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July 5, 2011
Is demography really destiny? The makeup of the population and the perceived value of education are changing. So this year following the decennial census, we're presenting our demography figures a few ways. (We also presented a set in January.) The universities of the Connecticut State University System (CSUS) attracted more than 7,000 students of color this year—a 35% increase since 200...
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July 1, 2011
Connecticut Higher Education Commissioner Michael P. Meotti, a NEBHE delegate, was named interim president of the the state's new Board of Regents of Higher Education. Under the state's recent education reorganization, the Regents will serve as the board for the community colleges, state universities and Charter Oak State College, as of Jan. 1. 2012. ****Vermont State Colleges Chancellor Tim Donovan...
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June 29, 2011
The number of new high school graduates will plunge in the New England states between now and 2020, according to a new report by the Center for Law and Social Policy (CLASP) and the National Center for Higher Education Management Systems (NCHEMS). The report Not Just Kid Stuff Anymore: The Economic Imperative for More Adults to Complete College forecasts no...
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June 27, 2011
Architecture and Academe: College Buildings in New England Before 1860; Bryant F. Tolles Jr.; University Press of New England, 2011 It’s not the topic that New England’s higher education institutions generally boast about, but for many it is their most obvious attribute—the brick, stone, mullioned, porticoed and columned facades that helped set the standard for what much of coll...
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June 27, 2011
On Wednesday, the House Education and Workforce Committee approved the second of five total planned bills on federal education reform for the 112th Congress. By a vote of 34 to 5, the committee advanced legislation (H.R. 2218) which would allow governors, state education agencies, and charter school boards to parcel out funding to expand or duplicate successful charter schools. States without caps...
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June 24, 2011
We invited each of the six New England governors to write articles on future challenges facing higher education in their respective states. ... The Future of Higher Education in Connecticut by Dannel P. Malloy, Governor of Connecticut Outwardly, the results appear impressive—growth in enrollments and degrees granted, expanded campuses and program offerings, and a well-known reputation ...
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June 20, 2011
The New England economy continues to outperform the national economy. That is the good news. But both the region’s and nation’s economies continue to have low and staggered growth. The slow recovery from the 2008-09 recession is largely due to factors outside New England influence, including the European debt crisis, volatile energy markets and continued decline in the national housing...
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June 20, 2011
On June 11, Education Secretary Arne Duncan announced that if Congress is unable to pass a comprehensive overhaul of the 2001 No Child Left Behind (NCLB) education law before the beginning of the 2011-12 school year, he would grant states waivers for the law's most burdensome requirements if they agreed to implement a set of reforms. While he has not fully developed the alternative plan, Secretary...
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June 15, 2011
Two newly elected Democratic governors pushed through ambitious legislative agendas in record time, with the support of legislatures controlled by Democrats. Both states took bold steps to jumpstart the economy in their states by passing bills to create jobs and to cut costs. Connecticut passed the biggest tax increase in the state's history, while Vermont passed the nation's first single-payer...
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June 13, 2011
For years, we asserted that New England's struggles with low state fiscal support for higher education stemmed in part from the under-representation of public higher education alums in the region's state legislatures. This week, the national Chronicle of Higher Education published a major review of where state lawmakers went to college. Among the findings: New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts and Rhode...
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June 13, 2011
Landmark College hired Endicott College dean of arts and sciences Peter Eden to be the new president of the Putney, Vt. two-year college for students with learning disabilities, effective July 1.**** The Massachusetts Board of Higher Education approved John O'Donnell as the next president of Massachusetts Bay Community College. O'Donnell, current president of Stark State College in Ohio, will succeed...
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June 13, 2011
Republican senators boycotted a Tuesday hearing of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) which was called to discuss recruiting practices at for-profit colleges. Ranking Member Michael Enzi (R-WY) said in a letter that “until the Majority demonstrates a sincere willingness to hold fair hearings on higher education, we will not participate in any hearings on thi...
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June 13, 2011
NEJHE presents exclusive articles by New England's governors on higher education in their states ... Thanks to our dedicated teachers and committed students, Massachusetts leads the nation in student achievement and classroom innovation. We’ve made education our top priority because it’s the path to a more fulfilling life, a more rewarding career and a richer society. I have personally expe...
