March 4, 2019
DC Shuttle ... Murray Speaks About Higher Education Act Reauthorization. U.S. Sen. Patty Murray (D-WA), the ranking member of the Health, Education, Labor & Pensions (HELP) Committee, spoke at the Center for American Progress on her vision for the Higher Education Act (HEA). Murray, who confirmed that she is beginning negotiations of the reauthorization with HELP Chair Sen. Lamar Alexander,...
February 27, 2019
Editor's Note: New England and the nation have long suffered from an underrepresentation of women and people of color in higher elected offices. In the 2018 midterms, that began to change. Below, Carolyn Morwick, director of government and community relations at NEBHE and former director of the Caucus of New England State Legislatures, takes a state-by-state look at New England elections and s...
February 27, 2019
The Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement at Tufts University estimated 31% turnout among 18- to 29-year-olds voting in the fall midterm elections—the highest youth vote in the past quarter century. NEBHE, meanwhile, has been fortunate to work with three 2018 NEBHE policy interns, all of whom are graduate students at Harvard Graduate School of Education—and...
February 27, 2019
Connecticut Democratic Gov. Ned Lamont delivered a two-year budget plan of $43.1 billion to lawmakers, emphasizing that the state’s crushing fixed costs relative to its pension funds must be addressed. To accomplish this, he proposed restructuring, refinancing the systems’ payments and slowing the rate of increase in the teachers’ pension fund and the state employee pension fund, both of ...
February 26, 2019
Speak Spanish? Our Tuition Break web pages now have information in Spanish! NEBHE's Tuition Break, the Regional Student Program (RSP) has been helping New England students and families access academic programs out of state at reduced tuition for more than 60 years. In recognition of the region's growing Hispanic population and advice that those families could benefit from accessing college...
February 26, 2019
Kolenbrander Comings and Goings ... Chemist and longtime MIT Vice President Kirk Kolenbrander announced he will leave MIT in March to join Southern New Hampshire University (SNHU), where he will lead development of SNHU’s College of Engineering, Technology and Aeronautics. Tufts University tapped Northeastern University College of Engineering dean Nadine Aubry to be its next provost and senior vice president,...
February 19, 2019
DC Shuttle ... House Hearing on Education Infrastructure and Teacher Pay. The U.S. House Education and Labor Committee held a hearing focused on teacher pay and school infrastructure. At the hearing, lawmakers highlighted teacher protests happening across the country. House Democrats also pushed for their school infrastructure bill. Chair Bobby Scott (D-VA) called for increasing federal spending on public schools...
February 19, 2019
Ioannis Miaoulis Comings and Goings ... Roger Williams University named former Tufts University professor and director of Boston’s Museum of Science Ioannis Miaoulis as its new president, succeeding Donald J. Farish, who died in July 2018. UMass Dartmouth appointed Rhode Island College CFO David A. Gingerella to be its vice chancellor of administration and finance. Bunker Hill Community College appointed...
February 19, 2019
Significant demographic changes to college enrollment projected over the next decade mean colleges and universities need to find new ways to drive down costs as they reconfigure their approach to attracting students and generating new revenue. Drawing students from the traditional, now-dwindling applicant pool who are not keen on loading up on loan debt is one of higher education’s growing chall...
February 13, 2019
Change in U.S. college enrollments in languages other than English from fall 2013 to fall 2016: -9.2% Modern Language Association Number of foreign-language programs that colleges closed during that period: 651 Modern Language Association Rank of American Sign Language among most popular "foreign-language" majors for bachelor's-degree recipients: 7th Chronicle of Higher Education analysis of U.S. Department of Education data Percentage...
February 12, 2019
Katsouleas Comings and Goings ... The University of Connecticut Board of Trustees appointed University of Virginia Provost and Executive Vice President Thomas C. Katsouleas to be UConn’s 16th president, effective Aug. 1. The University of Vermont announced Suresh Garimella, executive vice president for research and partnerships at Purdue University in Indiana, as the “sole finalist” to succeed outgoing president Thomas...
February 11, 2019
DC Shuttle ... Alexander Outlines HEA Plans. U.S. Sen. Lamar Alexander gave a speech at the American Enterprise Institute to discuss his outlook for the Higher Education Act (HEA). Alexander previewed his intentions for the work of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee, which he chairs, and said he intends to work on reauthorization of the HEA....
