Political Hardball on Articulation & Credit Issues

This item, "Legislation Can End Bias Against Career Colleges," by Harris N. Miller, is from The Chronicle of Higher Education. Miller is president of the Career College Association, which has been aggressively lobbying on behalf of for-profit institutions. Access may require registration or subscriber password.

We can start by bringing a new level of intellectual honesty to the discussion of the credit-transfer issue. Someday, perhaps, we will see an academic "credit bank," where students deposit credits earned at various institutions over a period of several semesters, several years, or even a lifetime. Without regard to type of institution, curricula would interoperate, learning outcomes would be emphasized, and credit would be given where credit is due.

Until then, Congress can legislate a solution as part of the pending Higher Education Act reauthorization process: Bar rejection of credit-transfer requests based on accredited status. In fairness to all, colleges should be able to determine the transferability of credits by giving students a review based on what they have learned and accomplished — not by harping on questionable distinctions among different types of institutions.

In his article, "Colleges, Not Congress, Should Decide," in the same issue, Barmak Nassirian of the American Association of Collegiate Registrars and Admissions Officers (AACROA) does not agree:

The intrusion of politics into what should have been a collegial effort has resulted only in a hardening of adversarial positions and the waste of precious resources that would have been better spent on building the missing national infrastructure to support easier and more-seamless transfer. For example, the construction of a national database of course offerings, along with verified syllabi, texts, and faculty qualifications, would be a key step toward improving transfer-credit evaluations at all institutions.

We invite the representatives of the for-profit sector to stop lobbying Congress and start a meaningful dialogue with traditional institutions. After nearly a decade of seeking, but failing, to impose their preferred outcome through force, gentle persuasion and real collaboration might well prove to be more effective. We stand ready to work together on realistic approaches to improve credit-evaluation decisions.

Shadows of a Sacred Space: Baptist Temple to Concert Hall @ Temple U

This article, "Shadows of a Sacred Space," by Lawrence Biemiller from The Chronicle of Higher Education, is subtitled "As Temple University converts a landmark Baptist church into a concert hall, its interior fittings, including carvings and stencils, will be lost." Access may require registration or subscriber password. You should be able to view and listen to this narrated slide show by Lawrence without any registration or password.

[The project] will gut the Temple's interior. That's partly because it's so far gone now, after years of leaks and other indignities, that it cannot be saved, and partly because a first-rate contemporary concert facility could not be built any other way. The carved and paneled choir loft that rises behind the pulpit and under the ranks of organ pipes, the baptistry that was the focus of Conwell's most theatrical serv­ices, the spacious wooden balconies suspended on thin metal rods so no one's view was blocked — all that will be lost, along with the ceiling stencils, Conwell's office, and the basement kitchen, with baking pans still stacked in the oven of a huge, rusting, iron range.

The Tough Road to Better Science Teaching

This article, "The Tough Road to Better Science Teaching," in The Chronicle of Higher Education by Jeffrey Brainard examines the difficulty in upgrading teaching and learning methods in science classes. There will be a live, online discussion of this topic at 1 pm Eastern on Wednesday, August 1, 2007.

For decades introductory science courses have relied largely on lectures and tests that reward memorization of facts and formulas, an approach that has driven away many talented students. While new teaching models have shown success in engaging and retaining undergraduates, they have yet to be widely adopted in academe. For one thing, the tenure system rewards good research above good teaching. For another, faculty members have final say over their own courses, and some are resistant to change. Other professors are unaware of the new methods, in part because the federal government has provided only limited financial support for getting the word out.

Proponents of the new models have come up against particularly strong resistance at the nation's research universities, which award most of the undergraduate degrees in science and engineering.

It's More Than Lecture Re-Runs

In this article, "It's More Than Lecture Re-Runs," from Greentree Gazette, Tom Robinson writes about a program at the University of Central Florida which records lectures and serves them up to students via the Web for review:

Recording may have improved learning in the lecture environment. Instructors talk ten times faster than students write. Knowing they can revisit the lecture, students pay attention, rather than taking notes. Instructors control a mixer with the option to toggle back and forth between themselves, the document camera or a computer. Recordings can be made anywhere, anytime, from home, office or while at a conference; no elaborate studio is required.

