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January 17, 2014

NEBHE's Trends & Indicators features an updated section on Demography. • Nearly 70% of New England residents in 2010 were born in the region, down from a peak of 77% in 1950. By 2010, nearly 17% of New England's population was born elsewhere in the U.S. People born in foreign countries accounted for the remaining 14% of total population. •...

January 13, 2014

The New England Board of Higher Education's (NEBHE) Problem Based Learning (PBL) Projects team is pleased to announce the launch of a new website combining the Advanced Manufacturing PBL, STEM PBL, and PHOTON PBL projects with their industry-based case studies called Challenges into one comprehensive website. The Advanced Manufacturing PBL, STEM PBL and PHOTON PBL projects remain accessible via NEBHE's...

January 13, 2014

Harkin releases 2014 priorities. Sen. Tom Harkin (D-IA), the retiring chair of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions, told the Washington Post that his New Year's resolutions were his minimum wage and early education bills. Enrollment report. The U.S. Department of Education released a report on enrollment and graduation rates in higher education institutions in the fall...

January 10, 2014

Benjamin Franklin Institute of Technology (BFIT) appointed Anthony Benoit to serve as the 12th president in the institution's 106-year history. Benoit was tapped as interim president of the Boston institution upon the death of President George Chryssis in May 2013. Before joining BFIT, Benoit was director for the technology department and professor of environmental technology at Three Rivers Community College...

January 10, 2014

Every year since the mid-1990s, Governing magazine has offered speculation on the top legislative issues facing the states. Higher education rarely makes the list, and most Governing higher ed coverage of late has focused on state budget cuts. But 2014 may be different. The magazine cites a survey by the American Association of State Colleges and Universities finding that 37...

January 7, 2014

The new year brings new tests for students who seek an alternative to earning a traditional high school diploma. And the six New England states are split on how to proceed. The old GED (general equivalency diploma) test was originally developed in 1942 and used universally until it expired at the end of the 2013. In its place is the 2014...

January 2, 2014

Henry Bourgeois announced his retirement as president and CEO of the Alfond Scholarship Foundation, where he has worked for the past six years after leading the Maine Development Foundation and the Maine Compact for Higher Education. Colleen Quint, former founding director of the Mitchell Institute, will succeed him as head of the foundation, beginning Jan. 6. **** The Westfield State...

December 23, 2013

Health and Human Services announces early learning grants. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services announced that six states, including Vermont, would be awarded Race to the Top-Early Learning Challenge grants. Georgia, Kentucky, Michigan, New Jersey and Pennsylvania will also receive a portion of the $280 million in grant awards. Vermont Gov. Peter Shumlin said his state's $37 million will...

December 16, 2013

Budget deal changes loan-collection policies. Two changes involving the collection of federal student loan debt would contribute about $5 billion in savings to the broad budget deal announced last week. The compromise worked out by Sen. Patty Murray (D-WA) and Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI) would reduce the compensation that companies receive for rehabilitating defaulted student loans made under a now-defunct...

December 13, 2013

Connecticut Gov. Dannel P. Malloy named Nicholas M. Donofrio, to chair the Board of Regents of the Connecticut State Colleges & Universities, the state's largest higher ed system. Donofrio is a former IBM executive and member of the board. The administration asked the previous chair of the 92,000-student system, Lewis J. Robinson, to step down in August amid a pay-raise scandal...

December 9, 2013

Pell Grants subject of House hearing on Higher Ed Act. The House Education and the Workforce Committee's Subcommittee on Higher Education and Workforce Training held a hearing on Pell Grants as part of its series of hearings on the reauthorization of the Higher Education Act. House Republicans expressed some doubts about recent expansions of the Pell Grant program, while Democrats...

December 9, 2013

As the world pays tribute to Nelson Mandela, we reflect on the South African struggle. Five years before Mandela was freed from the jail (where he spent almost a third of his life) and nearly a decade before he won the Nobel Peace Prize and became president of South Africa, NEBHE created the New England South African Student Scholarship Program....

December 4, 2013

Rhode Island School of Design (RISD) President John Maeda announced he will leave RISD at the end of the fall semester to become a design partner at Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, where he will help entrepreneurs build design into their company cultures; he will also chair the eBay Design Advisory Board, working with the company to evolve design capabilities. Watch...

