The Kept-Up Academic Librarian

Dean At Only MBA Program Exclusively For Women Wants To Level The Playing Field

Minehan, who went on to become the president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston and is now dean of the management school at Simmons College, has seen women’s roles expand greatly in the corporate world since then. But they’re still far from being on a level playing field with men. At Simmons since August, she hopes to become part of the solution by attracting more students to the women’s college, and particularly to its MBA program, the only one in the country designed exclusively for women. Read more at:
http://www.boston.com/jobs/news/articles/2011/12/04/simmonss_mba_program_only_one_exclusively_for_women/

B-Schools Look To Consumer Technology To Connect Their Students

While specialized education tools have long played an important role in the classroom, some of the most commonly used gadgets and Web sites have become teaching tools of choice at business schools like Essec and elsewhere. Facebook is increasingly used to foster a sense of community for business school classes that meet just a few times a semester; Twitter is used as a way for students to be heard in big halls, letting them ask questions during lectures without having to raise their hand or voice; and videoconferencing software is used at many business schools as a tool for communication between far-flung networks of professors and experts. Experts at Essec and elsewhere say that out-of-the-box consumer applications and gadgets are extremely valuable in the hands of business students. Read more at:
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/24/world/europe/a-scholarly-role-for-consumer-technology.html?ref=technology

 

Tuition Exchange Agreements Allow Out-Of-Staters To Get In-State Tuition

In the midst of her MBA search, she learned an exchange agreement between Alabama and South Carolina qualified her for in-state tuition. “It was a huge incentive,” she says of the discounted tuition status, which reduced the cost she would have paid as an out-of-state student by nearly $55,000 over the course of the program. Such exchange arrangements exist in 46 states and have been around for decades as a way to give students wider access to higher education resources that may not be available in their home states.  Read more at:
http://www.businessweek.com/business-schools/tuition-discounts-lure-students-out-of-state-11162011.html

Grad Psychology Students Deal With Lack Of Internships

In psychology, there are simply not enough internships to go around. The issue is on the minds of many graduate students in psychology right now, with the application season for next year’s internships in full swing. In some smaller cities and towns, counseling programs for the elderly, the poor and children do not have enough intern psychologists to see all the patients who need treatment, even as a weak economy and high unemployment drive up demand for the programs’ services. Read more at:
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/08/health/views/internship-shortage-frustrates-psychology-students.html?_r=1&partner=rss&emc=rss 

 

Changes In Federal Loan Law Will Hurt Graduate Students

Graduate students will pay more for loans taken out next July, and recent graduates will lose rebates for on-time repayment under a law Congress passed this summer to keep the federal deficit in check while protecting Pell Grants for low-income students. The Congressional Budget Office estimates that the changes will save the government $21.6 billion — meaning students would pay that much more or borrow less — over the next 10 years. Financial aid departments at colleges and universities are now starting to notify graduate students that Stafford loans they take out next summer will no longer include a subsidy that keeps interest from accruing while they are in school. Read more at:

http://www.bostonherald.com/news/national/general/view/20111030federal_changes_on_student_loans_creating_anxiety/srvc=home&position=recent

B-Schools Partner With Non-Profits To Give Students New Opportunities

Like most business school students, Gui Deng Say didn’t set out to change the world. After graduating from the National University of Singapore with a degree in environmental engineering, the 27-year-old decided to stay on and take a master’s degree in international management. But thanks to a chance encounter at the CEMS graduation ceremony he is now working for the Grameen Bank, the microfinance community development bank which, along with its founder, Muhammad Yunus, was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2006. According to Thomas Bieger, chairman of CEMS and president of the University of St. Gallen in Switzerland, business schools and the nonprofit sector have much to teach each other. Read more at:
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/10/world/europe/10iht-EDUCLEDE10.html?_r=1&partner=rss&emc=rss

Graduate Program Enrollment Drops Slightly

Enrollment of new students at graduate schools in the United States dropped slightly from 2009 to 2010, despite an 8.4 percent increase in applications. It was the first decline in first-time graduate enrollment since 2003, according to the Council of Graduate Schools, and came after a 5.5 percent increase the previous year. The decrease in new graduate students was particularly noticeable in business, education and public administration programs. Doctoral programs are growing faster than master’s and certificate programs. Read more at:
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/22/education/22grad.html

Deans Of Graduate Schools React To U.S.News Rankings

Along with its signature Best Colleges rankings, U.S. News publishes another compendium called Best Graduate Schools. It’s prepared on a separate calendar, published on a different date and received with bated breath by deans across the land. Some in academia argue that ranking professional schools is far more credible than ranking colleges: professional schools are, after all, much smaller and more homogeneous than entire colleges. Read more at:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/college-inc/post/grad-school-deans-dont-be-ruled-by-us-news-rankings/2011/09/05/gIQAtVsw3J_blog.html?wprss=college-inc

Baked Goods Help Sweeten Grueling Doctoral Hearings

Gaffield experienced one of the little-discussed aspects of graduate student life -- bringing baked and store-bought foods to preliminary and oral dissertation defenses. On two to three occasions during their graduate school career, a student faces formal questions from department faculty members in a public event to test their knowledge of the field and their research. By the time of the final defense the student is almost completely assured of graduation, so the cookies and brownies are intended not to sway the committee but, instead, to help everyone get through a grueling event. Read more at:
http://www.today.duke.edu/2011/08/dissertationdesserts

Female Faculty At B-Schools Find A Blocked Path To The Top

 The number of women who’ve obtained the full professor rank in B-schools remains dispiritingly low, with fewer than one of five women business school professors employed today as full professors. Women may still be far from a majority at most business schools, but the overall number entering the field has been steadily creeping upwards. Despite the growing number of women entering the business school world many appear to hit a stumbling block on the path to promotion. Read more at:
http://www.businessweek.com/business-schools/for-female-faculty-a-bschool-glass-ceiling-08082011.html