U.S. Colleges and Universities Export American Brands

In this article, "U.S. Colleges and Universities Export American Brands," from Greentree Gazette, Arlene Satchell discusses the ways in which a number of US-based institutions partner in other countries:

In an increasingly flatter world, foreign students in distant destinations are gaining more access to American higher education brands. No longer confined to online or distance learning, students in India, China, Latin America and the Caribbean now have multi-platform options.

The Impact of Cost-Containment Proposals Associated With the Reauthorization of the Higher Education Act

The Impact of Cost-Containment Proposals Associated With the Reauthorization of the Higher Education Act is a new report from the Wisconsin Center for the Advancement of Postsecondary Education that, according to a related article in The Chronicle of Higher Education by Sara Hebel, "concludes that 47 percent of the 587 public four-year colleges studied would be subject to sanctions proposed in the College Cost Reduction Act of 2007 (HR 2669). That compares with 28 percent of the 526 private institutions in the analysis."

In their study, the Wisconsin researchers concluded that many of the institutions that charge the most would be protected from the penalties because they could gain substantially higher revenue through tuition increases than lower-priced institutions could if both raised their rates by the same percentages.

Faculty Communication 101: What They Didn't Tell You in Chair School

In this article from Inside Higher Ed, Elia Powers interviews former administrator and faculty member, Christopher J. Loving, about the programs he has designed "to help those working in academia better communicate with each other":

When I talk to faculty who are in a “safe” place, I still hear their innocence, their curiosity, their compassion. If you’re in a department that isn’t as healthy as it could be, all these people who are cynical and arrogant create conversations that look realistic and authoritative, and they require thick skin. They flame each other in e-mail, insult each other in faculty meetings and tell and demand more than listen and invite.

Frank Lloyd Wright & Florida Southern College

Another in The Chronicle of Higher Education's series of narrated slide shows, this presentation by Lawrence Biemiller illustrates and discusses Florida Southern College's buildings, furniture, and open spaces "that were designed by Frank Lloyd Wright and built with help from the college's students."

Working and Learning Better: Virtually Together

This article is by Jean Marie Angelo and is from University Business. SCUP-42 presenter Andrew Milne is quoted:

"A lot of student learning takes place outside the classroom," says Andrew Milne, CEO of Tidebreak, a collaborative solutions company. Higher ed has moved beyond the lecture-driven "sage on the stage," and many lessons are now centered around teams of students solving problems and digesting case studies. MBA students are writing business plans and students are working on urban planning or economic models as groups. They can do this on desktop computers, laptops, or PDA devices.

It has pushed administrators to turn every nook and cranny of campus into learning space. With this movement comes new hardware and software requirements.

Alumni Association's Strategic Planning

Subtitled, "Can a development officer persuade his alumni board to commit itself to the recruitment of new donors?":

Look, I appreciate the importance of strategic planning and recognize its necessity. We all need road maps. But the process can be deadly dull, especially in heavy doses. Ski lodges have bars, I remind myself as I pass the pond with the sporadic geyser and the fake swans and head to the Spruce Room.

Waiting inside are the early arrivals from our alumni association's Board of Directors - the group requiring the road map. Most alums don't harbor the same fervor as the 22 members of this group. So we thought it was time to harness all that energy and focus the board on a few "strategic" initiatives that might engage more alumni in some fashion. I had my own agenda for the day, which I'll get to in a minute.

The article by Mark Drozdowski, from The Chronicle of Higher Education, is here.

Panel Plans Revival of an Ancient University in India

This is pretty cool, the university in question is Nalanda University and it last functioned a little more than 800 years ago! Read more and find links from Lawrence Biemiller in The Chronicle of Higher Education.

The Athletics Department of the Future

This article, "The Athletics Department of the Future," is from The Chronicle of Higher Education by Brad Wolverton and may require registration or subscription for access:

In the hyper-competitive world of intercollegiate athletics, where programs vie to win national titles, attract talent, and build the best facilities, keeping a close eye on trends and emerging practices is a necessity. With that in mind, The Chronicle asked more than three dozen experts to describe the changes they expect to see in athletics departments in the next five to 10 years.