November 25, 2013

Study on frequent testing. According to a study released in the journal PLoS One, frequent testing improves overall performance in college students and reduces achievement gaps. University use of patents. The Brookings Institute released a study that explored the ways universities try to capitalize on research and patents. The study looked at schools that licensed their patents and at schools...

November 25, 2013

The Barr Foundation named James E. Canales, currently president and CEO of the San Francisco-based James Irvine Foundation, to be Barr's first president, effective May 2014. **** Blackbaud Inc. named Michael P. Gianoni president and CEO, effective Jan. 13, 2014, succeeding Anthony Boor, who has served as interim president and CEO since August 2013, and will continue to serve as...

November 22, 2013

NEBHE announces publication of the 2014 Guide to New England Colleges and Universities, the third edition produced in association with Boston magazine. The Guide features listings for more than 250 colleges and universities throughout the six New England states, as well as tips on navigating the college applications process, an overview of financial aid options and information on NEBHE's tuition-saving Regional...

November 19, 2013

New England's public colleges and universities continue to expand their program offerings under the New England Regional Student Program (RSP), which means more access for the region's residents to out-of-the-ordinary programs at reduced tuition. Students eligible under the RSP save an average of $7,000 on their annual tuition bills. For students interested in studying and improving the human condition, for...

November 18, 2013

House and Senate hearings on federal student aid. Both chambers of Congress discussed ways to restructure the federal government's student aid programs. The House Education and the Workforce Committee held a hearing on federal student aid and on Thursday, the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee held a hearing on the same issue. Lawmakers discussed simplifying the administrative...

November 13, 2013

Southern Vermont College President Karen Gross, a NEBHE delegate, wrote the following comment to National Journal's recent Next America forum on educating first-generation college students: Paying attention to improving the graduation rates among first-generation college students has gained fervor. We now appreciate the need to get vulnerable students to and through college if America is ever to regain its competitive...

November 12, 2013

Bill targets for-profit schools' funding. Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL) introduced the Protecting Our Students and Taxpayers (POST) Act (S.1659), which would aim to make for-profit colleges and universities less reliant on federal funding. Under current law, the "90-10 rule" requires universities to get at least 10% of their funding from non-federal sources. The proposed bill would replace that...

November 12, 2013

Mitchell College President Mary Ellen Jukoski announced she will end one of the longest runs among modern college presidencies on June 30, 2014, following the college's 75th anniversary. Jukoski was appointed interim president in 1994 and chosen as Mitchell's first female president a year later. ****Patricia Gentile, dean of enrollment at Atlantic Cape Community College in New Jersey, was approved...

November 5, 2013

Northeastern University economist Barry Bluestone will discuss Boston's Role in the regional economic network at the fall 2013 Outlook Conference of the New England Economic Partnership (NEEP) to be held Thursday, Nov. 14, at the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston. Bluestone is Northeastern's Stearns Trustee Professor of Political Economy and founding director of the university's Kitty and Michael Dukakis Center for...

November 4, 2013

College value ranking lists on the rise. The New York Times reported that rankings of colleges' value, based on cost compared to returns, are increasing. Children's hospitals graduate medical education payment program. The Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee approved by voice vote legislation (S. 1557) that would reauthorize a program that provides federal money to support training...

October 28, 2013

College net prices stable, reports find. Last week, the College Board released reports on "Trends in College Pricing" and "Trends in Student Aid" which found that, even though the price of college has grown, the cost to students has remained stable for the past decade. The report shows that the net cost of tuition, fees, room and board for the...

October 22, 2013

New data linking poverty and less pursuit of higher education. A report released by the National Student Clearinghouse provides new data showing that students from high schools serving large concentrations of low-income families are less likely to enroll or persist in college than their peers from schools with a more affluent population. CFPB report on student loans. The Consumer Financial...

October 15, 2013

Calls for action on ESEA. Education Secretary Arne Duncan on Monday called for action on a long-overdue overhaul of the elementary and secondary school law, contending that Congress has "failed to carry out its basic core responsibilities on education." The last reauthorization of the law, known as No Child Left Behind, expired in 2007 and has been criticized by both...

October 10, 2013

In fall 2012, the New England Board of Higher Education (NEBHE) was awarded a three-year $900,000 grant from the National Science Foundation's Advanced Technological Education program for a project titled Advanced Manufacturing Problem Based Learning (AM PBL). The project aims to improve science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) education in New England by developing interdisciplinary problem-based learning (PBL) challenges (case...

