A newsletter about the role of colleges in rural America, written twice a month by Open Campus staff reporter Emily Lytle. You can sign up for free here or in the form below.
We are reimagining what this newsletter can look like, including how it can be the most useful and engaging for folks who live in and/or work in rural communities. Do you have suggestions for resources we could build? Opportunities we could offer to connect online or in person? Stories that aren’t being covered in rural higher ed? To help us identify new ways to build community and guide the direction of Mile Markers, we’d love to hear from you. You can take the brief survey here.
Reach out to Emily
Please don’t hesitate to send me an email at lytle@opencampus.org or hit reply on any Mile Markers email. I would like this space to be collaborative and interactive, so please let me know if you have story ideas or want to brainstorm how we can engage with rural higher ed news — and each other — in creative ways.
Recent Issues
Iowa invests millions each year in regional career centers. What does that mean for rural students?
A look at a community college in Iowa where a $1 million state grant will help build a new hub for career and tech education.
Rural career opportunities exist. How advisers in Missouri are proving it to their students
Takeaways from joining high school advisers on industry tours in Missouri as part of a training with rootEd Alliance.
‘This is the model’: Why Workforce Pell is taking a backseat to this $40M state program in Virginia
An opportunity to connect with one another online, and a look at Virginia’s FastForward program and its impact on rural students
Employers want to see soft skills. How rural schools are delivering
Schools throughout rural Kansas are following Maine’s footsteps with a model focused on soft skills like problem-solving and financial literacy.
What we learned after traveling 1,000 miles across Montana to talk about rural workforce needs
A look inside some of the conversations we had with the Rural Talent Lab
Why I’m headed to Montana
Highlighting the Rural Talent Lab, an initiative that is starting with community listening tours in Montana, West Virginia, Pennsylvania and Kansas
Bringing health care training closer to home for rural students
One program in Oklahoma, Kansas and Missouri that is hoping to bring more doctors and dentists to rural communities
Rural college students step up to support small-town peers
Mile Markers newsletter from May 8, 2026, including a Q&A with four college students.
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Other rural stories at Open Campus
Popular Ag extension program bridges academic-farming divide, despite federal cuts
North Carolina’s Cooperative Extension Program has been around for more than a century.
This college rodeo team is mostly women. Here’s why that matters for rural men.
Researchers are starting to study why rural men attend college at lower rates than women. At Colorado Mesa University, the challenge of getting rural men to join the rodeo team mirrors what’s happening nationwide.
Emily Lytle joins Open Campus as a rural engagement reporter
Emily Lytle will report on the role of education and training in rural economies.
