Work Shift

Jun 13, 2024 | workshift.opencampusmedia.org | Elyse Ashburn |byElisa Villanueva Beard |Michael Crow |byElyse Ashburn

As the NSF invests big in high-tech business clusters and workforces outside of superstar cities, it’s looking to build up adjacent skills so locals don’t have to wait for new jobs. Also, a New York-based nonprofit uses AI tools as a jumping off point to help students build real-life networks. The U.S. National Science Foundation is known for launching the careers of Nobel Prize Winners and science rockstars.

Jun 12, 2024 | workshift.opencampusmedia.org | Colleen Connolly |byElisa Villanueva Beard |Michael Crow |byColleen Connolly

For decades, education reform focused on getting more students from disadvantaged backgrounds into college, and then on actually getting them through. More recently though, there’s been a growing recognition that even graduating may not be enough to land an upwardly-mobile job. And a key stumbling block is poor social capital—the networks of people who can expose students to a wide range of careers and help connect them to opportunities. Sheila Sarem’s career has followed this arc of understanding.

Jun 10, 2024 | workshift.opencampusmedia.org | Paul Fain |byElisa Villanueva Beard |Michael Crow |byPaul Fain

High school students now account for half the enrollment at many community colleges, but state dollars often don’t follow the students to campus. Also, young people are more positive about AI’s use in school and work, and an essay on why business leaders should view Gen Z as models for change. The booming dual enrollment of high school students in community college has been a lifeline for the sector’s student numbers, which tanked during the pandemic.

Jun 5, 2024 | workshift.opencampusmedia.org | Elisa Villanueva Beard |Michael Crow |byElisa Villanueva Beard

As graduation season wraps up, a sea change is about to take place: Gen Z is expected to overtake Boomers in the workforce this year. Seemingly every week, a new research study, survey, or book comes out dissecting Gen Z and offering plenty of critiques. We aren’t research experts on generations, but we are the president of a leading 21st century university and the leader of an organization that recruits and develops young people to take on our education system’s inequities.

May 30, 2024 | workshift.opencampusmedia.org | Paul Fain |byPaul Fain

North Carolina community colleges lure former students back with a pitch of “better skills, better jobs” and an open mind about short-term credentials. Also, wages grow for workers without four-year degrees, although community college credentials are misaligned with the labor market. Enrollment growth at community colleges is leading a post-pandemic recovery, fueled chiefly by the dual enrollment of high school students. But older students also are enrolling in community college in greater numbers.