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Henry Durand is director of the Center for Academic Development Services, Educational Opportunity Program.
What is the mission of the Educational Opportunity Program?
The mission of the Educational Opportunity Program is to identify, admit and provide academic, personal and social support to "talented, but disadvantaged" students. In essence, we look for New York State students who are able to succeed in college, but who have been subjected to a history of educational and financial disadvantages that have prevented them from manifesting their full talent and ability. Our goal is to provide every possible avenue and opportunity that will support the academic success and ultimate life chances of each student admitted through the Educational Opportunity Program of the University at Buffalo.
How does it differ from the Educational Opportunity Center?
The Educational Opportunity Center is a post-secondary institution, which offers a range of tuition-free remedial, vocational and academic programs leading to college entry or employment. EOC students must also be New York State residents and educationally and financially disadvantaged. However, EOC provides educational opportunities to adults who are unprepared for college-level study or vocationally unprepared for employment. Examples of some of their programs are preparation for the GED exam, English as a second language (ESL), computer repair, nurse assistant, dental assistant, business skills and SAT preparation, to name a few. The majority of the programs are short-term (less than a year) and designed to prepare individuals for the workforce but with a skill or profession that will allow them to make a living wage without a college degree. The director is Sheryl Weems.
How many students do you serve?
We serve 940 students. This is down from as many as 1,100 in the early 90s, as a consequence of annual New York State budget cuts and program reductions. However, UB has one of the largest programs of this type in the country and the largest in New York, Pennsylvania or New Jersey (the other Eastern states with state-sponsored programs) by about 200 students.
What specific services do you provide?
The number one benefit of EOP is being able to have your admissions application judged on non-cognitive criteria in conjunction with the standardized criteria of test scores, class rank and high school GPA. Of course, EOP provides a host of other academic support services, including the opportunity to see an advisor as often as necessary. Each student is assigned a personal counselor/advisor who will be available to monitor, advise, counsel and advocate for that student throughout his or her entire undergraduate career. The counselors will see each student on their rosters an average of five times each semester. Many students see their counselor weekly. We also offer tutoring in any subject at no charge to the student, a peer-mentoring program, a monthly workshop for students who are single parents, an EOP Distinguished Alumni Speakers series, a personal budgeting workshop each semester and a book loan program for freshman course textbooks. We also sponsor smaller sections of some of the common gen ed courses and provide sponsorship to a number of university workshops of benefit to our students. Our first introduction to the students is through our pre-freshman transitional summer program. The Summer Program is a three-week residential program designed to help students preparing for the freshman year of study at UB understand and adjust to the university's environment and culture. The program is a highly structured experience designed to help students make the transition from high school culture and expectations to UB culture, rigors and expectations.
Tell me about your successes. Is there a particular student who stands out in your mind?
Given the odds that our students have overcome, every student who gets here to UB is a success already. Ours are the students who have survived what Johnathan Kozol terms "savage inequalities." By legislative mandate, EOP students cannot qualify for regular admissions based on the standard criteria, yet they graduate from college at rates competitive with UB regular admits and four-year schools all over the nation. However, we've also had a lot of high-profile and visible students. For example, each year we have several students who rank as a valedictorian or salutatorian of their academic departments. Each year, we recognize 300-400 students for attaining high academic achievement (3.0 or better), have 40-50 students inducted into "Who's Who Among American University and College Students," and graduate about 15-20 students with Latin Honors. Our students also are active and engaged campus leaders. We have more than 30 students who serve as leaders in a variety of student clubs and campus organizations. Within the past six or seven years, an EOP student has been president of the undergraduate Student Association, the most recent being Monica Monyo and Fernando Maisonette before her. Just a few years ago, a UB EOP student was president of the SUNY-wide Student Association, and as such, also was a sitting member of the SUNY Board of Trustees. Our students have been members of the UB Council, and members of the SUNY-wide Student Senate.
I understand EOP was recognized recently with a national award. Tell me about it.
The award was for our pre-freshman summer program, which I discussed above. We were recognized for operating one of the top three non-credit summer programs in higher education in the nation. This is an award that is given by the North American Association of Summer Sessions (NAASS). The award seeks to highlight important curriculum development, recognize creativity and recognize administrators who make outstanding contributions to the operation and management of academic summer programs. Programs are judged on creativity; uniqueness; benefit to students, the sponsoring institution, and/or the community, and adaptability to other institutions.
What question do you wish I had asked, and how would you have answered it?
Most people tend to think that EOP is a predominantly African-American program, very much akin to affirmative action, and that the students have all expenses paid by EOP. The fact is that statewide EOP is a very diverse program, with about one-third of the students being white, one-third African American and the remainder Asian American and Latino, with a small percentage of Native-American students. EOP is based totally on disadvantagedness and the average EOP student probably contributes a greater share of the cost of his or her own tuition from work and loans than the average regular-admit student. EOP students are funded like every other UB-accepted student. They typically are eligible for high amounts of federal and state aid because they typically are much poorer. For example, the maximum family income for a family of four is $26,000. Most students come from families with incomes that are much less. The average family income in our program is about $16,000 per year. In the past, EOP has provided about $500 per semester of assistance. However, although modest in a $14,000 UB student cost of attendance, it was critically needed. The proposed cut of the EOP direct aid in this year's state budget, combined with the deferral of one-third of the TAP eligibility would be devastating to the average EOP student. This is a deserving program for deserving New York State students. I hope your readers will rally around its support.