The Kept-Up Academic Librarian

Some Profit From The Provision Of Open Courseware

The OpenCourseWare Consortium, which grew out of the M.I.T. project, now includes over 200 institutions worldwide and offers materials from more than 13,000 courses. OpenCourseWare makes it possible to profit from some of the content that comes with $50,000 annual tuition at an Ivy League school, without paying that hefty price tag. Still, an entire ecosystem of commercially oriented organizations, like the open course aggregator Academic Earth, has sprung up around open course materials.  Indeed, that raises a key question: how can professors and universities afford to give away the course materials that are their very livelihood? Read more at:
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/31/education/31iht-riedopen.html?ref=education

Making The Extra Effort To Support First Generation Students

Jones is one of 24 freshmen living in Gen-1 House, an off-campus residence for low-income, first-generation college students. Mause, the program's coordinator, will do everything from wake-up calls to checking in with professors to make sure Gen-1 students keep their grades up and fit into campus life. If left to the odds, only three of the 24 Gen-1 House freshmen would graduate. Colleges are trying a variety of programs to hold onto first-gens. Read more at:
http://www.usatoday.com/news/education/2010-03-30-FirstGenDorm30_ST_N.htm

First University To Announce That All Students Will Get An iPad

It didn't take too long. Seton Hill University in Greensburg, Pennsylvania has announced that starting in Fall, 2010, every full-time student will get an iPad as part of the Seton Hill Griffin (that's the school's mascot) Technology Advantage Program. According to TUAW reader Dirk, who tipped us to this announcement, "Students will be able to download their textbooks to their iPads from the iBook Store. In addition, iPads can be used as phones and for air and file sharing, as well as note-taking." Read more at:
http://www.tuaw.com/2010/03/30/and-so-it-begins-seton-hill-university-to-give-all-students-a/

Initiative For Community Colleges Cut From Reform Legislation

Congress just missed a historic opportunity. The health reconciliation bill that passed Thursday included major changes in higher education policy, but Congress ultimately took a pass on restructuring the mission of the nation's community colleges. "It was the best chance — really since the GI Bill — for a game-changing federal initiative in higher education generally, and community colleges specifically," says Christopher Cabaldon, who runs a community college project at the New America Foundation. Its failure is about more than a missed policy change. Read more at:
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=125225059

New Environmental Science Program Follows Green Campus Trend

University of Massachusetts Lowell will help meet a growing need for trained people to work in the field of environmental health through a degree program it is introducing this fall. The state’s Board of Higher Education approved a proposal by the university’s School of Health and Environment to offer a bachelor of science degree in environmental health. The vote gives UMass Lowell the distinction of being the only institution in the Northeast offering the degree, according to the university. Students in the program will study the effects of the environment on human health and of human activities on the environment. Read more at:
http://www.boston.com/news/education/higher/articles/2010/03/28/umass_lowell_adds_environmental_health_program/

Duke Goes Retro For Next Dormitory Project

Duke University's next residence hall will begin a back-to-the-future attempt to transform the residential experience. The university recently approved plans for a $20 million, 150-bed residence hall on its West Campus that will be cast in the Ivy League mold. It will be broken into two"houses" of 60 and 90 students each, will feature more single rooms and suites, and will include a great room, dining facilities and more meeting space to encourage academic interaction. The housing model dates to the birth of American higher education and to English schools like Cambridge before that. It's a clear step away from the two-to-a-room institutional dorm model prevalent on college campuses for decades. Read more at: 
http://www.newsobserver.com/2010/03/26/407191/duke-student-housing-in-an-ivy.html#ixzz0ja29I1Xj

For Profits Want A Piece Of The Transfer Student Pie

For-profit colleges in Tennessee, which were left out of the state's recent higher education overhaul, say they want the same transfer agreements with four-year colleges as community colleges. In January, Gov. Phil Bredesen signed a bill mandating statewide transfer agreements between community colleges and universities. Allowing a pipeline from for-profit schools, which do not have regional academic accreditation, would weaken a public bachelor's degree in Tennessee, UT officials argue. Read more at:
http://www.timesfreepress.com/news/2010/mar/28/032810-for-profit-colleges-want-a-piece-of-higher/?local

Mayor To Professor: Your Course Disrepects Our City

A Temple University course focusing on the illegal immigration battles waged in Hazleton has drawn the ire of Mayor Lou Barletta.  It’s not the idea for the course that has Barletta, who has one daughter enrolled in the Philadelphia school and another who previously attended, upset. It’s part of the course description and syllabus, which describes Barletta’s view of the city as, “not one community but two, speaking different languages, with different customs and with a fierce mutual distrust. Many observers believe that this state of Balkanization will be the national destiny of the U.S. in the next generation.” Barletta voiced his displeasure Friday at what he perceives as false descriptions of the city and himself. Read more at:
http://www.timesleader.com/news/Course_gets_an__lsquo_F_rsquo__from_Barletta_03-27-2010.html

IHEs Will Compete For Transfer Students

As more students show a desire to transfer, schools are focusing attention on them as never before. In the hyper-competitive world of college admissions, transfer students have become the latest sought-after commodity, viewed as increasingly important to keeping seats filled and diversifying the student body through their varied backgrounds. Obvious sources are community college students looking to finish out a bachelor's degree. But admissions staff at four-year schools say it makes sense to have policies just as welcoming to those who jump from one four-year school to another. Read more at:
http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/10087/1046224-298.stm#ixzz0ja0pecXi

IHEs Wage War On Merchandise Counterfeiters

The fight against fake products has found a home at Michigan State University with the launch of the Anti-Counterfeiting and Product Protection Program. "The FBI has called (it) 'the crime of the 21st century,'" university spokesman Andy Henion wrote on the school's Web site. "The counterfeiting of products from pharmaceuticals to food additives to auto parts accounts for hundreds of billions of dollars in global trade."

Michigan State's program is designed to fill what Henion said is a need for research on the worldwide phenomenon and "evidence-based strategies" to fight it. Read more at:  http://www.detnews.com/article/20100325/BIZ/3250369/1026/rss06#ixzz0jHnlBuc5