Weekly Scan: May 11 - 17, 2012

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HIGHER ED IMPACT
Weekly Scan: News & Key Takeaways

May 11 - 17, 2012

KEY TAKEAWAYS THIS WEEK
Analysis from Academic Impressions

Benchmarking Deferred Maintenance: A Recent Survey
A recent Academic Impressions survey of facilities managers reveals that while 81 percent are prioritizing efforts to address the maintenance backlog, most feel ill-equipped to make the case to institutional leaders to fund their projects. Here's an in-depth look. More...

How Do You Make the Case for Funding Maintenance and Renewal for Campus Facilities?
Daniel King, facilities manager at Auburn University, has two interesting ideas -- one for working with institutional leadership to prioritize "small and modest" maintenance projects, and one for communicating to institutional leaders the bigger picture of the institution's replacement and renewal needs. More...

AI FEATURED EVENT

A Comprehensive Approach to Deferred Maintenance
Atlanta, GA
July 30 - 31, 2012

SHARE YOUR INPUT

Mobile Marketing at Your Institution
Please tell us a little about your institution's current efforts in mobile marketing. An executive summary of the data will be included in an article in Higher Ed Impact this summer. Take the survey...

RESEARCH & TRENDS

Degrees of Debt: Implications of Higher College Costs and More Indebtedness
Ninety-four percent of students who earn a bachelor's degree borrow to pay for higher education -- up from 45 percent in 1993. Combined with rising college costs, this has led to an unprecendented financial burden for many graduates. This in-depth feature, video report, and interactive graphic examine the trend of more students across the country graduating into debt. More...

Interactive Graphic: Student Debt at US Colleges and Universities
This interactive graphic allows you to explore student debt at specific colleges and universities across the country, sorting by type (public or private), size, location, graduation rate, conference, and share of graduates with debt. More...

Study: To Improve Student Engagement, Focus on Individual Programs and Student Services
This report commissioned by the Higher Education Quality Council of Ontario observes that student engagement surveys show clear patterns of engagement that vary dramatically by academic program. The study's authors say a program-specific engagement strategy is likely to be far more effective than a faculty-wide or institution-wide strategy based on benchmark goals. More...

Top 100 Social Media Colleges
StudentAdvisor.com has compared 6,000 schools on how active and effective they are at engaging their audiences on Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, and other social media tools, such as iTunes and podcasts. Here are the top 100 according to their ranking. More...

NOTABLE PRACTICES

The Radical New Humanities Ph.D.
Stanford University professors have produced a paper calling on the school to halve degree time for doctoral programs in the humanities and link student programs to varying career goals. Meanwhile, efforts are already under way at Harvard, Minnesota, and Colorado to refashion and shorten the time it takes to receive a humanities Ph.D More...

Green Technology Energizes Classes at Macomb Community College (Warren, MI)
The college offers a 16-credit certificate program designed to be combined with one of six associate degree programs to specialize in biomass, geothermal, solar, and wind energy, as well as green building and sustainable energy technology. Students in the program learn at a $500,000, 2,400-square-foot green technology laboratory. More...

More Private Colleges Offering Tuition Discounts
As more students question whether to take on massive tuition debt in a slow job market, many private colleges are offering discount deals that cut, freeze, or even eliminate tuition altogether for incoming students. Here are some examples from across the country. More...

Business Schools Emphasize Global Networking
Here are a few examples of how some US and Canadian business schools are working to connect faculty, students, and deans around the world, including the Global Network for Advanced Management, a partnership between Yale's School of Management and 20 international business schools. More...

CURRENT EVENTS

UC Santa Barbara Gets $50 Million Gift from Oracle Chairman for Energy Efficiency Research and Engineering Programs ...More

US Places First, Canada Places Third in New International Ranking of Higher Ed Systems ...More

West Virginia U Receives $425 Million Software Donation from Siemens ...More

Backer of Common Core School Curriculum is Chosen to Lead College Board ...More

Long-Awaited Ruling in Copyright Case Brought by Scholarly Publishers Mostly Favors Georgia State U ...More

THIS WEEK IN CANADA

Quebec Education Minister Resigns, Saying Student Protestors Have "No Will to Reach a Settlement" ...More

Report: Ontario Students Face Long Waits for Mental Health Help ...More

Researchers Call Funding Cuts "A Disaster" for Canadian Research Programs ...More

Quebec Eyes Emergency Legislation as Premier Jean Charest Suspends Classes Due to Strikes ...More

Canada Axes Foreign Studies Program Despite Purported Substantial Economic Benefits ...More

LOOKING ABROAD

UK: Study Shows Students Spend No More Time with Lecturers After Three-Fold Tuition Increase ...More

France: New Socialist President Pledges to Help Poor and Foreign Students ...More

South Sudan Shuts Down All Private Universities, Saying They're Not Up to Standards ...More

PEOPLE IN THE NEWS
L. Rafael Reif, an electrical engineer who has been the provost of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology for the last seven years, has been named the institution's next president.

Leslie E. Wong, president of Northern Michigan University since 2004, has been named the new president of San Francisco State University.

Scott Olson, chief academic officer of Winona State University (Winona, MN), has been named the 15th president of the university.

Meg Benke, provost and vice president of academic affairs at Empire State College (Saratoga Springs, NY), has been named acting president of the college.

Carli C. Schiffner, provost of the State University of New York at Canton, has been named interim president of the university.

MORE HIGHER ED NEWS

Read all stories from this week ...This Week's News

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Upcoming Conferences

Planning and Growing Online Learning Initiatives
May 21 - 23 2012 :: San Antonio TX

Using Student Data to Improve Your Academic Support Programs
May 21 - 23 2012 :: St. Louis MO

Developing a Comprehensive Retention Plan
May 21 - 23 2012 :: Orange County CA

Writing Right for the Web Workshop: Improving Your Institution's Web Content
May 24 - 25 2012 :: Atlanta GA

A System-Wide Approach to Advising for Retention
June 04 - 06 2012 :: Baltimore MD

Phonathon Institute
June 06 - 08 2012 :: Memphis TN

Students With Mental Health Issues: Policies for the Whole Campus
June 06 - 08 2012 :: Newport Beach CA

Integrated Strategic Planning and Resource Allocation
June 11 - 12 2012 :: Houston TX

Emerging Leaders in Higher Education
June 18 - 19 2012 :: Atlanta GA

Effective Living-Learning Communities
June 18 - 20 2012 :: Madison WI

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