House Poised to Pass COVID Relief for Colleges
BU IN DC
School of Law Dean Angela Onwuachi-Willig participated in a virtual panel discussion on women’s pay gap in higher education hosted by the Eos Foundation, AAUW, and the Institute for Women’s Policy Research on February 24th.
Timothy Longman of the Pardee School of Global Studies spoke with U.S. Department of State staff about strategies to achieve peace in the Eastern Democratic Republic of Congo on February 16th.
HOUSE POISED TO PASS COVID RELIEF FOR COLLEGES
The U.S. House of Representatives is expected to pass a $1.9 trillion COVID relief bill touted by President Joseph R. Biden later today. The American Rescue Plan (H.R. 1319) would provide:
- $40 billion in emergency aid for colleges, with instructions that schools use half the funds for direct financial assistance to students;
- $600 million for the National Science Foundation for research grants;
- $100 million for the Institute of Education Sciences at the U.S. Department of Education for research on student learning loss during the pandemic;
- $135 million each for the National Endowments for the Arts and the Humanities to support cultural organizations; and
- $150 million for the National Institute of Standards and Technology for manufacturing institutes
The U.S. Senate plans to consider the bill next week. President Biden would like to sign the measure into law by mid-March.
BIDEN NAMES HIGHER ED OFFICIALS
Last week, President Joseph R. Biden nominated James Kvaal to lead the U.S. Department of Education’s higher education work as under secretary of the U.S. Department of Education. Kvaal previously served in the Obama Administration, where he oversaw efforts to streamline student lending and increase oversight of for-profit colleges. He currently leads The Institute for College Access & Success. On Thursday, the Administration announced that Dr. Jordan Matsudaira is deputy under secretary at the Department. He is an associate professor at Columbia University with expertise in higher education access and economic mobility, and previously served as the chief economist for the Council of Economic Advisers in the Obama Administration.
EVENTS NEWS YOU CAN USE
Join the Office of Research for its next Research on Tap on Tuesday, March 2nd at 4 p.m. “Migration: How Movement in the World Shapes Populations and Population Health” will look at BU research addressing this global trend. School of Public Health Dean Sandro Galea will host the event as BU faculty across diverse fields, including literature, medicine, and engineering, will discuss their research on how migration shapes population demographics, innovation, and population health.