Posts Categorized: News

Season’s Meetings: A Few Coming Events in New England Higher Ed and Beyond

Economist Dean Baker, co-director of the Center for Economic and Policy Research, will deliver the next Shepard Lee lecture on "Full Employment: A Better Bargain for Working People" on Monday, Dec. 1 at 6 p.m. at Portland Public Library’s Rines Auditorium. The University of Massachusetts Cybersecurity Taskforce will meet with corporate leaders at a national cybersecurity event on "Educating...

Franklin Pierce Draws Card; Former Conn. Senate Prez to Work for Teachers Union

Comings and Goings ... Andrew H. Card, former White House chief of staff and acting dean of the George H.W. Bush School of Government and Public Service at Texas A&M University, was named the fifth president of Franklin Pierce University, effective in January 2015. Donald E. Williams Jr., outgoing Democratic leader of the Connecticut Senate, was named the Connecticut Education Associati...

New Presidents at Middlebury, Bridgewater State U; Strong Women Group

Laurie Patton Comings and Goings ... Middlebury College Trustees named Laurie L. Patton, dean of Duke University’s Trinity College of Arts and Sciences and the Robert F. Durden Professor of Religion, as Middlebury’s next president, effective in July. She will succeed Ronald D. Liebowitz, who has beens president since July 2004. Bridgewater State University’s Board of Trustees ...

New England Midterms Roundup

State Capital Notes ... The midterm elections brought New England two new governors. Rhode Island elected its first woman governor, Democrat Gina Raimondo. Massachusetts elected Republican Charlie Baker, a former Harvard Pilgrim CEO and official in the Weld and Cellucci administrations, including a time as secretary of administration and finance. The other four New England states reelected incumb...

A Lesson in Costs

At NEBHE's recent board meeting in Stowe, Vt., University of Vermont President Tom Sullivan gave a brief lesson on higher education cost drivers. The top cost drivers, Sullivan said, at least at bricks-and-mortar institutions like his, are: 1) compensation of faculty and staff, including employee benefits; 2) student financial aid; 3) facilities of quality to attract students, includin...

Mass Higher Ed Commish to Step Down; Reid to Leave Saint Joseph Presidency

Comings and Goings ... Massachusetts Higher Education Commissioner Richard M. Freeland told the state Board of Higher Education that he will leave his post at the end of the 2014–15 academic year. Freeland has been a member of NEBHE's board since his appointment as Massachusetts chancellor in 2009. As chancellor and in his previous role as president of Northeastern University, Freeland wr...

Meeting Up

Some upcoming events of interest ... Dan Sichel, professor of economics at Wellesley College and former senior official at the U.S. Treasury and Federal Reserve, will present The Financial Crisis, the Great Recession, and the Long Road Back at Clark University on Thursday, Oct. 23, at 7 p.m. in the Jefferson Academic Center. Massachusetts Board of Higher Education Commissioner Richard Freeland wi...

NEBHE’s Latest Advanced Manufacturing PBL News Includes Look at Curriculum Alignment

NEBHE published the fourth edition of Advanced Manufacturing Problem Based Learning (AM PBL) News. NEBHE in September 2012 was awarded a three-year $900,000 grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF) for a New England-wide project titled Problem Based Learning (PBL) in Advanced Manufacturing: Transforming 21st Century Technician Education. Funding is provided through the NSF’s Advance...

New England Higher Ed Group to Honor Head of New England Council Among Annual Excellence Awardees

New England Council President James T. Brett will be among luminaries recognized by the New England Board of Higher Education (NEBHE) in March 2015 at the regional organization's 13th annual New England Higher Education Excellence Awards. Each year, NEBHE presents Regional Excellence Awards to individuals and organizations that have shown exceptional leadership on behalf of higher education and th...

Remedying NEBHE’s Journal Piece on Developmental Math: A Letter to the Editor

Mike Winders and Richard Bisk raise many important points in their recent article for the NEBHE Journal, but curiously choose to ignore the substance of the Massachusetts Board of Higher Education’s (BHE) policy on developmental math that followed a careful review of task force recommendations. Their characterization of the BHE policy is simply misleading. I believe we would agree, however, ...