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From the issue dated April 7, 2006 |
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Special ReportTHE HAVES, PADDING THEIR LEADRich colleges pull further ahead of have-nots in endowment dollars and instructional spending. And wealthy families enjoy heftier financial-aid packages than ever before. MONEY DOESN'T BUY DIVERSITYGrinnell College, with the most endowment assets per student of any liberal-arts college, tries to bring more financially needy students to its campus. DEPENDENT ON TUITIONAt Clarke College, in Iowa, every student matters, especially to the bottom line. Short SubjectsJUST ASKINGA student at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock who is running for lieutenant governor describes balancing his studies with an election campaign. CHECK IT! A team of chemists, drug counselors, and psychologists visits Vienna's rave scene to analyze Ecstasy tablets for contamination and to monitor the well-being of those who take the drug. FILM AS PEDAGOGUE: Syracuse University sponsors a contest meant to build a database of film clips that can be used to convey intangible concepts to students. LITTLE LEFTIES: A visiting professor at Lawrence University has written Why Mommy Is a Democrat, a children's book that has warmed, amused, or enraged its adult readers, depending on their politics. IN BOX: Yahoo Answers is the place for people with Big Questions. The FacultyPH.D.'S, INSIDE OUTA lot is known about who earns doctorates, but a survey takes an overdue look at how those students feel about the experience, and how their backgrounds affect their success. INTERROGATIVE INTERRUPTUSGetting students to question their questions can be a good teaching tool, writes Maureen Donohue-Smith, an assistant professor of human services at Elmira College. HOW WE DID ITA department head relates how a hiring committee narrowed its pool from 300 applicants to one. A BAD HAIR YEARA new Ph.D. in the humanities begins losing her hair just as the job market gains steam. MAKING AN OLD JOB NEWIt's unnatural to spend your entire career working in the same place, in the same capacity, and with the same people. QUESTIONS OF QUALITY: Tenure-track faculty members teach only 40 percent of classes at the University of Pennsylvania's School of Arts and Sciences, a graduate-student union has calculated. PEER REVIEW: An unexpected candidate for president of the University of Wyoming is the only one left standing. ... Kenyatta University becomes the first public institution in East Africa to be led by a woman. ... Mississippi State University gets a new president. ... Only one candidate for the presidency of Miami University in Ohio has been invited to visit the campus. SYLLABUS: A course at the University of Richmond's law school brings doctors and aspiring lawyers together to talk about medical malpractice. THIS ACADEMIC LIFE: An assistant professor has sued Oklahoma State University, saying it had discriminated against her because she was a new mother. ... The Alfred P. Sloan Foundation will award grants to five universities to expand their methods of making faculty more flexible. ... A booklet offers legal advice for pregnant professors. ... The Women's Place at Ohio State University sponsors discussions for an unlikely group. ... A Web site lists job swaps for academics. ... The experiences of African-American women along the tenure track provide guiding principles for a book. Research & BooksWHAT CAN GREEN DO FOR YOU?The many authors of a global study of environmental change and how it affects people's lives hope their enormous work will influence policy worldwide. HISTORY WITHOUT BORDERSThe study of America's past is enriched by a more-global context, writes Thomas Bender, a professor of history and university professor of the humanities at New York University. CAN WE TALK?A new book bemoaning the decline of conversation isn't conversant with recent philosophical writings on the topic, says Carlin Romano, critic at large for The Chronicle. FOSSIL REASONINGIn discussions of evolution, some counterarguments aren't fit to survive, writes David P. Barash, a professor of psychology at the University of Washington. THE GOD SQUADThe Templeton Foundation may be trying to kill skepticism about religion with kindness, writes John Horgan, director of the Center for Science Writings at the Stevens Institute of Technology. VERBATIM: A doctoral candidate at McGill University's law school proposes a "strict liability" system for countries that harbor terrorists. NOTA BENE: A scholar from George Mason University tunnels into the history of Washington's subway system. HOT TYPE: Encyclopaedia Britannica and Nature are in a war of words after the journal claimed that the venerable reference tool is only slightly more reliable than the online upstart Wikipedia. CHECK IT! A team of chemists, drug counselors, and