MOCAN – Missouri College & Career Attainment Network

Increasing equity in college and career for Missouri students

Postsecondary Equity

MOCAN’s Response: Supreme Court Ends Affirmative Action in Higher Education

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Today’s Supreme Court decision eliminating race as a factor in college admissions does not end diversity on our college campuses. Thousands of Black and brown students are already enrolled in Missouri colleges and universities. In fact, the work of Postsecondary Equity Network institutions to become inclusive campuses where BILPOC students are welcomed, celebrated, and supported to graduation remains as critical as ever.  

What cannot happen as a result of this decision, is the abandonment of efforts to connect Black and brown young adults to postsecondary education and the economic stability and social mobility that comes with a college degree. Colleges, universities, and community-based organizations must work together to ensure BILPOC students are nurtured as scholars, and have opportunities to enroll in and complete a college program that meets their career aspirations.  

Our commitment to equity is not derailed. It is reaffirmed.  

Advancing Racial Healing Through MOCAN’s TRHT Campus Center

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This summer, a second MOCAN Team will participate in the Truth, Racial Healing and Transformation (TRHT) Campus Center Institute. The Institute convenes equity-minded colleges and universities. It is held each summer by the American Association of Colleges & Universities.

The Institute is designed to help Center teams identify evidence-based strategies that support their vision of what their communities will look, feel, and be like when the false belief in a hierarchy of human value no longer exists. 

In fall 2022, MOCAN became the first statewide organization to be designated a TRHT Campus Center. A team of colleagues from MOCAN’s Postsecondary Equity Network attended the 2022 Institute and submitted an action plan to develop a center with our partner institutions in Missouri. 

This year MOCAN is represented by PEN Co-Chairs, Dr. D’Andre Braddix, Executive Director, Diversity, Equity & Inclusion at St. Louis Community College, and Dr. Lover Chancler, Director of the Center of Multiculturalism and Inclusivity and Associate Professor at the University of Central Missouri; Cherelle Washington, MOCAN’s Director of College Access and Career Readiness; Wendell Stapleton, Student Success Coach at Maryville University; and Trent Ball, MOCAN’s Senior Director for Postsecondary Equity and Attainment.

At this year’s Institute, the MOCAN team will be refining and expanding the plan developed last year to address the challenges and changes occurring in higher education and our educational communities.

Recapping Year 1 of the Purpose First Initiative

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Earlier this month, representatives from institutions in the MOCAN Purpose First Initiative, and other campuses interested in the Purpose First (PF) work, participated the Purpose First Summer Institute. At the institute, teams met to discuss lessons learned during the first year of the collaborative project of MOCAN and Complete College America (CCA).

Purpose First is designed to increase retention and career readiness of BILPOC students and students from low-income communities attending Postsecondary Equity Network (PEN) institutions. By year 3, institutions will be able to demonstrate the impact of early integration of career advising on student retention and completion, leading to greater social mobility and economic stability.

This year, the PF teams worked on student experiential learning, academic maps, career and academic advising integration, and early onboarding strategies. CCA provided training opportunities and individualized coaching for each institution. Partner institutions also received three-year, $30,000 grants to support implementation of their strategies.

The summer institute provided an opportunity to review plans to date and discuss creating a holistic approach to career learning. The institute was led by Nikolas Huot, the Assistant Vice President for Institutional Transformation and Cassie Walizer, Strategy Director at CCA.  The keynote for the Institute was given by Dr. Lakeisha Mathews of the University of Baltimore and current President of the National Career Development Association (NCDA), who shared how career learning can — and should — be integrated into a student’s college experience, from onboarding through graduation.

Making Community College Navigation Easier through Guided Pathways

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“Students bring innate talent and drive, but colleges unwittingly stifle them in so many ways.” – Dr. Davis Jenkins, Senior Research Scholar at the Community College Research Center, Columbia University

Inspiring students and motivating them to completion was the focus of the recent MOCAN Guided Pathways Summer Institute held in partnership with Complete College America and Missouri Community College Association.

Guided Pathways is a movement to streamline the student experience in college, providing structured support, clear communications, and career opportunities. When implemented holistically, guided pathways shows strong results in completion, including for BILPOC students.

Among the takeaways:

  • The key is more effectively building relationships – with students, and with colleagues across institutional departments.
  • Guided pathways is a cultural shift. It’s critical to have faculty working with staff.
  • Breaking down institutional jargon is essential. Start with a student-friendly website.
  • Students are focused on the end goal. They don’t want a lot of choices, they want options aligned with their career pathway but we have to structure them that way.
  • Advisers need to be intentional in their career conversations, integrating academics and opportunities for work experience.
  • There is opportunity to align career pathways at community colleges with the career clusters used in K-12 schools. There is also opportunity to connect students with registered youth apprenticeships.
  • This is iterative work; there is no end point.