The article consists of a number of non-bulleted bullet points. For example: "Smarter office designs. Layouts will accommodate increasing staff sizes and put priority on student-service units. Academic advisers, compliance officials, and sports-medicine staff members will sit near each other to easily interact. 'I would put academic-student-services offices right next to AD offices,' says Christine A. Plonsky, women's athletics director at the U. of Texas at Austin, 'so we are reminded why we have jobs.'"

Going Global 101

The article, "Going Global 101," is from Inside Higher Ed by J. Michael Adams and Angelo Carfagne:

There is no single path to creating a global university or a global curriculum. In fact, what you do is actually less important than how you view what you are doing. In other words, if you believe it is vital to prepare the next generation as world citizens, your methods will spring from that fundamental mindset. Innovations will arise from the imperative. And innovators are building tremendous programs throughout the country that spread knowledge of other countries and cultures, convey appreciation for the rich diversity and interconnected nature of our world, and instill intercultural competencies.

Chicago Official Honed Interest in Sustainability as an Oberlin Student

This article, "Chicago Official Honed Interest in Sustainability as an Oberlin Student," from The Chronicle of Higher Education, by Lawrence Biemiller, is about the closing plenary speaker at SCUP-42, Sadhu Johnson, commissioner of Chicago's Department of the Environment and his matriculation with David Orr at Oberlin College as an undergraduate.

Among other things, Mr. Johnston’s department has encouraged sustainable construction, promoted solar energy, given away half a million energy-efficient light bulbs, made storm-water management a high priority, and created an “environmental pledge” in which residents promise to turn off the water while brushing their teeth, take reusable bags to the grocery store, and care for trees. The city’s mayor, Richard M. Daley, is a strong proponent of sustainability.

‘World Class Worldwide’

This article, "'World Class Worldwide'," is from Inside Higher Ed by Scott Jaschick. It is an interview with Philip G. Altbach and Jorge Balan, organized a related conference on institutions in Asia and Latin America and then turned the sessions into a book, World Class Worldwide: Transforming Research Universities in Asia and Latin America.

Americans should carefully watch developments among the top universities in Asia. In Japan, the University of Tokyo, the University of Kyoto, and Waseta University are “world class” — along with some others. Seoul National University in Korea, and several universities in Taiwan are also excellent. A half dozen top Chinese universities are moving ahead rapidly, including Peking University, Tsinghua University, Shanghai Jiaotong University, Fudan University, and a few others. The University of Hong Kong, the National University of Singapore, are the Asian Institute of Technology in Bangkok are also very good. Curiously enough, although the Indian Institutes of Technology produce outstanding graduates, they are not research universities — they are small, high specialized, and do not have appropriate infrastructures. There [are] in no Indian universities that rank along the institutions mentioned here. Thus, the United States and Europe should look at what is happening in Asia.

Community Colleges: 'Going Residential"

This article, "Going Residential," is from Inside Higher Ed by Jennifer Epstein. It is a nicely done review of a number of institutions which have implemented or are implementing student residence life at the community college level:

Of the 1,100 colleges represented by the American Association of Community Colleges, 233 public colleges and about 40 private colleges offer some on-campus housing to their students. Norma Kent, the association’s spokeswoman, said that although “nobody’s documented the full picture, it is our sense that there is increased interest and growth” in campus housing at community colleges.

“With more traditional-age students enrolling at community colleges for a variety of reasons, colleges and students seem more receptive to on-campus housing,” she said. “They want that college experience.”

'Standard' Lab Specifications Need Rethinking, Architect Says

The article, "'Industry Standard' Lab Specifications Need Rethinking, Architect Says" is from The Chronicle of Higher Education by Lawrence Biemiller; registration may be required to view:

Chicago — Rethinking “industry standard” specifications for lighting, ventilation, and other design elements could significantly improve science buildings’ sustainability — and save institutions millions in construction and operating costs — according to an architect with years of experience designing colleges’ science facilities.

James H. Collins, president of Payette Associates Inc., said during a presentation at the SCUP conference here that the industry standards were in some cases nothing more than “received wisdom” handed down over decades, rather than requirements supported by data. Even so, he said, persuading a designer to specify levels below the industry standard was difficult.

