www.insightintodiversity.com December 2015 $3.99 Also in this issue: Why diversity matters when Online Education applying for grants How colleges like American University and the How employers can create University of Central Florida are increasing access more inclusive workplaces for to higher education through online programs people with disabilities | IN THIS ISSUE | December 2015 Special Report: Online Education Diversity in the Virtual Classroom University of Central Florida’s Online Education 30 By Jamaal Abdul-Alim 36 Model Offers Lifeline to Lower-Income Students By Madeline Szrom Universities Struggle to Ensure Can MOOCs Help High School Students 34 Access to Online Education for 38 Get into College? It Depends ... Students with Disabilities By Rebecca Prinster By Jamaal Abdul-Alim EXTRA Why Diversity Matters: Small Changes Add Up: Supporting 18 Securing Grants 24 Undocumented Students on Campus By Rebecca Prinster By Rebecca Prinster Room for Improvement Should White People Serve as 20 By Alexandra Vollman 28 Chief Diversity Officers? By Maura Cullen, EdD On the Cover: The Kogod School of Business at American University in Washington, D.C. 2 December 2015 | In Every Issue | Connecting Diverse Professionals To Diverse Careers TM December 2015 Volume 86 No. 3 11132 South Towne Square, Suite 203 In Brief St. Louis, Missouri 63123 314.200.9955 • 800.537.0655 • 314.200.9956 FAX 4 Diversity and Inclusion News Roundup [email protected] [email protected] www.insightintodiversity.com New Directions ISSN: 2154-0349 © 2015 Potomac Publishing, Inc. 8 Diversity Leaders on the Move Contacts: Lenore Pearlstein | Publisher Holly Mendelson | Publisher Alexandra Vollman | Editor Partner Profile Daniel Hecke | Art Director Rebecca Prinster | Senior Staff Writer Donald Washington | Advertising Director 9 National Black MBA Association Prepares Students to Be the Leaders of Tomorrow Editorial Board: Pamela W. Arnold Special Report: Online Education By Alexandra Vollman Vicky Ayers Brooke Barnett Kenneth J. Barrett Edna B. Chun, DM Recruiter’s Corner Deborah Dagit James A. Felton III Tia T. Gordon 10 Answering the “What Are You?” Questions Jeffrey W. Larroca, JD By Vicky Ayers William Lewis Sr., PhD Frank McCloskey Kevin McDonald, JD Julia Méndez Tanya M. Odom HEED Award Spotlight Joseph Santana Shirley J. Wilcher, JD, CAAP Anise D. Wiley-Little 12 Founded on Social Justice, DePaul Serves as a Haven for Damon A. Williams, PhD Students of All Backgrounds and Faiths Shane L. Windmeyer By Madeline Szrom Contributing Writers: Jamaal Abdul-Alim 16 Kennesaw State University Examines, Embraces Vicky Ayers Maura Cullen, EdD Diversity on a Personal Level Jerrell Moore By Alexandra Vollman Rebecca Prinster Madeline Szrom Alexandra Vollman CDO Corner The views expressed in the content of the articles and advertisements published in 14 Invite Diverse Talent to Own Its Destiny INSIGHT Into Diversity are those of the authors and are not to be considered the views (and a Piece of the Company) expressed by Potomac Publishing, Inc. By Jerrell Moore Careers 40 Job Opportunities Formerly the Closing INSIGHT Affirmative Action Register 43 The Rise of Online Learning insightintodiversity.com 3 [ In ] Brief Online Degree Program Addresses Need for More Highly Educated RNs The Commission on Collegiate “The faculty want the quality of they speculate that most are RNs with Nursing Education is calling for 80 the online program to be no different an associate degree. percent of the country’s registered than that of the baccalaureate, on-site “We know that the profile of nurses (RNs) to have earned a bachelor program, and I think we’ve achieved community college students is varied,” of science (BS) in nursing by 2020. that,” Sullivan says. Goldsmith says. “And we do know Currently, only about 50 percent of that many people of lower U.S. RNs have done so. The University socioeconomic status enroll in of Rhode Island (URI) College of community colleges, so that is Nursing is doing its part by providing a who we expect to find in this convenient way for registered nurses to program.” earn a bachelor’s degree. Diversifying the nursing This fall, URI began offering a workforce and expanding fully online, accredited RN to BS opportunities for low-income program to simultaneously address RNs are two goals URI hopes the need for a highly educated nursing to achieve with the online workforce and provide RNs in New program. England access to an affordable “Diversity in all forms is degree, particularly those who are so important,” Sullivan says. low-income or underrepresented in “Nursing is primarily white and the profession. female, and that’s something that The call for better-educated we’re trying to [change].” nurses is in response to research Depending on how many revealing that patient outcomes credits incoming RNs are able are more positive when registered to transfer, the