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June 9, 2011
While most in the academic community know about the attempt to rein in the for-profits, few are aware of its collateral damage. In October, the Department of Education issued its Program Integrity Rules, intended to protect federal funds especially from those for-profit institutions with high student loan default rates. Well-intentioned though this was, the DOE dropped an inadvertent bombshell: Al...
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June 6, 2011
The Rennie Center for Education Research & Policy and the Massachusetts Business Alliance for Education will hold a forum on "Defining and Assessing College and Career Readiness" on Tuesday June 14, at 8:30 a.m. at the Seaport World Trade Center Boston. "While the goal of the previous Massachusetts State Curriculum Frameworks was to ensure students' proficiency in specific disciplines," says...
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June 6, 2011
On Thursday, the Education Department released the final "gainful employment" rules for vocational schools. In order to qualify for federal financial aid, for-profit and certificate programs will be required to prepare students for gainful employment by meeting one of three requirements: the average annual student loan payment is not more than 30% of a graduate's discretionary income; the average ...
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June 6, 2011
NEJHE presents exclusive articles by New England's governors on higher education in their states ... Last spring, 83% of Maine public high school students who began high school four years earlier received a diploma. About 65% of those graduates likely enrolled in some form of postsecondary education—at a public university, private institution, community college or elsewhere. A 2008 re...
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June 4, 2011
New Hampshire governor and longtime NEBHE delegate and chair, Walter Peterson died at age 88 on Wednesday, June 1. Walter attended William and Mary College and the University of New Hampshire before serving as a naval officer in the Pacific theater of World War II. After the war, he graduated from Dartmouth College. In 1948, with his father and brother, he founded The Petersons Inc. Real Estate...
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June 1, 2011
NEJHE presents exclusive articles by New England's governors on higher education in their states ... Connecticut’s strategy for higher education focuses on one central goal: to increase student success. While other states in New England and beyond are increasing the percentage of adults with degrees, Connecticut’s rate of increase for young adults has dropped to 34th out of 50 states. For a...
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May 31, 2011
On Wednesday, the House Education and Workforce Committee advanced the first bill (H.R. 1891) in a planned series of education reform legislation. Under the bill, which was approved along party lines (23-16), $400 million in funding for over 40 education programs created under the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) would be repealed. Republican supporters of the bill, sponsored by Congr...
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May 27, 2011
New England's governors on strategies for higher education We've invited each of the six New England governors to write short articles for The New England Journal of Higher Education on future challenges facing higher education in their respective states. In June, we'll begin posting each piece by the chief executives in alphabetical order by state, starting with Connecticut Gov. Dannel...
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May 26, 2011
Maguire Associates of Concord, Mass. will hold a free webinar on "Getting Smart with Your Net Price Calculator" on Tuesday, June 7, at 1 p.m. EST. Under the Higher Education Opportunity Act of 2008, Congress mandated that higher education institutions offer the net price calculators (NPCs) to allow prospective students and families to estimate personal out-of-pocket expenses at a particular...
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May 25, 2011
A quarter-million jobs in education are in jeopardy next school year, according to the latest economic impact survey by the American Association of School Administrators (AASA). Two-thirds of U.S. school districts eliminated personnel in the 2010-11 school year, and nearly three-quarters expected to cut more jobs in the 2011-12 school year, according to the Projection of National Education Job Cuts...
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May 23, 2011
On Monday, Sen. Olympia Snowe (R-ME) announced that she and Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) introduced legislation (S. 969) aimed at encouraging and improving science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) education. The bill would provide planning and implementation grants on a competitive basis to help states integrate engineering instruction into K-12 education. Sen. Snowe said in a press rel...
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May 22, 2011
Quality Education as a Constitutional Right: Creating a Grassroots Movement to Transform Public Schools; Theresa Perry, Robert Moses, Lisa Delpit, Ernesto Cortes Jr., Joan T. Wynne, editors; Beacon Press Books; 2010; Paperback $16 Quality Education as a Constitutional Right offers a provocative look at the continued disconnect between the rhetoric of reform and the facts of the real world. Stat...
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May 20, 2011
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...
