Inside Higher Ed - Summer Ambitions (January 12, 2012) - Hoping to increase revenues, triple summer enrollment and accelerate graduations, Purdue University unveiled a trimester system Wednesday...

LINK - In the Trenches: Combating the Issues that Face Higher Ed Web (January 12, 2012) - Welcome to 2012! We might not have flying cars, but at least colleges and universities understand that the Web is an important tool for recruiting, fundraising and public relations. Even though we realize the Web's importance, we're still figuring out how to manage our websites well...

Chronicle of Higher Ed - Yes, Big Brother Is Watching (January 12, 2012) - I worked as a consultant for a university not long ago and discovered that the hot topic there was the institution's video surveillance system. Some people expressed surprise and outrage when they discovered that the university operated an elaborate network of sophisticated cameras monitoring almost every corner of the campus...

Chronicle of Higher Ed - Virginia Community Colleges Sign Agreement to Aid Vocational Education in India (January 11, 2012) - Virginia's community-college system has entered into an agreement with an Indian nonprofit group to encourage skills-based education in that country. Under the agreement with the Wadhwani Foundation, the Virginia colleges will serve as consultants to Indian vocational and technical programs...

Community College Times - Entrepreneurship programs support economic growth(January 11, 2012) - For 22-year-old Mike Pronovost, Fresno City College (FCC) was the perfect place to learn about developing his own business. FCC "set me up perfectly in helping me build and run my company," said Pronovost, a 2011 graduate of the two-year institution in California...

Diverse Issues in Higher Ed - Study: Two-thirds of College Students Surveyed Say They Lack Civic Engagement Skills and Awareness (January 10, 2012) - Higher education leaders plan to join several top Obama administration officials at the White House today to issue a "call to action" for colleges and universities to make civic learning and democratic engagement a more prominent part of the college experience...

CT Mirror - Pink slips given to top higher education officials (January 9, 2012) - Backers of the higher education merger promised it would save the state millions, and last week numerous highly paid top officials at the Connecticut State University and the community college systems received pink slips to ensure it would...

New England Journal of Higher Ed - When the Elephant Is the Room (January 9, 2012) - Maybe the classroom is where we should seek the transformation we need in higher education ...For several years now, many of us have been agonizing over the sorry state of American higher education-indeed, of our entire educational system-and for good reason...

Chronicle of Higher Ed - 'Badges' Earned Online Pose Challenge to Traditional College Diplomas (January 8, 2012) - The spread of a seemingly playful alternative to traditional diplomas, inspired by Boy Scout achievement patches and video-game power-ups, suggests that the standard certification system no longer works in today's fast-changing job market...

New England Journal of Higher Ed - Learner-Centered Education Gets Super Push in Conn. (January 5, 2012) - It may be known as the "Land of Steady Habits," but Connecticut's new habit in education in this new year looks like steady change. Recently, Connecticut school superintendents advanced a package of 134 recommendations to replace the state's current school system with a "learner-centered" education program...

Diverse Issues in Higher Ed - More Financial Aid for College Athletes Sought (January 11, 2012) - An advocacy group is pushing a "bill of rights" for student-athletes aimed at increasing financial assistance to college players. Among other things, the legislation would require large athletic programs to cover all sports-related medical expenses incurred by athletes...

Better Manchester - Neighborhood Academy Alumni, Citizen Volunteer and Advocate (Fall 2011) - Manchester resident Gordon Plouffe is no stranger to adversity. Having sustained severe third-degree burns in a fire a number of years ago, Plouffe became homebound and was obligated to leave his job in 2007...

AACC - Community College Students Featured in National STEM Videos (January 4, 2012) - AACC is proud to announce the release of a new video series, Advancing Technological Education: Student Voices, Student Leaders produced by ATETV and funded by the National Science Foundation. Designed to raise awareness of community college students in STEM education and career fields, this series features a diverse group of students by taking "a day in the life" approach to telling their stories. Learn what students are facing in balancing home, school, and work in their journeys to completing their education and becoming future STEM leaders....

