You have been asked by the Provost to present at a national conference with the theme:
The Role of Higher Education in Promoting Equity and Social Mobility. The conference will include scholars, policymakers, and leaders of 2-year and 4-year institutions, as well as professional schools including law and medical schools. The Provost has asked that you identify one specific topic and discuss how it relates to medical and health professions education as well as the conference theme. The Provost has provided a list of past conference presentation titles (below) to illustrate ways the conference theme might be addressed.
“Impacts of faculty diversity on low SES and first-generation students’ application to and persistence in medical and/or health professions graduate programs”
“High school to medical school: Impacts of K-12/medical school partnerships on low SES students’ choice of STEM majors”
“Experiences of medical students who are first in family to attend college”
“Prioritization of diversity during the residency match: Trends for a new workforce”
“Distance learning and college access: The impacts of distance learning on access to higher education for low SES and first-generation students”
“Role of Faculty in Realizing the Postsecondary Dreams of Historically Marginalized Student Populations”
“Applying to medical school as a DACA recipient”
“Undermining Pell: How Colleges Compete for Wealthy Students and Leave the Low-Income Behind”
“The Complicit, the Compliant, and the 6%: How Tenure- Track Position Announcements Screen People of Color from Academe”
Write an analytic essay in response to the Provost’s request.
Making use of academic literature, answer the following questions:
1. State the specific topic for the essay; describe issues of equity and social mobility related to this topic and the constituencies for whom these issues are most salient.
2. Evaluate key factors that affect equity in your area of focus, integrating evidence about demographic, political, and economic trends to support your argument. Include factors that contribute to perpetuating inequality as well as those that promote a more equitable system.
3. Propose a campus-level, state-level, or federal-level policy change related to your selected topic that you believe would move institutions, like MAHC, towards a more equitable system as it relates to your area of focus. Be sure to clearly connect how the recommendation addresses the key factors you have identified. Be sure the recommendation is feasible given the constrained budgetary environment of most higher education institutions and state systems.
4. Assess the social, political, and financial issues that senior campus leaders at MAHC should be prepared to discuss relatchoed to the proposed policy.