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May 19, 2011
Should states allow undocumented immigrants to pay in-state tuition at public campuses? If the goal is to increase college enrollment and reduce the number of high school dropouts, the answer is yes, according to a new study by researchers at Roger Williams University's Latino Policy Institute. The study shows in-state tuition would result in a 31% increase in the college-going...
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May 18, 2011
More than 40 Israeli and Palestinian students will learn about entrepreneurship and establish businesses this summer at Babson College and, ideally, bring a spirit of peace and understanding back to their countries. The three-part program will begin with orientation in the Middle East during the last week in May, entrepreneurship education at Babson during July and August, and business launch...
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May 17, 2011
The Nellie Mae Education Foundation (NMEF) awarded one-year grants to seven organizations, schools, and districts across New England as part of the foundation's effort to prepare all learners with the skills and knowledge needed for success in postsecondary education, work and life. Proficiency-Based Pathways allow students to progress toward their goals based on mastery rather than a required number of...
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May 16, 2011
On Friday, Congressman Duncan Hunter (R-CA) introduced the first (H.R. 1891) of a series of education reform bills planned by the House Education and Workforce Committee. Congressman Hunter chairs the Subcommittee on Early Childhood, Elementary, and Secondary Education, and his bill is aimed at reducing wasteful spending in K-12 education. The legislation would eliminate 43 education programs in o...
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May 14, 2011
Hampshire College named sustainability leader Jonathan Lash to be its next president. Lash has been president of the environmental think tank World Resources Institute since 1993. From 1993 to 1999, he was co-chair of the President's Council on Sustainable Development, the group of government, business, labor, civil rights and environmental leaders appointed by President Clinton to develop strategies to promote...
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May 11, 2011
Maine Gov. Paul LePage (R) will deliver the 112th commencement address at his alma mater Husson University on Saturday, May 14, at 10:30 a.m., in the Winkin Sports Complex on Husson's Bangor campus. Husson will hold a second commencement on Saturday, May 21, at 11 a.m., at the Woodfords Corner Congregational Church in Portland, with Rep. Marc Dion (D-Portland) and...
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May 9, 2011
The U.S. Education Department is going ahead with its proposed "gainful employment" rules for for-profit colleges, despite industry advocates calling on Congress and the courts to intervene. Originally scheduled to be issued last September, Education Secretary Arne Duncan delayed the regulations after receiving about 90,000 letters on the issue, most of them in opposition. The most recent version ...
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May 9, 2011
In the context of the recent efforts to arrive at a federal budget, articles abound in the popular media and trade publications debating both the value of Pell Grants and their rising cost to the U.S. government. Both pros and cons of the debate hold value. Pell Grants are what enable many of our low-income families to send their children to college and, when more and more jobs require a minimum ...
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May 7, 2011
Lyndon State College President Carol A. Moore announced her retirement from the college, effective July 1, after 13 yeas in charge of the Lyndonville, Vt. college. A NEBHE delegate since 2002, Moore recently wrote for NEJHE about college retention.**** Former Connecticut state Rep. Cameron Staples, who was House chair of the Education Committee and a longtime NEBHE delegate, was chosen...
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May 6, 2011
Worcester Polytechnic Institute's invitation to ExxonMobil CEO Rex Tillerson to deliver this year's commencement address on May 14, sparked protests from WPI's Students for a Just and Stable Future. The students noted that the world's largest oil company and a major funder of climate deniers has given more than $1.3 million to the school. After WPI President Dennis Berkey's threat...
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May 5, 2011
Looking for a thoughtful recent history of higher education and New England life? Check out our archives of The New England Journal of Higher Education and Connection. Please visit our Journal Archives via the pull-down menu under The Journal. ...
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May 4, 2011
Neurosurgeon Alfredo Quiñones-Hinojosa of the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine will keynote Southern Vermont College's 84th commencement on Saturday, May 7, at 1 p.m. Ethiopian-born, Swedish raised, award-winning chef and food activist Marcus Samuelsson will also address graduates. Oscar-nominated screenwriter and scholar of communications ethics Richard LaGravenese will keynote Emerson College's 131st commencement exercises on Monday, May 16, at 11...
