By Jeff Murphy,
November 17, 2015
WARRENSBURG, MO – The Lumina Foundation, a not-for-profit organization committed to
increasing the number of United States citizens who have college degrees, has invited
Charles Ambrose, president of the University of Central Missouri, to serve as a speaker/panelist
at the organization’s upcoming convening, Wednesday-Thursday, Nov. 18-19 in Indianapolis,
Ind.
Titled, “Symposium on 10 Years to Goal 2025,” the event focuses on the national goal
to increase the proportion of Americans with high-quality degrees, certificates and
other credentials to 60 percent by 2025. According to the Lumina Foundation, the organization
is pursuing the goal with a renewed sense of urgency and focus as its membership seeks
to align their efforts with all those committed to dramatically increasing postsecondary
attainment.
The symposium is an invitational event involving participants representing the various
key stakeholders in efforts to increase attainment. Objectives for the event are to
understand the progress the nation has made in reaching Goal 2025 and the current
educational, economic and social context for increasing attainment; explore issues
that must be addressed to reach Goal 2025 based on what has been learned to date about
increasing attainment; and focus on collective efforts necessary now to build momentum
to reaching Goal 2025.
Plenary sessions will address the three objectives. President Ambrose will participate
on the third panel Nov. 19, which is titled, “Are we thinking and acting big enough
to reach Goal 2025?” The session will be moderated by Holiday Hart McKiernan, chief
of staff and general counsel for the Lumina Foundation.
As a leader at UCM, Ambrose has been instrumental in helping the university to play
an active role in achieving the “60 percent by 2025” goal for college degree attainment,
which also happens to be a state goal, issued by Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon. While contributing
to this goal, UCM continues to increase its graduation numbers. A total of 3,511 academic
degrees were awarded in 2014-2015, up 22 percent from 2,741 the previous year.
Under the president’s leadership, UCM has strived to be a state leader in keeping
college costs down while also implementing initiatives to help move students across
the degree completion finish line faster. The Learning to a Greater Degree student
contract for completion, for example, helps students stay on track to graduate in
four years, by asking students to take at least 15 hours of the right courses per
semester, meet regularly with their academic advisors, live on campus their first
two years as undergraduates, and show up for class.
To achieve Goal 2025, Lumina Foundation is taking an outcomes-bases approach that
focuses on helping to design and build an accessible, responsive and accountable higher
education system while encouraging education stakeholders to move rapidly to help
achieve this important milestone.
