For the second time this year, Chancellor Jimmy G. Cheek is meeting with a group led by President Barack Obama in Washington, DC, to address increasing college access for low-income students. The meeting takes place tomorrow at the Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center.
The event is the White House’s second College Opportunity Day of Action and will build on efforts from the first summit, which was held in January.
The chancellor will meet with the president, first lady, Vice President Joe Biden, Secretary of Education Arne Duncan, Tennessee Governor Bill Haslam, and other higher education leaders to explore ways to increase college opportunities. Specifically, the summit will focus on collaborations between universities committed to increasing the number of college graduates and sharing what works to get there; new partnerships between school districts, colleges, and universities to increase high school graduates’ college readiness; and new commitments to increasing the number of graduates in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics fields.
At the first summit, the chancellor announced three initiatives launched at UT this year to improve access, graduation, and retention—a coaching program for students who face barriers to success, a summer math camp for incoming freshmen with low ACT math scores and an interest in math-intensive majors, and a program to provide a clear path to graduation for transfer students from community colleges.
New retention and graduation efforts recently earned UT the prestigious “Most Visible Progress” Trailblazer Award from the Association of Public and Land-grant Universities.
The summit begins at 9:00 a.m. and will be streamed live at WhiteHouse.gov.