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May 2, 2011
When it comes to creating an international campus, America’s universities are far better at welcoming faculty and students from abroad—and sending students to study abroad—than in truly elevating global consciousness. Simply having foreign individuals on campus doesn’t make global citizens of the rest of us. Exposure is hardly sufficient. Like wallflowers at a dance, there is sadly too lit...
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April 29, 2011
Higher education is no stranger to the quest for prestige. With the increasing pervasiveness of college and university rankings from publications such as U.S. News and World Report, the public has instant access to what is heralded as the best of the best, be it the best college, the best engineering program, and yes, even the best party school. Higher...
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April 29, 2011
There is an exciting new opportunity for universities and colleges to advance the New England economy and at the same time help address environmental concerns. The current snapshot of New England’s economy relative to other areas is favorable. The region suffered less decline during the recent recession than the national average, and the region’s recovery has been stronger than the national...
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April 28, 2011
The Coastal Resources Center and the Fisheries Center at the University of Rhode Island were awarded a five-year, $11.5 million grant from the U.S. Agency for International Development to help the sub-Saharan African country of Senegal promote sustainable fishing. Fishing has been an economic safety net in Senegal, which has created competing interests familiar in some parts of New England....
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April 27, 2011
The world's largest online college fair, CollegeWeekLive, will feature New England Day on Tuesday, May 3. Attendees may log in to chat with admissions representatives from more than 20 local colleges and hear about campus life from students via webcast. All registrants will be eligible for a $5,000 scholarship available. Participants will include the University of Massachusetts, University of Vermont,...
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April 25, 2011
Vermont Gov. Peter Shumlin will deliver the commencement address at Green Mountain College's 174th graduation ceremony on Saturday, May 14, at 10 a.m. on the college's Griswold Library lawn. Boston TV journalist Liz Walker will deliver the commencement address at Regis College on Saturday, May 14, at 10 a.m. in the Tower Gardens. Walmart Foundation President Margaret A. McKenna will...
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April 22, 2011
Governors, Legislators Seek Concessions From Labor Deep Cuts Applied to Higher Education and Scholarship Programs K-12 Treading Water After Losing Stimulus Funds Connecticut Gov. Dannel Malloy's two-year plan to deal with a $3.2 billion deficit (in the first year alone) relies on significant concessions from labor to the tune of $1.5 billion. Unions gave Malloy strong support in his race...
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April 21, 2011
The New York Times and The Chronicle of Higher Education recently collaborated on a piece that investigated the concerns about undergraduate business students' study habits that are highlighted in the popular book Academically Adrift: Limited Learning on College Campuses and elsewhere. Richard Arum and Josipa Roksa, authors of Academically Adrift, claim that business majors had the "weakest gains" in...
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April 20, 2011
The New England Economic Partnership (NEEP) and the Consulate General of Canada in Boston will explore economic connections between Canada and New England at NEEP's Spring Economic Outlook Conference to be held Thursday, May 19, from 8:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston....
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April 20, 2011
MIT will screen 'The Finland Phenomenon: Inside the World's Most Surprising School System' on Thursday, May 5, at the Ray and Maria Stata Center, beginning with a 6 p.m. reception and followed by an 8 p.m. panel discussion with: Massachusetts Secretary of Education Paul Reville, Cambria Managing Director Ellen Kumata, Harvard Graduate School of Education Academic Dean Robert B. Schwartz,...
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April 20, 2011
Author and community organizer Michael Gecan of the Industrial Areas Foundation will deliver the Maine Center for Economic Policy (MECEP) Shepard Lee Lecture on "Building Community Power After America's Midlife Crisis" on Wednesday, May 4, at 5 p.m., at the University of Southern Maine's Wishcamper Center in Portland. Gecan's most recent book, After America's Midlife Crisis (MIT Press 2009) outlines...
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April 18, 2011
Western New England College of Springfield, Mass., was awarded "university" status by the Massachusetts Board of Higher Education and will change its name to Western New England University on July 1, 2011. Why the name change? Western New England will develop a Ph.D. program in Engineering Management to join its existing Ph.D. in Behavior Analysis. But as we noted in...
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April 18, 2011
On Thursday, the House and Senate both passed a fiscal year 2011 budget compromise (H.R. 1473) which would make almost $40 billion in cuts to federal spending. The bill is much more restrained in its cuts to education programs than was the House Republicans’ spending legislation (H.R. 1) which passed the House in February. The Head Start program would receive a small increase over current fu...