October 7, 2013

Shutdown's limited initial effects of education. The U.S. Department of Education is on partial shutdown, with many employees furloughed, but school districts are functioning in full. The effects of the government shutdown would be harder felt in the education sector if the shutdown were to continue for a prolonged period. Pell grants and federal direct student loans will largely be...

September 30, 2013

Legislators ask for information on relationship between schools and lenders. Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), Ranking Member of the House Finance Committee Maxine Waters (D-CA), and Ranking Member of the House Education and Workforce Committee George Miller (D-CA) demanded that eight U.S. banks produce information about agreements they may have with colleges to encourage students to use their products. They cited...

September 23, 2013

Passage of a budget for FY14 was complicated by action taken on a $1.9 billion transportation bill filed by Gov. Deval Patrick to fund transportation projects and increase funding for education. Lawmakers rejected Patrick's $1.9 billion request for new taxes and sent back a bill with $500 million in new taxes including a 3-cent hike in the gas tax. Patrick...

September 23, 2013

Congress considers renewal of the Higher Education Act. Momentum is slowly building to reauthorize the Higher Education Act (HEA) with college costs and student debt under bipartisan scrutiny. The most recent reauthorization of the HEA passed in 2008 and expires in 2014. On Thursday, the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee held a hearing on reauthorization. It is the first...

September 23, 2013

Vermont Gov. Peter Shumlin named Rebecca Holcombe, current director of the Dartmouth Teacher Education Program in Hanover, N.H., to lead Vermont's Agency of Education, starting in January. Before going to Dartmouth. Holcombe was a principal at Fairlee School in Vermont and a social studies and science teacher at the Frances C. Richmond School in Hanover, N.H. The governor's office took...

September 20, 2013

Maine lawmakers averted a government shutdown, overriding Gov. Paul LePage's veto of the budget for FY14 and FY15. Both branches exceeded the required two-thirds vote, with the House voting 114–34 in support of the override, and the Senate voting 26-9 in support. While Democrats won the budget battle in rejecting LePage's budget plan, they lost a number of battles including...

September 20, 2013

Granite State lawmakers on June 26 approved a $10.7 billion two-year budget with bipartisan support. Members of the Senate, which is controlled by Republicans, unanimously supported the budget, while more than 300 of the 400-member Democrat-controlled House approved the spending package. Bipartisan agreement on the two-year plan was bolstered by growth in March and April tax revenues, which generated approximately...

September 17, 2013

Lawmakers passed a budget totaling $8.2 billion with no new fees or taxes and worked to address the state's ailing business climate by providing structural changes and government reforms. Gov. Lincoln Chafee opposed the structural changes, but let the bill become law without his signature. The budget provides for: payment of $2.5 million related to the state-supported bonds of baseball...

September 16, 2013

The school shootings in Newtown dominated the beginning of the 2013 legislative session. Lawmakers passed a bipartisan gun violence prevention bill, the toughest in the nation. The legislation further restricts the use of assault weapons and imposes more background checks and restrictions on the sale of high-capacity magazine clips. In addition, both branches of the General Assembly adopted a freedom...

September 16, 2013

Common guidelines for education research and development. The Institute of Education Sciences (IES) and the National Science Foundation (NSF) have formally released common guidelines for education research and development. The guidelines are intended to guide research investment decisions at IES, the U.S. Department of Education's main research agency, and NSF research in science, technology, engineering and mathematics education. They also seek...

September 13, 2013

NEJHE will report on new education-related laws and other legislative highlights from each New England statehouse, starting with Vermont ... On May 14, Vermont lawmakers wrapped up their session by passing a $5.2 billion budget for FY14. House and Senate proposals to changes in the income tax fell by the wayside as did proposed increases in taxes on bottled water,...

September 12, 2013

Colby College named University of Chicago Executive Vice President David Greene to be the 20th president of the 200-year-old private liberal arts college, effective July 1. He will succeed William Adams, who has been Colby's president since 2000. Greene previously served in planning roles at Brown University and Smith College. **** Manchester Community College appointed Sandra Palmer as the interim...

