The Kept-Up Academic Librarian

This College Helps Prepare Foreign Fulbright Scholars For American Life

Kanda is one of 64 foreign scholars who came to New Jersey this week for a crash course on American life at an orientation hosted by Centenary College in Hackettstown. They are part of the Fulbright Program. Centenary is one of 10 colleges around the country selected to serve as a welcome site for newly arrived foreign students and scholars. They will spend a week at the small, private college learning the basics of living in America before they scatter to their host campuses around the U.S. to begin their studies. Read more at: http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2012/08/coming_to_america_101_centenar.html

Obama's Visit To Campus Is Memorable But Expensive

The University of Colorado spent roughly $110,000 on President Barack Obama's historic visit to the Boulder campus this spring -- less than half the price tag for the campus' unprecedented efforts days earlier to shut down the annual 4/20 smoke-out, the school announced Tuesday. CU officials said that funding to cover the costs of Obama's visit will come from existing insurance rebates to the university. The costs will not result in any tuition or fee increases to students or reductions in campus budgets. Read more at:
http://www.dailycamera.com/cu-news/ci_21200676/cu-boulder-price-tag-obamas-visit-last-april

For LA-Area Colleges Its Important To Have A Freeway Directional Sign

In all, about 35 Los Angeles-area colleges each have four freeway directional signs. It's easy to see why they want them: "There's a sense of pride in having a freeway sign," said Alan L. Gansberg, dean of Tarzana's Columbia College Hollywood. "It legitimizes you." Caltrans engineers say their rules allow public and private post-secondary schools — both nonprofit and for-profit — to apply for freeway directional signs. To qualify, campuses generally must have at least 1,000 full- or part-time students. Read more at:
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-college-signs-20120729,0,2677772.story

Professional Services For Those Who Need Help With Sorority Rush

Naming themselves the Rushbiddies, they opened shop in 2009 after hearing about the rush misfortunes of their daughters’ friends. About 50 mothers and their “chicks,” as the Biddies affectionately call them, attended one of their two-day workshops in April ($100 a couple), complete with mock rush party, wardrobe hints and paperwork prep. For a generation that grew up on tutors, admission counselors and relentless competition, prepping for rush seems only natural. A mini-industry of blogs, Web sites, books and consultants now helps them prepare for sorority recruitment and all its fallout, professionalizing what was once left to older siblings. Read more at:
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/22/education/edlife/prepping-students-for-sorority-rush.html?partner=rss&emc=rss

College Students' Poor Reading Habits Have Them Butchering The Language

Is it true that college students today are unprepared and unmotivated? That generalization does injustice to the numerous bright exceptions I saw in my 25 years of teaching composition to university freshmen. But in other cases the characterization is all too accurate. One big problem is that so few students are readers. As an unfortunate result, they have erroneous, and sometimes hilarious, notions of how the written language represents what they hear. Another student blamed "inclimate weather" for his failure to come to class, admitting that it was a "poultry excuse." Read more at:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702303561504577496863632059058.html?mod=djemWMP_h 

 

Infographic: College Students And Their Smartphones

College students aren’t just concerned with getting good grades and finding the best parties. More than ever, they’re using their smartphones to navigate life on campus. On the bus, waiting in line, in bed, on the treadmill and even while driving, college students can’t seem to put their phones down. Fifty-two percent say they often check their phones before getting out of bed in the morning, according to one study. Nearly half do so while in bed at night before they fall asleep. More colleges students use iPhones than any other device, email has nearly caught text messaging as the most popular use for smartphones among college students and nearly half of students use their phones to check the weather. Read more at:
http://mashable.com/2012/06/30/smartphones-college-students-infographic/?WT.mc_id=en_my_stories&utm_campaign=My%2BStories&utm_medium=email&utm_source=newsletter

Your College Campus May Be Going Smoke-Free Soon

Bans on use, advertising and sales of tobacco in all its forms are being enacted or considered at perhaps half of campuses nationwide, sometimes over the objections of student smokers, staff and faculty. The movement is driven by mounting evidence of the health risks of secondhand smoke, the reduced costs of smoke-free dorms and a drive to minimize enticements to smoke at a critical age for forming lifelong habits. California's state system will begin to bar tobacco use in 2013. A ban on use and advertising at the City University of New York system goes into effect in September, and the University of Missouri at Columbia is going smoke-free in 2014. Read more at:
http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2012/06/28/colleges_move_toward_absolute_bans_on_smoking/

Students Will Continue Professor's Project After His Untimely Death

Daniel Strickland often told his students, "If something needs to be done, you stay as long as you need to get it done." The 27-year-old associate professor at Santa Clara University died in a car accident last fall, but a group of his engineering students is honoring the advice. They graduated Saturday, but will stay at school to finish a project that builds on Strickland's work and promises to improve the way power is delivered in the developing world. Read more at:
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2012/06/16/BU971P2NNH.DTL#ixzz1yA0VjIaf

Native American Indian Tribes Partners With Universities To Preserve Language And Culture

Using revenues from their casino here in the Sierra Nevada foothills, the Chukchansi Indians recently pledged $1 million over five years to California State University, Fresno, to help preserve their unwritten language. Linguists from the university will create a dictionary, assemble texts and help teach the language at weekly courses like the one on a recent evening. With coffers flush from casino gambling, dozens of tribes have donated to universities or have directly hired linguists, buttressing the work of researchers. Read more at:
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/06/17/us/chukchansi-tribe-in-california-pushes-to-preserve-language.html?nl=todaysheadlines&emc=edit_th_20120617

Selected Wisdom From The Commencement Speakers Of 2012

Alongside the statesmen, tycoons and artists who addressed the class of 2012 at commencement exercises this spring, a popular choice of speakers seemed to be “people we’re used to seeing on television,” offering a dose of comforting familiarity to young people headed into a parlous world. Brian Williams, Barbara Walters, Katie Couric, Oprah Winfrey, Fareed Zakaria, Bob Schieffer and Steve Carell, to name a few, had their turns dispensing wisdom. And like their perhaps somewhat less recognizable fellow speakers, they offered warnings of challenges ahead, and some gallows humor. Read more at:
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/06/17/us/graduation-speakers-offer-advice-idealism-and-humor.html?partner=rss&emc=rss