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April 14, 2011
Worcester State University trustees voted to recommend Barry Maloney be the university's next president, starting July 1. Maloney, currently vice president for student affairs at Westfield State University, will succeed Janelle Ashley, who will step down at the end of this academic year after 13 years on the job in Worcester. **** Cathy E. Minehan, president and CEO of the...
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April 12, 2011
Since the start of the global financial crisis a little over two years ago, many concerns have been raised on how it might affect funding to higher education and whether or not it might hasten moves toward greater cost sharing. While, globally, some steps have been taken in this direction, in most countries, hard decisions have yet to be taken on this issue. Our inaugural annual survey of global ...
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April 11, 2011
The second edition of the STEM PBL newsletter is available now! The newest issue details the latest in STEM PBL "Challenge" development and field-testing, green-chemistry reports, student learning, dissemination and more! The current goal of STEM PBL is to increase the number of job-ready STEM workers by engaging high school and college students with challenging learning materials and innovative teaching...
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April 11, 2011
Premier of Quebec Jean Charest will keynote Champlain College's 133nd commencement on Saturday, May 7, at 10 a.m. in the college's Memorial Auditorium. Former Vt. Gov. Jim Douglas will speak on behalf of honorary degree recipients during the ceremony. Author and sustainable agriculture activist Gary Paul Nabhan will deliver the commencement address at Maine's Unity College on Saturday, May...
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April 8, 2011
The Saint Joseph College School of Pharmacy was awarded a $10,000 grant from the Walgreens Diversity Scholarship fund to develop programs to promote diversity at the school. Offering a unique three calendar-year doctorate program in pharmacy, the school will welcome its inaugural class this fall in Hartford. It will mark the West Hartford-based Saint Joseph's first campus extension into Connecticut's...
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April 7, 2011
Yale is no stranger to Title IX controversies. In 1976, Women's Crew accused the university of unequally funding its athletic team. One year later, a Title IX suit was brought against the university after four female undergraduates and one male assistant professor alleged that quid pro quo sexual harassment by male professors prohibited women from receiving access to the same...
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April 6, 2011
The University of Maine's state-of-the-art Advanced Structures and Composites Center (AEWC) was awarded the Charles Pankow Award for Innovation by the American Society for Civil Engineering for its whimsically titled "Bridge-in-a-Backpack" technology. The technology allows builders to pack in duffel bags materials used to build arches for bridge spans and carry them to a construction site. They can then build...
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April 5, 2011
To listen as many of us incessantly complain, one would think academe is chronically resistant to change, new ideas and innovative programs. We often hear the smaller the stakes, the greater the petty battles—no opportunity is too minute to stall and impede. Before tenure, junior faculty need to be protected while they build their publications dossier; after tenure, they no longer need to ca...
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April 3, 2011
Middlesex Community College named the library on its Lowell, Mass. campus, for its second president Evan S. Dobelle. Now celebrating its 40th anniversary, MCC is the second largest public two-year college in New England, with 21,000 students. The library named for Dobelle is housed in MCC's F. Bradford Morse Federal Building in the historic mill city. Dobelle was the mayor...
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April 1, 2011
Roger Williams University trustees named scientist and attorney Donald J. Farish, to be the Bristol, R.I. university's 10th president. Farish served 13 years as president of Rowan University in Glassboro, N.J. He will take office at RWU on July 1, succeeding Ronald O. Champagne, who has been interim president since August 2010. **** Cambridge College appointed Deborah Jackson as its...
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March 31, 2011
University of Maine System Chancellor Richard L. Pattenaude emphasized the confluence of economic development and higher education in a joint session of the Maine state Senate and House of Representatives in his "State of the University" biennial address on March 30. 'Historically, higher education has meant personal growth and discovery, creating and preserving knowledge, and helping our students become lifelong...
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March 31, 2011
The New England Board of Higher Education released a policy brief that encourages states to tie a portion of higher education appropriations to institutional outcomes. Currently, New England states tend to apportion institutional funding based on enrollment levels—a practice that rewards quantity, but not necessarily student success and degree attainment. From President Obama to private foundations like Lumina and Gates,...