September 9, 2013

Elementary and Secondary Education Act. The Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) is due for reauthorization and proposals have been introduced in the House and Senate. (The last reauthorization of ESEA was the No Child Left Behind under President George W. Bush.) On July 19, the House passed the Student Success Act (H.R. 5). The bill would reduce the federal...

August 30, 2013

BergeronKatherine Bergeron, dean of the college at Brown University, was named the 11th president of Connecticut College, effective Jan. 1, 2014.****The Connecticut Board of Regents for Higher Education, which governs the 17 Connecticut State Colleges & Universities, appointed Asnuntuck Community College CFO and Dean of Administration James Lombella to be the interim president of the college, following Martha McLeod's retirement...

August 28, 2013

When President Obama outlined his higher education agenda in Buffalo last week, commentators tuned out the beat of war drums (this time against Syria) and began dissecting the president's plan on the college front. The overriding question: Can the new models conceived of by consultants and think tanks over the past decade—and now advanced by the president—work to lower cost...

August 27, 2013

Don't Miss Out on the New England Campus Sustainability Forum This Friday! Friday Sept. 20, 2013 Hosted by the Colleges of the Fenway 550 Huntington Ave Boston, MA 02115 The New England Campus Sustainability Forum has once again attracted strong headliners to create an engaging and informative day. Julian Agyeman, noted climate and sustainability justice champion; Mary Powell, CEO of...

August 12, 2013

Lewis Robinson Jr. stepped down as chair of Connecticut's Board of Regents of Higher Education, a post he had held since July 2011. As the Connecticut Mirror reported, "The system was hit by a series of controversies last fall that included the improper granting of double-digit percentage pay raises for central office staff and disclosure that the community college presidents were being offered expedited...

August 6, 2013

NEBHE is a partner on a new report titled Green Revolving Funds: A Guide to Implementation & Management, which provides practical guidance for designing, implementing and growing a green revolving fund (GRF) at a college, university or other nonprofit institution. The newly expanded guide establishes best practices from interviews with presidents, facility managers, sustainability directors, and chief financial officers. The...

August 6, 2013

Student loan interest rate bill sent to president. On Wednesday, the House approved the Bipartisan Student Loan Certainty Act (H.R. 1911) by a vote of 392 to 31. The Senate passed the legislation the previous week and the bill is headed to the president, who has endorsed the legislation, for approval. The bill would modify how interest rates on federal...

August 1, 2013

The Massachusetts Campus Compact (MACC) relocated to 45 Temple Place in downtown Boston, the headquarters of NEBHE and the National Campus Compact network. MACC is a nonprofit coalition of college and university presidents committed to developing the civic skills of students, building partnerships with the community, and integrating civic engagement with teaching and research. MACC had been housed since 1996...

July 29, 2013

Senate approves student loan interest rate bill. On Wednesday, the Senate approved the Bipartisan Student Loan Certainty Act by a vote of 81 to 18. House leadership has promised swift approval of the legislation, with a vote in the House likely this week. The bipartisan proposal would tie interest rates on undergraduate subsidized and unsubsidized Stafford loans to the 10-year...

July 26, 2013

May you move from your job before the media calls you "embattled" ... That's how the Boston Globe described Leslie C. Berlowitz when she announced this week she'd resign as president of the Cambridge, Mass.-based American Academy of Arts and Sciences. She had led the academy for 17 years but was on paid leave while being investigated for falsely claiming to...

July 23, 2013

Wentworth Institute of Technology 550 Huntington Ave., Boston, MA 02115 Friday, Sept. 20, 2013 8 a.m. to 4:45 p.m.Early-bird registration will be available through Aug. 30. Please visit www.necsf.com to learn more. The New England Board of Higher Education (NEBHE) invites you to attend the 2013 New England Campus Sustainability Forum (NECSF) co-organized by AASHE, Clean Air-Cool Planet, the Colleges of...

July 23, 2013

The Colby College Museum of Art now has surpassed the Portland Art Museum as Maine's largest art museum, thanks to a new $15 million Alfond-Lunder Family Pavilion that holds nearly 300 of the 500 works given to Colby by Peter and Paula Lunder. Peter Lunder is a Colby alumn and former president of Dexter Shoe Company, which was founded by...

