August 21, 2010
Papers? Fairfield Gets Grant to Study Undocumented StudentsThe Ford Foundation awarded Fairfield University a two-year $200,000 grant to lead a national study of undocumented immigrant students of Jesuit universities.Research at the university's Center of Faith and Public Life will seek to understand the connections between American Jesuit universities and undocumented students. The study will consider the best strategies to support and challenge undocumented students throughout their college...
August 20, 2010
Game Over? Degree Programs in Video Game Design Growing Across U.S.The number of U.S. colleges and art and trade schools offering degree programs in video game design will reach 300 nationally this fall—a nearly 20% increase in degrees offered in the field over last academic year, according to the Entertainment Software Association (ESA).Twenty of the programs are offered at New England colleges.Vermont's Champlain College, an early pioneer in the field,...
August 20, 2010
Public Schools Fail More than Half of Black Male StudentsThe overwhelming majority of U.S. school districts and states fail to provide resources black males need in order to close the graduation gap.According to the Schott Foundation, during the 2007-08 academic year, only 47% of black males graduated from high school "on time" with their entering cohort.The foundation reports that more than half of the 50 states have graduation rates...
August 19, 2010
Remember Before Beloit Reminded You How Old You Are?Ten years ago, Beloit College of Wisconsin found a gimmick that won it a yearly splash in the media spotlight.It was 1998 when the college first released its Beloit College Mindset List of "cultural touchstones" thought to shape the lives of students entering college.As if to underscore the tool's blend of intellectual curiosity and the college's quest for ink, the...
August 18, 2010
BFIT Sees Green in NSF Grant for Alternative Fuel Vehicle, Sustainable Automotive ProgramsBenjamin Franklin Institute of Technology (BFIT) was awarded a grant of more than $360,000 from the National Science Foundation (NSF) to introduce new two-year programs in Alternative Fuel Vehicle Operations and Maintenance and a bachelor's degree in Sustainable Automotive Business Practices.The programs aim to train and retrain technicians for hybrid vehicles, making BFIT the only provider of "green" technicians in...
August 17, 2010
Now Hiring: Job Openings in Higher Education SoarThe higher education sector greatly outperformed the national economy's modest recovery during the first half of 2010, with job openings soaring by 36%, according to a new study by HigherEdJobs, a leading resource in academia-related employment.In 2008, higher education responded to the recession by relying more on part-time employees and focusing more recruitment on academic faculty instead of administration and...
August 13, 2010
Presidents Setting Precedent for Haiti ReconstructionAfter the January 2010 earthquake that shook Haiti, President Barack Obama asked former presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush to lead a fundraising effort to assist the Haitian people. Their response, the Clinton Bush Haiti Fund (CBHF), helps people and small and medium-sized enterprises in Haiti access the formal business sector and promotes job creation, especially jobs with a...
August 12, 2010
Does a 4.5% Unemployment Rate Among College Grads Constitute “Full Employment”?Last week, a banker asked us a thoughtful question about the relatively low unemployment rate among adult bachelor's degree holders (25 years and older) we had written about in The New England Journal of Higher Education. Noting that the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) release this month shows those age 25 or older with a bachelor's degree have an...
August 10, 2010
Bunker Hill Serves as Beacon Still: Latest Project for Largest Mass. Community College Is in a ProjectBunker Hill Community College received a $23,000 grant from the housing authority in nearby Somerville to support development of a learning community within the Boston suburb's Mystic housing project.Known as SomerPromise, the learning community will kick off this fall, providing about 25 students who are residents of the project in nearby Somerville with faculty/staff and peer support for their college...
August 3, 2010
RI, Mass. Among Finalists in Signature Ed Reform InitiativeThe U.S. Department of Education named Massachusetts and Rhode Island among 19 finalists in the national Race to the Top competition.The competition rewards states that adopt standards and assessments to prepare students for college and career success, build data systems that measure success, recruit effective teachers and principals and "turn around" low-achieving schools. In the first round of the competition,...