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March 30, 2011
Bridgewater State University will host a spring forum featuring Neil Donovan, executive director of the National Coalition for the Homeless, on Wednesday, April 6, from 9 a.m. to 3:30 p.m., at the university's Moakley Auditorium. Massachusetts Maritime Academy will host a Sci-Tech Girls Expo featuring Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution CEO Susan Avery on Saturday, April 9, from 8:30 a.m. to...
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March 29, 2011
From academic resources to insurance, NEBHE has been finding economies of scale for more than a half-century. NEBHE recently began offering New England campuses a comprehensive property insurance program tailored specifically to higher education at costs that have consistently been below industry trends. Established in 1994 by the Midwestern Higher Education Compact, this Master Property Program is based on a...
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March 29, 2011
The author, NEBHE consultant and former director of the Caucus of New England State Legislatures Carolyn Morwick, notes that this update on state budgets was accurate as of March 29, but events are changing rapidly in the six state capitals. Connecticut Biennial Budget Gov. Dan Malloy's two-year $40 billion budget calls for $1.5 billion in new taxes, which includes hikes...
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March 25, 2011
In January, we revived the collection of facts and figures called "Data Connection" that we had published quarterly for nearly 20 years in the print editions of The New England Journal of Higher Education. The latest ... Change in Connecticut State University System (CSUS) "administrative and residual" staff, fiscal 2006 to fiscal 2011: -15% Connecticut State University System Change in...
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March 23, 2011
Daniel Mark Fogel announced he would step down as president of the University of Vermont, effective June 30, 2012, after 10 years at the helm of Vermont's land-grant university. In a letter to the UVM community, Fogel cited successful UVM initiatives such as the creation of the Honors College, a six-credit diversity requirement and the UVM Transportation Research Center.****Brown University...
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March 21, 2011
The New England Board of Higher Education held its 9th annual New England Higher Education Excellence Awards Dinner on Friday, March 11, at the Long Wharf Marriott in Boston. But the conversation continued beyond the dinner, thanks to a variety of social media.To track our social media coverage, check out the links below: NEBHE's Twitter page. NEBHE's staff: Check out...
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March 18, 2011
Median faculty pay did not increase this year at public colleges and universities, and inched up just 2% at private institutions, according to a study from the College and University Professional Association for Human Resources (CUPA-HR).The CUPA-HR's annual National Faculty Salary Survey covers more than 800 four-year institutions nationwide and includes salary data from well over 200,000 full-time faculty members...
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March 17, 2011
The New England Council announced a slate of events for spring 2011 … Congressional Roundtable Luncheon with U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) on Monday, March 21, from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m., The Society Room of Hartford, 31 Pratt Street, Hartford, Conn. Congressional Roundtable Breakfast with U.S. Rep. Mike Michaud (D-Maine) on Thursday, March 24, from 8 a.m. to 9:30...
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March 17, 2011
Students who left postsecondary institutions before earning a degree or certificate—and students who attended two-year and for-profit institutions—faced delinquency on their student loans at much higher rates than their peers, according to a new study released by the Washington, D.C.-based Institute for Higher Education Policy (IHEP). Delinquency: The Untold Story of Student Loan Borrowing, by Alisa F. Cunningham and Gregory...
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March 15, 2011
University of Maine System trustees approved Chancellor Richard Pattenaude's recommendation of Paul Ferguson as the next president of UMaine, the state's flagship and land-grant university in Orono. Currently provost and vice chancellor for academic affairs at Southern Illinois University in Edwardsville, Ferguson will succeed Robert Kennedy at Orono on July 1. UMaine noted that the president's salary of $270,000 is...
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March 14, 2011
Following last week's 8.9 magnitude earthquake off Northeastern Japan, continuing aftershocks and a massive tsunami, colleges and universities are keeping a close eye on that part of the world. Below are some updates from New England institutions. Boston University's Daily Free Press reports BU students in Tokyo O.K. 19 Yale Students Safe in Tokyo, reports The New Haven Register WTNH...
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March 14, 2011
More than 300 Southeastern Massachusetts secondary and postsecondary faculty and administrators are expected to discuss the high school-to-college transition and building a better-aligned P-20 curriculum at a conference on 'Pathways to College Readiness and College Success,' to be held Wednesday, April 13, from 8 a.m. to 3:30 p.m., at the Indian Pond Country Club in Kingston, Mass.Attendees at the free...
