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Showing posts from January, 2022

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

Yale Divinity Acknowledges Racial Injustice in Its History

The Yale University Divinity School has announced that its history is full of racial injustice. Dean Greg Sterling said, “We ask God for forgiveness. We ask those against whom we have sinned for forgiveness. We do not ask for forgiveness without working to change our institution.” Sterling said the Divinity School is allocating $20 million in endowment to fund 10 social justice scholarships each year for incoming students who are dedicated to social justice work. The scholarships will cover all tuition for each recipient, as well as the comprehensive fee and board fee, and will provide a $10,000 annual stipend to help meet living expenses. Ad keywords:  administrators diversity Is this diversity newsletter?:  Hide by line?:  Newsletter Order:  4 Diversity Newsletter publication date:  Tuesday, January 18, 2022 Disable left side advertisement?:  Is this Career Advice newsletter?:  Email Teaser:  Yale Divinity Acknowledges Racial Inj

Va. Legislator’s Mistake in Taking on Critical Race Theory

A Republican state legislator in Virginia is among the many who are proposing bills that would limit the teaching of critical race theory in schools or colleges. Delegate Wren Williams would bar school boards from supporting the teaching of critical race theory, or to “teach or incorporate into any course or class any divisive concept.” But as The New York Times noted, the proposed learning standards include “the founding documents of the United States, including the Declaration of Independence, the United States Constitution, the Federalist Papers, including Essays 10 and 51, excerpts from Alexis de Tocqueville’s Democracy in America , the first debate between Abraham Lincoln and Frederick Douglass, and the writings of the Founding Fathers of the United States.” Abraham Lincoln did not debate Frederick Douglass (the noted American abolitionist). He debated Stephen Douglas, a Democratic senator from Illinois. “The gross mistake in this bill is indicative of the need to have scho

Dormitory Roof Collapses

A roof collapsed on a dormitory at Brevard College, in North Carolina, WLOS reported. There were 50 students inside when the collapse, which is blamed on snow, took place. All managed to leave the building. Ad keywords:  studentaffairs Is this diversity newsletter?:  Hide by line?:  Disable left side advertisement?:  Is this Career Advice newsletter?:  Trending:  Live Updates:  liveupdates0 from Inside Higher Ed https://ift.tt/3qBjZZm

Faculty should do more to help students prepare for careers (opinion)

If we take seriously the problem of student debt, if we believe parents and students when they say that what they want out of a college degree is a good job (whatever that means to them), if we listen to what employers are saying about the disconnect between what students are learning in class and the competencies they need in the workforce, we might all start thinking about our jobs as faculty a little differently. The core competencies identified by NACE, the National Association for Colleges and Employers , are communication, critical thinking, equity and inclusion, leadership, professionalism, teamwork, and technology. That sounds to me a whole lot like general education goals. Many faculty members see their role as exclusively to teach within their discipline and not to worry too much about what happens to students once they leave the nest. We’ve all seen what’s happened in graduate education when professors believe only a mini-me version of themselves is worthy: the folks wh

Four Reasons Americans Are Still Seeing Empty Shelves

Why are consumers still finding empty shelves? In today's Academic Minute, Wayne State University's Kevin Ketels delves into the reasons behind the shortages. Ketels is an assistant professor of teaching in global supply chain management at Wayne State. A transcript of this podcast can be found here . Section:  Academic Minute File:  01-17-22 Wayne State - Four Reasons Americans Are Still Seeing Empty Shelves.mp3 Event's date:  Saturday, January 15, 2022 - 12:30pm Insider only:  from Inside Higher Ed https://ift.tt/3fy5qPT

University of Michigan fires president

Image:  The University of Michigan Board of Regents fired its president, Dr. Mark Schlissel , Saturday after investigating an anonymous complaint that he was having an affair with a subordinate. “As you know, the regents received an anonymous complaint regarding an alleged sexual affair between you and a subordinate. An investigation has revealed that your interactions with the subordinate were inconsistent with promoting the dignity and reputation of the University of Michigan,” said a letter signed by the regents. The letter cited examples. “On July 1, 2021, you exchanged emails with the subordinate using your University of Michigan email. In this exchange, she states that her ‘heart hurts’ to which you respond ‘i know. mine too.’ You state that ‘this is my fault’ and that you are ‘in pain too.’ You finish with ‘I still wish I were strong enough to find a way.’” Or: “On January 9, 2021, you responded to an email from the subordinate’s official University of Michigan email

Colleges Receive Grants to Improve Students' Job Outcomes

A group of 15 colleges and universities was selected to receive $10 million in grants as part of an initiative by the Strada Education Network and the Taskforce on Higher Education and Opportunity, a group of campus leaders focused on pandemic recovery. Each institution will receive $250,000 to embark on a project to expand career services and support, incorporate career preparation into curriculums and improve job outcomes among students, according to an announcement on Tuesday. The University of Oregon, for example, is using the funds to create a new six-month, cohort-based career preparedness program for students of color and low-income students. The University of Texas System plans to redesign undergraduate degrees to incorporate relevant micro-credentials and skills badges. James Milliken, chancellor of the University of Texas System, said the goal is to give students a “competitive edge.”   “This grant will help undergraduate students across the UT System transition into h