program can nurses who have a bachelor’s be completed in as little as degree are providing the care. This 15 months, at a cost of $318 finding can be attributed to the per credit hour — roughly additional coursework of a traditional $13,500 for 15 courses — which baccalaureate curriculum; a degree Goldsmith and Sullivan say is program like URI’s includes classes University of Rhode Island College of Nursing graduate less expensive than the on-site in clinical practice, leadership and Rodney Confident (URI photo by Joe Giblin) BS program. Further, because delegation, pharmacology, and of the seven-week structure, community health nursing, as well as students enrolled in the program psychology and sociology. During the first round of meet URI’s six credit hour per “What [RNs] are learning and enrollments in September, 26 RNs semester requirement for financial getting out of a baccalaureate program registered for the first seven-week aid eligibility while only taking one is the writing, communication, critical class session, and 50 signed up for three-hour class at a time. thinking, and diversity [competency] the second class. The college expects “This is not a self-paced course, skills that they can immediately 90 to 100 students for the session though; there are deadlines. But you are take back to their jobs,” says Diane beginning in January. able to do your work at whatever time Goldsmith, director of the Office for Traditionally, RNs have completed works best for you,” Goldsmith says. the Advancement of Teaching and their nursing education in three ways: “Nurses work in shifts; this is similar.” Learning at URI. through a BS in nursing degree path, Having this kind of work-life Goldsmith and Mary Sullivan, through a diploma program offered balance is how Goldsmith and interim dean of URI’s College of at a hospital, or through earning Sullivan think online education will Nursing, say the coursework for the an associate degree at a two-year allow traditionally underrepresented online degree is no different from the institution. Goldsmith and Sullivan or low-income RNs to earn a university’s on-campus BS program. In do not know the demographic bachelor’s degree — and help the addition, full-time URI faculty are in breakdown of students enrolled in nation reach that 80 percent goal. charge of developing the curriculum. URI’s online RN to BS program, but — Rebecca Prinster 4 December 2015 Diploma Mills Thrive with Growth in Online Education The production and sale of counterfeit anywhere from several hundred hired, or being fired by a current postsecondary degrees has been a dollars to as much as $10,000; employer if he or she finds out your profitable business for some time, but it counterfeit PhDs tend to be more degree is worthless, these fake degrees wasn’t until the advent of the Internet expensive. While that may sound like pose health and safety risks. “You run that these degree manufacturers, or a lot of money for a fake credential, the risk of going to a physician with diploma mills, really began to take Gollin says these degrees may be a fake credential because a person off. A diploma mill is an organization attractive to people seeking to propel decides they want to practice medicine that claims to be an institution of their careers. [but] were never trained,” says Gollin. higher education and offers illegitimate “Most of the customers of diploma He also says that diploma mills academic degrees for a fee. mills know exactly what they’re doing can create national security issues. As more and more educational and exactly what they’re getting,” In one situation involving Saint programs have shifted to online, he says. “For someone who wants to Regis, an undercover federal agent, appealing to prospective students posing as a Syrian army looking for a convenient and flexible chemical engineer and way to earn a degree, diploma mills bomb maker, was able have found their footing. In 2004, to obtain a fake degree there were more than 400 diploma in order to apply for an mills and 300 counterfeit diploma H-1B visa to work in websites worldwide, earning more the U.S. According to than $500 million annually. Gollin, the man then “That was very fertile ground for went on to apply for a diploma mills to operate in, and with job as a chemist in a the increasing attention to some of nuclear weapons facility the benefits of online education, that in the Southwest. gave diploma mills a lot of cover,” says become the director of a hospital for Furthermore, people who attempt George Gollin, a professor of physics example, it will look much flashier to gain or attain employment using a at the University of Illinois at Urbana- if they have a PhD in something, in counterfeit degree risk being charged Champaign. addition to an MD.” with a misdemeanor, which typically Since the early 2000s, Gollin has As time has gone by, diploma carries a fine.