psychologists visits Vienna's rave scene to analyze Ecstasy tablets for contamination and to monitor the well-being of those who take the drug. LITTLE LEFTIES: A visiting professor at Lawrence University has written Why Mommy Is a Democrat, a children's book that has warmed, amused, or enraged its adult readers, depending on their politics. CREDIBILITY COMMONS: A way to assess the credibility of information on the Web is the goal of a team of researchers at two universities. Government & Politics'STANDARDIZED ANXIETY'A federal panel on higher education says the government will not force a student-assessment test on colleges. But it will encourage colleges to measure learning, and suggest tests they can use. BLUE-YONDER SENSITIVITYBuffeted by accusations of religious intolerance, the U.S. Air Force Academy turns to preaching respect for all faiths. CODE TALKERSTax reform looms, and higher education is vulnerable, say Terry Hartle and Laura Eugster Doyle, both of the American Council on Education. MISSION CRITICALPublic colleges must make the case for their special roles and responsibilities, writes Constantine W. Curris, president of the American Association of State Colleges and Universities. PEERING INTO THE PORK BARREL: The U.S. Senate has approved lobbying-reform legislation that would expand the public disclosure of earmarks, including grants for colleges. NO CHARGE: The U.S. Department of Education has waived a $4,100 fee that it intended to levy for data requested by opponents of a law that denies federal financial aid to students convicted of drug offenses. ONE STEP CLOSER: A renewal of the Higher Education Act was approved by the House of Representatives after last-minute changes that pleased college leaders and lobbyists. DOCTORS IN THE SUNSHINE: Two new medical schools will be added to Florida's public-university system, the Board of Governors has decided. CLASSROOM POLITICS: Pennsylvania's penultimate hearing on alleged liberal bias in higher education had lawmakers complaining that they were under attack. BUDGET PROPOSAL: Legislators in New York have passed a plan that would give many higher-education programs and institutions their biggest increases in state aid in at least a decade. IN BRIEF: A roundup of higher-education news from the states Money & ManagementTHE HAVES, PADDING THEIR LEADRich colleges pull further ahead of have-nots in endowment dollars and instructional spending. And wealthy families enjoy heftier financial-aid packages than ever before. MONEY DOESN'T BUY DIVERSITYGrinnell College, with the most endowment assets per student of any liberal-arts college, tries to bring more financially needy students to its campus. DEPENDENT ON TUITIONAt Clarke College, in Iowa, every student matters, especially to the bottom line. SEEKING FULL DISCLOSUREResearchers raise concerns about the secrecy surrounding data from company-sponsored clinical trials and the constraints placed on medical professors who conduct the studies. CAMPUS-CARD CLAIMANT: The holder of a patent involving online fund transfers has told some colleges that their identification cards may use technology that the company says infringes on its rights. WON AND OWE: Private colleges took on higher levels of debt in the 2005 fiscal year but kept themselves financially healthy, says Moody's Investors Service. NAMED BY NACUBO: The National Association of College and University Business Officers has chosen a veteran higher-education lobbyist as its president. REACTION TO DARFUR: Harvard University said it would divest its holdings in the China Petroleum and Chemical Corporation because of the company's alleged connection to genocide in Sudan. PEER REVIEW: An unexpected candidate for president of the University of Wyoming is the only one left standing. ... Kenyatta University becomes the first public institution in East Africa to be led by a woman. ... Mississippi State University gets a new president. ... Only one candidate for the presidency of Miami University in Ohio has been invited to visit the campus. Information TechnologyFARMED OUTSome new technology companies are sending outsourced work to rural America, where college students and graduates are glad to have it. BANNED IN CLASS: A law professor at the University of Memphis has told students to check their laptops at the door. HOPING FOR BILLIONS: The students who created Facebook have reportedly turned down a $750-million offer, but the popular Web site is on the market. CREDIBILITY COMMONS: A way to assess the credibility of information on the Web is the goal of a team of researchers at two universities. FEARING HIGHER COSTS: College groups oppose a suggestion to change the contribution formula of a fund that helps make telephone and Internet service more widely available. 