The Kept-Up Academic Librarian

Adjuncts Are Invisible To The American Public

Retail employees, food service workers, call center operators: These, we are told, are the low-paying jobs of the future. Unfortunately, that list would be incomplete without including one of the fastest growing job titles at the business networking site LinkedIn: adjunct professors. Between 2007 and 2011, the number of people describing themselves there this way grew by almost 40 percent. Despite their near-universal presence in American higher education, most students and their parents don't know anything about adjunct faculty members. Read more at:
http://www.denverpost.com/headlines/ci_20490316/guest-commentary-adjunct-professors-are-hiding-plain-sight

Several Universities Among Organizations Approved To Use Drones

With little public attention, dozens of universities and law-enforcement agencies have been given approval by federal aviation regulators to use unmanned aircraft known as drones. The more than 50 institutions that received approvals to operate remotely piloted aircraft are more varied than many outsiders and privacy experts previously knew. They include not only agencies such as the Department of Homeland Security but also smaller ones such as the police departments in North Little Rock, Ark., and Ogden, Utah, as well the University of North Dakota and Nicholls State University in Louisiana. The University of North Dakota uses drones in connection with an undergraduate degree program in unmanned aircraft systems. Read more at:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304331204577354331959335276.html?mod=djemWMP_h

Two NYT Columnists Debate The Value Of Higher Education

Gail: But I’d like to talk today about higher education. I read your column about how students don’t seem to actually be learning all that much in college. David: As for student debt in general, I have a few thoughts. One, we do need programs so that people who graduate with high debt can nonetheless pursue careers as teachers, public employees and other low income service professions. Read more at:
http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/04/25/the-value-of-college/?partner=rss&emc=rss

Linking Funding To Performance May Improve Graduation Rates

At a time when American higher education is under fire for dismal graduation rates that have eroded the nation's leadership in college degree-holders, this public university in western Pennsylvania will graduate a record number of students, and do so more quickly than in years past. That's because Slippery Rock has built in aggressive new measures to help students succeed — and eliminated many obstacles that make success so elusive almost everywhere else. Slippery Rock may be the poster child for a resurgent idea called "performance funding," which pays public universities to meet goals set by increasingly results-conscious state legislatures.  Read more at: 

http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,2113097,00.html#ixzz1tGQWjfEs

College Degrees No Longer Guarantee A Certain Quality Of Life

The thing is, today’s graduates aren’t just entering an especially brutal economy. They’re entering it in many cases with the wrong portfolios. To wit: as a country we routinely grant special visas to highly educated workers from countries like China and India. They possess scientific and technical skills that American companies need but that not enough American students are acquiring. Trying to keep higher learning as affordable as possible is a crucial effort to collapse that divide. No good can come from letting college — as a goal, as an option — slip away. But as a guarantor of a certain quality of life, it already has. Read more at:
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/29/opinion/sunday/bruni-the-imperiled-promise-of-college.html?_r=1&partner=rss&emc=rss

Student Loan Activists Protest Across America

Student loan activists in New York and some 20 other cities are gathering Wednesday, when student debt is expected to cross the trillion-dollar threshold. Among their student loan proposals: The federal government should cover all higher-education costs. Read more at:
http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Education/2012/0425/Student-loans-As-debts-hit-1-trillion-mark-protesters-plan-Occupy-type-events

Differential Tuition Is On The Rise To Help Fund More Costly Programs

A growing number of public universities are charging higher tuition for math, science and business programs, which they argue cost more to teach — and can earn grads higher-paying jobs. More than 140 public universities now use "differential tuition" plans. That number is increasing as states cut higher-education spending and schools try to pay for expensive technical programs. Read more at:
http://www.usatoday.com/news/education/story/2012-04-24/differential-tuition-increase-major/54513940/1 

President Of College With 400 Students Earns As Much As Those At Reseach Universities

It is a tiny school, with an enrollment the size of a modest elementary school. There is no campus, just a small office building. Its 400 part-time students are invisible here, attending classes at off-site facilities across the country. Yet the National Graduate School of Quality Management awarded its president, Robert J. Gee, $732,891 in compensation two years ago. For years, the school’s revenues have financed a lavish lifestyle for Gee and for his wife, who has been paid at least $100,000 a year since 2003. And they have vacationed together at school expense: The school owns a deluxe winter getaway in the US Virgin Islands for their use. Read more at:
http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2012/04/26/tiny_tax_exempt_falmouth_school_lavishes_salary_perks_on_president/

Twitter Hijacking Leads To Strange Message To Campus Community

No, Towson University is not suggesting anyone try a new weight loss plan. The university's TowsonUNews Twitter account was hijacked late last week, leaving some 6,121 people wondering why Towson was suggesting via Twitter that they try this new weight-loss diet. Towson media specialist Gay Pinder sheepishly acknowledged Monday morning, that, yes, she clicked on one of those "people are saying nasty things about you, click here to find out what" links late last week. That's why the notices showed up on so many people's Twitter feeds. Read more at:
http://www.baltimoresun.com/features/baltimore-insider-blog/bs-ae-towson-weight-20120423,0,6033917.story

More People Seeking Debt Counseling Citing Student Loan Debt

More people seeking debt counseling are citing student loan debt as their main reason for seeking help, an analysis by a large credit-counseling agency shows. Last year, nearly 15 percent of clients seeking help through CredAbility, a nonprofit based in Atlanta, cited student loans as their main debt burden —compared with no more than 2 percent during each of the prior two years. Read more at:
http://bucks.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/04/24/more-people-seeking-help-cite-burden-of-student-loans/