Pillars of Trust: The Relationship Between the CAO and the CFO

The "blurb" for the article, "Pillars of Trust," from Business Officer, by Barry H. Corey, reads, "Despite their different vantage points, chief academic and chief financial officers hold an institution’s vision in healthy balance. That’s reason enough to create common ground." I think many SCUP members will find it interesting:

[B]ecause of my experience, I also know it’s a myth to think that CFOs deal only with numbers and deans deal only with ideas. When institution leaders allow the art of deaning to meet the science of financial planning, we all become more courageous and effective change agents, building an alliance to better serve our students and our constituencies in a complex and changing landscape.

One of the joys of writing this article, explaining the keys to a healthy working relationship between an institution’s CAO and CFO, is the opportunity to reflect on the enjoyable experience I’ve had working alongside [my organization's CFO]. In many ways, I am a better academic dean because of the leadership lessons that I have gained by observing him. Together, we have learned to confront challenges knowing that trust undergirds our relationship as colleagues—a trust that is neither incidental nor an afterthought.

Judith Eaton On the State of Accreditation

Judith Eaton on the state of accreditation is a podcast (streaming audio) recorded on May 3, 2007 by the Teagle Foundation: "Eaton is president of the Council for Higher Education Accreditation (CHEA), an association of 3,000 degree-granting colleges and universities. CHEA is the primary national voice for voluntary accreditation and quality assurance to the US Congress and the US Department of Education."

The Teagle Foundation's current focus is:

[A]bout the prospects for increasing student engagement and learning in the liberal arts and sciences. As you will see from the Resources section of the site, much more is known now than just a few years ago about how students learn and what really works in higher education. We want to help that knowledge be extended, applied, and its results systematically assessed. Systematic, ground-up, faculty-led assessment, we believe, is one of the most powerful ways to improve student learning in the liberal arts.

Sustaining a Town-Gown Relationship

The article, "Sustaining a Town-Gown Relationship," is from University Business magazine by Daniel F. Sullivan. The subtitle says it all: "How St. Lawrence University has nurtured and sustained a relationship with its hometown of Canton, N.Y." Sullivan is the president of St. Lawrence:

In 1997, St. Lawrence University's Board of Trustees dedicated $1 million to our first strategic and sustainable community effort, known as the Canton Initiative. Four years later, the board voted to add another $1 million to this initiative.

Educomm 2007 (IT & AV) Conference Proceedings

Quite a few SCUPers attend the annual Educomm conference, which essentially covers the convergence of IT, AV, rich media, and the like, in uses that pertain to teaching and learning in higher education. After this year's event, University Business has posted quite a treasure trove of video and PDF "proceedings" that many will find useful. Just a few examples, include:

• Planning, Buying and Integrating Interactive Classroom Technologies;
• Designing the Electronic Classroom: What to Tell Your Architect and AV;
• Classroom of the Future: Are We There Yet?; and
  
• Planning, Funding and Sustaining Strategies for Successful 1:1 Computing.

Special Delivery: Public Institutions Slow to Adopt Design-Build?

The article, "Special Delivery," is from University Business magazine's July 2007 issue by Julie Sturgeon: "Competitive bidding may rule the construction scene, but that doesn't make it the best choice for all campus projects. Here's how your peers are breaking out of the box."

Let's be perfectly clear: No one is kicking the traditional design-bid-build model to the curb. It remains the most widely accepted model for getting campus construction projects done, because its linear process is easy to manage and it sets the stage for the lowest, responsible price. After all, the system offers college and university officials more than one set of checks and balances and controls, and it works in real time for truly market-driven invoices.

But sometimes it pays to get the cart before the horse. For instance, campus architects and pencil pushers aren't hesitant to explore alternative delivery methods when opening a dormitory faster means an income stream sooner, or when the facility design becomes complicated and the available in-house staff amounts to just a handful of already overworked architects.

New Online Guide Provides Background on Rise of Religion on College Campuses

The Guide is Religious Engagement Among American Undergraduates.

How to make sense of the plethora of faith communities on today's college campuses? With support from the Teagle Foundation, the Social Science Research Council (SSRC) has published a guide, which was derived from a series of essays it commissioned from leading authorities in the field of religion and American higher education, as well as from a review of current scholarship.

