NEBHE Co-organizes New England Campus Sustainability Forum

Wentworth Institute of Technology 550 Huntington Ave., Boston, MA 02115 Friday, Sept. 20, 2013 8 a.m.  to 4:45 p.m.Early-bird registration will be available through Aug. 30. Please visit www.necsf.com to learn more. The New England Board of Higher Education (NEBHE) invites you to attend the 2013 New England Campus Sustainability Forum (NECSF) co-organized by AASHE, Clean Air-Cool Planet, ...

DC Shuttle: Loan Deal Reached, NCLB Weakened, E-Rate Boosted

Student loan deal reached. A bipartisan group of senators announced a compromise on the Stafford Loan interest rates. Senator Tom Harkin, chair of the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions committee and Sens. Tom Carper (D-DE) Tom Coburn (R-OK), Joe Manchin (D-WV) and Angus King (I-ME) also participated in the announcement at the Capitol. According to reports, the White House also backs the measur...

State Budgets Slowly Recovering, Reports NEBHE as it Updates Figures on Higher Ed Finance

While some economists see the national economy poised to come back, state budgets and economies aren’t yet in the clear, according to the National Association of State Budget Officers (NASBO) and National Governors Association (NGA) 2013 Fiscal Survey of States. As it is, New Englanders pay just $179 per capita toward higher education, compared with $230 per capita nationally. The NASBO an...

Among Comings and Goings, Former UConn Diversity Chief Tapped as VP at Boys & Girls Clubs of America

Boys & Girls Clubs of America (BGCA) named Damon A. Williams to be its new senior vice president of program, training & youth development services. Williams joined BGCA from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where he served as vice provost and chief diversity officer, and on the faculty of the Department of Educational Leadership and Policy Analysis. He previously was chief diversity of...

NEBHE President Invites Nominations for Nat’l Reciprocity Board to Streamline Online Offerings Across States

NEBHE President & CEO Michael K. Thomas posted the following invitation for nominations to the board of the National Council on State Authorization Reciprocity Agreements (NCSARA) ... Dear Colleague: We invite nominations and applications for the board of the National Council on State Authorization Reciprocity Agreements. As described in the final report of the Commission on the Regulation o...

Among Comings and Goings: NE HERC Names New Director; Assistant to ASU’s Crow to Head Bennington

Ruth Molina became director of  the New England Higher Education Recruitment Consortium (NE HERC) after eight years managing faculty and staff recruitment at Bridgewater State University. She has led the NE HERC advertising committee and served on its diversity and steering committees. Molina succeeds Jennifer Ivers, who is assistant dean for faculty development at Harvard University and will...

DC Shuttle: SCOTUS Ruling Suggests Colleges Can Continue to Use Diversity as Admissions Tool for Now; Congress May Revisit Loan Rate Debate After Recess; US Spends Most on Ed

Supreme Court affirmative action ruling. On Monday, the Supreme Court released a ruling in the case of Fisher v. University of Texas at Austin. The 7-1 decision was indecisive, remanding the case for reconsideration in the lower courts and directing lower courts to use "strict scrutiny" in affirmative action cases. The result of the ruling is that schools will continue to be able to use diversity ...

DC Shuttle: Teacher Quality Under Scrutiny on Capitol Hill

House committee OKs ESEA reauthorization. On Wednesday, the House Education and the Workforce Committee approved a proposed reauthorization to the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) by a vote of 23 to 16. The bill, the Student Success Act (H.R. 5), introduced by Committee Chair John Kline (R-MN), would consolidate most federal funding into one block grant. The proposal would eliminate t...

Lowell Team Wants to Spin Peels, Algae into “Surfactants”

A team of students from the University of Massachusetts Lowell will receive up to $90,000 from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to develop nontoxic, biodegradable "surfactants" from fruit peels and algae and potentially bring the invention to market. Surfactants are cleaning agents used in soaps, inks and other products to help them apply more easily to surfaces. Many surfactants ar...

DC Shuttle: Harkin Proposes Student Accountability Systems

ESEA reauthorization approved by committee. At a Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) markup on Tuesday, lawmakers considered the Senate Democrats' proposal, the Strengthening America's Schools Act, to reauthorize the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA). A bill (S. 1094) introduced by Committee Chair Tom Harkin (D-IA) advanced by a party-line vote of 12-10 des...