Special thanks to our presenters and planning committee:

  • Nikolas Huot, Complete College America
  • Dr. Davis Jenkins, Community College Research Center
  • David Hewkin, Missouri Dept. of Higher Education & Workforce Development
  • Dr. Perry Gorrell, Missouri Dept. of Elementary & Secondary Education
  • Dr. Feleccia Moore-Davis, St. Louis Community College
  • Dr. Robyn Walter, East Central College
  • Dr. Drew Wilkerson, Metropolitan Community College
  • Dr. Devin Miles, St. Charles Community College

Centering Value in Postsecondary Education

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Postsecondary credentials are the proven path towards economic mobility, but recent polls show public perceptions of the value of postsecondary education are waning. Earlier this month, MOCAN hosted the “Centering Value in Postsecondary Education: An Action Agenda from the Postsecondary Value Commission” webinar in partnership with the Institute for Higher Education Policy (IHEP) to learn how institutions and other stakeholders can address student concerns.  

IHEP is a nonpartisan, nonprofit research, policy, and advocacy organization committed to promoting postsecondary access and success for all students, with a focus on students of color, students from low-income backgrounds, and other historically marginalized populations. Colleagues from across MOCAN’s three networks participated in the session led by Eleanor Eckerson Peters, Associate Director of Research and Policy and Janiel Santos, Research Analyst.  

According to the report of the national Postsecondary Value Commission, students experience postsecondary value when provided equitable access and support to complete quality, affordable credentials that offer economic mobility and prepare them to advance racial and economic justice in our society. There were three key takeaways shared by the presenters: 1) The equitable value movement is about fulfilling higher education’s promise; 2) Everyone has a critical role to play in delivering equitable postsecondary value; and 3) The equitable value movement is leading to tangible shifts in programs and policies. Postsecondary Equity Network (PEN) partners can access the recording and materials in the PEN Portal. 

AAC&U Announces 16 Institutions Hosting New Truth, Racial Healing & Transformation (TRHT) Campus Centers

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MOCAN was announced as one of 16 partners accepted as part of the Truth, Racial Healing, and Transformation Campus Centers through the American Association of Colleges & Universities (AAC & U). We are the only non-institutional partner in this diverse and dynamic network of institutions working to address the historical and contemporary effects of racism in higher education by dismantling the false belief in a hierarchy of human values!

The institutions that were invited to join the TRHT Campus Centers network for Spring 2022 are:

  • Baldwin Wallace University (OH)
  • Benedictine University (IL)
  • Franklin & Marshall College (PA)
  • Hollins University (VA)
  • Kansas State University (KS)
  • Missouri College & Career Attainment Network (MO)
  • Mount Holyoke College (MA)
  • North Hennepin Community College (MN)
  • Northeastern Illinois University (IL)
  • Sewanee: The University of the South (TN)
  • State University of New York Oswego (NY)
  • Trinity University (TX)
  • University of Connecticut (CT)
  • University of Mount Union (OH)
  • University of St. Thomas (MN)
  • Georgia Highlands College (GA)

“We’re thrilled to partner with this new cohort of host institutions,” said AAC&U President Lynn Pasquerella, “and we look forward to supporting their vital efforts to promote racial equity and healing on their campuses, in their communities, and through the fast-growing network of TRHT Campus Centers around the country.”

Beginning with the inaugural cohort of TRHT Campus Centers at 10 AAC&U member institutions in 2017, the TRHT Campus Centers effort has grown into a dynamic and diverse network of host institutions, including community colleges, liberal arts colleges, HBCUs, minority-serving institutions, faith-based institutions, and large research universities. The new centers announced today bring the total number of TRHT Campus Centers to 71, continuing momentum toward AAC&U’s goal of establishing at least 150 self-sustaining, community-integrated TRHT Campus Centers at higher education institutions nationwide.

“As the network of TRHT Campus Centers expands, we remain humbled and dedicated to achieving our shared goals with our institutional partners. Doing the work of truth, racial healing, and transformation has been and continues to be, a great challenge and a privilege,” said Tia McNair, AAC&U Vice President for Diversity, Equity, and Student Success and Executive Director for the TRHT Campus Centers.

TRHT Campus Centers play a vital role in the national TRHT effort to address historical and contemporary effects of racism by building sustainable capacity to promote deep, transformational change. With the shared goal of preparing the next generation of leaders and thinkers to build equitable and just communities by dismantling the false belief in a hierarchy of human value, each campus center uses the TRHT framework to implement its own visionary action plan for creating new narratives about race in their communities and promoting racial healing and relationship building through campus-community engagement.

At the annual AAC&U Institute on Truth, Racial Healing & Transformation Campus Centers, teams from institutions interested in hosting a TRHT Campus Center and teams from existing host institutions work with the guidance of mentors to develop action plans that support their visions of what their campuses and communities will look, feel, and be like when there is no longer a false belief in a hierarchy of human value. Held each June, the TRHT Institute is central to building the capacity of new and existing centers to further the vision of the national TRHT movement. Applications for the next TRHT Institute will open in winter 2023.

To learn more, visit www.aacu.org.