"Many faculty had simply assumed that religion would gradually fade away with secularization, but reality belies this assumption," explained Craig Calhoun, president of the SSRC and also a project participant. "Increasing numbers of students are insisting that religion belongs in the public square, and many American colleges and universities are unprepared to deal with this. In some cases, the extra-curricular mechanisms are in place, but there is hardly any space for religion in traditional scholarly disciplines. Rather, it tends to be segmented off into specialized areas of study."

"In the Teagle Foundation's work with colleges and universities, we keep finding that understanding students' engagement with the 'big questions' and with religion and spirituality is essential for effective teaching in a wide range of courses and settings," said W. Robert Connor, president of the Teagle Foundation. "This guide was designed to provide the help college teachers need in this important but very sensitive area."

The guide presents the perspectives of leading thinkers such as Alan Wolfe, director of the Boisi Center for Religion and American Public Life at Boston College; journalist Diane Winston, who has co-edited a major work on religion in urban centers; and Princeton sociologist Robert Wuthnow, an authority on religious diversity. Consisting of eight sections and opening with a preface by Calhoun, it examines basic questions such as whether or not the college experience affects students' religious beliefs and how religion should be incorporated into the college curriculum. It also addresses the current situation on college campuses: How do Evangelical students engage with college life? How open can professors be about their own religious beliefs? Finally, it provides some much-needed historical perspective, tracing the origins of America's many religious colleges. Designed to be read online, the guide also features an annotated bibliography with links to key references.

Crumbling French Universities Look for Help

The article, "Crumbling French Universities Look for Help," is from the Boston Globe by Anna Willard:

The ugly concrete campus of Paris 6 university is dominated by a tower that has been a building site for eleven years as asbestos is removed. Nobody seems to be able to pinpoint when the work will finish.

The government tried to brighten the dreary site with a modernistic red and yellow science building but forgot to put in air conditioning, a mistake because the laboratory machines heat up to temperatures that damage the research.

***

France's 85 universities are struggling. They have slipped down international league tables, many are overcrowded, lacking funds and facilities and losing their best staff to better paid jobs in the United States or elsewhere.

Credit Articulation in the Southern States

This article, "Statewide Standards Ease Process of Transferring Credits in South, Report Says,", is from The Chronicle of Higher Education by Matt Petrie and may require registration to view. The report on which it is based is here—Clearing Paths to College Degrees: Transfer Policies in SREB States (PDF)—from the Southern Regional Education Board (SREB).

The report, "Clearing Paths to College Degrees: Transfer Policies in SREB States," notes several policies and procedures that have proven successful in helping students move from one college to another within state higher-education systems. Those include the development of comprehensive, statewide policies on the transfer of academic credits; the use of statewide core curricula and common course-numbering systems for both two-year and four-year colleges; and making transfer counselors and online guides available to students who plan to transfer.

Yale Purchases 136-acre Bayer Campus for Research

This article, "At Yale, A New Campus Just for Research," is from The New York Times by Karen W. Arenson, and may require registration for access:

Yale took what it hopes will be a giant step forward in that race with its announcement last month that it would buy the 136-acre campus of Bayer HealthCare, which straddles the line between West Haven and Orange, Conn., seven miles from downtown New Haven and the university’s main campus.

Additional information is available on the website of Yale's Office of Public Affairs. Also, we haven't found anything about this on the facilities website at Yale, but you may want to take a look at some of the major projects that are on there.

Green Labs!

This article, "Sustainable Science" from AIArchitect, by Zach Mortice, answers the question, "How do you . . . adapt LEED commercial interior standards for use in a university laboratory?" with an example from Yale University. Note: There are still a few spaces left in a related preconference workshop, "The Case for Green Chemistry: Integrating Sustainability into Curricula and Campus," at SCUP–42 in Chicago on Sunday, July 8 from 8:00 AM – 12:30 PM. The audience for this workshop would be administrators, educators, architects, and others looking toward renovation projects that require decisions pertaining to sustainability and green chemistry.

The newly renovated third floor of the Yale School of Medicine’s Sterling Hall is the first entry into two environmental firsts. It’s the first in a series of planned green renovations of the School of Medicine’s laboratories. It’s also the first LEED accredited lab anywhere.