February 6, 2019
Shutterstock.com DC Shuttle ... House Ed Committee Meets to Organize Work Agenda. The U.S. House Committee on Education and Labor held an organizational markup to appoint Democratic and Republican members to Subcommittees for the 116th Congress. During the meeting, Committee Democrats announced the first four hearing topics planned for the 116th Congress: protecting workers with pre-existing conditions; gradually raising the...
February 6, 2019
A review of The New Education: How to Revolutionize the University to Prepare Students for a World in Flux, by Cathy N. Davidson (New York, Basic Books, 2017); a summary of the recent announcements of a major restructuring of MIT, and a synthesis of other relevant developments. It is increasingly obvious that we are living in one of the greatest ages of paradigm-shifts in Western history, compa...
January 28, 2019
DC Shuttle ... New Republican Members Named to U.S. House Education Committee. Ranking Member Virginia Foxx (R-NC) announced the lineup of Republicans on the House Education and Labor Committee for the 116th Congress. The list includes 10 new Republicans: Mark Walker (NC), James Comer (KY), Russ Fulcher (ID), Van Taylor (TX), Steve Watkins (KS), Ron Wright (TX), Dan Meuser (PA),...
January 22, 2019
DC Shuttle ... New Democratic Members of House Education Committee Announced. U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi announced that Democrats selected 14 new members of the House Committee on Education and Labor. The new members are Josh Harder (D-CA), Jahana Hayes (D-CT), Pramila Jayapal (D-WA), Susie Lee (D-NV), Andy Levin (D-MI), Lucy McBath (D-GA), Joseph D. Morelle (D-NY), Ilhan Omar (D-MN),...
January 22, 2019
Comings and Goings ... Levinson The Connecticut State Colleges and Universities system announced that David Levinson will retire from his positions as president of Norwalk Community College and vice president of community colleges for the system on June 30. He will serve as Presidential Fellow from July 1 to June 30, 2020. NEBHE honored Levinson's accomplishments with a 2018 Excellence...
January 18, 2019
New England faces a concerning dip in its higher education enrollment, due in significant part to declines in the region’s birth and high school graduation rates that are both projected to continue through 2029. Despite these trends, New England’s postsecondary institutions continue to attract a large number of international students to the region, according to the 2018 Open Doors report relea...
January 15, 2019
Comings and Goings ... Phillip Clay Phillip L. Clay, professor emeritus of city planning at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, became chair of the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston for 2019, and Brown University President Christina Hull Paxson became deputy chair. The Massachusetts Business Alliance for Education named Edward Lambert Jr., former Fall River, Mass., mayor and vice chancellor for...
January 15, 2019
The earnings advantages to adults with more schooling are well-documented. High school graduates typically have higher earnings than high school dropouts, and those with a bachelor’s degree have higher earnings than both groups. Furthermore, as the job content of the nation’s economy has shifted in a way that generally favors those with more schooling, these earnings gaps between those with mo...
January 14, 2019
DC Shuttle ... Trump Administration Releases Draft of Regulation Overhaul. The Trump administration released a draft of a sweeping plan to overhaul a wide range of higher education regulations. Negotiations over the proposal were set to begin Monday, Jan. 14. The U.S. Education Department selected 15 people to serve on the rulemaking committee, as well as dozens of additional, non-voting...
January 8, 2019
Comings and Goings ... Newly elected Connecticut Gov. Ned Lamont nominated state Sen. Beth Bye, D-West Hartford, current co-chair of the Legislature’s Education Committee and NEBHE delegate, to lead the state Office of Early Childhood. Lamont also nominated state Sen. Tim Larson, executive director of Tweed New Haven-Regional Airport, to lead the state Office of Higher Education, which administers state...
January 7, 2019
America’s university population peaked in 2010 at about 21 million students. We would be mired in a nationwide enrollment crisis if not for two major decade-long trends that cushioned a fall: students enrolling exclusively online and those relocating here from abroad to study. These, combined, now comprise almost a quarter of the nation’s students. Because these two mitigating factors do not b...
January 1, 2019
Page Comings and Goings ... University of Maine System Chancellor James Page announced he plans to retire from the post at the end of the current academic year in 2019, seven years after becoming the first Maine native and university system alumnus to lead the system. As chancellor, he has led investment in academic programs to meet the state’s need...