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March 10, 2011
New England universities performed more than $4 billion worth of research and development in 2009, but the region’s share of total R&D performed by all U.S. universities remained at 7.3%, down from more than 10% in the 1980s.The region's university research labs have been world-famous for ideas that breed companies and whole industries in fields ranging from biotechnology to photonic...
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March 7, 2011
NEBHE will hold its 9th annual New England Higher Education Excellence Awards Dinner on Friday, March 11, at 6:30 p.m., at the Marriott Long Wharf Hotel in Boston. Join NEBHE and hundreds of New England's business, education, government and nonprofit leaders to celebrate the best in New England higher education! Awardees will include: The Hon. Patrick J. Leahy, U.S. Senator,...
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March 4, 2011
Citing the 'new normal' and impending budget cuts, U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan urged state leaders to boost student achievement despite dwindling resources."There is a right way and a wrong way to cut spending, and the most important guiding principle I can offer is to minimize the negative impact on students and seize this opportunity to redirect your spending priorities,"...
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March 3, 2011
Massachusetts College of Art and Design named Dawn Barrett to be its next president, succeeding Kay Sloan, who will retire after 15 years as president. Barrett is currently dean of the Architecture and Design Division at Rhode Island School of Design. MassArt trustees named Sloan president emerita. She created The New Partnership for MassArt, a pioneering financial and governance model...
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March 1, 2011
NEBHE will host its 9th annual Excellence Awards celebration at the Marriott Long Wharf Hotel in Boston on Friday, March 11. But the conversation has already started thanks to a variety of social media, creating a digital time line that includes information leading up to, during and after the event.To track our social media coverage, check out the links below:...
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March 1, 2011
NEBHE launched the first phase of its college-completion project, New England 2025.Supported with a Lumina Foundation grant and the National Center for Higher Education Management Systems, NEBHE's Department of Policy and Research built a series of state-level "dashboards" and models that can examine college completion and various metrics with new levels of sophistication.These models allow decision-makers and users to take...
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February 28, 2011
It's happening again: New England colleges and universities are assembling the academics, business gurus, heads of state and, of course, celebs, who make the region's spring college commencements the world's best regional lecture series. Some stars of this year's commencement season so far (in order of appearance) ...****Marc A. Nivet, the chief diversity officer at the Association of American Medical...
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February 25, 2011
In September 2006, Harvard made the decision to end early admissions. Early admissions takes on two forms: early action and early decision. What Harvard had in place was non-binding early action, meaning that a student applies before the regular deadline—in early November—and has until admissions decisions come back from other schools before deciding where to attend.Early decision, on the other...
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February 22, 2011
Complete College America launched the Completion Innovation Challenge, a $10 million competitive grant program for states to significantly boost college completion and close attainment gaps for traditionally underrepresented populations.A national organization whose mission is to work with states to increase the number of Americans with college degrees or certificates of workplace value, Complete College America established the grant program with...
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February 22, 2011
Book Review MacroWikinomics: Rebooting Business and the World; Don Tapscott and Anthony D. Williams; Portfolio/Penguin 2010; $27.95 Reviewed by Alan R. Earls. In a recent check of Google search term rankings, the term “wiki” garnered more than 100 million inquires over the prior 30 days. Presumably, some portion of that traffic was generated by those seeking for MacroWikinomics or its...
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February 19, 2011
The National Farm-to-School Network was awarded a $250,000 U.S. Department of Agriculture Cooperative Agreement Contract to expand farm-to-institution work throughout the six New England states.Demand for fresh local food has been rising not only from schools but also from colleges and hospitals as people seek healthy foods while supporting local farmers and reducing the environmental impacts of shipping foods long...
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February 15, 2011
A new literary genre seems to be booming—book-length critiques on the state of American higher education. While a few celebrate American exceptionalism, most lament the decline of higher learning. Whether exuberant or depressed, their tone is rarely tempered. The authors’ demographics suggest why—they are generally at the twilight of their own academic careers, taking one last shot at the st...