August 2, 2010
NEBHE Links to All: Updated Web Connections to Campuses, Think Tanks, ResourcesNEBHE has updated its directory of links to all things related to New England higher education, including the region's more than 250 degree-granting colleges and universities, hundreds of public policy institutes and other regional and national resources.We have tried to fix broken links, added some new ones and updated others. Please continue to check back for links as both the...
August 2, 2010
Pot Luck: First NE College Program for Medical MarijuanaThe New England School of Alternative Horticultural Studies will launch the first professional medical marijuana training class in the northeastern U.S. in September in Warwick, R.I.With operations in Rhode Island, Maine and Vermont, the school will teach qualified patients and caregivers about the latest indoor medical marijuana cultivation techniques and legal compliance at a fraction of the prices New England...
July 29, 2010
Higher E(d)volution: Six Mass State Colleges Re-Branded as UniversitiesIt's an evolutionary fact of life in higher education. Good courses become programs. Worthy programs become schools. Schools become colleges, and colleges in some cases, become universities. Yesterday, Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick signed legislation that re-branded six state colleges—at Bridgewater, Fitchburg, Framingham, Salem, Worcester and Westfield—as state universities, effective Oct. 26. Massachusetts Maritime Academy, Massachusetts College of Art and Design,...
July 23, 2010
Private Sector Stimulated, While State and Local Govt. Jobs StallThe U.S. economy added 882,000 jobs in the first six months of 2010, and 593,000 of them were in the private sector, according to the "Economic Snapshot" for July 2010 authored by Christian Weller, senior fellow at the D.C.-based Center for American Progress and associate professor of Public Policy at the University of Massachusetts Boston.The report attributes some of the...
July 15, 2010
NH Pundits to Discuss Future of Granite StateThe New Hampshire Forum on the Future will feature Lew Feldstein, retiring president of the New Hampshire Charitable Foundation, and Charles Arlinghaus, president of the Josiah Bartlett Center for Public Policy, discussing priorities and direction for the state of New Hampshire, on Wednesday, Aug. 4, at 8 a.m., in The Great Hall at the Bedford Village Inn in Bedford, NH....
July 15, 2010
URI Gets $212k Shot in Arm for Vaccine StudiesA University of Rhode Island biotechnology professor was awarded a $212,000 grant to hire summer research fellows for vaccine studies. The grant under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act allows 14 students and recent graduates from URI, Brown University, Bates College and the University of Connecticut to conduct research on vaccines against diseases ranging from Hepatitis C to Lyme disease...
July 13, 2010
Follow Colleges to the Most Livable Cities (and Low Taxes of Course)The late Bob Woodbury graced the pages of NEJHE a few years ago when the journal was called Connection with a thoughtful scolding of U.S. News & World Report's annual college rankings. The popular news magazine's college rankings, Bob noted, encourage perverse practices by rewarding colleges for generating too many applications, rejecting high percentages of them, and ultimately making few...
July 12, 2010
NEBHE Webinars to Help States Boost AttainmentNEBHE will present two webinars demonstrating new Student Flow Degree Attainment Projection Models that could help the states develop plans for increasing postsecondary attainment.The models created by the National Center for Higher Education Management Systems (NCHEMS) on behalf of NEBHE's New England 2025 project provide an important framework, conceptual model and statistical tool for estimating the impact of policy changes...
July 9, 2010
Brandeis, UConn Among NE Campuses Making Prez MovesBrandeis University trustees named George Washington University Law School dean Frederick M. Lawrence to succeed Jehuda Reinharz as Brandeis president, beginning after Jan. 1, 2011. Lawrence became dean of the GWU Law School in 2005, after nearly two decades teaching at the Boston University School of Law.University of Connecticut trustees appointed Philip E. Austin to serve as interim president of...
July 8, 2010
NE Biz Group Announces July EventsThe New England Council announced a slate of events for July ... Congressional Roundtable Breakfast with U.S. Rep. James McGovern (D-Mass.) on Tuesday, July 13, 8 to 9:30 a.m., K &L Gates, located at the State Street Financial Center, One Lincoln Street, Boston Forum on Cybersecurity, on Tuesday, July 13, 10 a.m. to 12 p.m., Microsoft Corp., Cambridge Congressional Roundtable Breakfast...