January 1, 2019
Community colleges offer an important pathway to the middle class. However, many students fall off the path along the way; almost half of students drop out and only 38% complete a degree within eight years, according to an analysis by Preston Cooper of the American Enterprise Institute. These statistics are even worse for at-risk, minority and first-time students. Effective student support service...
December 19, 2018
Comings and Goings ... Spinelli Babson College’s Board of Trustees named former Philadelphia University president and Jiffy Lube co-founder Stephen Spinelli Jr. to be the 14th president of the private Massachusetts business college where he earned an MBA and served as professor and administrator, including as vice provost for entrepreneurship and global management. He will succeed Kerry Healey, who announced...
December 19, 2018
NEBHE’s Policy & Research Team has been on the road this fall sharing current work and gathering valuable insights on these projects from our New England higher education colleagues. Here are just a few of our stops … Street creds? On Oct. 24, Candace Williams, director for strategic initiatives, and Stafford Peat, senior consultant, engaged a full house of online...
December 19, 2018
From time to time, we revive 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 (formerly Connection). The latest … Estimated percentage of children in Cambridge, Mass., who have at least one foreign-born parent: 40% Cambridge Community Foundation Number...
December 17, 2018
DC Shuttle ... Education Department Announces Cancellation of Debt for Students of Closed Colleges. The U.S. Department of Education announced that it plans to expunge the federal student loans of borrowers whose colleges closed while they were attending. The department said it will cancel the loans of about 15,000 borrowers who qualified for loan discharges, but who haven't yet applied....
December 12, 2018
Raimondo Comings and Goings ... Rhode Island Gov. Gina Raimondo, who chaired NEBHE's Commission on Higher Education & Employability, was elected chair of the Democratic Governors Association. New Hampshire state Sen. Lou D'Allesandro, a former NEBHE delegate and chair, was elected national chair of the Council of State Governments. D'Allesandro has authored NEJHE articles on topics ranging from state funding...
December 10, 2018
DC Shuttle ... School Nutrition Rules Released. The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) released a final rule on school nutrition, relaxing some requirements put in under the last administration. Schools in the national school lunch and breakfast programs will be allowed to serve flavored, low-fat milk, which is prohibited under existing standards. The requirement for the portion of grains that...
December 10, 2018
New England colleges and universities are often presented as a source of economic advantage in the New England states for providing a strong talent pool for regional employers. Yet, many state officials and others are questioning the efficacy of colleges and universities in serving regional labor market needs, as employers across New England are currently experiencing pronounced shortages of skill...
December 4, 2018
The students who walk into the office of Jaydeen Santos at the University of Vermont are burdened by a familiar litany of troubles. They feel isolated. Homesick. Overwhelmed by classes. Unsure where to turn. Santos, the student services advisor at UVM’s Mosaic Center for Students of Color, knows just how they feel. Because 17 years ago, she was right there with them, among the first stud...
December 3, 2018
Begin the application process for the 2019-20 scholarship now! The New England Board of Higher Education is pleased to announce the NEBHE-Chinese Government Scholarship, a timely opportunity for New England college and university students. Through NEBHE, qualified New England students may be eligible to study at a Chinese university and receive a full scholarship. The scholarships are provided by the...
December 3, 2018
DC Shuttle ... Senate HELP Approves Ed Nominee on Party Line Vote. The Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee approved Robert L. King to be the U.S. assistant secretary of postsecondary education. The committee approved four education and labor nominations, despite objections from Democrats about a lack of hearings for nominees they considered controversial. The committee's Democrats wrote...
November 28, 2018
With votes still being counted and recounted and candidates already pondering their next campaigns, the 2018 midterm elections have left an indelible mark on New England and its representation in Washington, D.C. New Hampshire voters elected at least 42 state representatives under age 40 to the state's 400-member House of Representatives—the third largest legislative body in the English-speaking world. They...
November 27, 2018
Mahoney Comings and Goings ... Mary Ellen Mahoney, who recently served as executive director of graduate and extended studies programs at St. Joseph’s University, in Philadelphia, was named dean of Becker College’s School of Graduate & Professional Studies. Ben Barnes, formerly Connecticut Gov. Dannel P. Malloy’s secretary of policy and management, was named CFO of the Connecticut State Colleges and...