***

Now, 75 percent of the building has access to outside views and 85 percent is lighted naturally. Recycled blue jeans are used for cotton insulation in the wing’s 16,439 square feet, and 22 percent of the project’s materials, like wheat board cabinetry panels, are rapidly renewable (i.e., renewable in one year). More than 80 percent of all construction debris was kept out of landfills, and the campus’ urban location (walkable and near public transportation) also scored points for the project.

Dormitory Complex at Massachusetts Maritime

This item, "Dormitory Complex at Massachusetts Maritime," is part of a series from University Business titled "Sense of Place." The "problem" described below was "solved" with a $3.5 million for upgrades and $13 million for two-story addition. The series is useful and worth following:

- PROBLEMS: As enrollment grew at Mass Maritime-a public, co-ed maritime college in which the regimented lifestyle of cadets has traditionally required students to live on campus-it became clear that more beds were desperately needed. In fact, this school year nearly 1,000 students had to occupy a circa 1968 dorm complex designed to accommodate 880, reports Allen Hansen, vice president of Student Services. Even with students residing in every recreation room and study lounge, administrators still had to break tradition and allow a handful of students to commute. And with just one location on the 55-acre campus available for expansion-which officials hope to use for a new library complex-it seemed that a vertical expansion of the existing complex was the best bet.

Can Berkeley Get Rid of Two Unwanted Buildings?

This article, "No Stirrings of Pride"—subscription or online pass required—is from The Chronicle of Higher Education by Josh Keller. If it interests you and you are attending the society's 42nd annual, international conference and idea marketplace, SCUP–42 in Chicago next week, you may want to note that there are "Campus Heritage" round tables on Monday and Wednesday mornings: Monday's is in the Erie Room at 8:30 am and will be facilitated by former SCUP president Cal Audrain. (Cal will be receiving SCUP's 2007 Distinguished Service Award at this conference.) Wednesday's is in Sheraton IV & V, facilitator to be announced.

Two buildings at the University of California at Berkeley can be seen all the way from San Francisco on a clear day. The first, a tall, granite bell tower called the Campanile, is the visual anchor of the campus and was a favorite subject of Ansel Adams.

The second, Evans Hall, is an imposing concrete structure that most people on the campus would like to see demolished. Campus planners call it a mistake, and students, like me, call it "a fortress" or "a prison." Photographers try to leave it out of their pictures altogether.

***

"I'm not sure you could go to the state and say, We want to tear this building down because it's ugly."

The Difference Between "Budget Total" and "Total Budget" Apparently Matters for Community Colleges

This article, "Who Controls Community College Budgets," is from Inside Higher Education by Doug Lederman.

The state’s highest court ruled last week that the SUNY system’s Board of Regents was within its rights in 2003 when it issued regulations that limited county governments to approving the “budget total” rather than the “total budget” of their local community colleges. In New York’s higher education governance structure, county and local governments “sponsor” two-year colleges and have final say over their budgets, which are set and administered by the state university system.

iTunes University

From the Scout Report, a weekly compendium of valuable websites:

iTunes U [iTunes]

You may have been to Harvard and the Sorbonne, but have you ever looked at the handsome educational offerings at iTunesU? Well, it may not be an actual bricks and mortar campus, but this helpful application offers up a healthy sampling of lectures, discussions, and seminars from Duke, MIT, Texas A&M, and a number of equally fine institutions of higher learning. First-time visitors should take a listen to Martin Lewis’s “Geography of World Cultures” or some of the lectures culled from Pennsylvania State University. Needless to say, this application is compatible with computers running iTunes. [KMG]

Google Maps Is Changing the Way We See the World

This article, "Google Maps Is Changing the Way We See the World," is from Wired magazine by Evan Ratliff. If you haven't been paying attention, or if you have but have been wishing that you had more time to pay more attention, you'll find it informative.

Today the power still lies in the hands of the map makers. The only difference is that we're all mapmakers now, which means geography has entered the complex free-for-all of the information age, where ever-more-sophisticated technology is better able to reflect the world's rich, chaotic complexity. "Once you express location in human terms, you get multiple places with the same name, or political issues over where boundaries are, or local differences," says David Weinberger. "As soon as you leave the latitude/ longitude substrate, you get lost in the ambiguous jumble of meaning. It's as close to Babel as we get."