July 22, 2013

Student loan deal reached. A bipartisan group of senators announced a compromise on the Stafford Loan interest rates. Senator Tom Harkin, chair of the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions committee and Sens. Tom Carper (D-DE) Tom Coburn (R-OK), Joe Manchin (D-WV) and Angus King (I-ME) also participated in the announcement at the Capitol. According to reports, the White House also...

July 18, 2013

While some economists see the national economy poised to come back, state budgets and economies aren't yet in the clear, according to the National Association of State Budget Officers (NASBO) and National Governors Association (NGA) 2013 Fiscal Survey of States. As it is, New Englanders pay just $179 per capita toward higher education, compared with $230 per capita nationally. The...

July 16, 2013

Boys & Girls Clubs of America (BGCA) named Damon A. Williams to be its new senior vice president of program, training & youth development services. Williams joined BGCA from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where he served as vice provost and chief diversity officer, and on the faculty of the Department of Educational Leadership and Policy Analysis. He previously was chief...

July 2, 2013

NEBHE President & CEO Michael K. Thomas posted the following invitation for nominations to the board of the National Council on State Authorization Reciprocity Agreements (NCSARA) ... Dear Colleague: We invite nominations and applications for the board of the National Council on State Authorization Reciprocity Agreements. As described in the final report of the Commission on the Regulation of Postsecondary...

July 1, 2013

Ruth Molina became director of the New England Higher Education Recruitment Consortium (NE HERC) after eight years managing faculty and staff recruitment at Bridgewater State University. She has led the NE HERC advertising committee and served on its diversity and steering committees. Molina succeeds Jennifer Ivers, who is assistant dean for faculty development at Harvard University and will stay on...

July 1, 2013

Supreme Court affirmative action ruling. On Monday, the Supreme Court released a ruling in the case of Fisher v. University of Texas at Austin. The 7-1 decision was indecisive, remanding the case for reconsideration in the lower courts and directing lower courts to use "strict scrutiny" in affirmative action cases. The result of the ruling is that schools will continue...

June 24, 2013

House committee OKs ESEA reauthorization. On Wednesday, the House Education and the Workforce Committee approved a proposed reauthorization to the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) by a vote of 23 to 16. The bill, the Student Success Act (H.R. 5), introduced by Committee Chair John Kline (R-MN), would consolidate most federal funding into one block grant. The proposal would...

June 19, 2013

A team of students from the University of Massachusetts Lowell will receive up to $90,000 from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to develop nontoxic, biodegradable "surfactants" from fruit peels and algae and potentially bring the invention to market. Surfactants are cleaning agents used in soaps, inks and other products to help them apply more easily to surfaces. Many surfactants...

June 18, 2013

ESEA reauthorization approved by committee. At a Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) markup on Tuesday, lawmakers considered the Senate Democrats' proposal, the Strengthening America's Schools Act, to reauthorize the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA). A bill (S. 1094) introduced by Committee Chair Tom Harkin (D-IA) advanced by a party-line vote of 12-10 despite opposition from...

June 13, 2013

The oldest U.S. states in median age are: Maine (43.5 years), Vermont (42.3 years) and New Hampshire (42 years), according to newly updated data from the U.S. Census Bureau. The three remaining New England states are up there too: Connecticut (40.5 years); Rhode Island (39.8 years) and Massachusetts (39.3 years). Nationally, the median age was 37.4 years. More than 43...

June 10, 2013

Student loan rates. The Senate rejected two proposals to extend low interest rates on student loans after they expire on July 1. Without legislation, interest rates will double from 3.4% to 6.8% with the expiration of the one-year fix put in place last summer. Movement to proceed with a Senate Democratic bill (S. 953) to extend the current 3.4% fixed...

June 4, 2013

WGBH Boston is creating a Higher Ed Desk to help enrich its award-winning radio, television and online stories with angles from Boston and New England's famed postsecondary education. America’s largest producer of PBS content for TV and the web, WGBH hired Vermont Public Radio's Kirk Carapezza as managing editor and lead correspondent of the Higher Ed Desk. The desk is...

May 31, 2013

The Massachusetts Board of Higher Education approved Valerie R. Roberson, currently vice president for academic affairs at Joliet Junior College in Illinois and former president of Olive-Harvey College, to be the 15th president of Roxbury Community College, effective July 22. A March report requested by trustees showed systematic lapses over the past decade by administrators at the college. Roberson will...

