On Campus Blog

Washington’s 2-year colleges out to beat high cost of textbooks The state’s community and technical colleges are leading the way with an ambitious new initiative: They’re assembling previously published “open-source” textbooks and course materials for the 81 most popular classes at state two-year colleges — including for such mainstays as “General Psychology” and “Introduction to…
Why the Southwest MN State / MN West study?
I called MnSCU system spokeswoman Melinda Voss for a little more info on the system’s study of its colleges and university in southwest Minnesota. Specifically, officials there want to see how Southwest Minnesota State University and Minnesota West Community and Technical College could work better together. If you look at a map, Southwest Minnesota State…
Just got this from the HQ of the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities system: November 5, 2010 The Minnesota State Colleges and Universities system has launched a study of regional higher educational needs in southwest Minnesota to determine if there is a better way to align educational programs and services offered by Southwest Minnesota State…
Just got this from the U: (11/05/2010) —University of Minnesota Board of Regents Chair Clyde Allen announced today that the Presidential Search Advisory Committee has forwarded recommendations of four semi-finalists for the position of university president to the Board of Regents. Currently, Regents are individually reviewing the written files on each semi-finalist. The Board will…
From the Chicago Tribune: Federal officials in Iowa have charged a 19-year-old from Germany with falsely claiming U.S. citizenship so he could vote. The U.S. attorney’s office says Christopher Mettin entered the country in August to study at Morningside College in Sioux City. In September, he claimed he was a U.S. citizen to register to…
Jacques Steinberg of The New York Times has a good piece on how students should approach the application section that asks for a list of extracurricular activities. He quotes Monica C. Inzer, the dean of admissions at Hamilton College in New York, and member of the Common Application board: We’d rather see depth than a…
Lake Superior College recovering from flooding
About a third of the space at Lake Superior College that was flooded in last month’s record-setting storm is back in use, and officials there hope to have everything back to normal by the end of next week. A number of first-floor rooms in the college’s E building — which contains health sciences, a gym,…
Video: Carleton part of red-hot a capella movement
A capella singing is hot on campus these days, and The Huffington Post has compiled a list of the 13 campus a capella groups to watch. Check out Carleton College’s group, which made the list with “Ragged Wood” by the Fleet Foxes.
Becky Supiano of the Chronicle of Higher Education describes how unrealistic many students and families still are about college costs: … They still did not have a sense of what their education might cost in the long run: Nearly 40 percent said they had “no idea” what their likely monthly payment on student loans would…
What Ted Turner's dad told him about his liberal arts major
I am appalled, even horrified, that you have adopted Classics as a major. As a matter of fact, I almost puked on my way home today. … I am a practical man, and for the life of me I cannot possibly understand why you should wish to speak Greek. With whom will you communicate in Greek?…