New England Board of Higher Education » Carsey Institute

Among Comings and Goings, UVM and Carsey Institute Name Interim Chiefs; Former Unity Prez Seeks Sustainability Leaders at Second Nature

John O. Harney — Fri, 29 Jul 2011 17:55:09 +0000

University of Vermont trustees named former Provost A. John Bramley to serve as interim president, beginning Aug. 1. He will succeed Daniel Fogel, who is resigning the presidency after nine years in charge and will join the UVM faculty. Bramley, himself a longstanding member of the UVM faculty, served as acting president in 2006 when Fogel suffered from acute pancreatitis. From 2007 to 2011, Bramley was president of the Windham Foundation, the largest private foundation in Vermont.

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The University of New Hampshire named former Provost Bruce L. Mallory to be interim director of the the university's Carsey Institute for the next two years.

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Mitchell Thomashow, who stepped down as president of Unity College earlier this month, took over as part-time director of the Second Nature Presidential Fellows Program, which is designed to help college leaders promote sustainability agendas on their campuses. Thomashow urged colleagues to share a prospectus for the fellows program with potential candidates.

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Saint Joseph College appointed four new trustees: Patricia LeShane, CEO and co-founder of Sullivan & LeShane, which provides legislative and administrative lobbying, issues-oriented government affairs, public relations and strategic communications services; Nancy Matthews, chancellor of the Diocese of Bridgeport, which includes more than 460,000 registered Catholics in Fairfield County; Lewis Robinson Jr., an authority on antitrust law and legislative issues; and Christine Whitehead, an attorney and author.

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Champlain College named Dave Strubler, formerly of Michigan's Kettering University, to be dean of the college's Division of Business.

Maine Chancellor Pattenaude Won’t Seek Contract Extension, Duncan to Leave Carsey Institute

John O. Harney — Fri, 20 May 2011 16:25:41 +0000

University of Maine System Chancellor Richard L. Pattenaude planned to tell system trustees that he will not seek an extension of his current contract, which expires next year at the end of June. Pattenaude has served as chancellor since 2007 and, before that, was president of the University of Southern Maine for 16 years. In May, he shared views on the challenges of restructuring the UMaine System with NEJHE.

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Mil Duncan announced that she is stepping down as director of the Carsey Institute to work with a new national initiative on food and agriculture policy transformation called AGree. Since opening at the University of New Hampshire in 2004, the Carsey Institute has developed pursued research on vulnerable children and families and challenges and opportunities for sustainable development that benefits communities. In 1999, Duncan wrote an article for NEJHE (then called Connection) comparing poverty in New England to other regions.

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MassBay Community College trustees reached agreement with John O’Donnell, president of Stark State College in Ohio since 2004, to become the fifth president of the Wellesley, Mass.-based college, succeeding Carole Berotte Joseph.

Working Wives’ Contributions to Total Family Income Rising, Says Carsey Institute

John O. Harney — Fri, 15 Oct 2010 19:30:32 +0000

Employed wives brought home 47% of their family's total earnings in 2009, up from 45% in 2008, according to a new report by the Carsey Institute at the University of New Hampshire.

That “marks the largest single-year increase in 15 years,” according to the report Wives as Breadwinners: Wives’ Share of Family Earnings Hits Historic High during the Second Year of the Great Recession.

The report's author Kristin Smith notes that the increase is not a sign of less wage disparity between men and women, but a disproportionate increase in the unemployment rate among males. The median salary for women actually fell from $31,041 in 2007 to $30,000 in 2009. The unemployment rate for husbands in these families jumped from 3% in 2007 to 7% in 2009.

Smith's earlier study noted that as the husband’s level of education increases, the wife’s proportional contribution decreases. In families where a husband had less than a high school education, her contribution was 52%. When he had a college degree, her contribution was 40%.

In February 2010, The New England Journal of Higher Education published a study, Failure to Launch, by Lane A. Glen and Suzanne Van Wert. This study shows that the achievement gaps between males and females is getting worse and that 80% of high school dropouts now are males. Combining these two studies suggests that the importance of the wife as the “breadwinner” in a family will continue to grow in the future.

One in 10 N.H. Households Experiences Food Insecurity

NEBHE Admin — Tue, 15 Jun 2010 19:02:13 +0000

Access to healthy food is becoming increasingly difficult in some parts of New Hampshire, as grocery stores relocate and consolidate to cut down on costs, leaving some Granite State residents completely dependent on convenience and corner stores for basic goods.

The new study by Nena Stracuzzi and Sally Ward of the University of New Hampshire's Carsey Institute finds that more than 10% of New Hampshire households lack food security, defined by the USDA as “consistent, dependable access to enough food for active, healthy living.” Studies show that low access to healthy food leads to higher rates of health conditions such as obesity, diabetes and coronary heart disease.

The Carsey report "What's for Dinner? Finding and Affording Healthy Food in New Hampshire Communities" takes a look at recent data on food deserts in New Hampshire.

Flexibility is Key for Working Parents

NEBHE Admin — Wed, 09 Jun 2010 16:06:21 +0000

Flexibility with work is key to maintaining the "work-life balance" issue with which many parents struggle. Nearly a quarter of working parents have passed up promotions because of issues relating to flexibility, according to a report produced by the Carsey Institute, UNH Cooperative Extension and New Hampshire Employment Security this week at the NH Work-Life Summit.