SOE’s Vincent Tinto appointed to Lumina Foundation’s Research Advisory Committee

SOE’s Vincent Tinto appointed to Lumina Foundation’s Research Advisory CommitteeAugust 22, 2006Patrick Farrellpmfarrel@syr.edu

Syracuse University School of Education professor Vincent Tinto has been named to the Lumina Foundation’s newly formed Research Advisory Committee (RAC). The new committee is charged with assisting the foundation in using research to improve policy and practice in higher education. The Lumina Foundation for Education, based in Indianapolis, is a private, independent foundation focused on helping people achieve their potential by expanding access and success in education beyond high school.

The advisory group, composed of 12 national higher education experts, will help inform the foundation’s research agenda, identify established and emerging researchers and disseminate the findings to policymakers and practitioners in the field.

“Lumina Foundation places a high value on research as a key strategy in its mission of improving student access and success in postsecondary education,” states Martha D. Lamkin, president and CEO of Lumina. “These individuals bring a wealth of knowledge and resources that will help us support change and improvement for students in the educational system.”

“Vince Tinto’s research on learning communities and other strategies for fostering academic success is already influential internationally,” says School of Education Dean Douglas Biklen. “Through his research, he has been able to pinpoint the kinds of things colleges and universities can to do maximize the chance that students, including recent immigrants to the U.S. as well as other students who may have not had privileged educational backgrounds, to achieve.”

Tinto, Distinguished University Professor in the School of Education, is one of only 15 nationally-prominent researchers named to the RAC. Each member of the committee has agreed to serve a two-year term.

RAC’s research agenda will focus on such key issues as college costs; access and success in community colleges; emerging underserved student populations; and definitions of higher education success. The committee will work closely with the foundation’s research staff, led by senior research director Dewayne Matthews.

The Lumina Foundation addresses issues that affect access and educational attainment among all students, particularly underserved student groups, through grants for research, innovation, communication and evaluation, as well as policy education and leadership development. The foundation bases its mission on the belief that postsecondary education remains one of the most beneficial investments that individuals can make in themselves and that society can make in its people.

Established in 1906, Syracuse University’s School of Education is a national leader in improving and informing educational practice for diverse communities. The school is committed to the principle that diverse learning communities create the conditions that both enrich the educational experience and provide opportunities for all to realize their full potential. A pioneer in the inclusion movement in the United States, the School of Education is dedicated to finding new ways to make it possible for all learners to participate fully in mainstream classrooms and other inclusive learning environments.