Boston Professor Uses Frequent Feedback From Class as Teaching Aide While end-of-term evaluations are common, a Boston University educator stands out for regularly soliciting students’ suggestions and fine-tuning his approach. (The New York Times) NEC faculty donates cash to save jobs When New England College officials announced they might cut staff to balance a budget shortfall, faculty Read more →
MPR News Intelligence on higher education
Archives for March 2012

Last week during a MnSCU board meeting, I tweeted Chancellor Steven Rosenstone’s statement of “disappointment” over the amount of funding the legislature is considering for campus maintenance and improvements. Looks like University of Minnesota President Eric Kaler is joining him, saying the pattern of low state funding could “cripple” its higher education: U of M Read more →
In Minnesota and nationally, attainment rates must increase more rapidly to reach the Big Goal of 60 percent attainment by 2025. If the current rate of degree production continues, about 55 percent of Minnesota’s adult population — nearly 1.7 million people — will hold a college degree in 2025. To reach 60 percent, Minnesota will Read more →
“I just have a hard time understanding the facts being used by Ms. Jacoby to conclude that, you know, that… some community colleges provide one or two years of bad training. From my world view, education is a broad spectrum. There’s a place for everyone. There’s a time and place for everyone. You make what Read more →
Top lawyer helped win many college chiefs’ perks Ramond Cotton, who works for the Boston-based law firm Mintz Levin, has carved out a niche as one of the nation’s most prominent consultants on academic salaries, helping to negotiate or assess contracts for more than 250 clients. He is also is the common link between two recent Massachusetts controversies Read more →
Early to rise, early to learn: Colleges offer 6 a.m. classes For early risers and those with busy schedules, 6 a.m. college classes have become a more-common option. (The Miami Herald via University Business) Despite more college grads, U.S. workforce needs even more The number of adult Americans who have earned college degrees has been increasing, but Read more →
Just in from the Minnesota Daily: Graduate assistants at the University of Minnesota voted against forming a union 1,857 to 1,142, according to results released by the Bureau of Mediation Services Monday. Read the (short) article here. Update: Those initial numbers are right. In last week’s voting, 62 percent of those who cast ballots rejected Read more →

University of Minnesota graduate assistants are wrapping up week-long voting on whether to unionize. The students will finish casting their votes today Friday (today), and the results could come as soon as Monday. Union supporters say they want a voice in decisions over pay and working conditions, which they say are uneven across departments — and Read more →