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Factors Impacting Retention in the Physical Sciences at Rollins College
No full textThe topic of Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics retention is one that is widely studied and considered by individuals with vastly different backgrounds. The problem of STEM retention is deeply rooted in political history, gender and racial inequality, and factors that cause barriers to opportunity. The urgency behind investing in STEM education as early as grade school is in large part due to the increasing pressure that the United States government feels as countries advance and compete for global influence. At an institution like Rollins College, the physical sciences experience issues with retention and performance trends like those reflected in national trends. This work investigates the learning attitudes and beliefs of the Fall 2021 CHM120 cohort and analyzes the trends in chemistry performance, persistence, and withdrawal rate for the major factors that impact retention in chemistry over the last ten years at Rollins College. Analysis of aggregate data for the cohorts of Fall 2010 to Fall 2021 CHM120 strongly suggests that incoming mathematics ability and Pell grant eligibility are predictors of outcome in the course
Impacts of Censorship On Political Polarization
Get PDFIdeological and affective polarization across party lines has grown significantly in the United States in the past several decades. It has hit a high point in the years since President Donald Trump’s election. At the same time, citizens who identify as conservative, Republican, or libertarian have expressed concerns over a perceived increase in social media censorship of their ideas. Whether real or perceived, the fear of censorship has directly contributed to a vicious cycle of political antagonism: those who feel censored (most likely to identify as right-leaning) blame members of the other party (who are often assumed to be left-leaning) for suppressing them, which angers those people and causes even further antagonism between more extreme members of each side. By examining ten case studies in three countries, this paper will demonstrate that governments and other entities which engage in censorship cause an increase in political polarization between their citizens
2022 Crummer SunTrust Portfolio Recommendations: Crummer Investment Management 23rd Anniversary
Get PDFSunTrust (now Truist) endowed this portfolio to provide scholarships for future Crummer students and to give current students a practical, hands-on learning opportunity. This year, we are pleased to be able to disburse $55,000 to be used for scholarships. We are extremely grateful for SunTrust’s generosity and investment in higher education. We have all learned a great deal from this experience and the responsibility of managing real money. Our first challenge is to establish a portfolio position that takes advantage of economic opportunities while avoiding unnecessary risk and conforming to the Crummer SunTrust Investment Policy Statement (IPS). We are also tasked by the IPS to operate at two levels simultaneously – tactical for the near term, and strategic for the long run. Additionally, this portfolio presents some unusual portfolio management challenges by trading only once a year, in early April. Our tactical approach began with a top-down sector analysis. We established an economic forecast based on research and consultation with economists, including Professor William Seyfried of the Crummer School and Philip Rich of Seaside Bank. We based our equity and fixed income split on that forecast with a modest allocation to bonds of 10%. That forecast also drove our allocation among the eleven S&P sectors: Communication Services, Consumer Discretionary, Consumer Staples, Energy, Financials, Healthcare, Industrials, Information Technology, Materials, Real Estate, and Utilities. This year, we forecast moderated but strong economic growth amid inflationary pressures within the next twelve-month period and we tilted the allocation towards sectors that should do well in such a macro environment while paying attention to post-pandemic dynamics and the war in Ukraine. Our asset class allocation embodies the long-run strategy of our portfolio. The IPS sets asset class ranges from low to moderate risk to keep the portfolio from being whipsawed by transitory market cycles. Our equity allocations entail a reasonable level of risk, consistent with our view that the stock market will relatively outperform the fixed income market as the interest rates are expected to rise between now and March 2023. We maintain an allocation to a sector ETF in each sector to ensure diversification. Due to enrollment constraints, we actively manage only five sectors this year with a limit of two individual stocks in each sector. The remaining sectors are invested 100% in their sector ETF. Fixed income is our anchor sector, providing a hedge against the risk of an economic slowdown adversely impacting our equity holdings. Consistent with our upward shifting yield curve projection, we are at the low end of our IPS range for fixed income at 10%, which is the same as last year’s and slightly higher than the 9.6% market position on February 28, 2022. Furthermore, we have continued to incorporate the theme of Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) investing into our portfolio selection process. Whether you believe a high ESG rating signals a company’s prospects or that ESG ratings are a popularity contest, the ESG wave is sweeping the equity markets. Regardless of a security’s consistency with this theme, all recommendations must be undervalued after rigorous quantitative and qualitative analysis. In other words, our intent is not to maximize the ESG impact of our portfolio but to tilt towards this factor. Specifically, the proposed equity holdings in this year’s portfolio have a weighted average FTSE ESG score of 3.38 out of 5, while S&P 500 holdings have a cap-weighted average score of 3.19. Since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, we have witnessed two extraordinary and unpredictable years in many respects. Inflation levels that have not been seen in the past 40 years, supply chain problems, and the Russian-Ukrainian war all have contributed to an increased uncertainty. We do not intend to simply follow the crowd. Yet, echoing the philosophy of Warren Buffett, “our opinions and beliefs, grounded in economics and guided by all of those who have counseled us,” lead us to a strategy that is not significantly different from many investors. Even so, we accept responsibility for our investment decisions. We are investing for the long-term and we have been conservative in our forecasts and recommendations. Simultaneously, in the short term, we are mindful of the need to protect the portfolio’s commitment to scholarships
