dsparFirst, DSpar is meeting up with Barnard’s old friends Barack and Michelle Obama today, at a special White House event on creating better opportunities for low -income and traditionally under-served students to succeed at college. The event started this morning at 8:20 and will resume at 1:45. You can watch it here. She’s also live-tweeting it!

She’s also doing a livestreamed discussion with Anne-Marie Slaughter at the Aspen Institute, answering questions about you-know-what. You can watch it here.

DSpar writes:

“I am thrilled to take part in Thursday’s event at the White House and to add Barnard’s voice to the issue of college access,” said President Spar. “At Barnard we are working hard to give students from a wide range of backgrounds the best possible education. I look forward to sharing in this important discussion and to building on our current efforts, in 2014 and beyond.”

She means it, too. Today, Barnard announced several measures to build on its commitment to education access, including:

  •  Barnard will seek to reach 25 percent more students through its “Barnard Bound” program, which offers low-income high school seniors a chance to visit campus and get a sense of college life before the application process begins. The College will also expand campus visit opportunities to young women who qualify for HEOP.
  • Barnard will increase outreach to low-income families from New Jersey, Connecticut, and Pennsylvania, as well as community colleges in the New York metro area and nationwide.
  • Additional students will be invited to participate in the “Barnard Opportunity Program,” which offers non-New York State students the HEOP experiences of a summer session before freshman year as well as ongoing tutoring and advising support.
  • Barnard will aim to partner with New York community-based organizations to help increase by 10 percent the number of students receiving support for Barnard’s “Pre-College Program.”
  • Barnard will identify new high schools with low-income populations and work with these high schools to present their students with workshops on the college admissions process, as well as opportunities to learn about financial aid.