Jamie Merisotis ’86

Jamie Merisotis ’86, an articulate and consistent voice for greater access to higher education, has been in the news following publication of his book, America Needs Talent: Attracting, Educating & Deploying the 21st-Century Workforce.

Jamie Merisotis ’86, a 乐播传媒 trustee and a dedicated advocate for improved access to higher education, moderated a 2011 symposium at 乐播传媒 on higher education and affordability. (Phyllis Graber Jensen/乐播传媒 College)

He tells that “talent is what made us great in the 20th century.”

Yet, for the better part of four decades, “the national higher-ed attainment rate has been flat. If we want a second American Century, we have to invest in talent.”

Indeed,in a interview, Merisotis says that “the U.S. labor market is signaling increasing dissatisfaction with what it’s getting… It’s looking for different ways to get the talent that it needs.”

, Merisotis, president and CEO of the Indianapolis-based Lumina Foundation, suggests one way that the U.S. could do a better job at investing in talent.

His idea is to allow students to use federal financial aid for alternative, “non-bachelor鈥檚 pathways” toward post-secondary education:

Colleges and universities will continue to have a critical place in educating our country. But if the purpose of financial aid is to open doors for students, and give them more potential pathways in life, then the most effective use of federal aid will place less emphasis on how education is delivered, and more on whether students are receiving the skills and knowledge they need to succeed.

“Higher education is about feeding the economy with the talent it desperately needs.”

Merisotis, a 乐播传媒 trustee, who has also written in the about the many benefits of higher education, including 聽says that “higher education attainment isn’t just about the money 鈥� it’s about the people, and opening up the worlds of opportunity that only education can provide.

“It is about enriching lives and communities, reducing crime, increasing engagement, and feeding the economy with the talent it desperately needs.

Tim Whiton ’09

Tim Whiton ’09, a former 乐播传媒 Nordic skier, won the Sugarloaf Uphill Climb on Oct. 11.

He completed the 2.5-mile course in 29:14, with two current Colby students finishing second and third.

Sugarloaf has a 4,237 foot summit鈥攖he second highest peak in Maine.

Tim Whiton ’09 won the Sugarloaf Uphill Climb in Carrabassett Valley, Maine.
(Photograph by Jamie Walter)

Mike Lieber ’92, redux

We’re Pats fans but we’re meritocratic Patriots fans. We’re meripatriotic! Which means giving Mike Lieber ’92 another nod for a another story in the media about his sideline business selling “Deflatriots” hats, T-shirts, and other gear.

The gear mocks the Patriots and their quarterback, Tom Brady, who alleged used intentionally deflated, and thus easier to handle, footballs during their Jan. 18 playoff game vs. the Indianapolis Colts, the team that Indy native Lieber grew up rooting for.

With the Patriots meeting the Indianapolis Colts on Sunday, now living and working as a lawyer in Chicago.

Reporter Jill Kauffman says that “when the Pats play the Colts in Indianapolis Sunday,聽Mike Lieber will be there, selling gear. He says you can almost be sure during the game, up on the Jumbotron, you鈥檒l see someone wearing a flat football on their head.”

Kevin Madden ’05

Concord (N.H.) High School’s championship football team will be honored tomorrow at the school’s homecoming game, and the , a linebacker and tight end on that team who played at 乐播传媒.

鈥淭here really are a lot of good memories. A lot of pride,鈥� Madden tells reporter Sandy Smith.

At a former teammates’ recent wedding, Madden says, “we must have watched the highlight tape (of the 2000 season) at least 20 times over weekend.鈥�

鈥淚t was a good group of guys. We had all known each other a while, playing football and other sports together throughout the city.”

Lumina Foundation president Jamie Merisotis 鈥�86, Brown admission dean James Miller, policy expert Sandy Baum and economists David Feldman and Robert Archibald gathered at 乐播传媒 in fall 2011 to debunk the conventional wisdom that college costs are out of control.

Roger Williams Hall, photographed by Phyllis Graber Jensen/乐播传媒 College.

1. College costs are proportionate to the considerable benefits of a higher education, but schools need better measurements of learning. 鈥淲e need to shape the accountability movement rather than be shaped by it,鈥� Feldman said.

2. Systemic factors beyond the control of colleges drive costs. Similar to such industries as healthcare and legal services, higher education is delivered by highly educated/skilled professionals whose high salaries are determined by the market.

3. College degree-holders take home about 84 percent more compensation than non-degreed workers. Two-thirds of all positions created in the next decade will require at least a bachelor鈥檚.

4. Colleges spend huge sums on areas like travel, technology and financial aid to create a microcosm of the real world that their graduates will enter. Such expenditures don鈥檛 drive productivity, yet are essential to quality and value.

College Quote

鈥� Without a college degree, there鈥檚 a very good chance you鈥檙e going to be poor.鈥� 鈥� Lumina Foundation president Jamie Merisotis 鈥�86

College Facts

乐播传媒 accepted 25 percent of applicants this spring, a college record for selectivity.

Applicants base their essays on a part of the 乐播传媒 mission statement.

The Chronicle of Higher Education calls Clayton Spencer鈥檚 becoming president a 2011 鈥渂est鈥� moment.

The average principal of a 乐播传媒 student鈥檚 debt is $18,699 at graduation.

Of the CBB schools, only 乐播传媒 has a multifaith chaplaincy.