May 28, 2013

Wednesday is May 29 ... 5/29 ... and the folks behind 529 college savings plans are milking the connection for all it's worth. The College Savings Plans Network (CSPN) and various states have declared May 29 National '529 College Savings Day' in recognition of the the tax-advantaged investment plans named for Section 529 of the tax code and designed specifically...

May 28, 2013

STEM education. On Thursday, Rep. Bill Foster (R-IL) introduced the 21st Century STEM Competitive Jobs Act, cosponsored by Representatives Joe Courtney (D-CT), Elizabeth Esty (D-CT), Joe Kennedy (D-MA), Jim Langevin (D-RI), Jim McGovern (D-MA), Anna Eshoo (D-CA), Carolyn Maloney (D-NY), Gloria Negrete McLeod (D-CA), Jared Polis (D-CO), Tim Ryan (D-OH) and Louise Slaughter (D-NY). The bill would support collaboration between...

May 20, 2013

Student loan interest rates. On Thursday, the House Education and the Workforce Committee approved legislation (H.R. 1911) by a vote of 24-13 that would tie the interest rate on federal student loans to market rates. The interest rates on Stafford Loans are set to double on July 1 to 6.8%. The bill, the Smarter Solutions for Students Act, would set...

May 15, 2013

Tom Friedman, a conceptual sculptor, will keynote Montserrat College's 2013 commencement on Friday, May 17, at 10 a.m. at the Cabot Street Cinema Theatre in Beverly, Mass. John M. Barry, historian and biographer of Roger Williams, will address the Roger Williams University commencement on Saturday, May 18, at 10 a.m. on the University's main athletic field. Mary E. Kennard will...

May 14, 2013

Engineering and research universities dominate the list of higher education institutions ranked by return on investment (ROI), according to PayScale's 2013 College ROI Report. PayScale evaluated alumni earnings against the price of earning a bachelor's degree at more than 1,000 U.S. colleges. Massachusetts Institute of Technology ranked fourth nationally and first among New England higher education institutions. Babson College ranked...

May 13, 2013

Rewriting K-12 law. On Tuesday, the House Committee on Education and the Workforce held a hearing on state and local accountability systems for education. Chair John Kline (R-MN) outlined four Republican priorities for rewriting the nation's K-12 education law, known as the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) or No Child Left Behind: restore local control, reduce the federal footprint,...

May 8, 2013

Pam Y. Eddinger, president of Moorpark College in California since 2008 and former vice president of MassBay Community College, was named president of Bunker Hill Community College effective July 1. She will succeed Mary L. Fifield who is retiring after more than 16 years heading Bunker Hill. Scott Giles, a vice president of Vermont Student Assistance Corporation (VSAC) since joining...

May 7, 2013

U.S. Sen. Susan M. Collins (R-Maine) and Bernard Osher Foundation President Mary G.F. Bitterman will speak at the University of Southern Maine commencement on Saturday, May 11 in the Costello Sports Complex on the Gorham campus. Collins will address undergraduate students at 9 a.m. Bitterman will address graduate students at 2 p.m. Eric Lander, president and founding director of the...

May 6, 2013

The traditional May 1 deadline arrived last week. That's the date many colleges require students who have been accepted for admission to pay a deposit indicating their commitment to enroll in the fall. Based on the number of commitments they receive, the colleges then decide whether they are in a position to consider additional applications for the fall. That's an important...

May 1, 2013

Dianne Dillon-Ridgley, a leader in environmental sustainability, corporate responsibility and social justice, will keynote Green Mountain College's 176th commencement on Saturday, May 11, at 10 a.m. on the Griswold Library lawn Max Mutchnick, Emmy Award winner and co-creator of the television show Will & Grace, will deliver the undergraduate address at Emerson College's 133rd commencement on Sunday, May 12, at...

April 29, 2013

Financial literacy hearing. On Wednesday, the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee's Subcommittee on Children and families held a hearing on financial literacy education for students. Sen. Mike Enzi (R-WY) told the Subcommittee that Americans owe more than they make and must have better financial literacy education. He added that better financial education would benefit the economy. He was...

April 26, 2013

Photo courtesy of Fairfield University. Kenneth I. Chenault, chair and CEO of American Express Company, will keynote the undergraduate commencement at the University of Massachusetts Amherst on Friday, May 10, at 5 p.m. in McGuirk Alumni Stadium. Anna Eleanor Roosevelt, president and CEO of Goodwill Industries of Northern New England, will keynote the commencement ceremony at Saint Joseph's College, in...

