CT Mirror - Papazian named president of SCSU; interim chief stays in system (December 8, 2011) - Mary Papazian is set to be named Southern Connecticut State University's next president before the end of the day, two years after a very awkward dismissal of the previous president...

USA Today - Boomers heading back to community colleges (December 14, 2011) - Paul Klingler likes his job as a mold-maker for a Rochester plastics manufacturer. But the 54-year-old Parma resident also liked his last mold-making job, which he held for four years before being laid off early this year. And when he didn't get a call back regarding an open position at another company earlier this year, Klingler chalked it up to his lack of a college degree. "I know I have all the other skills they're looking for," he says...

Community College Times - Pa. report calls for a 'state' community college (December 14, 2011) - A new report from a Pennsylvania legislative committee recommends creating a "state" community college specifically to serve rural counties...

Inside Higher Ed - Behind the Billboards (December 14, 2011) - Boosters of the completion agenda are generally supportive of community colleges, opting for encouragement rather than shame on low graduation rates. A business group in Texas has taken a more confrontational approach, however, with a campaign that goes beyond tough love...

Hartford Business Journal - UConn hires its first female police chief (December 14, 2011) - The University of Connecticut has hired the University of Illinois' public safety director as its next police chief, The Associated Press reports. Barbara O'Connor will take over next spring from retiring UConn Police Chief Robert Hudd...

New England Journal of Higher Ed - Risk Factors: Colleges Look to Manage Threats Ranging From Fraud to Data Breaches (December 12, 2011) - Recently, a former administrator at a Boston law school admitted that he used a school computer to embezzle more than $173,000. As the former controller, he accessed the school's accounting system, creating false checks, which he deposited into his personal bank account...

Inside Higher Ed - Completion Comes First (December 13, 2011) - Community colleges are no longer the "best-kept secret" in higher education. The colleges are getting plenty of attention for their role in workforce training, and at the same time feeling growing pressure to improve low graduation rates -- a trend that continued Monday with the naming of Valencia College as the first winner of the Aspen Prize for Community College Excellence...

CT Mirror - UConn wants to raise tuition and fees by 5.8 percent next year (December 12, 2011) - Saying they are having a hard time offering the necessary courses students need to graduate on time, University of Connecticut officials are considering a 5.8 percent increase in tuition and fees for in-state students next year...

Inside Higher Ed - Financial Advice (December 12, 2011) - More revenue does not seem to be in the cards for colleges and universities, as states continue to impose tight budgets on public institutions, while a fear of high tuition and borrowing limits what private institutions can charge. That was the consensus of college and university leaders gathered here, who argued that as a result they will need to focus increasingly on controlling costs...

Chronicle of Higher Ed - Colleges Mine Data to Tailor Students' Experience (December 11, 2011) - Educators have long held that the interactions between students and professors defy simple reduction. Yet in several areas of campus life, colleges are converting the student experience into numbers to crunch in the name of improving education...

Community College Times - College presidents aim to bolster entrepreneurship efforts (December 9, 2011) - A national organization focused on promoting entrepreneurship through community colleges has launched a national campaign to encourage more two-year college leaders to focus on such efforts to create local jobs and bolster economies...

Inside Higher Ed - Occupy Someone Else (December 9, 2011) - Their voices have gone hoarse. They've broken windows and clashed with police officers. They've faced pepper spray and attracted national news attention. The story is the same across the country - students, upset about tuition hikes, are protesting...

The Hour - Norwalk Community College President tapped for dual role (December 6, 2011) - Norwalk Community College President David Levinson has been tapped to assume the role as interim vice president for community colleges at the Connecticut Board of Regents for Higher Education, while at the same time, juggling his current position...

Huffington Post - Can Obama Deliver On His College Affordability Promises? (December 13, 2011) - When Joe Biden traveled...to host a town hall on college affordability, groups of students lined the palm-shaded streets, cheering as the motorcade blew by. On his way out of Fletcher High School, Biden even stopped for a group of effusive fourth graders. But Abby Pugh, a junior at Fletcher, had more questions than unmitigated enthusiasm for the vice president...

Hartford Courant - Two Students Elected To Board Of Regents for Higher Education (December 9, 2011) - Two students have been elected by their peers to serve on the Board of Regents for Higher Education, bringing the new board to full strength...Alex Tettey Jr. of Manchester Community College...

NJCAA - 2011 NJCAA Women's Soccer All-Americans Released (December 2, 2011) - The 2011 NJCAA women's soccer All-American teams have been selected for both Division I and III. MCC's Courtney Gideon... named NJCAA All-American - Second team...

CT Mirror - An Advanced (Placement) debate - A closed gate, or an open door? (December 12, 2011) - At many high schools, Jensun Yonjan, who speaks limited English, would have been diverted away from taking college-level Advanced Placement courses...

CT Mirror - Malloy may have to choose between spending cap and budget reforms (December 8, 2011) - In a parting shot from the last recession, the state budget spending cap will clamp down tighter over the next few years than at any other time in its history, state fiscal analysts are warning...

Inside Higher Ed - Accreditation in an Era of Open Resources (December 14, 2011) - Imagine yourself emerging from the Way Back Machine in London, England. It's 1526. Henry VIII is on the throne. You furtively duck into a shop, and quickly head to the back room. You've come to buy an English translation of the New Testament. The mere possession of this book is punishable by death...

Inside Higher Ed - Long Term, Short Term (December 14, 2011) - Why hasn't the Great Recession triggered a massive restructuring of American higher ed yet? By all rights, it should have. It brought to the fore long-festering negative trends in public support, student loan burdens, tuition costs, employability, and whatever else you care to mention. But so far, despite plenty of public discussion and no shortage of of public pressure, we haven't seen basic structural change...

Chronicle of Higher Ed - Wanted: Better Employees (December 12, 2011) - The debate over whether the purpose of college is to train students for jobs or to provide them with a broad education erupted again in the comments section of a Chronicle article last week. Rather than rehash that argument in this blog, I want to touch on the main thrust of last week's piece: what employers think of today's college graduates...

Chronicle of Higher Ed - For Community Colleges, a Time to Shine (December 11, 2011) - What is the best community college in America? Ask a similar question about universities and you'll prompt a vigorous debate. Caltech and MIT would duke it out for engineering supremacy while Harvard and Princeton compete for maximum selectivity and prestige. Amherst is near the top of everyone's liberal-arts-college list, with Swarthmore close behind...

Inside Higher Ed - Punching Above Their Weight ( December 11, 2011) - Yes, I know, sports metaphors are inherently suspect...In boxing, "punching above his weight" refers to a boxer whose strength is greater than you would expect for someone in his weight class...It's a compliment; in essence, it's saying that you overachieve relative to your resources...