150 Educators Attend College Readiness Conference   

Anne Doyle (BSU), Peter Johnston (MCC), and Alex Cotter (MCC) discuss what college readiness means to college faculty

On Friday, October 25, in Taunton, the CONNECT Partnership and the Southeastern Massachusetts
Readiness Center (SEMARC) hosted a conference titled, "Higher Ed, PARCC, Model Units: A Candid
Conversation about College Readiness." Over 150 secondary and post-secondary education leaders shared thoughts on aligning educational expectations between high school and college, and heard how evolving state standards will affect what public school students learn and how they are assessed.

Said Kathleen Kirby, Ph.D., Executive Director of  CONNECT, noted the disconnect between high school and college curriculum and expectations. The day's discussion was designed to make the transition from high school to college "less of a chasm, and more of a bridge," stated Dr. Kirby.

A full house learns about PARCC.

Businesses seeking to "connect" with our region's student talent can find interns through CONNECTLink, a one-stop portal where companies can enter their profiles and position listings to  automatically feed to all five CONNECT schools: Bridgewater State University, Bristol, Cape Cod, and Massasoit Community Colleges, and University of Massachusetts Dartmouth.

If CONNECTLink is WHERE you post internship listings, WHEN should you advertise available positions? While timelines can vary depending on the type of internship and the policies of each school, here are some general guidelines: 

Fall Semester (September - December):  Post in April and May (before summer vacation), and again in August.  

Winter Break (December - Early February): September

Spring Semester (January - May): Start recruiting in mid-October, so that interviews and decisions are complete before the holiday season and winter break. 

Summer Internships (May - August): begin recruiting in mid-February into March/April. 

It's important to remember that colleges follow an academic calendar. If students are doing an internship for academic credit, they need to get the position in place before the semester begins (around September 1, January 15, and June 1), and will expect to work the months covering that semester.

Undergraduate Symposium on Sustainability and the Environment: Submit Abstracts and Register Now

December 7, 2013, 9AM - 3PM

Bridgewater State University, Bridgewater

Join an expected 120 students, faculty, and guests at a cross-disciplinary  forum for sharing student research and discussing environmental health. Individuals or teams of students can give poster presentations on proposed, in-progress, or completed work. Abstracts are due November 27th.

The keynote speaker will be Dr. Peter Saundry, Executive Director of the National Council for Science and the Environment. The $15 per person registration fee will be waived for all attendees from CONNECT institutions (Bristol, Massasoit, and Cape Cod Community Colleges, Bridgewater State, and UMass Dartmouth). High school teams are also welcome to attend and learn more about the programs at the region's colleges. To register, click here. For more information, contact Ed Brush at: ebrush@bridgew.edu.