American Institutes for Research’s Post

AZ network: Consider supporting the Brophy Community Foundation when filing your AZ taxes! Tax day is approaching :)

In reading of this I'm recalling my late-century university leadership as it relates here. It was generally enough to have a minority in a senior administration role to establish some credibility in countering bias efforts in faculty and staff hiring in 1990. Through about 1980 stateside predominantly white higher educational institutions public and private had not chosen us to lead. In even making the appointment a board was in effect saying: "Look how we're leading on diversity. Our Associate Provost is a black man [or our graduate school has a minority Associate Dean.]" And in truth that board probably was unless they hired a minority "blocker" intended to thwart the AA law However I long saw others somehow overlooked or kept out: lady Associate and full Professors and certainly Asian American scholars at state universities. 😐 Boards knew that if Ron Scott from Harvard University was brought in to consult as Acting president he would lead recruitment teams to San Francisco, Seattle, Hawaii, Brazil, Peru, the Asia Pacific and Europe. 😁 I encouraged top scholars and highly promising ones to take another look at several T15 and T60 institutions. My teams established a trend at United States private collleges and universities. I was unable to accept all requests however. Though the 1990s and with the rise of need meeting financial aid enrollment became more a blending of classes with more and more Asian American and lady faculty and then students. The Air Force Academy takes a different view of Affirmative Action. One's life experience can be considered. The idea isn't simply to favor black and Latino/Hispanic candidates for admission. Much has changed since I was active leading universities. I thought I should share the information presented below. Adm.(Ret.) Ron Scott KBE SOCOM, JCS US UK Joint Services Acting Superintendent, Air Force Academy From the story below: "The Air Force’s definition of diversity includes race, ethnicity, gender, personal life experience, cultural knowledge, prior education, work experience and “spiritual perspectives,” department guidance states." Read "EXCLUSIVE: Air Force Academy Privately Fretted The End Of Race-Based Admissions Would Hamstring ‘Diversity’ Goals" on SmartNews:

This government has been deemed one of the most unpopular in decades, and it's no surprise why. Excessive spending on undisclosed projects has left many concerned. After three terms in power, this is not the example of conservative England we expected. It's time for transparency and a government that listens to the people. Let's prioritize the fundamentals like schools, apprenticeships, and green energy. #Transparency #GovernmentAccountability #PrioritizeThePeople

“Distinct interests that military academies may present,” said SCOTUS regarding race-based decisions in the military academy admissions process. Note that the military academies DID NOT request to be omitted by the ruling, but were not part of the ruling by the conservative majority because, as the Department of Defense cited, “Army diversity is integral to ensuring national security." Of course, the ruling was challenged against both the United States Military Academy at West Point, my alma mater, and the Naval Academy by the same group suing all things diversity, and last week, the challenge was rejected. I have heard people say that ‘for a system to be unbiased, it must objectively select the best.’  Well, what does best mean? The person with the highest grades? Fastest 2-mile? Best obstacle course time? From my experience, I can tell you that the best people I served with didn’t always correlate with the highest SAT scores. Is it possible to look at the programs themselves, #AffirmativeAction, #DEI, #ESG, and ask, how do we harness the value of diversity to ‘ensure national security’ instead of trying to act like it doesn’t exist? If you are interested in the socioeconomic impact of diversity or curious about the data on such topics, follow Equity Quotient as we start to share more case studies starting in healthcare, and expanding from there.

I used to mistakenly tell my students that I wanted our classroom to be a “safe space” where we could all feel comfortable being a little vulnerable and openly have difficult conversations. I argued, if we couldn’t do this at the Air Force Senior Non-Commissioned Officer Academy (AFSNCOA), where could we do it? However, I came to realize that what I actually wanted/needed was to create a “brave space.” In the realm of adult learning, a safe space forms the foundation, fostering trust and psychological safety, allowing individuals to share openly without fear of judgment. However, a brave space pushes adult learners beyond their comfort zones, encouraging them to engage in uncomfortable conversations that may challenge their perspectives. Navigating our misunderstandings, disagreements, assumptions, frustrations, friction or even conflict, is what bears the seed for generative solutions—solutions we desperately need. As the new students of Class 24C walk into Flight 2 and enter this brave space, they must accept a level of discomfort when discussing personal perspectives and experiences knowing they are safe to do so because a classroom culture of respect and civility. Fostering this type of dynamic learning environment for today’s Senior Non-commissioned Officer prepares them for the challenges they face as tomorrow’s Senior Enlisted Leader. ✈️💪🏻 #comfortablebeinguncomfortable #personalgrowth #challengeyourself #selfawareness

One of the glaring mistakes over the last thirty years in education ( and I well remember the angst of the Reagan era national report on our continued education crisis when I was a young assistant professor at Columbia University’s Teachers College) has been the false promises made to all students that they must get college degrees and become impoverished by steadily increasing tuition with no substantive guarantees of actual jobs with commensurate compensation to be able to pay off increasingly unaffordable college loan debts. Clearly the lack of skilled vocational training is not just a forgotten aspect of post high school education choices but besides being more profitable for students, and less expensive for them, who are not really interested in various esoteric academic majors, but also has a clear national security component and consequence! The following report seems to make that point.

This makes sense. If the #builtworld will/must adapt to #climate impacts to be resilient, then the law will have to keep up. And it isn’t / hasn’t. Thoughtful article here from Mark Nevitt of Emory University School of Law in the Stanford Law Review. We need more thinking like this to inform meaningful adaptation. #resilience #adaptation #realestate #law

Proud moment alert! APSU's Military and Veteran Affairs Division is in the spotlight, thanks to Higheredmilitary's feature article. Learn how we're enhancing support for our 2,700 military-affiliated students by unifying services under one division. Read the full story https://bit.ly/49Swl2V #MilitaryAffiliatedProfessionalsProgram, #APSUmvaMAPP, #APSUMVA, #APSU, #PuttingYouOnTheMAPP

https://lnkd.in/esWNzhm3 At the second this video goes to, a comparison between civilian and military aerospace sectors attitudes to 'get job done' vs 'follow the rules' on safety.

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