November 26, 2018
When teaching Political Philosophy to high school juniors in New York City, I would spend evening hours pondering John Stuart Mill’s treatise On Liberty, asking myself how to help students through the difficult syntax and even more difficult ideas. Often, students would say at the outset that they agreed with Mill, but when I pressed them further, I found more differences of thought. Indeed, the...
November 20, 2018
The University of Maine System (UMS) will participate in the High Value Credentials for New England (HVCNE) initiative, a project launched earlier this year by the New England Board of Higher Education (NEBHE) and Credential Engine with support from the Lumina Foundation. UMS is the second higher education system to join HVCNE. Dedicated to creating credential transparency and revealing the...
November 19, 2018
DC Shuttle ... Administration Releases Rewrite of Sexual Assault Rule. The Trump administration unveiled its proposed overhaul of rules for schools handling allegations of sexual harassment and assault. The long-awaited proposal gathered quick response. Education Secretary Betsy DeVos's decision to write new regulations under Title IX had been controversial. The new rules more narrowly define sexual harassment, let schools use...
November 19, 2018
New Hampshire is known not only for its rugged mountains, rocky 19-mile shoreline, one of the largest legislative bodies in the world and its in-your-face Live Free or Die license plate motto. It is also home to the first-in-the-nation presidential primary, the Free State Movement, more voters who register as “unaffiliated” (independent) than either Republican or Democrat, one of the highe...
November 13, 2018
Michelau Comings and Goings ... The Western Interstate Commission for Higher Education (WICHE) appointed Demarée Michelau to be president of the regional interstate higher education compact, serving 16 Western members, including U.S. states, territories, and freely associated states and their 80 million residents. She joins recently named Midwestern Higher Education Compact (MHEC) President Susan Heegaard as the second woman to...
November 9, 2018
Tuition and fees across New England have risen by 16% ($734) at community colleges and 10% ($1,001) at four-year public institutions since 2012-13, according to NEBHE’s 2017-18 Tuition and Fees Report. The report, published annually by NEBHE's Policy & Research team, takes an in-depth look at the tuition and required fees published by public two- and four-year postsecondary institutions across...
November 6, 2018
In 2018, like in the past 17 years, the U.S. Department of State and the U.S. Department of Education have designated one week in the fall “to celebrate the benefits of international education and exchanges worldwide.” With this year’s International Education Week upon us November 12-18, we must ask which international education benefits we are celebrating. The very policies of this administ...
October 31, 2018
From time to time, we revive 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 (formerly Connection). The latest ... Percentage of 18-24-year-olds who attended a political demonstration or march in 2016: 5% Center for Information and Research on...
October 30, 2018
Spellings Comings and Goings ... Former U.S. Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings will step down as president of the 17-campus University of North Carolina System on March 1, 2019, only three years into her five-year contract. Spellings wrote for NEJHE (then called Connection) about the national Commission on the Future of Higher Education, which she led as education secretary. The...
October 25, 2018
NEBHE convened its Annual Fall Board Meeting near Lake Winnipesaukee in New Hampshire in September on the overarching themes of “Tradition, Transition and Transformation: Sustaining New England’s Higher Education Industry and Advantage.” Over two days, NEBHE delegates explored the impact of changing demography, declining enrollments and opportunities for “demand cultivation” and strat...
October 19, 2018
The future looks very bleak for many small and medium-sized colleges and universities in the U.S. According to a report published in Inside Higher Education, the high school graduation rate is expected to drop over the next seven years, and the numbers are aggravated by up to 4.5 million fewer babies being born since the financial crisis of 2008. U.S. colleges and universities can no longer mee...
October 16, 2018
DiSalvo Comings and Goings ... Steven R. DiSalvo announced he will step down as president of Saint Anselm College on June 30, 2019 after six years in charge. DiSalvo wrote for NEJHE on Higher Education Affordability: Two Approaches. Rick Lord announced he plans to retire next year as president of Associated Industries of Massachusetts, the business group he has led...
October 15, 2018
DC Shuttle ... Borrower Defense Will Go Into Effect. The U.S. Department of Education said it would not seek further delay of borrower defense to repayment regulations, Inside Higher Ed reports. A federal judge's ruling that struck down the Trump administration's delay of Obama-era student loan regulations took effect Friday. Administration Announces Accreditation and Innovation Panel. The Trump administration announced...