April 25, 2013

In a first-ever convening of New England dual-credit programs, UConn Early College Experience and National Alliance of Concurrent Enrollment Partnerships (NACEP) will host a one-day conference on Wednesday, May 29 from 8:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. in Storrs, Conn. For more information, please click here. Eight in 10 U.S. high schools reported that students were enrolled in 'dual-credit' courses in...

April 23, 2013

The Problem Based Learning (PBL) Projects team of the New England Board of Higher Education will present "Problem Based Learning (PBL) Implementation Strategies for STEM Courses" at the National Association for Workforce Improvement (NAWI) conference this May.NAWI will hold its 48th annual conference in partnership with the Purdue School of Engineering and Technology at Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI ) on Tuesday,...

April 22, 2013

Federal student aid. On Tuesday, the House Education and the Workforce Committee's Subcommittee on Higher Education and Workforce Training held a hearing on federal student aid programs. During the hearing, members and higher education experts discussed the upcoming reauthorization of the Higher Education Act, which is set to expire at the end of this year. Lawmakers explored the question of...

April 16, 2013

NEBHE has published the first edition of its new Advanced Manufacturing Problem Based Learning (PBL) newsletter. NEBHE was awarded a three-year $900,000 grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF) for a New England-wide project titled Problem Based Learning (PBL) in Advanced Manufacturing: Transforming 21st Century Technician Education. Funding is provided through the NSF's Advanced Technological Education (ATE) program to improve...

April 16, 2013

On April 10, President Obama released his delayed 2014 budget proposal, completing the initial phase of the federal budget process. In recent weeks, both House and Senate have passed vastly different budget resolutions, with each chamber heavily influenced by the respective majority. These varying budget resolutions set broad parameters for the more detailed appropriations processes occurring in both House and...

April 4, 2013

Philip Altbach, director of the Center for International Higher Education at Boston College, will deliver the address at Rivier University's 78th commencement on Saturday, May 11, at 10 a.m. at the Tsongas Arena in Lowell, Mass. Carlotta Walls LaNier, one of the 'Little Rock Nine' group of African-American students who desegregated Central High School in Little Rock, Ark. in 1957,...

April 2, 2013

Marc Tucker, president and CEO of the National Center on Education, will speak on 'What It Will Take for the United States to Match the Performance of the Nations with the Best Education Systems," at College of the Atlantic's Deering Common Campus Center on Friday, April 5 at 3 p.m. ****Dan Gillmor, an international expert on citizen journalism and...

April 2, 2013

Keene State College appointed Anne E. Huot to be its 10th president, beginning July 1. For the past six years, she served as provost and vice president for academic affairs at The College at Brockport, State University of New York. She holds a bachelor's degree in Medical Technology from the University of New Hampshire and a master's and doctorate from...

April 1, 2013

NEBHE's newly updated Trends & Indicators series features an updated section on New England's international college enrollment and study abroad. New England colleges and universities enrolled nearly 61,000 foreign students in 2012—more than three times as many as they did in 1980, according to NEBHE's data from the New York City-based Institute of International Education. New England campuses attract 8%...

March 27, 2013

Babson College named former Massachusetts Lt. Gov. Kerry Healey to be the first woman to lead the college, effective July 1. She succeeds Len Schlesinger, who announced in December that he would step down at the end of this academic year. Richard Hopper, a higher education specialist with the World Bank, was appointed president of Kennebec Valley Community College, to...

March 21, 2013

Photo of Annie Lennox. Rebecca Onie, co-founder and CEO of Health Leads, will deliver the keynote address at MGH Institute of Health Professions' 2013 commencement on Thursday, May 9. Singer-songwriter Annie Lennox will deliver the keynote at Berklee College of Music on Saturday, May 11 at Boston University's Agganis Arena. Richard DesLauriers, special agent in charge of the FBI's Boston...

March 18, 2013

Boosting STEM education. On Wednesday, the House Committee on Science, Space and Technology's Subcommittee on Research held a hearing on industry and philanthropic initiatives to boost science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) Education. Every year, the federal government allocates over $3 billion to 13 federal agencies to fund STEM education initiatives, and the subcommittee is working on the reauthorization of...

