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A diverse coalition of public and private colleges and universities including the College of the Holy Cross is coming together with the goal of improving the college admission application process for all students.  The Coalition is developing a free platform of online tools to streamline the experience of planning for and applying to college. The initial iteration of the planning tools will be available to freshmen, sophomores and juniors in high school beginning in January 2016.

In creating this platform, these colleges and universities hope to recast the college admission process from something that is transactional and limited in time into a more engaged, ongoing and educationally reaffirming experience. They also hope to motivate a stronger college-going mindset among students of all backgrounds, especially those from low-income families or underrepresented groups who have historically had less access to leading colleges and universities.

“It is our hope that all students, particularly those from under-resourced backgrounds, will be empowered by the options and flexibility this platform will provide,” said Ann McDermott, director of admissions. “The digital portfolio will allow students to provide information with richness and depth and really help students tell their unique story.”

The Coalition for Access, Affordability, and Success currently includes more than 80 public and private universities and colleges across the United States that have made a commitment to make college affordable and accessible for students from diverse backgrounds, and for students to be successful in completing their education. The Coalition, which continues to add members, will be working over the next few months to develop tools and processes that are intended to address many of the barriers that prevent students from attending college or successfully earning a degree.

Later this year, the Coalition will share details about new college planning and application tools that will streamline the admission and financial aid processes and allow students to begin planning for college much earlier in their high school years. The online tools—which will include a digital portfolio, a collaboration platform, and an application portal—seek to reshape the process of applying to college as the culmination of students’ development over the course of their high school careers, reducing the unfamiliarity of the application and leveling the playing field for all students. The application will add another option to all the ways that students currently apply for college. Many Coalition schools will accept applications through the portal in the summer of 2016, while others are still deciding when and how to use the application feature of the new system.

For example, research has found that students from disadvantaged backgrounds often do not participate effectively in the college application process, struggle with applying for financial aid, and often do not get awarded all the financial aid they qualify for. As a result, even the most highly qualified students either do not attend college, attend a college that does not engage their full potential, or do not complete their degrees. Attending a high school with a college-going culture greatly increases students’ college success.

The Coalition hopes to address these findings through its free online tools and increased transparency around admissions and financial aid.

Members of the Coalition include a diverse group of public universities that have affordable tuition along with need-based financial aid for in-state residents, and private colleges and universities that provide sufficient financial aid to meet the full, demonstrated financial need of every domestic student they admit. Coalition schools graduate at least 70 percent of their students within six years, with many having much higher graduation rates.

The Coalition’s online portfolio of college planning tools will be open to high school students starting in January 2016. Additional details about the application process enabled by the platform will be announced before summer of 2016.

Learn more about the Coalition.

The fall semester is well underway at the College of the Holy Cross, and the campus is full of excitement with the addition of new students, new faculty, and three new faith leaders welcomed to campus. Rev. William R. Campbell, S.J. ’87, Rev. Michael Rogers, S.J. ’02 and Karla Alvarado will have much to offer the Holy Cross community when it comes to faith, spirituality, and leadership on Mount St. James.

In August, Fr. Campbell, vice president for mission, returned to Holy Cross. He serves as a member of the president’s Executive Leadership Team and Cabinet, chairs the College’s campus-wide Mission and Identity Committee, and oversees the work of the chaplains’ office and all mission-related initiatives. Fr. Campell graduated from Holy Cross in 1987 and says he is a proud alumnus and that his “vocation as a Jesuit priest was born on this campus.” Prior to coming back to Holy Cross, Fr. Campbell was president of Cheverus High School, a coeducational Jesuit secondary school in Portland, Maine. Learn more about Fr. Campbell’s appointment.

Fr. Rogers and Karla Alvarado started their new positions in the chaplains’ office at the College in August.

Fr. Rogers, assistant chaplain and fellow at the McFarland Center for Religion, Ethics and Culture, is happy to be serving as a Jesuit at Holy Cross, a place that offered him so much as a student. He graduated from Holy Cross in 2002 and said that his path to becoming a Jesuit was solidified during his time at the College. As a student, Fr. Rogers was on a spiritual retreat at the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Mexico City, where he had a significant moment when he felt God’s presence and knew he needed to follow his faith.

After graduation, Fr. Rogers entered the Society of Jesus in August of that same year. He obtained his M.A. degree in philosophy from Saint Louis University and then headed back to New England to teach theology and coach tennis at Boston College High School from 2010-12. Fr. Rogers then headed to Rome to attend the Pontifical Gregorian University, where he received both S.T.B. and an S.T.L. While in Rome, Fr. Rogers participated in the Mass that began the conclave and also had the once in a lifetime opportunity to be in St. Peter’s Square when Pope Francis was elected. “I think my time in Rome, and particularly studying at the Gregorian and wandering around the Vatican, has helped me to appreciate both of those experiences through the eyes of faith,” says Fr. Rogers.

In 2013, Fr. Rogers served as coordinator for the U.S. for World Youth Day in Rio de Janeiro.