October 12, 2018
The events surrounding Brett Kavanaugh's confirmation to the Supreme Court will have an effect of college campuses—and not just in the near term. This is not a political statement. It is a statement about reality. Campuses will be brimming over with concerns about how people treat each other, how people engage with each other, how people of different views can respond to each other and how we fo...
October 9, 2018
Malloy Comings and Goings ... When his eight years as governor of Connecticut end in January 2019, Dannel P. Malloy will serve as a visiting law professor at Boston College, his alma mater. Malloy announced he would not seek reelection in 2018. He wrote for NEJHE on The Future of Higher Education in Connecticut and was a key speaker at...
October 9, 2018
DC Shuttle ... Reports of Proposed Plan to Limit Chinese Students. Reports last week indicated that earlier this year, the White House considered eliminating student visas for Chinese students. According to the reports, advisers encouraged President Donald Trump to stop providing student visas to Chinese nationals, but the proposal was shelved over concerns about its economic and diplomatic impact. The...
October 9, 2018
As we see more U.S. higher education institutions dropping their humanities majors, we also read about the need for academia to actively defend the humanities. A number of colleges, including my own, are linking humanities and liberal arts majors with career-preparation programs. Some welcome this trend. Others view it as another reason to defend the traditional teachings of humanities in an era o...
October 3, 2018
Comings and Goings ... Busteed Brandon Busteed, head of education and workforce development at Gallup for the past seven years, joined Kaplan Inc. in the new role of President, University Partners, Kaplan North America. He will oversee Kaplan’s university partnerships, leveraging assets from across the company’s education offerings, including: international student recruiting, pathway programs, student residence development, online programs, test...
October 3, 2018
From time to time, we revive 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 (formerly Connection). The latest ... Inflation-adjusted increase in household incomes for the bottom quarter of Maine workers between 2016 and 2017 after the state's...
October 2, 2018
The Maine Community College System (MCCS) will participate in the High Value Credentials for New England (HVCNE) initiative, a project recently launched by the New England Board of Higher Education (NEBHE) and Credential Engine with support from the Lumina Foundation. Dedicated to creating credential transparency and revealing the credential marketplace, Credential Engine provides a common language to describe credentials, a...
October 1, 2018
DC Shuttle ... Gainful Employment On Hold? U.S. District Judge Randolph Moss issued a ruling striking down the Trump administration's delay of implementation of gainful employment rules. He ruled that the U.S. Department of Education had no argument not to implement the rules as scheduled. He put this ruling on hold for 30 days and said the extra time would...
September 25, 2018
Gordon Comings and Goings ... Subira Gordon, the former executive director of the Connecticut General Assembly's Commission on Equity and Opportunity, was named executive director of ConnCAN, succeeding Jennifer Alexander as the leader of the nonprofit education advocacy group, which was founded in 2005 as the Connecticut Coalition for Achievement Now. Noonan Massachusetts Business Alliance for Education Executive Director Linda...
September 24, 2018
DC Shuttle ... Loan Forgiveness Data. The U.S. Department of Education released new data on public student loan forgiveness. The report shows that of the more than 28,000 borrowers who submitted applications under the federal public service loan forgiveness program, only 96 had their loans discharged as of the end of June, the data shows. The loan forgiveness for those...
September 24, 2018
Benchmarking higher education with the values, culture and service design of the world's most successful furniture company ... As a professor of entrepreneurship and management, who received his master’s and doctoral degrees in Northern Europe, I often come to think of IKEA as one of the most mission- and value-driven examples of disrupting an industry and the way people live globally today. ...
September 17, 2018
DC Shuttle ... Judge Rules Against ED on Gainful Employment. A federal judge ruled against the U.S. Department of Education in a case regarding gainful employment regulations. The judge ruled that the department's various delays of regulations governing loan forgiveness for defrauded borrowers were illegal, Forbes reports. The ruling challenges Education Secretary Betsy DeVos's efforts to overturn the policy, which...
