Building on a distinguished 110-year history of connecting students to college success and opportunity, The College Board has announced the creation of the College Board Advocacy & Policy Center. Designed to help transform education in America and increase the number of students who earn a college degree, the center will make critical connections between policy, research and real-world practice to develop innovative solutions to the most pressing challenges in education today. The College Board Advocacy & Policy Center will focus on issues related to college preparation and access, affordability and financial aid, and admission and completion.
Youlonda Copeland-Morgan, associate vice president for enrollment management at Syracuse University, has been selected to serve as vice chair of the center’s advisory committee to help shape the agenda and develop sustainable long term priorities that will have a substantial positive impact on the direction of education in the United States.
“I am excited about the opening of The College Board’s Advocacy and Policy Center,” says Copeland-Morgan. “Once again, as a nation, we must respond to the critical need for greater investments in education. That investment cannot simply be monetary, but it must be an investment of ideas, talent, commitment and will to solve the most pressing issues in education and to improve educational outcomes for all students. The center will provide fertile ground to seed such an investment.”
In 2008, Copeland-Morgan was elected to serve a two-year term as chair of The College Board’s board of trustees, responsible for leading the trustees in their responsibilities to assist in legal and fiduciary decisions; approve the mission, strategic goals and objectives; establish policies; and advise those responsible for the management of the organization.
In a distinguished career that spans 30 years, Copeland-Morgan has held numerous leadership positions in student financial aid and admission. She has received several honors for her commitment to sound enrollment management and financial aid policy that affects access, equity and minority participation in higher education, including being named to the College Board’s College Scholarship Service Hall of Fame.
Copeland-Morgan has served as chair of the Financial Aid Standards Advisory Committee of The College Board, and chair of the CSS Council. She has been a trustee of The College Board for the past four years. She also sits on the Gates Millennium Advisory Council.
Prior to joining SU in April 2008, Copeland-Morgan was vice president of admission and financial aid at Harvey Mudd College.
Drawing from the experience of The College Board’s active membership, which consists of education professionals from more than 5,700 institutions, the Advocacy & Policy Center will work to ensure students from all backgrounds have the opportunity to succeed in and graduate from college, with a special focus on underserved populations–especially low-income students, students of color and first-generation college students.
“Education is the foundation for achieving a better quality of life, economic prosperity and greater opportunity,” says College Board President and former West Virginia Gov. Gaston Caperton. “Now more than ever, practical, research-based solutions are needed to improve our education system and enable millions more students to graduate from college prepared for 21st-century success. The College Board Advocacy & Policy Center is dedicated to helping fill that need.”
The Advocacy & Policy Center, with support from The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, recognizes that too many students are falling through the cracks as they move along the preschool to post-secondary education pipeline. According to the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), the United States is one of the very few countries where younger adults are less educated than older adults. In fact, for younger adults between the ages of 25 and 34, the United States ranks only 10th in the world in the proportion of the population that has completed either a two- or four-year degree. Immediate action is required to reverse this fall from the top ranks of countries with a college-educated workforce.
“In today’s global economy, it isn’t just an education but a college education that is necessary to compete and succeed,” says William “Brit” Kirwan, chair of the Advocacy & Policy Center Advisory Committee and chancellor of the University System of Maryland. “The effect of diminished access has a devastating impact on the lives of individuals seeking advancement through education and on our collective hopes for advancing our society’s interests and welfare. The College Board Advocacy & Policy Center is dedicated to developing innovative approaches and solutions to the most pressing issues facing education today.”
The College Board will rely on the Advocacy & Policy Center Advisory Committee of distinguished and engaged scholars, educators, policymakers and business leaders from around the nation to further the vision of the center. From Charlie Reed in California, chancellor of The California State University, and Raj Vinnakota, co-founder and managing director of The Seed Foundation in Washington, D.C., to Eduardo Padrón, president of Miami Dade College in Florida and Copeland-Morgan, the center’s advisory committee will help shape the agenda and develop sustainable long-term priorities that will have a substantial positive impact on the direction of education in the United States.
To learn more about The College Board Advocacy & Policy Center, visit http://advocacy.collegeboard.org.
