The American Studies Association announced Thursday that its membership has grown by 700 since the group took the controversial measure of adopting a boycott of Israeli universities. The association says that it has gained more membership revenue in the last three months than in any three-month period over the last 25 years.
A new poll of undergraduates by Steelcase Education being released today has found that when asked about locations on campus that influenced their decision to enroll, 51 percent cited classrooms, while only 42 percent cited student centers or extracurricular places. Further, 38 percent of students said they valued study places, and 36 percent said that they valued libraries. The findings challenge conventional wisdom that students are judging campuses primarily by their leisure and recreational facilities.
In today’s Academic Minute, Phillip Ko, a postdoctoral fellow at Vanderbilt University, discusses his work on the sharpness of memory in order to better understand the aging of the brain, memory loss and diseases like Alzheimer's. Learn more about the Academic Minute here.
Students at Washington University in St. Louis on Tuesday started an outdoor sit-in, pledging to camp out on campus until the university cuts ties to Peabody Energy, a coal company. The company's CEO, Greg Boyce, has been a donor and serves on the board. Further, the students object to research that they say falsely suggests that the environmental issues associated with the use of coal can be minimized. They are vowing to continue their protest until the university position changes.
The university issued a statement affirming the right of the students to protest, but defending research related to coal. "Washington University ... is a significant contributor to finding solutions to the world¹s energy challenges. Our researchers are focused on making alternative energy sources more viable," the statement says. "Our researchers also are focused on mitigating the environmental impact of the use of coal, including approaches to capturing and storing carbon dioxide that accompanies combustion of any fossil fuel. It is this dual approach that will allow us to address the greatest global issues of this century. As a world-class research university, Washington University not only has the potential, but the responsibility, to participate in finding those solutions."
The Los Angeles area has California's most pressing unmet need for community college slots, according to a new analysis released by California Competes, a nonprofit group. Much of the lagging capacity at two-year institutions around the state has been hard to track. But the report, which the group said was the first statewide analysis of student enrollment across district lines, found that greater Los Angeles should receive 24,000 of the 40,000 additional seats that the recovering state budget may fund.
The analysis builds on an interactive data tool the group released last year. That online tool charts community college enrollment and degree production rates across California's 1,700 ZIP codes. Robert Shireman, a former official at the U.S. Department of Education, is California Competes' director.
Dartmouth College today announced a $100 million gift, the largest in the college's history. Half of the gift will match other gifts. The donor is anonymous. A major use for the funds will be Dartmouth's cluster hiring initiative, in which groups of faculty members will be hired with various interdisciplinary research agendas.
The academic preparation of incoming colleges students has a strong impact on dropout rates, according to a newly released report from the ACT, which is a nonprofit testing organization. The findings show that students have the greatest risk of dropping out if they earn lower scores on college readiness assessments, particularly students with less-educated parents.
Iowa State President Steven Leath on Wednesday announced that he was calling off the rest of Veishea, an annual, multiday student celebration, after incidents this week. Students clashed with security officers and damaged property. At least one student has been injured.
Americans care (sort of) about what politicians think about supporting medical research, according to a new poll by Research!America, which promotes medical research. Two-thirds of Americans said that it is important for candidates running for office to place a high priority on funding medical research. However, only 12 percent said that they were very well informed about the views of their senators and representative.
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