July 7, 2010
Bipartisan Support for DREAM ActAmid mixed reaction to Arizona's immigration law, a new national poll reveals strong bipartisan support for the DREAM Act, federal legislation introduced by Sens. Richard Durbin (D-Ill.) and Richard Lugar (R-Ind.) that would provide undocumented students brought to the U.S. as children with the opportunity to earn permanent legal status.The undocumented students would have to meet certain requirements such as...
July 1, 2010
Reward Excellence! NEBHE Seeks Nominations for Annual AwardsThe New England Board of Higher Education (NEBHE) is pleased to announce its ninth annual New England Higher Education Excellence Awards.Four regional excellence awards will be presented to individuals and organizations from higher education, government and business sectors who exemplify excellence in higher education in one or more of the following areas: leadership, innovation, diversity, partnerships/collaborations or educational opportunity.The awards...
July 1, 2010
SHEEO Conference in Providence to Feature Martha Kanter, Higher Ed LeadersMartha Kanter, under secretary in the U.S. Department of Education, and dozens of higher education leaders will speak at the State Higher Education Executive Officers (SHEEO) annual conference to be held at The Westin Providence in Providence, R.I., from Tuesday, Aug. 10 through Friday, August 13. Speakers will include: Spencer Foundation President Michael S. McPherson; Complete College America President Stan...
June 25, 2010
Biotech Firms Still Brewing Work in Cambridge, Mass.Cambridge, Mass., dominates the list of biotechnology firms with the most employees in New England—accounting for seven of the top 10 providers of biotech jobs in the region, reports the specialty newspaper Mass High Tech.With 12,000 total employees, Genzyme Corp. employed nearly 5,000 in New England and recently announced 502 job openings in Massachusetts. The second largest employer of biotech...
June 24, 2010
National College Group Prez Urges Valuing Quality Over CostsThe number of students considering a three-year college degree continues to rise, along with tuition prices and a rush by some students and families to get into the money-making world.But just as colleges and universities feel pressure to reduce the time it takes to earn a degree, Carol Geary Schneider, president of the Association of American Colleges and Universities, suggests...
June 24, 2010
Endicott Grabs $400K Grant for Single Parents to Pursue DegreesEndicott College was awarded a $400,000 grant from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation of Michigan to enhance a program that offers young, single parents the opportunity to pursue a college degree while living in designated on-campus housing with their children.In 1992, Endicott President Richard E. Wylie started a program for young, single parents, offering academic and personal services to help earn...
June 18, 2010
Higher Ed Continues to Outpace Biz in Use of Social MediaColleges and universities outpaced both the Fortune 500 and the Inc. 500 in adoption of social media in each of the past three years, according to a study by the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth Center for Marketing Research.More than half of colleges and universities have blogs, compared with 22% of Fortune 500 and 42% of Inc. 500 fast-growing companies, according...
June 18, 2010
MCPHS Announces Expansion in Worcester, Mass.The Massachusetts College of Pharmacy and Health Services announced it will buy the property of the former Crowne Plaza Hotel in Worcester, Mass., to meet the demands of increasing enrollment and new undergraduate and graduate programs.Like the college's other recent projects in Worcester, the former hotel site at 10 Lincoln Square will be converted into academic and student space. As...
June 18, 2010
Role of Unions in UMass Boston Project Becomes Issue in Gov's RaceA Massachusetts board's decision to use only union labor in a $750 million renovation at the University of Massachusetts Boston has become a hot issue on the state's campaign for governor.The University of Massachusetts Building Authority voted 9 to 2 to approve use of a Project Labor Agreement, a contract under which companies bidding on state projects pledge to use...
June 16, 2010
Energy Dept. Grants $3M for Weatherization to Four N.E. OrgsThe U.S. Department of Energy announced $3 million in grants to four New England organizations to run weatherization training centers.The grants will provide job training to local workers in energy-efficiency retrofitting and weatherization services. Funding comes from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. The University of Massachusetts Dartmouth, South Middlesex Opportunity Council in Framingham, Mass., The Workplace Inc. of Bridgeport,...
