Lowry invited to second conversation of significance in a week with White House officials
Kim Chaudoin | 615.966.6494 |
For the second time in less than a week, Lipscomb University president L. Randolph Lowry has been invited by the President Barack Obama administration to participate in conversations about college access and educational opportunities for underserved populations.
Lowry was also one of about 75 delegates from Middle Tennessee who have been invited to a town hall meeting in Nashville with Obama Tuesday, Dec. 9, where he discussed immigration. Lowry is one of eight dignitaries invited to attend the event by Rep. Jim Cooper.
Just last week, Lowry was one of a small group of Tennesseans invited to join Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama at the White House College Opportunity Day of Action.
“Finding new and innovative ways to increase opportunities for students to access a college education and to make a difference in their lives by helping prepare them for their future is something that transcends politics and what side of the aisle you sit on,” said Lowry.
“It is an honor for the university to be invited to the table for these significant conversations about education. It is an indication of the great impact the Lipscomb community is having, not only in education but also in this city and throughout the nation.”
Also in the audience was Lipscomb student Mohamed-Shukri Hassan, a graduate student in the Nelson and Sue Andrews Institute for Civic Leadership, and alumna Karla Vasquez, both of the Tennessee Immigrant and Refugee Rights Coalition. Lowry, the only university representative invited to the gathering, was joined by other community leaders including Nashville Mayor Karl Dean; philanthropist Martha Ingram; Ralph Schulz, president and CEO of the Nashville Area Chamber of Commerce; and Jesse Register, Metropolitan Nashville Public Schools director of schools.
Obama visited Nashville’s Casa Azafran, a collective of nonprofits that offer services in education, legal, health care and the arts to immigrants, refuges and the community as a whole. It was launched two years ago by Conexión Americas and its executive director Renata Soto. Soto has partnered with Lipscomb on a variety of initiatives including Abriendo Puertas (Opening Doors), the university’s Hispanic forum; and Collaboration College, an innovative initiative designed to encourage collaborations among a cross-sector of organizations in Middle Tennessee among other programs and service opportunities with students. She is also a member of Lipscomb’s inaugural class of Leadership Tennessee.
For nearly a decade, Lipscomb University has committed to expanding opportunities for traditional and non-traditional students to access a college education. Among the initiatives offered to help students meet their educational goals is a scholarship program for students who are the first generation in their families to attend college.
“Lipscomb is situated in a state with a higher-than-average growth rate among the Latino population,” said Lowry. “Our university has developed a number of programs to help support the best and brightest young minds in our community who come to us simply asking to be educated.”
Located in Nashville, Tenn., Lipscomb University finds itself in an emerging hub of diversity. The 2010 census showed that Tennessee’s Latino population grew by almost 134 percent since 2000, comprising 10 percent of Nashville’s population and giving the state the third-fastest-growing Hispanic population nationwide. Census data also showed that the racial makeup of Nashville is 60.5 percent Caucasian, 28.4 percent African American and 3.1 percent Asian. Large groups of immigrants from Mexico, Kurdistan, Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia and Arab nations also call Nashville home, among others.
Lipscomb University’s student body is rapidly reflecting the cross-cultural community around it like never before in the institution’s history. Since 2005, Lipscomb’s minority enrollment has increased 263 percent. This year, 18 percent of the student body is non-Caucasian, which makes Lipscomb one of the most ethnically diverse campuses in Tennessee. More than 40 nations and 47 states, including Washington, D.C., are represented. Lipscomb students also belong to more than 30 religions.
In addition to scholarship and other academic programs focusing on diverse populations, Lipscomb also has an Office of Intercultural Development, housed in the Office of Student Life, that is a resource for Lipscomb students of all cultural backgrounds to learn more about the diversity around them on campus, in the Nashville community and in the world around them. The office offers a variety of programs such as resume writing, etiquette and dressing for business success workshops; a conversation series with parents of Latino students to help them better understand the college process; culture fairs; and service opportunities, among other activities.
“We have found that this rich diversity of backgrounds and beliefs has made our learning community stronger,” said Lisa Steele, assistant dean of student life, director of intercultural development and coordinator of Latino student services at Lipscomb. “One of our goals is to engage our students cultural conversations so they can sit side-by-side and see first-hand what diversity looks like. We want to show this community what ‘intercultural’ looks like. It includes all of us.”
This is Obama’s second visit to Nashville this year. In January, the President came to Nashville’s McGavock High School, where he gave a speech highlighting Metro school’s academies program. Lowry and Candice McQueen, senior vice president and dean of Lipscomb’s College of Education, were in the invited audience at that event.