March 12, 2013

From left: Robert A. Weygand, Robert D. Ballard, Michael K. Thomas Despite a late-winter snowstorm, hundreds of New Englanders braved the snow to attend NEBHE's 11th New England Higher Education Excellence Awards celebration on Friday, March 8, at the Boston Marriott Long Wharf hotel. Each year, NEBHE presents Regional Excellence Awards to individuals and organizations that have shown exceptional leadership...

March 11, 2013

Presidents' open immigration letter. On Tuesday, university presidents from Arizona State University, Cornell University and Miami Dade College sent a letter to the leadership of more than 1,200 institutions of higher education, calling on them to encourage immigration reform. The letter asked schools to hold events highlighting immigration reform as essential to innovation. The letter says highly skilled graduates are...

March 11, 2013

Rwanda President Paul Kagame will speak at the University of Hartford's Lincoln Theater on Tuesday, March 12, at 11 a.m., to mark the launch of the university's Genocide and Holocaust Education Initiative. **** Journalist and author Bob Woodward will speak at Eastern Connecticut State University's Francis E. Geissler Gymnasium on Tuesday, March 12, at 7 p.m. Tickets are $10 each...

March 7, 2013

Announcements of spring 2013 New England commencement speakers have begun to trickle out ... Cardinal Seán O'Malley, the archbishop of Boston whose name has come up in conversations about a successor to Pope Benedict XVI, will give the commencement address at Regis College on Saturday, May 11. Fisher College will feature FOX25 news anchor Maria Stephanos on Saturday, May 11,...

March 5, 2013

NEBHEs Regional Student Program (RSP), known as Tuition Break, provided more than $53 million in tuition savings this academic year to 9,338 participating students, according to the recently published 2012-13 Annual Report of the New England Regional Student Program (RSP). Highlights from the 2012-13 RSP Annual Report: The RSP provided more than $53 million in tuition savings to 9,338 participating students,...

February 25, 2013

Marian Court College trustees approved the appointment of Denise A. Hammon as the college's fourth president. She had been serving as interim president since August 2012. Springfield College President Richard B. Flynn announced he will retire on Aug. 31, after 14 years as president. Amherst College tapped Kevin Weinman, Dartmouth College's assistant vice president of finance, to be Amherst's first-ever...

February 19, 2013

Early childhood education. On Thursday, President Obama released the framework of his plan for the expansion of early childhood education. In his State of the Union Address on Tuesday, President Obama said "tonight, I propose working with states to make high-quality preschool available to every single child in America." The plan calls for home-visits to new mothers and fathers to teach...

February 12, 2013

The New England Higher Education Recruitment Consortium (HERC) will go live with a website and job board redesign on Feb. 13.Since summer 2011, NEBHE and New England HERC have collaborated to post jobs on www.nebhe.org's Joblink page.The new changes come after HERC surveyed thousands of job-seekers and hundreds of member institutions across the nation, undergoing an exhaustive website and job...

February 12, 2013

The New England Journal of Higher Education (NEJHE) invites you to be part of a new series examining emerging issues, trends, innovations and ideas that will make a profound impact on higher education in New England and globally.The series called 'New Directions for Higher Education' will feature interviews with key visionaries by Philip DiSalvio, dean of the College of Advancing...

February 11, 2013

HELP Committee examines NCLB waivers. On Thursday, the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee held a hearing on No Child Left Behind (NCLB) and State Flexibility Waivers. Education Secretary Arne Duncan testified. Ranking Member Lamar Alexander (R-TN) sharply criticized the administration for granting NCLB waivers to states that shift towards policies that the administration favors. At this time,...

February 4, 2013

NEBHE's newly updated Trends & Indicators features an updated section on University Research showing that New England colleges and universities spent nearly $5 billion on research in 2011, but the region's share of total U.S. university R &D expenditures sat at 7.7%, down significantly from more than 10% in the 1980s.The share of money from federal sources also has declined slightly...

February 4, 2013

Higher education reauthorization. On Tuesday, Jan. 29, as lawmakers began to form proposals for the reauthorization of the Higher Education Act, the New America Foundation released a report with 30 recommendations for policy changes. The report "calls for specific changes to grants, loans, tax benefits, college outreach programs and federal regulations to provide more direct aid to the lowest-income students...