Journal Inquirer - Holiday on Main Continues in Manchester (December 11, 2012) - The holiday season kicked off Thursday evening with the Downtown Manchester Christmas Tree Lighting on the lawn of the St James Church... the Manchester Community College Ice Sculpting Team shows off its ice sculpting skills in a demonstration in Center Memorial Park...

Journal Inquirer - MCC on Main Bringing More Business Downtown (December 3, 2012) - Several months after opening its doors, Manchester Community College's new arts and education center has increased foot traffic along Main Street, officials and downtown district leaders say...

Chronicle of Higher Ed - In Wisconsin, Approval of For-Profit Colleges May Depend on Student Outcomes (December 13, 2012) - The state agency in Wisconsin that oversees for-profit colleges is considering a proposal that would require those institutions to meet certain performance standards-much like a controversial federal rule-in order to be allowed to operate in the state...

Inside Higher Ed - Grading Personal Responsibility (December 13, 2012) - Grades earned by many students at Asheville-Buncombe Technical Community College will soon factor in "soft skills," such as whether they show up for class on time or work well in groups...

Inside Higher Ed - Crash Course for Remediation (December 13, 2012) - Complete College America on Wednesday reiterated its urgent call for reforming remedial education, arguing that incremental fixes won't be enough...

Inside Higher Ed - Rejecting Tenure and Paying for It? (December 12, 2012) - Tenure disputes are hardly rare. What makes James C. Wetherbe's case unique is that he's not fighting for tenure, but against it...

Chronicle of Higher Ed - Civic Group Challenges Shared Governance at Calif. Community Colleges (December 12, 2012) - The Board of Governors of the California Community Colleges should amend regulations that permit faculty senates to exercise excessive power in decision making at the state's community colleges, argues a legal challenge submitted to the board on Wednesday by the nonprofit group California Competes...

Inside Higher Ed - The Missing Students (December 11, 2012) - The nation's most elite colleges and universities have in recent years added numerous programs to help students from low-income backgrounds enroll. And at many such institutions, low-income students would not need to pay anything, or would have to make only very small contributions to the annual tab...

Community College Times - Students Continue to Struggle After Sandy (December 10, 2012) - Thomas Kosenski grew up in the borough of Lavallette, N.J. To him, it was "paradise." The island had weathered bad storms, including last year's Hurricane Irene. Kosenski wasn't too worried about Hurricane Sandy...

New England Journal of Higher Ed - To Close the Skills Gap, Re-Value the Associate Degree (December 10, 2012) - A number of economists, policymakers, elected officials and employers cite a "skills gap" as the reason the nation is not putting more people back to work. The problem, they reason, is that too many people have the wrong skills for today's jobs, and colleges and universities are not doing enough to prepare people with the right skills...

Community College Times - LINCS Offers Free Online Professional Development (December 6, 2012) - Adult education practitioners can link up virtually using the Literacy Information and Communication System (LINCS). The website, recently launched by the U.S. Department of Education, gives adult educators access to resources and web-based professional development opportunities...

Community College Times - Grants Help Veterans Misled By For-Profit Colleges (December 12, 2012 ) - A new grant program is providing some assistance to veterans who have been burned by false promises from some for-profit colleges...

Journal Inquirer - Library Celebration (December 2, 2012) - Marie Mcleod, an alumna of the Manchester Community College Culinary Department, puts the finishing touches on her reindeer ice sculpture Saturday at the Mary Cheney Library in Manchester...

Journal Inquirer - Rivera Lifts MCC to First Win (November 28, 2012) -Former Manchester High standout Arianna Rivera had 20 points, nine assists, nine steals and nine rebounds as the Manchester Community College women's basketball team beat visiting Springfield Tech...

Hartford Courant - State Releases New Performance Index For Every School (December 10, 2012) - A new performance index offers parents a quick and easy snapshot to appraise their public schools, but it has also prompted criticism from some who say the complexities of student success have been reduced to a single number...

CT Mirror - Malloy Pitches More Spending Cuts, Some Revenue to Shrink Deficit (December 7, 2012) - Hours after inviting Republicans to help devise a bipartisan deficit-mitigation plan, Gov. Dannel P. Malloy offered a "road map" Friday to shave another $243 million off this year's state budget deficit, again relying most heavily on cuts to social services...

Inside Higher Ed - When Laws Crash Into Each Other (December 12, 2012) - Legislators are masters of compartmentalizing. This law addresses this, and that law addresses that. And much of the time, it's possible to construct a reasonable argument for a particular decision, taken in complete isolation...

Inside Higher Ed - In Praise of Niches (December 11, 2012) - This blog doesn't address car repair, the Twilight series, Hungarian food, or speculation about the next Secretary of State. Its set of topics is relatively defined, as regular readers know. That's not because I adjudge those other topics unworthy or uninteresting; if any of them strike your fancy, there's no shortage of other places to read about them...

CT Mirror - What Connecticut's Private College Presidents Were Paid (December 10, 2012) - Several presidents at Connecticut's private colleges were paid much more than their couterparts at similiar universities, the Chronicle of Higher Education reports in its annual compensation analysis...

Chronicle of Higher Ed - Become Need-Blind? For Colleges, That's the Wrong Question (December 10, 2012) - Among the most critical issues facing college leaders today are affordability, the nation's growing income gap, and the need for a diverse student population...