June 16, 2010
Needs of Asian-American Students Unveiled by National ReportDespite the myth that Asian-American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) students are universally high achieving, large groups of AAPI students have low high school graduation rates and are underrepresented in certain sectors the workforce, according to a new report to be released by the National Commission on Asian American and Pacific Islander Research in Education (CARE) based at New York University....
June 15, 2010
One in 10 NH Households Experiences Food InsecurityAccess 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...
June 15, 2010
Kodrzycki Appointed Director of Think Tank at FedFriend of NEBHE and frequent contributor to NEJHE, Yolanda K. Kodrzycki, was named director of the New England Public Policy Center at the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston.Kodrzycki joined the Boston Fed in 1986 as an economist. Previously, she was senior economist and policy advisor in the bank's research department. She is also a former president and forecasting chair of...
June 15, 2010
Educators Convene at Babson to Talk About Tech in EducationEducators from around the world gathered at Babson College last week for a conference on topics ranging from campus connections to global classrooms.Sponsored by the multinational computer-maker Lenovo, conference sessions centered on a new participatory and social approach, with the podium open to audience members.Keynote speakers for the three-day event included Cecilia D'Oliveira, executive director of MIT OpenCourseWare, Alan November,...
June 10, 2010
Ed Spending in New England: The OutlookEducation spending for each of the New England states in fiscal 2011 will likely be affected by the national recession, with four of the six New England states already forced to make budget cuts to education in fiscal 2010, according to a new report by the National Governors Association (NGA).The NGA published its most recent twice-annual Fiscal Survey of States...
June 9, 2010
Honoring David KnappThe University of Massachusetts will honor the late David C. Knapp on Saturday, June 26 at 4 p.m. at the UMass Boston Campus Center.Knapp died April 13. He served as UMass president from 1978 to 1990 and chaired NEBHE from 1998 to 2000....
June 9, 2010
Flexibility is Key for Working ParentsFlexibility 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....
June 9, 2010
19th Better Government Competition Awards DinnerThe Boston-based Pioneer Institute will hold its 19th Better Government Competition Awards Dinner on Friday June 18, featuring keynote speaker, U.S. Sen. Scott Brown (R–Mass.)The event will take place at the Boston Marriott Copley Place, 110 Huntington Avenue, Boston, Mass. from 6 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. Tickets are $150 each and can be reserved online. RSVP by Friday, June 11....
June 5, 2010
Watch for New Bylines!Get used to seeing some new bylines in NEJHE's online incarnation at nebhe.org.Besides insightful contributing writers, we will draw on the perspectives of NEBHE's staff, particularly Tuition Break program director Wendy Lindsay, our new director of policy and research Matthew Crellin, and NEBHE President and CEO Michael K. Thomas.Also meet our two communications assistants: Christine Cassis and Shoshana Akins.Christine is...
May 25, 2010
College Crusade of RI Awards $1 MillionThe College Crusade of Rhode Island awarded $1.1 million in college scholarships to 349 Rhode Island students during the 2009-10 academic year. Most of the scholarship recipients are from low-income families in Central Falls, Pawtucket, Providence, and Woonsocket and attend colleges in New England....
May 25, 2010
Dodd to UConn?Could U.S. Sen. Chris Dodd be the next president of UConn? That's the question asked by the Hartford Courant's Capitol Watch blog one day after UConn President Michael Hogan announced he is leaving Storrs next month to become president of the University of Illinois....
April 21, 2010
CCV Interim Prez Named PermanentVermont State Colleges trustees named Joyce M. Judy to be the president of Community College of Vermont, where she has served as interim president since July 2009. For more, click here....
April 11, 2010
Fairfield Announces Commencement SpeakersFairfield University announced that Harvard University executive VP Katherine Lapp, and University of Texas cancer researcher James Abbruzzese, M.D., will address the university's 60th commencement on Sunday, May 23, on Bellarmine Lawn. Lapp will address undergraduates at 9:30 a.m. Abbruzzese will address graduate students at 3 p.m. For more, click here....
