Initiative aims to give women at MIT a boost in biotech | Opinion: Selective schools need to broaden their base | United pilot training initiative partners with HBCUs
President Joe Biden's $2.3 trillion infrastructure plan is fueling optimism that the jobs it could create will boost university enrollment. An analysis from Georgetown University's Center on Education and the Workforce estimates that 7 million newly created jobs will require some level of college education, with at least 2 million requiring a bachelor's degree or higher.
Venture capitalists, biotechnology company executives, university faculty and policymakers in the Boston Biotech Working Group are working to increase the number of women on biotech company boards and help female faculty start their own biotech companies. The group's founders have also launched the Future Founder Initiative for women on MIT's faculty, offering entrepreneurship bootcamps, mentored pitch competitions, fellowships at venture capital firms and a commitment by VC firms to make female board representation a priority.
Selective schools such as Harvard need to rethink their admissions policies and practices to increase the number of students from underserved populations, writes columnist Helaine Olen. The percentage of applicants admitted to Harvard has dropped by half since 2007, and the university would do well to dip into its endowment for resources to open its doors to a more diverse student body, Olen asserts.
West Oregon University, the oldest university in the state, is downsizing its programs and cutting a dozen full-time faculty in response to declining enrollment. Faculty and students have protested the move, saying it will change the culture of the campus and damage the quality of education.
Students and faculty at a number of colleges and universities are working to facilitate and staff vaccination clinics in underserved areas of their local communities. Temple University College of Public Health vaccinated more than 1,000 essential workers and senior citizens in public housing.
A $30 million gift from Quicken Loans founder Dan Gilbert and his wife, Jennifer, will enable 20 students from underrepresented racial and ethnic groups to attend Cranbrook Academy of Art in suburban Detroit tuition-free. The money also will help the establishment of a permanent endowment for the graduate school that offers degrees in architecture, design, craft and fine art.
