Excelsior College Magazine | Vol. 21, No. 1 | Spring 2019 ALL IN THE FAMILY p. 16 10 12 FEATURES A New ERA? 16 10 Why did the Equal Rights Amendment fail in the 1980s, and could it still be ratified today? All in the Family 16 Commencement becomes a family celebration when relatives earn their degrees the same year. Read about married couples, a father and daughter, and two parents and their daughter who celebrated together in July 2018. Pipeline to Nuclear 22 Energy Jobs With its bachelor’s in nuclear engineering technology program and partnership with energy provider Exelon, the College prepares workers for in-demand jobs. EXCELSIOR DEPARTMENTS EXCELSIOR COLLEGE MAGAZINE VOL. 21, NO. 1 | SPRING 2019 2 President’s Perspective DAWN GERRAIN CHIEF MARKETING AND BUSINESS 4 DEVELOPMENT OFFICER 3 New & Noteworthy MIKE LESCZINSKI CHIEF COMMUNICATIONS OFFICER EDITOR 7 Lifelong Learning MARIA C. SPARKS Make a positive impression at work by WRITER/EDITOR JENNA KERWIN fine-tuning your writing skills. ART DIRECTOR NICK KLERCKER 8 Interview CONTRIBUTING WRITERS Dale Emeagwali, faculty program director 8 MARY BERKERY, AMY ERICKSON, AND JOE PHELAN for biology and natural science, discusses the impact of discovery. Excelsior College Magazine is published by the Office of Marketing, in conjunction with the Office of the President. The magazine is for 26 Alumni Profiles alumni, enrolled students, and other members of the Excelsior College community. The magazine is published twice a year, in April and October. 31 Alumni Notes © 2019 by Excelsior College Comments and address corrections may 32 By the Numbers 27 be sent to [email protected]. Send submissions for Alumni Notes to alumni.excelsior.edu/alumni-notes. For general information about Excelsior College, call 888-647-2388. EXCELSIOR.EDU/MAGAZINE 29 ON THE COVER: Graduates Katrina and Lee Andrews at Commencement 2018. PHOTO: KRIS QUA 22 PRESIDENT’S PERSPECTIVE Higher Education at an Inflection Point national conversation swirls around begs the question, what is the currency of a college the value of a degree and student credit earned in an accredited institution of higher borrowing and debt. College leaders learning? grapple with the financial pressures Requiring students to duplicate coursework is of changing demographics and lower an onerous and costly barrier to degree completion. enrollments. Public confidence in higher education Addressing that problem was a driving force in the hasA declined to disconcerting levels (An October 2018 founding of Excelsior College nearly 50 years ago by survey by the Gallup Organization found the percent- the State of New York. Our generous credit transfer age of adults “Confident in Higher Education” stands policy, coupled with prior learning assessment and the at just 48 percent — an 11 percent drop since 2015). options to learn independently and test your way to a As these issues are discussed on campuses, in degree, allows our students to keep degree completion capitol buildings, and at kitchen tables across the costs low and shorten the time to degree attainment. country, what seems lost is a focus on how we ought This, in addition to our focus on personalized interac- to be treating our students, the public purpose of tion with our students, is why Excelsior’s completion higher education, and what it is that all institutions rates have been historically among the highest in owe their students. the sector. While institutions wrangle over what is too much The challenges facing college students today extend or too little government regulation — and policy- beyond issues of access, affordability, and completion. makers are seemingly deadlocked when it comes to To the extent our current system of higher education addressing our most pressing issues — we risk a race fails to recognize the value of what is learned and to the bottom when it comes to our students and how earned outside of the walls of one or any academy, they are treated in our various institutions. Students we exacerbate those challenges. And it raises in the are not just “data points” or units of measure in insti- minds of our students the question of whether our tutional “revenue centers.” primary goal is helping them achieve educational self- Consider this: A September 2017 report by the actualization or selling credits and degree programs. Government Accountability Office (GAO) found And this question may be at the root of that crisis in that one in three students transfer from one college confidence. to another and, when doing so, lose an average of The erosion of public confidence in higher edu- 43 percent of their prior credits upon enrollment in cation suggests the need for a fiduciary standard in their new school. This common practice of requiring higher education, regardless of our corporate con- students to “start over” belies our professed commit- figuration. That will mean we always act in students’ ment to degree completion and student success — and interests — even when it may not be in our own. JAMES N. BALDWIN, JD, EdD PRESIDENT 2 | Excelsior College