The Kept-Up Academic Librarian

How About Recommending Cutting Your Job

The former president of Truman State University in Kirksville performed only one task in her year as its consultant that earned her $215,000: She wrote a report on ways the university could cut costs and save money. Dixon announced she was resigning as university president in mid-September 2008 and left the post a month later. She then began a one-year contract as the board's consultant. That job ended in October of this year. Cozette said the board hadn't yet selected an interim president when it gave Dixon a one-year, $205,000 "open-ended, based-on-need" consulting contract and $10,000 bonus. Read more at:
http://www.newstribune.townnews.com/articles/2009/12/05/news_state/nt026state31truman09.txt

The New Normal For Higher Education

"The most successful institutions will not be those that ride out the economic downturn by returning to the status quo," said Madeleine d'Ambrosio, vice president and executive director of the TIAA-CREF Institute, in opening this year's TIAA-CREF Institute conference, "Smart Leadership in Difficult Times." More than 150 higher education leaders from around the country were gathered for this timely forum. Colleges and universities will be forced to "focus on enrollment, affordability and fund-raising" added d'Ambrosio, who also cited a Moody's report predicting the harshest effects of the economic downturn are likely still ahead for higher education. The result: a "new normal" for colleges and universities. Read more at:
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/A-New-Normal-for-Higher-prnews-3942864383.html?x=0&.v=1

Is Your President One Of The Best?

In a world where brainpower outstrips muscle power, where innovation trumps conformity, where the nimble and creative stand to inherit the earth, higher education is the key to the next American century. Forget the ivory tower: colleges and universities are catalysts of economic development, stewards of public health, incubators of social policy and laboratories of discovery. As a result of these challenges and opportunities, college presidents are on the line as never before — and must be accessible and accountable to the public in a way that rivals or even surpasses what is required of public officials. Read more at:
http://www.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,1937938_1937934_1937914,00.html

IHEs Look To Management Consultants To Cut Costs

When Holden Thorp, the chancellor of the University of North Carolina, was looking for ways to cut the university’s budget, he did what many executives in private industry do — hired a management consultant. The management consultants examined business functions but stayed away from academic issues like courseloads and tenure. For all its academic prominence, the 107-page report found, the university has plenty of inefficiencies. Still, some university employees criticize the hiring of Bain, or any outside corporate-oriented consulting firm, to advise on university budget cuts. Read more at:
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/15/education/15bain.html?partner=rss&emc=rss

New York State Explores The Education Pipeline

Ensuring New Yorkers are getting a quality education from the first day of kindergarten through their college graduation and that teachers are prepared to provide it, was the focus of a community conversation last Wednesday at the University at Buffalo. The session was the second of seven being conducted by the State University of New York as part of the second phase of an ongoing effort to create a strategic plan for the public university system. "Education pipeline" was a theme applied to UBuffalo's strategy session, and is one of many that will be taken up during the seven conversations across the state. Read more at:
http://www.legislativegazette.com/Articles-c-2009-11-10-63916.113122_SUNY_to_plug_leaks_in_pipeline.html

Top Academic Leadership Doesn't Come Cheap

The salaries of college and university presidents have been going up, but savvy leadership has a price. Excellent college leadership is necessary, now more than ever, and that costs. University presidents usually are respected scholars in their own right who must combine a broad grasp of academic issues with administrative and public relations skills -- and perhaps above all, a knack for fundraising. Great university management draws great faculty, who in turn attract top students, fellowships and grants. Read more at:
http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/editorials/la-ed-salaries4-2009nov04,0,3798999.story

IHEs Adding Capacity To Counseling Centers

Counseling centers at many schools in the region and nationally note the same trend: more students seeking help for routine and severe problems.Still shaken from the Virginia Tech shootings in 2007, campuses are responding to the demand by adding counselors, reorganizing how they assess students to get to the most acute cases quickly, and training workers to deal with newly emerging problems. Nationally, nearly 15 percent of college students in spring 2008 said they had been diagnosed with depression, up from 10 percent in 2000, the American College Health Association says. Read more at;
http://www.philly.com/inquirer/education/20091102_A_rise_in_mental-health_help_on_campus.html

Presidents' Pay At Privates Up 5.5%

The presidents of the nation’s major private research universities were paid a median compensation of $627,750 in the 2007-8 fiscal year — a 5.5 percent increase from the previous year. According to the survey, published in Monday’s edition, 23 private college presidents made over $1 million in total compensation, and 110 made more than $500,000. Such large pay packages are still relatively new in higher education. Why is university presidents’ pay going up so much? Read more at:
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/02/education/02college.html?_r=1&partner=rss&emc=rss

Presidents Speak At Creativity Forum

Universities should be leading the way, not hindering creativity in Oklahoma education, six university presidents said at a creativity symposium Wednesday. The presidents spoke on a panel during Creative Oklahoma’s creativity symposium, "The New Renaissance: A Revolution in Creativity and Learning” at UCO. Administrators need to create an environment where professors and students aren’t afraid to take risks, he said. Read more at:
http://www.newsok.com/university-leaders-urge-creativity-at-oklahoma-symposium/article/3405318?custom_click=pod_headline_education

Yudof's NYT Interview Gets Bad Reviews At UC

While reading the Sunday New York Times, I was surprised to see the magazine’s Q&A with UC President Mark Yudof – and dismayed by the timing and glib tone that he took. Just days after UC faculty, employees, and students took to the streets in protest of Yudof’s anti-democratic approach to making deep cuts and huge tuition hikes, here he is playing the cutesy wannabe celebrity who jokes about his lack of commitment to and qualifications for this important job. Read more at:
http://www.sfbg.com/blogs/politics/2009/09/uc_chiefs_glib_nyt_interview_r.html