Diversity: A longitudinal study of how student diversity relates to resilience and successful progression in a new generation university

This project used the voices of diverse cohorts of students to describe their learning journeys as they progressed through the later years of their degree and into the workforce. The project combined quantitative data from a large student sample with qualitative data from a series of case study narratives to document the students’ perceptions about their learning experiences, the factors underpinning progression in their studies and their transition into the workplace. The project has attempted to answer the question: does diversity matter? Do students of different diversities progress differently, and are there differences in the factors enhancing progression and developing resilience that can be linked directly to diversity? In this project, successful students are those who have completed first year and have progressed to their second or final year of their undergraduate degree. The rationale for the study arose from: • the need for institutional policies and practices to better reflect the increased student diversity they serve • our lack of knowledge about how the behaviours and strategies that diverse students use translate into resilience and progression to graduation and into the workforce • the importance of understanding the diverse ways those successful students navigate through their learning journey, often in the face of multiple responsibilities and commitments..

The Untold Story of Welfare Fraud

The experiences of women who have been charged with welfare fraud in the years following the passage of the 1996 Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act cast a shadow over the claim that welfare reform has been an unequivocal success. This article addresses this under-explored issue by considering the face of welfare fraud in San Diego, California after the change to federal welfare law. After a brief discussion of the socio-historical context of welfare fraud prosecution and a summary of the scholarly findings related to welfare fraud post-PRWORA, the aiticle details a new poverty knowledge about welfare fraud drawn from the experiences of women. This is followed by a discussion of how this knowledge has been used to help inspire the creation of a welfare fraud diversion program that serves as an alternative to felony prosecution for first-time, low-level welfare fraud defendants in San Diego County