Education category, Page 11

With Chatham University President Rhonda Phillips set to leave at the end of May, the school on Monday announced a new interim president. The Board of Trustees has appointed Lisa Lambert, provost and vice president of academic affairs, to take on the lead duties, effective June 1. Phillips is leaving...

New Kensington-Arnold Superintendent Chris Sefcheck is grateful for the unprecedented funding that was granted to Pennsylvania’s public schools this academic year. But, as education experts continue to note inadequate funding among the majority of the state’s K-12 schools, Sefcheck knows there is still a long way to go in properly...

Duquesne University has received a record number of applications for the class of 2029. More than 13,000 first-year students applied to Duquesne’s undergraduate programs, the university announced Monday. From those applicants, Duquesne expects to enroll a class of approximately 1,500 first-year students and 200 transfer students, as the pool is...

When Devon Grimsby McDonald reads books filled with varying emotions to children sitting in a circle around her, she invites them to share their feelings about what they’ve just heard. “I’ve struggled with mental health and anxiety, especially my freshman year of high school,” said Devon, now a senior at...

CONCORD, N.H. — Nineteen states that refused to comply with a Trump administration directive aimed at eliminating diversity, equity and inclusion programs in public schools went a step further Friday, filing a federal lawsuit challenging what they consider an illegal threat to cut federal funding. The lawsuit filed in Massachusetts...

SAN FRANCISCO — The federal government is reversing the termination of legal status for international students around the U.S. after many filed court challenges against the Trump administration crackdown, a government lawyer said Friday. The records in a federal student database maintained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement had been...

CONCORD, N.H. — A federal judge on Thursday blocked Trump administration directives that threatened to cut federal funding for public schools with diversity, equity and inclusion programs. The ruling came in a lawsuit brought by the National Education Association and the American Civil Liberties Union, which accused the Republican administration...

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump has ordered sharper scrutiny of America’s colleges and the accreditors that oversee them, part of his escalating campaign to end what he calls “wokeness” and diversity efforts in education. In a series of executive actions signed Wednesday, Trump targeted universities that he views as liberal...

ATLANTA — Anjan Roy was studying with friends at Missouri State University when he got an email that turned his world upside down. His legal status as an international student had been terminated, and he was suddenly at risk for deportation. “I was in literal shock, like, what the hell...

Presidents of nearly 200 U.S. colleges and universities, including a dozen in Pennsylvania, have co-signed a letter condemning what they called “unprecedented government overreach and political interference” by the federal government. Carnegie Mellon University President Farnam Jahanian was the lone co-signer from a Southwestern Pennsylvania institution. A Carnegie Mellon spokeswoman...

NEW YORK — Starting next month, the Education Department says student loans that are in default will be referred for collections. Roughly 5.3 million borrowers are in default on their federal student loans and soon could be subject to having their wages garnished. Referrals for collection had been put on...

Board members of Hempfield Area School District voted unanimously — although reluctantly in some cases — to shift the start and end times for school next year. “I think this is the better option. But I still feel bad,” school board member Diane Ciabattoni said. The start and end of...

BOSTON — Harvard University announced Monday that it was suing the Trump administration to halt a freeze on more than $2.2 billion in grants after the institution said it would defy the Trump administration’s demands to limit activism on campus. In a letter to Harvard earlier this month, the Trump...

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — Amid the abandoned chemistry notes and other debris left behind after a deadly shooting at Florida State University are lingering questions about how the stepson of a beloved sheriff’s deputy tasked with school safety at a middle school became the accused gunman. Political science student Phoenix Ikner...

WASHINGTON — Campus mentors. Move-in events. Scholarships. Diversity offices that made them feel welcome on predominantly white campuses. As U.S. colleges pull back on diversity, equity and inclusion practices, students of color say they are starting to lose all of these things and more. The full scope of campus DEI...

Spotlight PA is an independent, nonpartisan, and nonprofit newsroom producing investigative and public-service journalism that holds power to account and drives positive change in Pennsylvania. By October, the scale of the crisis was clear. State grants that thousands of students were counting on to pay for college were weeks behind...

A federal judge in Pittsburgh on Thursday reinstated — at least temporarily — two international students at Gannon University in Erie who learned this month their status as scholars had been terminated by the Trump administration. The students — who sued the U.S. attorney general, secretary of the Department of...

The government is robbing Americans of the research and treatments they deserve, a University of Pittsburgh laboratory manager said during a rally Thursday in Schenley Plaza. Diversity, equity and inclusion aren’t mere buzzwords, said an associate dean from Pitt. This was the sentiment from Pittsburgh-based professors, leaders and union members...

Upper Burrell Supervisor Ross G. Walker III hopes no news is good news. The longtime township supervisor said that, since learning of the potential closure of his township’s Penn State New Kensington campus, he has not heard anything from Penn State administration regarding the school’s future. “It could make you...

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump’s administration has escalated its ongoing battle with Harvard, threatening to revoke the university’s ability to host international students as the president called for withdrawing Harvard’s tax-exempt status. The Department of Homeland Security ordered Harvard late Tuesday to turn over “detailed records” of its foreign student...

Teacher Christine Kunkel kicks off each day with a morning meeting that finds her shaking her arms, patting her stomach and pretending to swim. The meeting participants — 3- and 4-year-olds at the Watson Institute’s LEAP preschool in Sharpsburg — follow suit, singing and dancing on a colorful mat near...

Students at Ingomar Middle School are learning how to connect to different communities and have healthy habits, thanks to Margo Hinton. Hinton, a physical education teacher at Ingomar, has organized and helped lead several programs at the middle school, including the Student Ambassador Program, which she started in 2019. “The...