Lunching with College Readiness Innovator Deborah Bial

Yesterday, I was lucky enough to be invited to a luncheon with Deborah Bial, founder and CEO of the Posse Foundation.  Debbie’s presence on campus is a part of Tulane University’s Social Entrepreneurship Initiatives’ NewDay Speaker Series. Other luncheon attendees included: several Tulane faculty, from various departments of the University; Tulane Posse students; representatives from Urban League’s College Track program;  Jones Scholars and other graduate students; and our fearless leader, Scott Cowen.

Since 1989, The Posse Foundation has identified, recruited and trained over 3,000 public high school students with extraordinary academic and leadership potential to become Posse Scholars. These students—many of whom might have been overlooked by traditional college selection processes—receive four-year, full-tuition leadership scholarships from Posse’s partner institutions of higher education, which include Tulane University. Posse Scholars graduate at a rate of 90 percent and make a visible difference on campus and throughout their professional careers.

Tulane University welcomed its second Posse of students this academic year; both Posses are comprised of students from the Los Angeles area. Their academic interests are diverse, and their contributions to our campus have been invaluable.

Tulane Posses pose with Posse Foundation founder & CEO, Deborah Bial

In both the luncheon and in her public lecture last night, Debbie spoke about the importance of including students—of all races—from lower socioeconomic statuses in higher education. Her presentation last night included various statistics about how poorly the student populations of colleges, the executive staff of Fortune 500 companies, and the elected officials in our Congress reflect the demographics of the United States.

Deborah Bial speaks to a crowd in Freeman Auditorium

We applaud organizations like the Posse Foundation for their work on behalf of the nation’s high schoolers in helping them prepare for and succeed in college.