'WAKE-UP CALL': Many colleges are violating a California law that requires groups collecting personal information online from state residents to post privacy policies and abide by them, a survey has found. StudentsBLUE-YONDER SENSITIVITYBuffeted by accusations of religious intolerance, the U.S. Air Force Academy turns to preaching respect for all faiths. 'STANDARDIZED ANXIETY'A federal panel on higher education says the government will not force a student-assessment test on colleges. But it will encourage colleges to measure learning, and suggest tests they can use. FIRST COURSE, MANNERSStudents navigate silverware and small talk at the University of Kansas' annual etiquette dinner. NO CHARGE: The U.S. Department of Education has waived a $4,100 fee that it intended to levy for data requested by opponents of a law that denies federal financial aid to students convicted of drug offenses. AthleticsDUKE REACTS: The university has suspended its men's lacrosse team from competition until police finish investigating allegations by an exotic dancer that team members raped her. InternationalINNOVATION IN ITALYBocconi University, in Milan, tries to raise the standards of the country's education in economics and business, but government regulations make it hard to be different. STREAMLINING THE MONEY: The British are phasing out what a government official calls their "burdensome" system of awarding research money to universities. A PLACE TO PRAY: A major engineering school in Quebec must give Muslim students a room for worship, the province's human-rights commission has ruled. GRANTS MAKE THE DIFFERENCE: Going to a public university in Canada is generally less affordable than it is in the United States, a study has found. DISMISSAL IN CHINA: Tsinghua University fired the assistant dean of its medical school after he was accused of plagiarizing an article from an American medical journal. RENEWING TIES: Some 45 Libyan scholars recently attended a conference on democracy at Columbia University, the first major academic delegation from the country to visit the United States in 25 years. BACK TO CLASS: Faculty members at Ontario's 24 colleges of applied arts and technology have returned to work, but students are worried about how they will make up for lost time. REPRISALS FEARED: Campus and police officials are urging students in a remote Indonesian province to come out of hiding after five security officers were killed in a protest against an American-owned gold-and-copper mine. Notes From AcademeFIRST COURSE, MANNERSStudents navigate silverware and small talk at the University of Kansas' annual etiquette dinner. The Chronicle ReviewINTERROGATIVE INTERRUPTUSGetting students to question their questions can be a good teaching tool, writes Maureen Donohue-Smith, an assistant professor of human services at Elmira College. HISTORY WITHOUT BORDERSThe study of America's past is enriched by a more-global context, writes Thomas Bender, a professor of history and university professor of the humanities at New York University. CAN WE TALK?A new book bemoaning the decline of conversation isn't conversant with recent philosophical writings on the topic, says Carlin Romano, critic at large for The Chronicle. FOSSIL REASONINGIn discussions of evolution, some counterarguments aren't fit to survive, writes David P. Barash, a professor of psychology at the University of Washington. CODE TALKERSTax reform looms, and higher education is vulnerable, say Terry Hartle and Laura Eugster Doyle, both of the American Council on Education. MUSCLE MEMORYDancers are the crucial links in passing choreographic legacies from one generation to the next, writes Martha Ullman West, senior advisory editor at Dance magazine. 'THE FOUR MARYS'Shelley C. Berg, an associate professor of dance at Southern Methodist University, describes how she and her students revived a lost treasure by Agnes de Mille. THE GOD SQUADThe Templeton Foundation may be trying to kill skepticism about religion with kindness, writes John Horgan, director of the Center for Science Writings at the Stevens Institute of Technology. LAST HARVESTThe photographer John Francis Ficara documents the demise of the independent African-American farmer. MISSION CRITICALPublic colleges must make the case for their special roles and responsibilities, writes Constantine W. Curris, president of the American Association of State Colleges and Universities. MELANGE: Excerpts from books of interest to academe Letters to the EditorChronicle CareersHOW WE DID ITA department head relates how a hiring committee narrowed its pool from 300 applicants to one. A BAD HAIR YEARA new Ph.D. in the humanities begins losing her hair just as the job market gains steam. MAKING AN OLD JOB NEWIt's unnatural to spend your entire career working in the same place, in the same capacity, and with the same people. DETAILS OF AVAILABLE POSTS, including teaching and research positions in higher education, administrative and executive jobs, and openings outside academe Gazette |