The University of Massachusetts selected Robert Caret, president of Towson University, to succeed Jack M. Wilson as head of the five-campus university.

A chemist with degrees from the University of New Hampshire and Suffolk University, Caret will need to concoct an effective potion for UMass, which the Boston Globe described as "struggling to climb into ...]]>

The University of Massachusetts selected Robert Caret, president of Towson University, to succeed Jack M. Wilson as head of the five-campus university.

A chemist with degrees from the University of New Hampshire and Suffolk University, Caret will need to concoct an effective potion for UMass, which the Boston Globe described as "struggling to climb into the elite ranks of public universities while contending with multiple rounds of cuts in state funding."

Other finalists for the UMass job were MIT Chancellor Phillip Clay and Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis Chancellor Charles Bantz.

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Bristol Community College hired former Massachusetts state Sen. Joan Menard to lead workforce development, lifelong learning, grant development and external affairs at the Fall River, Mass. community college. Menard chaired NEBHE from 2007 to 2010 and represented the area as a Democrat in the state Legislature for 30 years. She is a former teacher and special education director in Somerset, Mass.

For nearly 20 years, the print editions of The New England Journal of Higher Education (and its predecessor Connection) published a quarterly collection of facts and figures called "Data Connection."

It was a sort of ripoff of the underrated Harper's Index. The key was to cleverly juxtapose pieces of interesting data, with no expressed overarching context. ...]]>

For nearly 20 years, the print editions of The New England Journal of Higher Education (and its predecessor Connection) published a quarterly collection of facts and figures called "Data Connection."

It was a sort of ripoff of the underrated Harper's Index. The key was to cleverly juxtapose pieces of interesting data, with no expressed overarching context. The glue, in our case, was that the items focused on the range of issues that have made up NEBHE's bailiwick, namely higher education, economic development, demography and quality of life—New Englandness if you will.

The web has added freedom to our ability to publish information more frequently and with more detail. But the clipped and connected nature of Data Connection still warrants a place, so here goes ...

Number of registered users for U.S. Army’s recruiting game, America’s Army: 9,700,000 Frontline

Number of people in the real U.S. military, all branches, including reserves: 2,300,000 Wikipedia

Percentage of students whose score on the ASVAB: the Armed Forces Qualification Test between 2004 and 2009 made them ineligible to enlist in the Army: 23% Shut out of the Military, The Education Trust

Number of Peace Corps volunteers in Greater Boston: 212 Peace Corps

Rank of Greater Boston among metropolitan areas with the highest number of Peace Corps volunteers: 5 Peace Corps

Number of attorneys in the 200-member Massachusetts Legislature: 52 Boston Bar Association

Number before the 2010 election: 65 Boston Bar Association

Number of people below poverty rate who lived in New England suburbs in 2008: 675,000 The Brookings Institution

Number who lived in New England's big cities: 330,000 The Brookings Institution

Percentage-point increase in probability of admission among applicants with a family connection or "legacy" at 30 highly selective colleges: 23 Harvard Graduate School of Education

Increase in probability if the connection was a parent: 45 Harvard Graduate School of Education