April 8, 2010
WPI Tuition to Increase by 3.4%Worcester Polytechnic Institute announced it will increase undergraduate tuition and fees by 3.4%, to $38,700, for the 2010-11 academic year. Last year's 2.9% increase was the lowest percentage increase at WPI in nearly 20 years, and considerably lower than the U.S. average of 4.4%. WPI has maintained a "frost" on staff positions, replacing departing staff or adding new positions only...
April 7, 2010
Bryant U Names New VP for Academic AffairsBryant University appointed University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill professor José-Marie Griffiths of the to be Smithfield, R.I. institution's next vice president of academic affairs, effective in June. Currently a professor in UNC-Chapel Hill's School of Information and Library Sciences and deputy director of the North Carolina Translational and Clinical Sciences Institute, Griffiths will succeed V.K. Unni, who has...
April 7, 2010
New England Center at UNH To Become Student HousingOne of the two towers that comprise the hotel and conference center at the University of New Hampshire, known as the New England Center, will become housing for more than 170 students. UNH announced last summer that the hotel, conference center and restaurant would close in June 2010 for financial reasons. Turning the center into a dorm called 'Adams Tower...
April 7, 2010
Conn. Higher Ed Dept Unveils Online Financial Literacy GameAt the March 17 meeting of the Connecticut Department of Higher Education, Commissioner Michael Meotti and Associate Director Mark French demonstrated a new online financial literacy game, called Who Wants to Be Financially Responsible? The interactive course, found at flip.ctdhe.org, designed to help young adults become more confident in managing financial matters, is a collaborative effort by the department, Connecticut...
April 7, 2010
Think Tank Says Minimum Wage Hikes Keep Less-Educated Out Of WorkforceFederal and state increases in the minimum wage, such as the 40% increase between July 2007 and July 2009, have priced many less-educated Americans out of the workforce, according to the Employment Policies Institute. New data released from the Bureau of Labor Statistics show U.S. unemployment at 9.7%, but 14.5% for Americans without a high school diploma. An analysis by...
April 7, 2010
Skating Champion Kwan to Speak at SVC CommencementMichelle Kwan, the most decorated figure skater in U.S. history will keynote Southern Vermont College's 83rd commencement exercises on Saturday, May 8. The winner of two Olympic medals and U.S. Public Diplomacy Envoy recently went back to college, enrolling as a graduate student at Tufts University's Fletcher School of International Affairs. For more, click here....
April 7, 2010
NH Educators to Explore Making Excellence InclusiveThe University of New Hampshire and the New Hampshire College & University Council will hold a one-day "New Hampshire Diversity Summit, Making Excellence Inclusive: Building Engaged Learning Communities Throughout New Hampshire" on Friday, April 16, from 7:30 a.m. to 4 p.m., at UNH's Holloway Hall. The summit will explore ways to sustain institutional change, develop institutional and community collaborations, and...
April 7, 2010
Congressman Michaud to Speak at Maine Maritime CommencementU.S. Rep. Michael H. Michaud (D-Maine) will address the graduating class at Maine Maritime Academy's 67th commencement on Saturday, May 1, at 11 a.m. in Alexander Fieldhouse. For more, click here....
April 7, 2010
UNH Taps Life is Good Founder for CommencementBert Jacobs, co-founder of the company 'Life is Good,' will be the commencement speaker for the University of New Hampshire graduating class of 2010, on May 22. For more, click here....
April 6, 2010
NEBHE Event: "Higher Education Sustainability Summit 2010: A Climate Change on Campus"We extend our most sincere thanks to everyone who attended NEBHE's annual sustainability summit, A Climate Change on Campus, held Friday, April 23, 2010 at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Worcester, Massachusetts. You can download the conference agenda, sponsor information, and photos and biographies of all the panel speakers as well as the PowerPoint presentations they gave during the conference....
April 5, 2010
Educators to Convene at MIT on Tech and LearningMIT's Learning International Network Consortium (LINC) will hold three days of panel discussions and workshops from Sunday, May 23 to Wednesday, May 26 at MIT on 'University Leadership: Bringing Technology-Enabled Education to Learners of All Ages.' National Academy of Engineering President Charles Vest will give a keynote address. Plenary speakers will include rectors of virtual universities in Mexico, Pakistan and...
January 1, 2010
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