For an example of a good campus map done with GoogleMaps, see this column.

Corporate Naming On Campus

Do you know of any buildings on the campuses of public universities or colleges that are named for businesses, as opposed to being named for individual people?

If so, please comment here with a link, if possible, or email me at terry.calhoun@scup.org. Thanks!

Following up, Inside Higher Ed has a story on July 6, A College By Any Other Name, on this topic, about the renaming of an entire college: The potential is for the naming rights to the College of Public Health at the University of Iowa to go to Wellmark Blue Cross and Blue Shield.

More Followup: From the Daily Iowan, Controversial Name Change Voted Down by Faculty.

With Doors Open to Neighbors, N.Y.U. Shapes Plan for Growth

This article is from The New York Times by Karen W. Erenson dated July 2, 2007 (may require registration):

New York University and Greenwich Village seem woven into each other. The geographic location has been a powerful lure for students and faculty, the school a steady source of youth, commerce and intellectual vitality for the neighborhood.

But some who live there year in and year out have complained that the university’s expansion was helter-skelter and its buildings ugly and enormous, and that both were ruining the Village.

Now the university, more popular than ever among the nation’s high school seniors, says it will need about 6 million more square feet over the next 25 years, at least some of it in the Greenwich Village area.

Dramatic Changes in Housing at California University of Pennsylvania

This article, titled "Revitalizing the Campus Community" is from College Services Magazine, a publication of the National Association of College Auxiliary Services (NACAS):

The public/private partnership approach has significantly benefited California University of Pennsylvania. The housing that has resulted from the privatized process has pleased students and is fully leased. The use of private developers to oversee and expedite the design, finance and construction processes has created new housing more quickly and at lower cost than the traditional university methods. Quality and design have met with tremendous student and university approval. In fact, President Angelo Armenti Jr. said, “This new housing reinvents California’s campus and our entire ability to compete for the top graduating high school students.”

Distorted Statistics on Graduation Rates

In this viewpoint from The Chronicle of Higher Education (may require registration), Paul Attewell and David E. Lavin argue that the way colleges and universities measure and report "graduate rates" is archaic and creates needless, negative misperceptions:

We can cling to an increasingly unrepresentative image of undergraduate life and document through statistical measures that universities filled with working-class and minority students do not live up to that privileged benchmark. Or we can acknowledge the emergence of a system of mass higher education and develop policies that recognize that collegegoing has profoundly changed.

Out of Print Planning Related Books from Ohio State University Press

Ohio State University has posted the entire contents of many of its out-of-print books on line. You can see the complete list here. Some of the titles appear to be planning related, including:

Blackford, Mansel G.
The Lost Dream: Businessmen and City Planning on the Pacific Coast, 1890–1920
Burgess, Patricia
Planning for the Private Interest: Land Use Controls and Residential Patterns in Columbus, Ohio, 1900–1970
Friedricks, William B.
Henry E. Hungtington and the Creation of Southern California
Schwartz, Joel
The New York Approach: Robert Moses, Urban Liberals, and Redevelopment of the Inner City
Spann, Edward K.
Hopedale: From Commune to Company Town, 1840–1920
Thompson, Gregory Lee
The Passenger Train in the Motor Age: California’s Rail and Bus Industries, 1910–1941
Tittle, Diana
Rebuilding Cleveland: The Cleveland Foundation and Its Evolving Urban Strategy

Shake-up In Community College Building Requirements in California

This article is from Inside Bay Area:

"It was a stealth bill," said Douglas Hohbach, president of the Structural

Engineers Association of Northern California and a principle at Hohbach-Lewin, a structural engineering firm in Palo Alto. "I was shocked as a citizen of California that something like that could be done."

That 59-word clause provides an exemption that community colleges and other parties have sought for years: the option to use the standard building code when constructing buildings at two-year colleges, instead of a stringent seismic safety code mandated by the landmark Field Act.

"This change is for the benefit of the builders, and not the benefit of the students," said Paul Neel, dean emeritus of the California Polytechnic State University's College of Architecture and the California state archiQUAKEINews 15tect from 1989 to 1991. "It's hard for me to fathom that you would gamble with safety like that."