News and views in higher education attainment from Lumina Foundation

Featured Story

Human Work and Learning

The College Problem In America Is About More Than Cost

We’ve gotten used to the warning signs about higher education—the flashing dashboard lights, as it were, of falling enrollment, rising costs, battered budgets, and rattled public confidence.

Jamie MerisotisMarch 20, 2023

Robot hand typing on a laptop.

Human Work and Learning

In the age of artificial intelligence, we need our human skills to keep it real

The rapid rise of ChatGPT has spawned equal proportions of hype, horror, and hope about the potential of artificial intelligence.

Jamie Merisotis March 6, 2023

Edgar Lopez holding his niece. He is smiling. She is adorable.

Community Colleges

College student parents reshape higher education spaces

When my younger sister, Norma, got pregnant during the last year of her undergraduate studies, I was worried about her education and future.

March 1, 2023

Featured Podcast

State Policy

State and Federal Policy Round Up

Dakota PawlickiFeb. 28, 2023

Chris Mullin

FILTERED BY AUTHOR:

Chris Mullin

Christopher (Chris) Mullin, Ph.D, is strategy director of data and measurement for Lumina Foundation, an independent, private foundation in Indianapolis that is committed to making opportunities for learning beyond high school available to all. Previously, he served as director of Strong Start to Finish at Education Commission of the States, executive vice chancellor of the […]

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Federal Policy

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

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.

Chris MullinApril 21, 2022

Student Supports

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

Well-intentioned efforts to help 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?”

Chris MullinMarch 1, 2022

Adult Pathways

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

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 considering…

Chris MullinDec. 16, 2021

Human Work and Learning

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

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.

Chris MullinNov. 15, 2021

Human Work and Learning

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

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.

Chris MullinSept. 8, 2021

Competency-Based Learning

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

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.

Chris MullinJuly 22, 2021

Student Supports

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

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 children do well and graduate.

Chris MullinJuly 19, 2021

Student Supports

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

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 Hoosiers.

Chris MullinJune 22, 2021

Racial Justice and Equity

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

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’ home were more…

Chris MullinApril 29, 2021

Today's Credentials

It’s time to give noncredit coursework more respect.

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.

Chris MullinMarch 11, 2021