COLUMBIA — Key state officials in college access will gather at MU to address college readiness among underrepresented, low-income and first-generation students.
"Focus on Missouri: A Dialogue on Barriers, Strategies and the Future of College Access" will be held from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. Tuesday at Memorial Union.
Goals of the conference include raising awareness of the need for greater college access and bringing together officials for dialogue.
Beth Tankersley-Bankhead, executive director of the Missouri College Advising Corps, said it is important for college access stakeholders to start a statewide dialogue.
“The entire discussion of the conference is how we may collaborate across Missouri to increase college access,” said Tankersley-Bankhead, one of the conference organizers.
The conference will have workshops on the challenges facing college access to facilitate the collaborative effort. At the end of the conference, these discussions are expected to produce some resolutions.
“We will produce a summary of the conference, which will have some actions to take at both the state and university level,” Tankersley-Bankhead said.
Expected attendance for the conference has reached 240, the number of people who can be comfortably accommodated, according to Tankersley-Bankhead.