September 12, 2018
Heegaard Comings and Goings ... The Midwestern Higher Education Compact (MHEC) named Susan Heegaard as its president-elect. Currently a senior consultant for HCM Strategists and the Lumina Foundation Strategy Labs, the former commissioner/director of the Minnesota Office of Higher Education will become the first woman to lead one of the U.S. interstate higher education compacts. Babson College named artist and...
September 10, 2018
DC Shuttle ... U.S. House Passes Loan Counseling Legislation. The House passed legislation, the Empowering Students Through Enhanced Financial Counseling Act, which would require in-person or online counseling before students accept federal student loans or Pell Grants. The bipartisan bill (H.R. 1635) had passed the House twice before, in 2014 and 2015, and was passed this time by a vote of...
September 10, 2018
Investing in higher education today is an important decision for any family to consider. The media is rife with stories about the value of higher education, the return on investment and the significance of certain majors in today’s economy. Coincidentally, there is also extensive discussion around employer expectations of how colleges and universities are preparing the future workforce. Employer...
September 4, 2018
DC Shuttle ... Student Loan Ombudsman Resigns Over Policy Differences. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's Student Loan Ombudsman Seth Frotman resigned, citing political differences at the agency under Acting Director Mick Mulvaney. In a resignation letter addressed to Mulvaney, Frotman said his resignation was effective Sept. 1, adding "Unfortunately, under your leadership, the Bureau has abandoned the very consumers it...
September 4, 2018
Addy Comings and Goings ... The board of trustees of the Community College System of NH (CCSNH) appointed Cathryn Addy as interim president of NHTI, Concord's Community College, for the duration of the academic year, Sept. 10, 2018 to May 2019, while the system searches for a successor. Addy is president emeritus of Tunxis Community College, the Farmington, Conn., community...
August 28, 2018
Brennan Comings and Goings ... Susan Brennan left Bentley University where she was associate VP for career services to become assistant dean of career development at MIT Sloan School of Management. Brennan served as co-chair of NEBHE's Commission on Higher Education & Employability and authored a key article on career services for NEJHE. Brown University named Jennifer Hunter its first-ever...
August 28, 2018
These are very tumultuous times in higher education. Unprecedented numbers of institutions are facing closure, and quite a few are unsure how to proceed. Added to institutional pressures are issues around the ever-rising price of the college degree, and the overwhelming question as to the value of the degree, especially given the amount of debt that many students go into to finance their education...
August 27, 2018
Higher education students in the U.S. have been transferring at record levels. Today, more than two-thirds who earn bachelor's degrees from four-year institutions have changed colleges at least once, according to the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center. However, the U.S. Department of Education reported in 2015 that on average, students who transfer lose 13 credits already earned and paid for....
August 27, 2018
DC Shuttle ... Senate Passes Education Funding. The U.S. Senate voted 85 to 7 to pass an $857 billion spending package to fund two-thirds of government operations. The legislation (H.R. 6157) would boost funding for the Education Department by $541 million to $71.4 billion, while rejecting many of the education cuts sought by President Donald Trump. The Senate adopted a...
August 20, 2018
DC Shuttle ... U.S. Senate Debates Education Appropriations with Focus on Pell Funds. The Senate began debate on an $857 billion spending bill for the departments of Defense, Labor, Health and Human Services, as well as Education and other agencies. It is the first time education appropriations had been debated on the Senate floor since 2007 and the amendment process...
August 20, 2018
Today, many higher education institutions are faced with declining enrollment, increasing tuitions and calls to infuse their degree tracks with more practical experiences for students, leading more directly to meaningful careers. At the same time, college students are searching for programs offering practical, academically rigorous work-related experiences that tie into their social consciousness ...
August 14, 2018
Rushlow Comings and Goings ... Vermont Law School announced that Conservation Law Foundation senior attorney Jennifer Rushlow will direct the South Royalton school's Environmental Law Center. She'll succeed David Mears, the former commissioner of Vermont's Department of Environmental Conservation, who announced in June he will leaving the post. Facing a budget deficit estimated around $1 million, the school recently revoked...
August 14, 2018
The New England Board of Higher Education (NEBHE) is pleased to announce awarding of six NEBHE-Chinese Government Scholarships for the program's inaugural 2018-19 academic year. Through the generosity of the Chinese government, this scholarship offers qualified New England students the opportunity to study at Chinese universities with a full scholarship. After a competitive awarding process, six New England students have...
