Immersive Education is a multimillion-dollar project devoted to build virtual-reality software exclusively for education within commercial and nonprofit fantasy spaces like Second Life. The project combines interactive three-dimensional graphics, Web cameras, Internet-based telephony, and other digital media. Some critics have complained that…

In the last 6 months many private and corporate foundations have urged on colleges and universities to develop proposals to address problems posed by AIDS. Other philanthropies are helping colleges form citizens' commissions that will develop plans to prevent the spread of AIDS in their communities. Some programs are discussed. (MLW)

The Javits fellowship program, designed to encourage students to enter the arts, humanities, and social sciences by offering fellowships that would allow them to attend prestigious institutions, is described. Some believe the Reagan Administration has delayed each competition because it wanted to abolish the Javits program. (MLW)

As the mission of the Minnesota Extension Service has broadened, so have its sources of financial support. Historically, extension has been a state-federal partnership, but lately, state and county governments have had to make up for some missing federal dollars. (MLW)

The Asynchronous Learning Network, an Alfred P. Sloan Foundation program aimed at providing access to higher education through technology, has made grants for distance-education projects totaling nearly $27 million in the last five years. The program supports large and small projects around the country and sponsors an online scholarly journal and…

A major lobbying and advertising effort on behalf of women's athletics of the University of Minnesota, one of the few major sports-playing institutions where the women's athletic department operates independently from the men's program, is described. (MLW)

The McKnight Foundation presented a plan to Florida state higher education officials to create a perpetual fund to help support Black students pursuing doctoral degrees. The Florida Endowment Fund concentrates on those students whose grades are good but whose test scores may not be. (MLW)

The Rhode Island Children's Crusade for Higher Education, funded by state and private sources, is an ambitious, large-scale, long-term effort to prevent dropouts, illegal drug use, and pregnancy among low-income and minority groups. Recruitment of volunteer "mentors" has been highly successful, suggesting strong public support. (MSE)