TUSCALOOSA, Ala. – One of the country’s most visible proponents of improving college access will discuss America’s College Promise, a nonpartisan initiative to fund two years of community college, in a lecture at The University of Alabama on Tuesday, May 23.
Dr. Martha J. Kanter, a former community college president and chancellor, is executive director of America’s College Promise, an initiative started by President Barack Obama’s administration in 2015. More than 200 College Promise programs have been started in communities and states.
Kanter will discuss what works and why in College Promise programs and the possibility of creating such programs in the Deep South.
The discussion will begin at 10 a.m. in the Rast Room of Bryant Conference Center and is free and open to the public.
America’s College Promise is a commitment to fund a college education for every eligible student, advancing on the path to earn a degree, a certificate, or credits that transfer to a four-year university, starting in community colleges.
Kanter was undersecretary of postsecondary education in President Obama’s administration from 2009 to 2013, when the total number of Pell Grant recipients rose from 6 million to 9 million nationwide.
America’s College Promise is chaired by former second lady Dr. Jill Biden and former Wyoming Gov. Jim Geringer.
Kanter’s talk is sponsored by UA’s Education Policy Center, Division of Academic Affairs, Blackburn Institute, department of political science, higher education administration program, Carl Elliott Honor Society, Center for Social & Ethnical Responsibility and the John C. Stennis Institute of Government at Mississippi State University.
Contact
David Miller, UA Media Relations, 205/348-0825, david.c.miller@ua.edu
Source
Dr. Stephen G. Katsinas, director, UA Education Policy Center, 205/348-6005, katsinas@ua.edu