August 10, 2018
Another women’s conference? Those three words haunted our Alumni Relations team’s discussions last summer as we considered which programs to fund for MIT alumni in the year ahead. The MIT Alumni Association had produced or sponsored a series of women’s conferences over the years. Was it the right time for another one? Even simply by event-planning standards, things in 2017 were differe...
August 7, 2018
Sullivan Comings and Goings ... University of Vermont President Tom Sullivan announced he will step down in summer 2019 after leading UVM for seven years. Before joining UVM, he served eight years as senior vice president for academic affairs and provost at the University of Minnesota. An attorney by training, Sullivan has published extensively on antitrust law, including a NEJHE...
August 7, 2018
Over the past year, an increasing number of students have come forward to speak out against school violence. And there has been increased attention placed on helping students seeking support if an incident occurs and exercising their right to speak out against those who may perpetuate such behaviors. With high-profile cases of sexual assault, such as Brock Turner from Stanford University in 2015 a...
August 6, 2018
DC Shuttle ... NEBHE, NEC Leaders Pen Talent Pipeline Op-Ed. New England Council President Jim Brett joined New England Board of Higher Education (NEBHE) President Michael K. Thomas to author an op-ed on developing a regional talent pipeline. Brett is a member of NEBHE's Commission on Higher Education & Employability. The commission recently released an 18-point strategy to increase the...
August 6, 2018
NEBHE is pleased to welcome Stephanie Miranda Murphy as its new policy research analyst. She joins NEBHE from the James B. Hunt Jr. Institute for Educational Leadership and Policy in Durham, N.C., where she supported research on key issues and challenges in K-12 education, higher education, educational governing structures and public policy. Murphy is pursuing a doctorate in political science...
July 31, 2018
Levine Comings and Goings ... Arthur Levine he will step down as president of the Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship Foundation in July 2019. Among other accomplishments at the foundation, he worked with MIT to create a cutting-edge graduate school of education called the Woodrow Wilson Academy of Teaching and Learning. Levine previously served as president and professor of education at...
July 31, 2018
It’s an unpleasant reality, but also an inevitable one: Technology will cause harm. And when it does, whom should we hold responsible? The person operating it at the time? The person who wrote the program or assembled the machine? The manager, board or CEO that decided to manufacture the machine? The marketer who presented the technology as safe and reliable? The politician who helped pass legi...
July 30, 2018
DC Shuttle ... Education Department to Repeal Gainful Employment Regulation. The U.S. Education Department announced plans to repeal the "gainful employment" rule, which sought to punish higher education programs whose graduates bear a high level of student-loan debt, according to The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal. Experts had predicted that U.S. Education Secretary Betsy DeVos would weaken...
July 24, 2018
Gross Comings and Goings ... William Gross will become Boston's first African-American police commissioner on Aug. 5, succeeding William B. Evans, who is leaving the department after 39 years to become executive director of public safety at Boston College. The Rhode Island Council on Postsecondary Education named Tim DelGiudice to be its new chair, succeeding William Folks. The manager of...
July 23, 2018
DC Shuttle ... Companies Pledge Apprenticeships at White House Event. The White House announced a new "Pledge to America's Workers" initiative to design an apprenticeship strategy and encourage companies to pledge to participate. The president signed an executive order to establish the National Council for the American Worker. Comprising senior administration officials, the council is charged with developing a national...
July 17, 2018
Sutton Comings and Goings ... The University of Maine System named Theresa Sutton, currently a vice president at Wex Inc., to be be the founding CEO of Maine Center Ventures, which was created to foster ties with outside interests to develop curriculum and programs tailored to Maine's workforce needs. UMass Dartmouth appointed executive coaching and business consultant Angela M. Callahan...
July 16, 2018
DC Shuttle ... House Appropriations Committee Passes 2019 Education Funding Bill. The House Appropriations Committee approved, 30 to 22, a $177.1 billion bill to fund the departments of Labor, Education, and Health and Human Services for fiscal 2019. The spending bill would provide a $43 million increase for the Education Department, funding it at $71 billion in fiscal 2019, which...
July 10, 2018
Comings and Goings ... The late Donald Farish Roger Williams University President Donald Farish passed away after a sudden illness. University trustees chose Provost Andrew Workman to serve as interim president. Farish worked in academia for 51 years and began leading the Bristol, R.I. university in 2011. He planned to retire in 2019. He was an active member of...