Westfield State Rescinds Testing Requirement

Westfield State University, in Massachusetts, has rescinded its requirement that all students receive a negative COVID-19 test before returning to campus, The Westfield News reported. The reason is that students were reporting that they couldn't find a test available. "I continue to receive feedback on the undue burden our PCR test requirement is placing on a significant number of our returning students and their families. We apologize for this inconvenience and frustration, as there remains ongoing difficulties with obtaining a PCR test and growing delays in the turnaround of the results,” wrote President Linda Thompson in an email to the campus.   Ad keywords:  administrators coronavirus Editorial Tags:  Coronavirus Live Updates Is this diversity newsletter?:  Hide by line?:  Disable left side advertisement?:  Is this Career Advice newsletter?:  Trending:  Live Updates:  liveupdates0 from Inside Higher Ed https:/

Stemming Quit Rates

Blog:  University of Venus I have been thinking quite a bit lately about the #GreatResignation, so when an article on quit rates at The Conversation written by Jay Zagorsky came across my inbox, I clicked the link and read it. While the article does a deeper dive on the numbers and puts them into historical perspective, I was most interested in Zagorsky’s thoughts on ways that employers can reduce employee turnover. Some methods are obvious places to start: increase compensation, improve benefits, and provide better working conditions. In our current climate, better working conditions include hybrid options and flexible work schedules. Other retention strategies are less clear-cut and involve providing a sense of purpose. Of course, Zagorsky isn’t writing about the higher education industry sector. He is covering all sectors. However, I know my colleagues are facing pretty extensive labor shortages and I have heard many stories from university and college leaders who have l

Moving “Beyond Transfer”

Blog:  Beyond Transfer Last year we invited you -- partner organizations, leading researchers, and on-the-ground leaders -- to join us in our blog during the final year of the three-year, multi-state, multi-organization Tackling Transfer project. That project tested the hypothesis that meaningful and equitable improvements in outcomes for transfer students entails clear-eyed and comprehensive attention to areas of policy, practice, leadership, communication, and culture -- and we learned a lot from deep work in three states (MN, TX, VA). When we launched the original blog, we sought to elevate lessons across those disparate areas of transfer-student advocacy work, and in 2021 we posted 49 blogs from researchers, college & university practitioners, policy experts, students, and higher ed changemakers. The project partners capped Tackling Transfer by capturing a repository of tools and resources that we hope will be helpful to transfer champions. As we look forward, we c

Louisville Backs Off Punishing Online Teaching

The University of Louisville has backed away from a policy of saying it will punish professors who teach online rather than in-person, The Louisville Courier Journal reported. On Monday, David Owen, acting dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, said there was no "wiggle room" in the policy. But on Tuesday, Owen said, "I certainly recognize ... chairs require a degree of flexibility to manage individual and short-term circumstances as they see fit.” Christine Ehrick, chair of the history department, described the latest statement as a “huge change” because faculty members previously were told they had no flexibility. “I think a lot of chairs saw this as something of a victory and a de-escalation of a situation that really did not need to become so antagonistic,” she said.   Ad keywords:  administrators faculty Editorial Tags:  Coronavirus Live Updates Is this diversity newsletter?:  Hide by line?:  Disable left side advertisement?

New presidents or provosts: Augustana ECU K-State Missouri State Rhodes SIUE UTHSC Webb

Peter F. Buckley , dean of the School of Medicine at Virginia Commonwealth University, has been chosen as chancellor of the University of Tennessee Health Science Center. Robin N. Coger , dean of the College of Engineering and professor of mechanical engineering at North Carolina A&T State University, has been appointed provost and senior vice chancellor for academic affairs at East Carolina University, also in North Carolina. Jennifer M. Collins , Judge James Noel Dean and professor of law at Southern Methodist University, in Texas, has been named president of Rhodes College, in Tennessee. Dennis Lancaster , interim chancellor at Missouri State University at West Plains, has been appointed to the job on a permanent basis. Richard Linton , dean of the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences at North Carolina State University, has been chosen as president of Kansas State University. Mark Martecchini , managing director of Stolt Tankers, in the Netherlands, has been selecte

Some colleges stick with in-person classes as COVID spikes

Image:  Spiking COVID-19 cases have prompted some colleges to start the semester online and delay bringing students back to campus. Other colleges began the semester in person, then shifted to remote instruction. Still others are staying the course, remaining in physical classrooms despite the concerns of some students and faculty as coronavirus cases multiply. Across the country, college COVID-19 dashboards are showing dramatic increases in case numbers, likely spurred by the highly transmissible Omicron variant. The University of Georgia logged 804 cases even before spring classes officially started. Arizona State University tallied 1,779 infected students and another 254 cases among faculty and staff. As of Jan. 11, the University of Texas at Austin listed 1,017 active cases —roughly one-seventh of the total number it has seen since March 2020. At some institutions, in-person classes are moving ahead, even as governing boards limit the mitigation measures that can slow

Students rally for Holocaust studies at Youngstown State

Image:  Students at Youngstown State University held a rally Wednesday in support of the campus Center for Judaic and Holocaust Studies. The center’s faculty director, Jacob Ari Labendz, will be laid off in May as part of a larger plan to cut YSU’s academic budget. The university hasn’t said it will close the Holocaust studies center, which is endowed. But students, alumni and faculty and community members say it can’t function without a dedicated expert at the helm. Currently there are no plans to replace Labendz, the Clayman Assistant Professor of Judaic and Holocaust Studies in the history department. “White nationalism and anti-Semitism remain a threat to minorities and to take away a resource like the CJHS, as well as Dr. Labendz’s expertise in the subject matter, is a direct threat to the safety of vulnerable populations in Youngstown,” says a petition delivered to YSU administrators during the rally, along with individual student letters of support for the center and