At Holy Cross, Fr. Rogers will be a strong voice on social media for the chaplains’ office. Fr. Rogers references the Ignatian concept of reaching people by entering “through their door but be sure to leave through your door.” He explains, “My plan for the chaplains’ office is to engage with students using social media. We are going in the cultural door of our students’ lives, in the hopes that they will find the joy and peace that faith can bring, and the passion to live a life with integrity, seeking the dignity in all people.”

Fr. Rogers is also leading a trip for students in January to Nicaragua in conjunction with the International Partners with Mission. The students will learn about the social, economic, and political reality of the country through a variety of experiences.

When Fr. Rogers is not tweeting 140 characters at a time he is writing thought provoking articles on his faith and experiences. His work has been featured in America Magazine and Huffington Post and is also an occasional commentator for Vatican Radio, Euronews, the Catholic News Service, and the Canadian Broadcasting Company.

Karla Alvarado, assistant chaplain and director of domestic immersion, a Los Angeles native, comes to Holy Cross with the intention of helping students connect to their faith through service. Alvarado’s main role in the chaplains’ office is to coordinate the fall and spring immersion programs at the College. These programs bring together students from all class years and disperses them throughout communities in need across the U.S. Alvarado has first-hand experience when it comes to being involved in immersion programs as she served as a year-long volunteer with Rostro de Cristo, an immersion program in Durán and Guayaquil, Ecuador. Alvarado, who previously taught high school Spanish and was a social worker working with homeless families in Southern California, sees this new venture as the right fit for her expertise. “I am excited for the opportunity to accompany students on the journey to opening their minds and hearts to their faith,” she says.

Alvarado will be accompanying a group of students to Guatemala in May with a trip facilitated by Education and Hope, a small nonprofit education foundation. The organization provides scholarships, housing, and after-school tutoring for high-need children in the western highlands of Guatemala. The students will be primarily working with children in the after-school program and will also be able to explore the natural beauty of the country through visits to local attractions. Most recently Alvarado accompanied Holy Cross students to Philadelphia to see Pope Francis preside over the Mass held at the Festival of Families on the Benjamin Franklin Parkway. “To be able to say we participated in such a landmark event is incredible, ” says Alvarado. “What’s more, to have had the opportunity to witness the strong positive emotional reaction of students left me feeling really hopeful for the future life of the Church.”

Alvarado received her B.A. in English and Spanish literature from Loyola Marymount University and her M.A. in both counseling psychology and pastoral ministry as part of a dual degree program at Boston College.

Holy Cross alumnus Paul Walker ’68, an internationally acclaimed disarmament expert and activist, will give a lecture on the “Abolition of Weapons of Mass Destruction: Building a Secure and Sustainable World,” at the College of the Holy Cross, Monday, Sept. 28 at 4:30 p.m. in the Rehm Library. His talk is free and open to the public.

Walker is the international director of environmental security and sustainability for Green Cross International, where he works for the safe and environmentally-sound demilitarization, nonproliferation, and remediation of nuclear, chemical, biological, and conventional weapons stockpiles. He has helped to permanently eliminate over 65,000 tons of chemical weapons and millions of munitions in eight countries to date.

In his talk at Holy Cross, Walker will review the build-up of weapons of mass destruction — nuclear, chemical, and biological — and the decades of national and international efforts to abolish them. 2015 marks the 100th commemoration of the first major use of chemical weapons in warfare — by Germany during World War I; the 40th anniversary of the 1975 Biological Weapons Convention; the 70th anniversary of the first use of nuclear weapons in New Mexico and Japan in 1945; and adoption of the Iran Nuclear Deal with the United States, the United Kingdom, France, China, Russia, Germany and the European Union to stop nuclear weapons proliferation. Walker will address environmental and public health considerations and the urgent need to establish global, enforceable norms for peaceful resolution of conflict.

Walker has worked, spoken, and published widely in the related areas of international security, threat reduction, non-proliferation, weapons demilitarization, and environmental security for over three decades. He credits his Jesuit education and Vietnam-era military service for inspiring his lifelong commitment to nonviolence. In 2013, he was named a Right Livelihood Award Laureate, an honor widely known as the “Alternative Nobel Prize” for his work to rid the world of chemical weapons. Holy Cross presented him with its highest alumni award, the Sanctae Crucis, in 2007. He is a former professional staff member of and senior advisor to the Armed Services Committee in the U.S. House of Representatives.

Walker’s lecture is presented by the Rev. Michael C. McFarland, S.J. Center for Religion, Ethics and Culture at Holy Cross. Learn more about McFarland Center events and watch lectures online at holycross.edu/mcfarlandcenter.

About the Rev. Michael C. McFarland, S.J. Center for Religion, Ethics and Culture:

Established in 2001 and housed in Smith Hall, the McFarland Center for Religion, Ethics and Culture provides resources for faculty and course development, sponsors conferences and college-wide teaching events, hosts visiting fellows, and coordinates a number of campus lecture series. Rooted in the College’s commitment to invite conversation about basic human questions, the Center welcomes persons of all faiths and seeks to foster dialogue that acknowledges and respects differences, providing a forum for intellectual exchange that is interreligious, interdisciplinary, intercultural, and international in scope.  The Center also brings members of the Holy Cross community into conversation with the Greater Worcester community, the academic community, and the wider world to examine the role of faith and inquiry in higher education and in the larger culture.