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Showing posts from July, 2020

Florida Career College to Close

Florida Career College to Close Doug Lederman Fri, 01/26/2024 - 03:00 AM Byline(s) Doug Lederman from Inside Higher Ed https://ift.tt/avZRfLi

Jobless college students are being given summer jobs to mentor younger peers

With their summer jobs and internships canceled and anxiety about getting Covid-19 — or just succumbing to boredom — college students have found at least one type of work that they largely can do at home this summer: mentoring even younger students. Several programs aimed at keeping incoming freshmen on track for college and others that provide tutoring to elementary students are scooping up jobless undergraduates as mentors in relationships that benefit everyone. “These college coaches are the people who need this work the most, and also the most qualified to be doing this work,” said Laura Myers, associate director of college counseling initiatives at the City University of New York, whose College Bridge for All program is part of an effort to support the more than 5 0 ,000 new graduates of New York City public high schools. “These college coaches are the people who need this work the most, and also the most qualified to be doing this work.” Laura Myers, associate director of

Reopening Schools Isn’t the Only Way to Help Parents

In ordinary times, K–12 schools offer valuable services to two distinct populations, and arguably get far more credit for serving one than the other. School famously provides kids with an education—as well as socialization and, in many cases, support (in the form of meals and medical and mental-health services, to name a few). At the same time, with decidedly less fanfare, it provides their parents with some eight hours of daily child care, five days a week, for most of the year, freeing up time for adults to earn the money it takes to raise kids for the remaining 16 or so hours of the day. For families, economies, and societies, schools have been reliable, helpful partners for generations. Of course, the coronavirus pandemic threw a wrench into that system the way it threw a wrench into just about everything . When offices and schools closed in March so that workers and students could comply with social-distancing guidelines, things fell apart for working parents. Suddenly kids were

Colleges explore esports opportunities and others face budget cuts

While the coronavirus pandemic has caused uncertainty about whether college athletics programs will be able to compete this fall, it has also spurred some colleges to more aggressively market their competitive esports teams. But the pandemic has also stalled plans by some institutions to expand or create esports programs. At a time when in-person gatherings and high-contact sports are discouraged by public health experts, esports can easily operate in a remote setting. All that's needed for students or fans to watch or participate in esports in most cases is a computer and internet connection. The cancellation of spring athletics and the postponement of the fall season by many intercollegiate athletic conferences have sparked more interest in esports from institutions that sponsor strong traditional sports programs, said Michael Brooks, the executive director of the National Association of Collegiate Esports, or NACE, a nonprofit organization that provides resources, governan

New Zealand prepares for few international students this year

New Zealand universities are pinning their pandemic recovery hopes on an early 2021 return of international students, after the government ruled out a relaxation of border restrictions this year. Education Minister Chris Hipkins warned educators not to expect a reopening of the borders while the pandemic continued to “rage” overseas. “We’d be expecting providers to plan for no additional international students for the rest of this year, with a view to bringing in smaller cohorts than they may have previously expected next year,” he said at a media conference. Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern urged colleges to moderate their expectations about how many students could be admitted even then, stressing that the borders would remain tightly managed. She said that before the pandemic, some 117,000 foreign students had arrived in the country each year. “Since we started our quarantine system, we’ve had a total of 31,000 returning New Zealanders come through,” she said. “That gives you a se

New presidents or provosts: Aloysius Benedictine Berkeley Charleston Hinds Lee Manhattan Southwestern UTEP UWGB Wilmington

Michael Alexander , provost and vice chancellor of academic affairs at the University of Wisconsin at Green Bay, has been chosen as chancellor there. Suzanne Austin , interim provost and executive vice president for academic affairs at the College of Charleston, has been named to the position on a permanent basis. Maria (Angélica) Garcia , vice president of student services at Skyline College, in California, has been appointed president of Berkeley City College, also in California. John N. McKeegan , vice president for institutional advancement and general counsel at Linfield College, in Oregon, has been named president of Mount Aloysius College, in Pennsylvania. Debbie Murray , vice president for academic affairs at Lee University, in Tennessee, has been named provost there, too. Kenneth Newbold , former vice president of academic affairs at Goshen College, in Indiana, has been selected as provost and executive vice president at Benedictine University, in Illinois. Steven Sc

Colleges reverse decisions to open in person

Late this spring, colleges and universities issued a wave of announcements : they would be opening -- er, intending to open -- their campuses this fall. Plans were laid for early departures , scheduled showers , small group cohorts and a half-full campus . Plexiglas was bought and tents erected . Now, many universities are reversing their plans, announcing both online courses and closed campuses. In some cases, dominoes have been quick to fall among peer groups. For example, three private, historically Black universities in Atlanta, which has been hard hit by the virus in recent weeks, have said almost all students will be studying from home this fall. Those universities are Spelman College, Clark Atlanta College and Morehouse University. Elsewhere in the state, public universities are still planning to reopen. In Washington, D.C., three private selective colleges -- Georgetown, George Washington and American Universities -- went fully online this week, with announcements comin

Colleges lease hotels and apartments to reduce housing density this fall

In an effort to reduce on-campus housing density, colleges are leasing apartments and hotel rooms to house students this fall. The arrangements are an added cost for colleges when budgets are already tight, but the rooms come at no additional expense for students and will hopefully reduce coronavirus spread on campus. In Boston, Northeastern University will lease rooms at the Westin Copley Place, the Midtown Hotel and a handful of nearby apartment buildings. “We understand that lowering density is going to help us keep everybody safe and healthy and have a successful academic year,” said Kathy Spiegelman, vice president and chief of campus planning and development at Northeastern. She was originally tasked to find 2,000 additional beds, though that target shrank after the university decided students could still have one roommate. Northeastern is renting out some meeting rooms at the Westin to use as classrooms for afternoon and evening seminars. The university will also install

Faculty members in new coronavirus hot spots want a remote fall or delayed opening

With T-minus one month until fall, faculty groups in new coronavirus hot spots are asking their institutions to go all in on remote instruction. Some institutions in one-time virus hot spots are also facing challenges getting their instructors to teach in person. Perhaps nowhere is faculty anxiety greater than in Florida, which set -- and broke -- new state records for single-day coronavirus deaths this week. Intensive care units at hospitals there are reportedly close to capacity. California set its own dismal record this week, too, but colleges and universities there have been much quicker to cancel in-person instruction. Florida, by contrast, has allowed state colleges and universities to come up with their own plans for fall. The individual campus plans fall along a spectrum, from mostly remote to mostly in-person courses. Florida Whatever they entail, the plans were drafted weeks before Florida case numbers began to surge. Most institutions have not meaningfully changed cou

Cycle Tracks

Design is key to increasing the use of bicycles in lower-income neighborhoods. In today's Academic Minute, Harvard University 's Anne Lusk explores why. Lusk is a research scientist at Harvard. A transcript of this podcast can be found here . Section:  Academic Minute File:  07-31-20 Harvard - Cycle Tracks.mp3 Event's date:  Thursday, July 30, 2020 - 5:00pm School:  Harvard University Insider only:  from Inside Higher Ed https://ift.tt/2BLot9b