Magazine NEW & NOTEWORTHY Excelsior College Welcomes New Trustees n January, three new members joined the Jeanne Meister is a founding partner of Clar Rosso is executive vice president Board of Trustees: David Baime, Jeanne Future Workplace and is a best-selling author. of engagement and learning innovation for Meister, and Clar Rosso. Meister’s most recent work is “The Future the Association of International Certified David Baime is the senior vice president Workplace: 10 Rules for Mastering Disruption Professional Accountants. She leads the Ifor government relations and policy analysis in Recruiting and Engaging Employees.” development and execution of strategy to for the American Association of Community Meister’s books have been translated into support global competency development and Colleges. He directs the national advocacy Spanish, Portuguese, lifelong learning for the finance and account- efforts for the nation’s close to 1,200 com- Chinese, and Estonian. ing profession. Prior to joining AICPA, Rosso munity colleges and She has written more worked as COO of the California Society of their students. He than 100 articles on CPAs (CalCPA) and has made many radio, the future of learning, the CalCPA Education television, and web the future of work, and Foundation, where appearances, includ- the impact of artificial she drove member- ing on CNN, MSNBC, intelligence in the ship growth of more C-SPAN, and National workplace. She has appeared in CIO, CNBC than 30 percent. She Public Radio. He is Power Lunch, CBS, CNN, Fast Company, Fox earned a bachelor’s frequently quoted in The Chronicle of Higher Business, Harvard Business Review, NPR, degree in rhetoric Education, Inside Higher Ed, and other pub- SHRM Magazine, Market Watch, Time maga- and communications from the University of lications covering higher education. Baime zine, The Globe and Mail, and WPIX, New California, Davis and a master’s degree earned a bachelor’s degree from Haverford York. She is a graduate of the University of in special education from San Francisco College and a master’s degree in economics Connecticut and Boston University. State University. from the London School of Economics. of Excelsior College as an online, not-for- and the ability to transfer credit and earn a BRAND AWARENESS CAMPAIGN profit, regionally accredited institution that degree sooner. The video produced for this helps adult learners complete their degrees. campaign can be seen on the Excelsior College xcelsior College developed a brand Excelsior was promoted through billboards on Facebook page. awareness campaign that introduced well-traveled commuter routes, advertising on A second phase of the campaign launched the new advertising tagline, Life bus shelters and buses, 30- and 60-second in March 2019 in the Albany area to continue Happens. Keep Learning., to audi- radio ads, and a video that appeared on to raise brand awareness. The campaign Eences in the greater Albany, New York, and streaming media. The advertising focused highlights the College as an accredited, not- San Antonio, Texas, areas for several months on the feasibility of fitting degree completion for-profit online option that enables learners in late summer/early fall 2018. The campaign into a busy life, the acceptance of military to fit learning into their busy lives. was undertaken to increase awareness and professional training as academic credit, GRAPHIC RENDERING OF BILLBOARD ADVERTISEMENT NEW & NOTEWORTHY CPNE Conversations CONVERSATIONAL-STYLE WEBINARS PREPARE NURSING STUDENTS FOR THE CLINICAL PERFORMANCE IN NURSING EXAMINATION or Excelsior associate degree opportunity to connect with the faculty in a nursing students, the Clinical new way. Performance in Nursing Examination The group decided to host one type of “Our overall goal is to be (CPNE) — the capstone require- webinar with predetermined topics and other accessible to the student; to ment — is the culmination of the webinars as an open forum in a town hall allow them an opportunity to find Fprogram. Excelsior has long offered study format. The series kicked off on December 7, a means to get their questions guides, one-on-one support, and tutorials to 2016, with the town hall-style webinar titled answered; that meets them help those preparing for this important exam, “Conversations with Kim” and encouraged where they are … to help them and recently, the School of Nursing began question-and-answer interaction. During a holding a series of webinars to help students. “Conversations with Kim” webinar, a modera- with their success meeting their So far, they have been a valuable tool in tor monitors questions in real-time so student CPNE requirements.” preparing for the CPNE. questions can be answered immediately. —Kim Hedley Kim Hedley, assistant dean for the associ- Other webinars, created and presented ate degree in nursing program, and several by the nursing faculty, address specific other nursing faculty members began dis- components of the CPNE and use presenta- all webinars are held on Tuesdays and cussing webinars in November 2016.