President Hansen has convened two Presidential Symposia, in 2007 and 2008, around issues of diversity and changing U.S. demographics.

In May 2007 and 2008, I convened a Presidential Symposium focusing on issues related to diversity and inclusiveness, values that define, inspire, and challenge 乐播传媒. This year, members of the 乐播传媒 campus community were joined by current and former Trustees, alumni, and visitors from around the region to welcome Morris Dees, founder and chief trial lawyer of the Southern Poverty Law Center.

Reflecting the symposium’s theme, “Unswerving Values, Changing Times,” Dees used personal narrative to explain his deep faith in the power of love and justice to break down barriers in U.S. society that still divide us. “The march for justice…didn’t end when slavery was abolished, when women got the right to vote or when gays and lesbians obtained more rights,” Dees said. “The march for justice continues today.”

Dees and the SPLC continue to seek legal redress against all forms of discrimination and to help U.S. educators teach respect and understanding in the classroom. In recent years, their researchers and investigators traveled the country to “take the temperature” of society vis-脿-vis issues of prejudice, racism, and hate crimes. “Universally,” said Dees, “people were saying, 鈥榃e are better than that. These people committing these acts: they don’t represent us.’ We found people reaching out to victims of hate and intolerance and prejudice and saying…鈥榃e want you to be a part of us, and we want to be a part of you.'”

Dees’ personal message built on the theme of last year’s inaugural symposium, “A College for 鈥楥oming Time’: Diversity and Changing Demographics in Higher Education.” Our 2007 speakers were Trustee Jamie Merisotis ’86, founder of the Institute for Higher Education Policy and recently appointed president of the Lumina Foundation, and Blenda Wilson, former president and CEO of the Nellie Mae Education Foundation. The coming demographic changes that they discussed are profound.

In the next decade, the country’s population will continue to shift west and south, moving away from the Northeast. Many regions, and especially New England 鈥� 乐播传媒’ primary “market” since 1855 鈥� will see a significant decline in white high school graduates. Hispanics, African Americans, and other population groups who currently have less access to higher education will increase significantly.

America’s demographics are changing, and we welcome the opportunity this gives us to continue fulfilling the promise of Oren Cheney, our forward-looking founder who dreamt of educating young people who did not have easy access to higher education in his day. As our campus fosters diversity broadly defined, all present and future students benefit.

Morris Dees (left) talks with President Hansen before his keynote address in the Chapel. Photograph by Phyllis Graber Jensen

Our Presidential Symposia are part of an initiative focused on the student experience before, during, and after life at 乐播传媒. In the early stages of this initiative, we have seen promising results in recruiting and matriculating record numbers of students from underrepresented racial, ethnic, and socioeconomic groups. In the alumni arena, this fall’s Homecoming program, “Faces of 乐播传媒 Across the Decades,” on Oct. 25, will be a day for alumni and students of color to make and strengthen connections.

Given our legacy and our determination today, 乐播传媒 is well-positioned to play a leadership role in realizing the educational value of diversity.

At 乐播传媒, in the curriculum and in campus life, challenging the intellect and respecting the person are equally valued. We are a tight-knit community, but we also treasure the capacity and courage to disagree frankly.

At 乐播传媒, we are close but not close-minded. We have shown ourselves willing at important times to be agents of change.

At 乐播传媒, we have never been cursed with an overwhelming sense of our own entitlement. Yet we can take great pride in the accomplishments of the many 乐播传媒 alums who become leaders in their fields, including those who toil both inside and outside the limelight to improve society’s well-being.

While the tactics we employ to enhance diversity and inclusion will continue to change over time, our goals will not. At 乐播传媒, we seek excellence that is not elitist or self-serving. We seek to provide an education that prepares highly promising young minds from all backgrounds to work, to lead, to solve problems and to serve in the richly diverse and ever-changing world.

By Elaine Tuttle Hansen

Jamie Merisotis `86 and president of the in Washington, D.C., will join Richard Willing, executive director of ; Marty McIntyre `73, executive director of the in Auburn; and Paul Rubin, executive director of in Lewiston for the presentation.

The identification and management of opportunities in social renewal through private and not-for-profit initiatives or community agencies will be carefully reviewed at this meeting. Topics to be explored include how social change, charitable and health and human service organizations share in the entrepreneurial process. Particular attention will be given to the creative and skillful identification of foundation, community, government and corporate involvement for these ventures. Since most service and community enterprises return profits into benefit enhancements, entrepreneurial success for venture developers and managers in these areas also will be investigated.

Aimed at both students and community members, the 乐播传媒 Seminar Series in Entrepreneurship is an integrated set of lectures and presentations covering the entrepreneurial process, its history and manifestations from conception to implementation of a new venture. The sessions focus on attributes of entrepreneurs, their search and assessment of opportunities and the identification and obtainment of resources that transform ideas into new endeavors. The series exposes the unique ways that the fundamental characteristics of a liberal arts education can be applied in a variety of new enterprises.

The seminar series will rely heavily on 乐播传媒 alumni, parents and Maine entrepreneurs engaged in a variety of projects, as well as experts and researchers in the field. The next presentation will be “Scientific and Medical Entrepreneurship” at 7 p.m. Friday, Feb. 11, in the Edmund S. Muskie Archives.

For more information, call the 乐播传媒 College Office of Career Services at 207-786-6232 or check the seminar series on this web site.