CT Mirror - Malloy frames education reforms as human rights issue (January 11, 2012) - Gov. Dannel P. Malloy promised today in a wide-ranging radio interview that his planned education reforms would be "the most far-reaching in our state's history," a bold assertion certain to raise expectations about how he intends to improve troubled districts in an era of tight finances...

CT Mirror - Systems resist push to expand the school day and year (January 10, 2012) - When it came time for Tyrone Almonte to decide where he wanted to go to high school, he had plenty of magnet schools to select from in the Hartford region. He chose Greater Hartford Academy of Math and Science -- a school not only with significantly higher achievement rates than nearby schools but also one of a handful of schools in the state with a longer school day than the required state minimum...

Hartford Business Journal - Panel urges CT keep oversight of tech-ed system (January 10, 2012) -Connecticut would be better off with continued state oversight of 30 technical high schools in order to upgrade future workers' skills and not burden local school systems with more than $160 million in operating overhead, a blue-ribbon panel says....

CT Mirror -  Malloy: More money needed for education (January 5, 2012) - Gov. Dannel P. Malloy may have given an energizing pep talk on education reform to a roomful of education advocates and leaders Thursday, but it was the comments he made to reporters afterward that will likely receive the largest cheers from those who have long said the state is shortchanging education...

Manchester Patch - Legislation Would Give Vo-Tech Students Advantage in Job Market (January 6, 2012) - U.S. Rep. Joe Courtney, 2nd District, introduces his Public Private Vocational Partnership Act, which would offer tax credits to businesses that offer internships or donate equipment to the state's vocational education system...

Inside Higher Ed - Contingent Confessions (January 12, 2012) - Perhaps because of my own experiences as a nontraditional student and then an academic librarian, I have never really thought about why tenure-track jobs were so difficult to land. For years, I did not much consider them. Working contract positions and long-term nontenured positions seemed natural, although I saw others with eerily similar qualifications reaping rewards that I did not imagine; I assumed I simply did not have enough experience, the right education, etc. to merit a tenure-track position...

Inside Higher Ed - Growing Into the Role (January 11, 2012) - If you had to apply for the job you have now, under current criteria, would you be qualified? Would you have been qualified for each job along the way? These questions hit me earlier this week as I was reviewing job descriptions for some positions we hope to post soon...

Inside Higher Ed - What If Colleges Ran Attack Ads? (January 11, 2012) - The rise of Super PACs and the glorious display of democracy that is the Republican primary season got me thinking about attack ads in other contexts. What if colleges ran attack ads? Western State says it has a "tradition of excellence," but is this excellent? (shot of cafeteria food) Or this? (shot of long line at advising center) Call Western State, and tell it what a craphole it is...

New York Times - Rick Santorum's Anti-College Rant (January 10, 2012) - Hey, I get it: Republicans have to reject and condemn virtually everything President Obama proposes, no matter how noble, to satisfy their base. This is our political predicament. Rick Santorum, however, has followed that logic out the window. In New Hampshire last week Santorum accused President Obama of "elitist snobbery" and "hubris" for suggesting that "under my administration, every child should go to college...

CT Mirror - Malloy: 'fantastically ridiculous' for education chief to recuse himself on charter schools (January 10, 2012) - Gov. Dannel P. Malloy gave his blessing Tuesday for his education commissioner to make decisions on Achievement First, despite Stefan Pryor's long history of being involved in the state's largest network of charter schools...

Los Angeles Times - Community college makeover (January 8, 2012) - Until a few years ago, just about any Californian could attend a community college, and many did. The colleges offered a wide variety of options: They conferred two-year associate's degrees; prepared students for junior-year transfer to a four-year college; provided vocational training and certification...But at this point, open access to higher education in California is more theoretical than real...