July 10, 2018
I’ve grown tired of reading the literature on innovation in higher education, much less the offers for services, consulting, webinars and infrastructure that flood the inbox daily. So many of the recommended innovations are beyond the fiscal means of even the most venturesome administrators and their institutions. To this generalization, there are happy exceptions of course; but much of the lite...
July 2, 2018
DC Shuttle ... Congress Advancing Perkins CTE Reauthorization. The Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee marked up a bill to reauthorize the Carl D. Perkins Career and Technical Education Act. A bipartisan agreement has been reached to update the law. The legislation directs how the federal government spends about $1 billion each year on career and technical education...
June 26, 2018
Onwuachi-Willig Comings and Goings ... University of California, Berkeley law professor Angela Onwuachi-Willig, a renowned expert in racial and gender inequality, was named dean of the Boston University School of Law. Lesley University President Jeff A. Weiss announced he'll step down Aug. 31 because of personal health reasons. Interim Provost Richard S. Hansen will serve as the interim president. UConn...
June 26, 2018
NEBHE’s Commission on Higher Education & Employability has thought hard over the past year about the increasing role of artificial intelligence and robotics in the future of life and work. Many others are also waking up to this landscape, which not so long ago seemed like science fiction. Waltham, Mass.-based MindEdge Learning, for example, plans to devote regular blog posts to ethical ques...
June 25, 2018
DC Shuttle ... President Proposes Government Reorganization. President Donald Trump proposed a full-scale government reorganization, titled "Delivering Government Solutions in the 21st Century: Reform Plan and Reorganization Recommendations." The plans call to "merge the Departments of Education and Labor into a single Cabinet agency, the Department of Education and the Workforce." Because many of the functions performed by the Education...
June 19, 2018
Morrice Comings and Goings ... The Community College System of New Hampshire appointed Pelema I. Morrice to be president of Great Bay Community College, succeeding Wildolfo Arvelo, who left last fall to become New Hampshire's director of economic development. Health and nutrition scientist and Tufts University scholar Miriam E. Nelson was named the seventh president of Hampshire College, effective July...
June 19, 2018
Today, children of all ages experience rigorous career preparation as part of their education. School systems strive to implement mandated standards to help students excel in standardized testing and gain necessary skills for future job opportunities. In this worthwhile pursuit, many creative school programs such as art and music are deemed unnecessary and cut from the curriculum. What many ...
June 18, 2018
DC Shuttle ... Senators Introduce Bill to Protect Drivers Licenses in Student Loan Default. U.S. Senators Marco Rubio (R-FL) and Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) introduced a bill, the Protecting JOBs Act, that would prevent states from suspending residents' driver's and professional licenses over unpaid federal student loans, the Boston Globe reports. Warren provided a summary of the legislation. Appropriators Pass Education...
June 12, 2018
Newman Comings and Goings ... Katherine Newman, an expert on income inequality who has held posts at Columbia, Harvard, Princeton and Johns Hopkins universities, will become UMass Boston's second interim chancellor in two years on July 1, replacing Barry Mills. Three finalists for permanent chancellor withdrew after faculty publicly criticized them as unqualified. The Community College System for New Hampshire...
June 12, 2018
In 2004, then-University of New England President Sandra Featherman authored a piece for NEJHE (then called Connection) headlined “Emotional Rescue” and focusing on how a new generation of troubled college students was putting a strain on campus resources. Featherman, who died in April, wrote of colleges and universities scrambling to provide additional and better support services for students...
June 11, 2018
DC Shuttle ... Support for Data Collection Bill Grows. The National Association of Independent Colleges and Universities gave support to legislation it had previously opposed, potentially paving the way for a change in data collection and student records. A bipartisan group of senators and representatives has introduced the Student Right to Know Before You Go Act, (S. 2169) and (H.R....
May 29, 2018
DC Shuttle ... DeVos Comments on Undocumented Students Highlights House Hearing. The House Education and the Workforce Committee held a hearing on the U.S. Department of Education and heard testimony from Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos. The Education Department had to clarify controversial remarks DeVos made about undocumented students. DeVos said that it is up to individual schools to decide...