Reminder News - MCC Farmers' Market Opens For Season (June 30, 2011) - The Manchester Community College Farmers' Market opened for the season on Wednesday, June 29. "You could almost get everything you need for the week," said Manchester resident Janet Heller. "I love the community and the friendliness of the market," added Heller, who has been visiting the market every summer...

The Chronicle of Higher Ed - Few Finance Chiefs Are Optimistic in Face of Slow Recovery (July 6, 2011) - Fewer than one-third of college chief financial officers are more optimistic about the state of the U.S. economy today than they were a year ago, according to a new Chronicle-Moody's survey of nearly 500 college CFO's. Yet when it comes to the financial prospects of their own institutions, a tad more than that-39 percent-are more optimistic today...

Faculty Focus - More Tips on Active Learning (July 5, 2011) -...during the opening keynote at The Teaching Professor Conference, Elizabeth F. Barkley, a professor at Foothill College .. presented on a topic she titled Terms of Engagement: Understanding and Promoting Student Engagement in Today's College Classroom. At the conclusion of the session, she asked attendees to write on a note card one or two ways they promote active learning in their classrooms. As you can imagine, the exercise generated hundreds of great ideas...

New England Board of Higher Ed - Trends & Indicators 2011: Demography, Part II (July 5, 2011) -Is demography really destiny? The makeup of the population and the perceived value of education are changing. So this year following the decennial census, we're presenting our demography figures a few ways. (We also presented a set in January.) The universities of the Connecticut State University System (CSUS) attracted more than 7,000 students of color this year-a 35% increase since 2000...

Inside Higher Ed - Blackboard Gets Bought (July 5, 2011) - Blackboard, maker of the dominant online learning platform among nonprofit colleges, has been sold to Providence Equity Partners, the company announced on Friday. The announcement prompted hand-wringing from campus technology officials and reassurances from Blackboard that there are no significant changes in the offing...

Diverse Issues in Higher Ed - Report: College Enrollment Pool Increasingly Turning to Adult Learners (July 1, 2011) - Years after finishing high school, Tracy Perez is finally in college, working to complete her bachelor's degree. Help from the military provided an incentive for Perez to complete her education...

Chronicle of Higher Ed - Goodwill Inc. Works With Community Colleges to Get Adults Back on Their Feet (July 3, 2011) - A couple of years ago, Goodwill Industries International set out to answer a question central to its mission: How could it move more low-wage workers into careers that could sustain their families...

Chronicle of Higher Ed - As Costs of New Rule Are Felt, Colleges Rethink Online Course Offerings in Other States (July 1, 2011) - Bismarck State College, a two-year institution located in the capital of North Dakota, offers something few colleges do: online degrees in power-plant technology. Utilities across the country send workers to the community college for specialized training in electric power, nuclear power, and other fields...

American Association of Community Colleges - New National Commission To Help Reshape the Future of Community Colleges (June 30, 2011) - For only the third time in their 110-year history, community colleges are preparing to take a holistic look at their broad and continuously evolving mission with the naming this week of the landmark 21st-Century Commission on the Future of Community Colleges...

CT Mirror - On Eve Of Higher Ed Merger, Meotti Named Interim President (June 30, 2011) - Higher Education Commissioner Michael P. Meotti has been named interim president of the new Board of Regents that will comprise his agency, the state's community and online colleges, and the Connecticut State University System...

Inside Higher Ed - Naughty and Nice on College Price (June 30, 2011) - The "Hall of Shame" of college pricing has been released: federally compiled lists of the country's most expensive institutions and those that have raised tuition the most in recent years. Mandated by the 2008 renewal of the Higher Education Act, the Education Department lists are intended to embarrass colleges into reining in both their internal costs and the prices they charge to students...

Inside Higher Ed - Non-Degree Holders' Downbeat Outlook (June 30, 2011) - Many young people without postsecondary degrees want to return to college, but most of them don't know how to take out federal loans to pay for it, according to a new report funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. The report, titled "One Degree of Separation: How Young Americans See Their Chances for Success," is based on a survey of 600 people ages 26 to 34 conducted by Public Agenda...

