The Kept-Up Academic Librarian

Real Estate Investors Targeting College Towns

Looking to be a landlord? Buying property in college towns typically translates into stable rental returns, no matter how the economy is faring. Not only do colleges provide a steady source of jobs for the local economy, but enrollments have swelled as the unemployed go back to school seeking new job skills. Read more at:
http://money.cnn.com/galleries/2012/real_estate/1203/gallery.college-towns/?iid=GM

Engineering Students Help Companies To Improve Their Sustainability

For Nestle Waters, a few degrees on the thermostat can mean big money. That's why when Lehigh University's Enterprise Systems Center pointed out a glitch in the processes of the company's state-of-the-art Breinigsville plant that was keeping temperatures two degrees cooler than necessary, top directors took notice. What makes the finding even better is that the brains behind them are Lehigh University undergraduate and graduate student engineers who have set their sights on improving local companies' sustainability. Read more at:
http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/mc-outlook-lehigh-university-savings-20120310,0,4143917.story

Washington University Will Spend $80 Million To Develop Neighborhood

Washington University plans to remake a central part of the Delmar Loop with an $80 million project consisting of stores and apartments for about 550 students. Adelstein said the university has run out of room to build additional student housing on campus. Officials said the Loop project will give more students the opportunity to live off campus but stay in housing run by the university's residential life office.Read more at: 
http://www.stltoday.com/business/local/washington-university-plans-million-loop-project/article_71474350-5f0d-11e1-ad6c-0019bb30f31a.html#ixzz1ncm7DhQR

Oil Boom Creates New Opportunties And Challenges For These IHEs

Three years ago, Williston State College President Ray Nadolny asked employees to park in the front because the campus looked so empty. Now, as a result of enrollment growth and a spike in demand for workforce training, Nadolny tells them to park in the back or they’ll be ticketed. The oil boom has brought an influx of new challenges for Williston State College, and the other campuses in the west also are feeling the effects. Read more at:
http://www.grandforksherald.com/event/article/id/230549/

Hopkins President Says The University Must Help The City

Johns Hopkins University President Ronald J. Daniels told the Baltimore Development Corp. board Thursday that the academic powerhouse has a moral obligation to "share our bounty" with the city. Daniels said that he sees Hopkins students, faculty and staff as privileged and that each has a responsibility to help revitalize Baltimore by addressing homelessness, preparing children for good jobs, ending violence and reversing significant health problems. Read more at:
http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/breaking/bs-md-ci-development-corp-20120223,0,4616349.story

Community College Plans A Dual-Use Library For Campus And Community

A massive skeletal structure has been growing over the corner of Tidewater Community College's campus on Rosemont Road near Dam Neck Road.Two stories high and sprawling across 120,000 square feet, the building soon will house an unusual dual-use library shared by the college and the city. Once completed - probably in about a year - the library will offer the popular titles and movies of a public library, plus the academic journals and resources of a college library. The partnership that led to the $53 million library is functional and financial, she said. The city contributed $11 million and the state provided $42 million. Read more at:
http://hamptonroads.com/2012/02/tccvirginia-beach-joint-library-sees-groundbreaking-event

City Seeks More Support From Higher Education

Providence’s mayor is set to meet with Brown University’s president on Wednesday as he seeks more in voluntary payments from the Ivy League school to help close a $22.5 million budget shortfall. Read more at:
http://articles.boston.com/2012-02-14/news/31059898_1_providence-mayor-payments-tax-exempt-hospitals

Providence's mayor on Wednesday announced a tentative deal with Johnson & Wales University under which the school would more than triple its annual voluntary payments to the financially struggling city -- and possibly contribute even more. Read more at:
http://www.boston.com/news/local/rhode_island/articles/2012/02/15/providence_johnson__wales_announce_payment_deal/

Proposed Federal Fund Would Provide $8 Billion To Community College Partnerships

President Obama on Monday will propose a $8 billion Community College to Career Fund, with the goal of training two million workers for well-paying jobs in high-demand industries, officials said. The money would be used to bolster partnerships betweencommunity colleges and businesses to train workers in areas like health care, transportation and advanced manufacturing. Mr. Obama has for years sought to expand resources for community colleges, the main source of education and job training for most low-income Americans. Read more at:
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/14/education/obama-to-propose-community-college-aid.html?_r=1&ref=education

New Basketball Arena Raises Hopes For Invigorating Downtown Arlington

The opening of the University of Texas at Arlington’s College Park Center was the place to see and be seen Wednesday night. As North Texas businessmen, politicians, media personalities and higher-education administrators crowded the hospitality suite, James D. Spaniolo stood at center court before the largest crowd ever to attend a basketball game at the university. The center is intended to be the linchpin of a new College Park District adjacent to campus with 600 new beds in university-run student housing, a 1,850-car parking garage and ample retail space. There has been significant buy-in from the community, including an $18 million investment by the city. Read more at:
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/03/us/arlington-hopes-that-new-stadiums-glitter-rubs-off-on-downtown.html

Partnership With University Helps Prison Inmates Obtain College Credits

On a recent morning inside Missouri's largest state prison, a class of students patiently waited for the professor to arrive. They had a pile of books each, and a collective pile of some of society's worst offenses. Never mind the gray uniforms, the rattling keys, the chirp of a guard's radio. When St. Louis University professor Stephen Casmier got through security, and the day's lesson in literary studies began, the men were in college. The class of 19 inmates, a small sampling of the 30,000 offenders in the Missouri Department of Corrections system, is part of the SLU Prison Program, an effort that educators and prison reformers are watching with hopeful, yet cautious, eyes. Read more at:
http://www.stltoday.com/news/local/metro/st-louis-university-program-in-missouri-prison-helps-set-minds/article_a06b052a-064f-5ef4-bce9-d60036f1ac59.html#ixzz1hrEvZjCT