Chris Mullin

Chris Mullin

Strategy Director

More about Chris
1 of 15

I dug deep into the history of this country’s credentialling frenzy and resurfaced with six ways we can reduce the chaos

Chris Mullin  | 
Believe it or not, there were more than 144 local time zones in the United States before 1883. This made it difficult for railroads to schedule and coordinate routes, resulting in train collisions. So, the country adopted standard time zones to end the confusion.
2 of 15

I was nearly a college dropout. Here’s how you can help students like me.

Chris Mullin  | 
Perhaps, like you, I doubted if college was worth it. In my first semester at the University of Florida, I spent a day weighing my options to drop out or stay enrolled. Why? Because I couldn’t sit through one more long, tedious class lecture. I had enough of being talked at.
3 of 15

What does the future of learning look like? Faculty and students weigh in on new tech tools.

Chris Mullin  | 
My whole life I’ve been curious about exoskeletons. As a child, I dreamed about building one for humans. Well, while Sarcos beat me to the punch with its wearable robotics, it hasn’t quashed my fascination with how humans and technology form a symbiotic relationship.
4 of 15

It’s time to align college and training data to help all learners

Chris Mullin  | 
Built along interstates to increase access, nestled within office buildings for convenience or in a field to connect with nature’s laboratory, it’s all too easy to pass by classrooms for the mechanical and agricultural arts without realizing the opportunities they offer.
5 of 15

How federal workforce programs can leave some students without credentials

Chris Mullin  | 
Federal law merely suggests that training providers confer a credential, but they are not required to do so, denying some participants an economic edge.
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6 of 15

Time to weigh in: IPEDS could restrict the race and ethnicity reporting of undocumented students

Chris Mullin  | 
Freedom gives us, as Americans, the power to choose. It makes our form of government unique in several practical ways. One is the opportunity to create and own our own identity, a practice praised by rugged individualists and inclusivity activists alike.
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7 of 15

The question we should be asking: “What don’t you want to major in?”

Chris Mullin  | 
Efforts to help high school students choose a college major actually make things worse for most students—especially the most valuable among them. It all starts with the probing, anxiety-inducing question, “What are you going to major in?” Most students just defer to a major they have heard of
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8 of 15

Jobs: After grieving lost family, my mom found her calling—as a funeral service worker

Chris Mullin  | 
Empty chairs at the dining-room table this time of year remind us of loved ones no longer here. Like yours, perhaps, my family has had some experience with that loss. But in my mother’s case the grieving also led to a new career, and I sometimes think about what that might mean for others consider
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9 of 15

My dad the inventor had the bootstraps he needed to lift himself up—but not the education

Chris Mullin  | 
In a country that prides itself as the land of opportunity, we forget how close many have come to success—only to fall short for the lack of some critical ingredient.
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10 of 15

Education, job skills—and creativity: What I learned making art from molten glass

Chris Mullin  | 
Set in the lush green hills of western North Carolina is Penland School of Craft. In the summer of 1998, I found myself there, taking a course in flameworking as part of my art education degree program at the University of Florida.
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11 of 15

What I want for my kids – and yours: the education to lead and succeed

Chris Mullin  | 
Proudly, I work at Lumina Foundation. This means that I believe in and support the value proposition that all learning counts. That includes short-term credentials. 
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12 of 15

Millions of students need help navigating college; my sister — a single mom battling cancer — was one of them

Chris Mullin  | 
I don’t come from a college-educated family. My father started college at Butler University in Indianapolis only to stop, begin work, and never return. My mother started, too, but couldn’t get past college algebra. So, when it was our turn to go to college, they were determined to see their chil
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13 of 15

Focus on the value – not the vulnerability – of college students overcoming challenges

Chris Mullin  | 
Basketball is engrained in my soul. Whether it is because I was born in Indiana, or that my parents co-founded a youth basketball league in Boca Raton, Fla., the game remains in my DNA decades later. And so it is no surprise – in those familiar moments with family – that we quote the movie Ho
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14 of 15

To define “Indigenous,” start by erasing those lines on the map

Chris Mullin  | 
What is Indigenous, really? Since a young age I have had an affinity for artifacts the provide a peek into an unknown culture. Examples abound in my life. While researching an undergraduate paper, I learned that the steps that Navajo weavers took to create the Two Grey Hills tapestry in my parents
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15 of 15

It’s time to give noncredit coursework more respect.

Chris Mullin  | 
Many people have long viewed education and training that don’t count for college credit as moneymaking services that colleges and universities provide outside of their ivory walls.
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