Technicianonline.com - Student Debt Largest Ever (July 1, 2011) - In light of growing debt due to credit card and student loans, experts give tips to manage finances...

Record Journal - Frozen yogurt shop open for business (June 29, 2011) - Serving in the Navy on the West Coast, Anthony Zhuo often stopped at frozen yogurt shops. Perceiving a lack of such shops back east, Zhuo decided to open his own...

Reminder News - Rep. Larson's new hire is a 'Wounded Warrior' (July 1, 2011) - Ryan Dion, a veteran of two tours in Iraq, was injured in an IED attack. After months of recovery and rehabilitation, Dion returned to school to continue his education, and then to look for work. In a tough economy, Dion, like many veterans, had difficulty finding work...

CT Mirror - With Budgets Tight, Some Districts Chafe At Special Ed Spending (July 5, 2011) - Facing a major cut in funding for the schools in Bristol, Superintendent Philip Streifer has cut electives, scaled back four-hour kindergarten to two hours, pruned athletics and cut other costs everywhere he can....

CT Mirror - Malloy Edges Toward Renewed Concession Talks (July 6, 2011) - Gov. Dannel P. Malloy took a small step Wednesday toward renewed talks about concessions with unionized state employees when he said he likely would send an aide to inquire how labor leaders hope to revise their contract amendment ratification rules...

CT Mirror - Without New Offer, Unions Ask Malloy To Reopen Talks (July 5, 2011) - State employee union leaders formally asked Gov. Dannel P. Malloy on Tuesday to "reconvene discussions" on labor concessions, but they have no plan to amend the voting process that sunk the first concession package last month...

CT Mirror - Labor Offers Optimism, But No Specifics To Counter Layoff Plan (July 1, 2011) - The stage is set next week for the state employee unions to publicly settle on a path to salvage a $1.6 billion concession package--or resign themselves to more than 6,000 layoffs and spending cuts...

Inside Higher Ed - This I (Somewhat) Believe (July 6, 2011) - What is so fraught as the choice of the freshman reading selection -- the one book that must engage and inspire all incoming students? The single defining text that says, "Welcome to your new world -- a world of joy and sorrow, of new experiences, of possibility." The one book that representatives of anywhere from four to 40 disciplines, in hours of meetings, must agree upon. The one text that will encompass all aspects of the oft-revised mission statement and will guarantee an unprecedentedly high rate of retention...

Inside Higher Ed - ... And Don't Report Back (July 6, 2011) - This one is particularly for my fellow administrators out there. Strategic ignorance can be a wonderful thing, if used correctly. This is one way I've found it useful. Let's say you have a professor whose classroom performance seems to be slipping. Her student evaluations are conspicuously lower than they've been over time, students are starting to complain, and there's no immediately-obvious cause...

Chronicle of Higher Ed - Top 10 YouTube Videos Posted by Colleges, and What They Mean (July 5, 2011) - More than 400 colleges and universities have set up channels on YouTube as part of the YouTube EDU section of the popular video site, but university officials admit they are still experimenting with the service and learning what types of videos resonate with off-campus audiences...

Campus Technology - The Future of Blackboard (July 1, 2011) - As a Gartner research director and previously a faculty member and administrator at three different universities, Marti Harris has been monitoring the higher education software and services segment for a long time. She isn't much surprised by the recently announced acquisition of Blackboard by private equity firm Providence Equity Partners...

The Economist -  Why meetings are bad for you (July 1, 2011) - IN HIS column on information overload this week, Schumpeter supplies some research suggesting that meetings are not only a waste of time but also bad for creativity...

 The Chronicle of Higher Ed - 5 Myths About the 'Information Age'  (April 17, 2011) - Confusion about the nature of the so-called information age has led to a state of collective false consciousness...