Notes in the Margins: Playboy's insects, an ousted chancellor and community college successes

Best college course in the nation? Playboy magazine says it's at Oregon State The magazine has dubbed an insect course the nation's best college class of 2010 because it combines humor with learning. (Oregon Live)

Schools Consider The Value Of Individualized Study More and more institutions are turning toward individualized majors as a different way to promote the well-rounded ethos of requirement-heavy schools. (Huffington Post)

Low-Income Community-College Students Find Success at Selective 4-Year Colleges They not only tend to excel academically but also become leaders after they transfer to these institutions, according to a new report. (chronicle.com)

International Educators Exchange Worries About Money The European Association for International Education's annual conference produced several provocative discussions on its first day. (chronicle.com)

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European Universities Move to Bridge Gap Between Business and Academe Several sessions at a meeting of the European Association for International Education addressed the deepening links between industry and institutions. (chronicle.com)

Harrisburg U.'s Social-Media Blackout Is More of a Brownout The university's provost says he succeeded in his goal of raising awareness of the implications of social networking, even if students sneaked onto Facebook. (chronicle.com)

For-Profit Executives Talk Up Their Colleges' Value at Investors' Conference They spent as much time discussing their colleges' role in expanding the country's higher-education capacity as they did boasting about their earnings. (chronicle.com)

Chancellor of U. of New Orleans Is Ousted Timothy P. Ryan, chancellor of the University of New Orleans since 2003, has been fired by the president of the Louisiana State University system, according to news reports. Mr. Ryan did not leave quietly, saying that the system had been micromanaging the campus and that "there could be no worse time to make this kind of change in leadership." (chronicle.com)