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February 12, 2011
Findings presented in the latest issue of Postsecondary Education Opportunity put a new twist on the adage 'the harder you work, the luckier you get.' In fact, it may be true that the older you are, the harder you work.The latest issue of the data-rich newsletter published monthly by higher education analyst Thomas G. Mortenson and his colleagues explores 'Time...
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February 11, 2011
The annual Horizons report by Educause and The New Media Consortium has a pretty good track record identifying technologies that will have a significant impact on education. For example, the 2006 report cited social computing such as Wikipedia, Skype and internet tagging to be technologies that would soon have an immediate impact.So what does the 2011 Horizon Report see as...
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February 11, 2011
Northeastern University Center for Labor Market Studies associate director Paul E. Harrington moved to Philadelphia-based Drexel University. Harrington has been a frequent contributor to NEJHE and to NEBHE events****Joseph M. O'Keefe, S.J., will also leave leave Boston for Philly, departing as dean of Boston College's Lynch School of Education to become the 27th president of Saint Joseph's University, starting May...
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February 8, 2011
Over the past decade, policymakers and business leaders across New England have been concerned that the region’s slower population growth and loss of residents to other parts of the country will lead to a shortage of skilled labor—particularly when the baby boom generation retires. Prior to the Great Recession, the concern was that an inadequate supply of skilled workers would ham...
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February 5, 2011
In a recent article in Inside Higher Education, transfer expert Marc Cutright of the University of North Texas writes about the growing importance that four-year colleges and universities should place on students transferring from community college. Public colleges, led by community colleges, grant more than a half million associate degrees annually and the number grew by 27% over a decade....
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February 4, 2011
Rev. Michael C. McFarland, S.J., announced he will be step down as the 31st president of the College of the Holy Cross once a successor is in place.A computer scientist with an interest in the intersection of technology and ethics, McFarland was named president of the Worcester, Mass., Jesuit college in 2000. Before that, he served as dean of the...
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February 3, 2011
The University of Rhode Island's Graduate School of Oceanography will host an eight-part lecture series on the ocean environment, including discussions of ocean exploration, threatened habitats, ocean policy, climate change, and oceans and human health.The free public lectures will be held Tuesdays at 7:30 p.m. in Edwards Auditorium on URI's Kingston campus.The first lecture, to be held on Feb. 8,...
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February 2, 2011
"Making higher education more affordable" tops the list of solutions that the public believes would help people become more economically secure, according to a new Public Agenda survey, "Slip-Sliding Away: An Anxious Public Talks about Today's Economy and the American Dream."The New York City-based Public Agenda finds four in 10 Americans are struggling to pay bills and worried about maintaining...
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February 1, 2011
"Science courses belong in the liberal arts curriculum for the benefit of both science and non-science majors." That's one of the main findings in a study released by the Cambridge, Mass.-based American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Science and the Educated American: A Core Component of Liberal Education warns that the pace of scientific and technological change means all adults...
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January 28, 2011
The National Association of State Procurement Officials (NASPO) will hold its "2011 How to Market to State Governments Meeting" at Boston's Marriott Copley Place from Sunday, April 3, through Tuesday, April 5.Noting that the U.S. elected 26 new governors this past fall, 15 of whom reflect a change in political party, NASPO plans one session to provide the audience insight...
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January 28, 2011
The Maine Center for Economic Policy (MCEP) will hold its 10th State Tax & Budget Conference on Monday, Feb. 14 at the Augusta Civic CenterFeatured speakers will include Sawin Millett, commissioner of the Maine Department of Administrative and Financial Services. Millett will make a presentation on the proposed biennial budget, which is scheduled for release in early February.Other scheduled speakers...
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January 26, 2011
The College Board's Advanced Placement (AP) exams, often preceded by AP courses, have a reputation for spitting out an overwhelming amount of information, but that is about to change. The nonprofit, which also administers the SATs, says it will revamp the biology and U.S. history tests to give students the opportunity to learn the materials, rather than cram for the...
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January 25, 2011
For more than half a century, NEBHE has been publishing tables and charts exploring "Trends & Indicators" in New England’s demography, high school performance and graduation, college enrollment, college graduation rates and degree production, higher education financing and university research.Our printed compendium richly juxtaposed 60-plus figures on state, regional, national and global...