The Kept-Up Academic Librarian

Coffee Is A Popular Drink And A College Course

A handful of teachers across the nation have developed courses that study coffee and its effect on society. This article mentions a number of them, and explains how short courses on specialized subjects can add to the value of an education. Read more at:
http://www.cnn.com/2005/EDUCATION/02/25/coffee.class.ap/index.html

One Article On Summers Controversy

Since you practically couldn't open a newspaper without seeing an article about the Larry Summers controversy at Harvard, I decided to avoid covering it here. But here's the one article I will point you to. It provides another viewpoint of the whole issue. It reads: Harvard University president Lawrence Summers has suffered acrimonious condemnation, and may have jeopardized his job, for suggesting that the underrepresentation of women in engineering and some scientific fields may be due in part to inherent differences in the intellectual abilities of the sexes. But Summers could be right. Some scholars who are in the know about the differences between mens' and womens' brains believe his remarks have merit. Read more at: http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/wireStory?id=537795

Public IHEs Doing More With Less Says Report

A new report released this month alleges that public colleges, receiving fewer federal dollars for education at a time when they are trying to attract better and brighter students, are making infrastructure investments such as laboratories and new technology, and passing the costs to the students. There is a link to the report in the article. Read more at:
http://blogs.csmonitor.com/liblog/2005/02/index.html#a0003682653

Educating The Net Generation

Inside Higher Ed has an interview with Diana G. Oblinger, a vice president of Educause and co-editor of the Educating the Net Generation (the first e-book published by EDUCAUSE). It is available free on the organization's Web site. Today's students have different expectations and skills with regard to technology, and colleges sometimes fail to meet those expectations or understand what those skills mean, according to the new e-book. Read the interview at:
http://insidehighered.com/insider/educating_the_net_generation

This President Runs It Like A Business

This article profiles Drexel University's President Papadakis. Few university presidents have a hard-core business style quite like Dr. Papadakis's. He has deployed sophisticated marketing tactics, tried to improve productivity by digitizing coursework and has beefed up the 114-year-old institution by taking over a troubled medical school. He's had some success, but...Read more at:
http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/05055/462289.stm

The Tuition Here Is Getting Out Of Hand

Fifteen Yale students staged a 10-hour sit-in at the university's admissions office Thursday in an effort to get the school to improve its financial aid policy. A group of students called on Yale President Richard Levin to reduce by half the amount of money students on financial aid are required to pay. The students say families earning less than $40,000 should not have to contribute any money. Tuition, etc. at Yale is about $41,000. Read more at:
http://www.boston.com/news/education/higher/articles/2005/02/24/yale_students_crash_admissions_office_demand_financial_aid_changes/

Classrooms Are Technology Too

Steve Erhmann of the TLT Group guests writes Terry Calhoun's column this week.  He writes: “Technology” is a word that makes most people think “computers” or “the Web.” But classrooms – and all other kinds of learning spaces – are technologies, too. Technologies don’t “cause” any particular sort of learning to happen." Read more about how classroom space impacts on learning: http://www.campus-technology.com/news_article.asp?id=10681&typeid=153

Taking Steps To Avoid Decline In Computer Majors

Offshoring and the dot-com bust are the underlying causes of a shortage of computer science majors in universities nationwide. If the trend continues, brain drain could damage the nation's knowledge economy when baby boomers retire in about five years, observers said. Read more at:
http://www.rednova.com/news/display/?id=129621

Faculty And Legislators Should Switch Places

Here's an interesting column. It reads: Having conquered the presidency, the judiciary, both houses of Congress, and all of AM radio, Republicans have set their sights on the last perceived holdout of leftist ideology: the Ivory Tower. Read more at:
http://www.dailytexanonline.com/news/2005/01/27/Opinion/Legislature.Faculty.Should.Switch.Places-842779.shtml

Looking For Ways To Lobby For Community College Funding

A Pennsylvania legislator said he wants to create a Board of Community Colleges that would offer a collective voice to lobby for money for Pennsylvania's 14 community colleges, which provide two-year academic and technical programs to about 365,000 students. The administration opposes the idea. Read more at:
http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/tribune-review/trib/regional/s_306619.html