help students get both a classroom education and on-the-job training.

The model, under which Gavidia worked as an apprentice at the company while taking on-campus courses, gave him a huge head start to a job by teaching him the real-world skills employers want but say they often can’t find in college graduates.

Read the full article here.
Reprinted with permission from The Hechinger Report.

Lack of Safeguards Drive Student Debt

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The first in her family to go to college, Alicia Aiello wanted more than anything to study at Syracuse University. But tuition at the private university was expensive, her parents couldn’t help much, and she didn’t get enough financial aid to bridge the gap.

So within her first semester, Aiello found herself taking out an $18,000 bank loan she couldn’t afford, with terms she didn’t entirely understand, on which she’d owe $6,000 worth of interest before she paid back even a penny of it.

“I was really confused, and when I found out someone would give me $18,000 without a co-signer, I was really excited—until later down the line, when I found out how much I was going to owe,” Aiello says. “That was probably the biggest mistake I ever made.”


Read the full article here.
Reprinted with permission from The Hechinger Report.

Cancer Research Institute Honors Weill Cornell Dean

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small laurie.jpg
Dr. Laurie H. Glimcher, the Stephen and 
Suzanne Weiss Dean of Weill 
Cornell Medical College and provost for medical affairs of Cornell University, is a winner of the 2012 William B. Coley Award for Distinguished Research in Basic Immunology from the Cancer Research Institute for her outstanding achievements in immunology and cancer research.

This award is presented to scientists who have made significant achievements in the field of basic immunology that deepened the understanding of the immune system's response to disease -- including cancer -- promising further progress in the development of novel and effective future immunotherapies.

As a leading immunologist, Dr. Glimcher's research discoveries have helped improve understanding of the human immune system and how to manipulate it to better fight cancer. The Coley Award was presented to Dr. Glimcher at the Cancer Research Institute's 26th annual Awards Dinner hosted Oct. 17 at the Waldorf Astoria in New York City. She shares this year's award with Dr. Ken Murphy, from Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, and Dr. Richard Flavell, from Yale University. The honorees are recognized for their pioneering work to define the transcription factors that regulate CD4+ T cell differentiation.

Read the full press release here.
The $100,000 John P. McNulty Prize was awarded to Amit Bhatia, for his
Aspen Institute
work to prepare Indian youths with the skills necessary to become valued members of the country’s workforce, on October 11. The Aspen Institute and trustee Anne Welsh McNulty embraced his efforts to provide English language, technical, behavioral and problem-solving skills to students from underprivileged backgrounds. Over 52,000 students have already been affected by his work through Aspire, the organization he founded in 2008.

Aspire is a for-profit organization that seeks to transform youth into employable members of the workforce to fuel the growing modern economy of the world’s largest democracy. While throughout the world populations are aging and birthrates declining, less than ¼ of the 320 million students in India will actually acquire the skills necessary for a successful transition from education to industry.
 
The Aspen Institute’s fifth McNulty Prize, awarded by an international jury that includes Madeleine Albright, recognizes the creativity, impact, sustainability and leadership evident in Bhatia’s project. As a fellow of the Aspen Global Leadership Network, Bhatia is part of an international organization that seeks to address the most pressing social, economic and political issues by bringing together almost 1,500 leaders in businesses, government and nonprofits. It is an initiative of the Washington, DC-based Aspen Institute, an educational and policy studies organization.

After such an award, Bhatia is encouraged to pursue Aspire’s goal of preparing graduates for the 21st century workplace; he aims to see 500 million new job seekers employed by 2020. “This honor strengthens our resolve to seize the demographic dividend, overcome social, economic and educational challenges, and help youth win desirable careers,” he said.
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