“The Great Recession and not-so-great recovery applies to all of us.”
That was University of Southern Maine professor Charlie Colgan’s quip at last week’s New England Economic Partnership (NEEP) conference noting that Maine was just two-thirds of the way back to pre-recession employment levels.
Generally, the New England forecasts at the Fall Economic Outlook conference...
More than 250 higher education leaders from campuses across the U.S. met last week in Boston for the 2014 Presidential Summit on Climate Leadership.
The summit was organized by Second Nature, the supporting organization for the American College & University Presidents' Climate Commitment (ACUPCC). Almost 700 colleges and universities have signed the ACUPCC and committed to achieve carbon ne...
Over the past four years, there has been intense talk about the middle-skills gap in New England.
In Massachusetts—from the governor, often flanked by business leaders, to the commissioner of higher education, to President Obama speaking at a high school in Worcester this past spring—it appears that everyone is concerned with the middle-skills gap. And Massachusetts is not alone. For southe...
The number of incoming college students who require development mathematics coursework is a national problem. As reported by the National Center for Educational Statistics, 42% of students entering college for the first time in fall 2003 took a developmental math course. At our institution, Worcester State University, 54% of students entering in fall 2004 placed into developmental math. This is an...
What is the true value of higher education to military veterans? Some military veterans may be underrepresented in higher education due to life adversities including homelessness, medical disabilities, substance abuse, family hardships and deficient academic skills. With the transition of veterans to colleges and universities, Veterans Upward Bound (VUB) projects nationwide provide life transforma...
The debate over the value of a college education appears to be settled. Not only do employers value employees with a bachelor’s degree, they may actually value them too much.
The fact is there’s a dramatic credentials gap in the American workforce between the education levels employers are requesting in job postings and the education levels of workers already in those jobs. In some middle-s...
A Demographer Looks at New England’s Population and the Future of Education
A great many New England institutions of higher education are about to find out if demography will determine their fate because unprecedented and substantial population change is sweeping across the region.
New England is demographically unique in a number of ways. With fewer than 15 million year-round residents, i...
In this installment of NEJHE's New Directions for Higher Education series, Philip DiSalvio, dean of the College of Advancing & Professional Studies at the University of Massachusetts Boston, interviews Pamela Tate, president and CEO of the Council for Adult and Experiential Learning (CAEL).
NEJHE launched the series in 2013 to examine emerging issues, trends and ideas that have an impact on...
The most defining eras throughout American history are branded by the economic needs of their times.
The 19th and 20th centuries saw the rise and proliferation of the “Industrial Age” in which workers were needed to drive the industries born from the creation of power-driven machines. Subsequently, the later part of the 20th century gave way to the “Information Age” as a h...
Robert was just released from prison after 10 years of incarceration. The day after his release, he showed up as a student in my class. I liked him from the first day that we met and gave him lots of time and attention. Within three weeks, he was back in prison. I don’t know why. I do know that I lose up to half of all my at-risk students each semester.
How is it that someone as smart as Rober...
“The Great Recession and not-so-great recovery applies to all of us.”
That was University of Southern Maine professor Charlie Colgan’s quip at last week’s New England Economic Partnership (NEEP) conference noting that Maine was just two-thirds of the way back to pre-recession employment levels.
Generally, the New England forecasts at the Fall Economic Outlook conference... 
More than 250 higher education leaders from campuses across the U.S. met last week in Boston for the 2014 Presidential Summit on Climate Leadership.
The summit was organized by Second Nature, the supporting organization for the American College & University Presidents' Climate Commitment (ACUPCC). Almost 700 colleges and universities have signed the ACUPCC and committed to achieve carbon ne... 
Over the past four years, there has been intense talk about the middle-skills gap in New England.
In Massachusetts—from the governor, often flanked by business leaders, to the commissioner of higher education, to President Obama speaking at a high school in Worcester this past spring—it appears that everyone is concerned with the middle-skills gap. And Massachusetts is not alone. For southe... 
The number of incoming college students who require development mathematics coursework is a national problem. As reported by the National Center for Educational Statistics, 42% of students entering college for the first time in fall 2003 took a developmental math course. At our institution, Worcester State University, 54% of students entering in fall 2004 placed into developmental math. This is an... 
What is the true value of higher education to military veterans? Some military veterans may be underrepresented in higher education due to life adversities including homelessness, medical disabilities, substance abuse, family hardships and deficient academic skills. With the transition of veterans to colleges and universities, Veterans Upward Bound (VUB) projects nationwide provide life transforma... 
The debate over the value of a college education appears to be settled. Not only do employers value employees with a bachelor’s degree, they may actually value them too much.
The fact is there’s a dramatic credentials gap in the American workforce between the education levels employers are requesting in job postings and the education levels of workers already in those jobs. In some middle-s... 
A Demographer Looks at New England’s Population and the Future of Education
A great many New England institutions of higher education are about to find out if demography will determine their fate because unprecedented and substantial population change is sweeping across the region.
New England is demographically unique in a number of ways. With fewer than 15 million year-round residents, i... 
In this installment of NEJHE's New Directions for Higher Education series, Philip DiSalvio, dean of the College of Advancing & Professional Studies at the University of Massachusetts Boston, interviews Pamela Tate, president and CEO of the Council for Adult and Experiential Learning (CAEL).
NEJHE launched the series in 2013 to examine emerging issues, trends and ideas that have an impact on... 
The most defining eras throughout American history are branded by the economic needs of their times.
The 19th and 20th centuries saw the rise and proliferation of the “Industrial Age” in which workers were needed to drive the industries born from the creation of power-driven machines. Subsequently, the later part of the 20th century gave way to the “Information Age” as a h... 
Robert was just released from prison after 10 years of incarceration. The day after his release, he showed up as a student in my class. I liked him from the first day that we met and gave him lots of time and attention. Within three weeks, he was back in prison. I don’t know why. I do know that I lose up to half of all my at-risk students each semester.
How is it that someone as smart as Rober...