The Tennessee Technology Center system has become something of a darling among college-completion advocates. Comprising 27 locations across the state, the system boasts graduation and job-placement rates that many colleges only dream of: 75 percent and 83 percent, respectively. Such achievements are even more noteworthy given the population the…

This article describes Emory University's Excellence Through Leadership program. Started in 2006, the yearlong program is designed to help up to 20 administrators and faculty members annually improve their leadership skills, as well as create a pipeline to eventually replace senior leaders at the institution. Emory's leadership program is just one…

The new economic-stimulus law includes more than $29-billion in provisions directed at making college more affordable in the next two years. That includes $13.9-billion budgeted over 10 years for education-tax-credit changes in 2009 and 2010, $15-billion in additional Pell Grant support, and $200-million for the Federal Work-Study program. But…

Strengthened by a healthy year-end finish in 2007, private giving to colleges and universities remained strong in the 2008 fiscal year, according to a report released last week by the Council for Aid to Education. The past few months have battered hopes that this trend will continue, at least in the next couple of years. Colleges brought in an…

Throughout American education, black boys and men, on the whole, have struggled for years. They graduate from high school and attend and complete college at disproportionately low rates. The overall college performance of black men is so poor that some college officials and advocates for black students are reluctant to even talk about the problem,…

Worries about a partner's finding a job are a major reason why colleges lose faculty and professional-staff recruits. Some institutions have hired people to focus largely on nonfaculty job searches. (Finding faculty jobs for spouses or partners is a more complex negotiation with the university.) But as the economy continues to dip into uncharted…

In his 1990 book "Scholarship Reconsidered: Priorities of the Professoriate", Ernest L. Boyer, who was then president of the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, analyzed the balance between teaching and research in the scholarly endeavors of that era. His conclusion that the university rewarded research at the expense of teaching…

The use of race-sensitive criteria in admissions continues to be controversial, and critics have leveled three basic charges against it. For one, opponents say the practice constitutes reverse discrimination, lowering the chance of admission for better-qualified white students. They also contend that it creates a mismatch between the skills of…

The Vermont college has radically revamped its class structure to better prepare students for life beyond the lecture halls. The collegewide program, "Education in 3 Dimensions," centers on three main parts: life-skills workshops, an interdisciplinary core curriculum, and professional courses. Required courses make up all three…

Two years after many colleges resisted attempts by the Bush administration to impose more rigorous methods of student assessment, a leading coalition of private institutions is pressing its members to adopt an increasingly popular standardized achievement test. The push to adopt the assessment comes as the test faces new questions over its…

Teach for America has become a household name, attracting ever more recruits, donors, and cachet. Its dogged recruiters prowl college campuses around the country, and each year more students line up to apply. No one argues with Teach for America's mission: to help underprivileged students succeed. But some educators have questioned its approach. …

The University of Delaware spent years refining its residence-life education program. One week of public criticism unraveled it. Late last month, the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education, a free-speech group, accused the university of promoting specific views on race, sexuality, and morality in a series of discussions held in dormitories.…

The last time Virginia Commonwealth University had to prepare for an accreditation review, the school's officials found themselves overwhelmed with data. The university's accreditor, the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools, was asking for more information than ever before about how much students were learning: grades, test scores, written…

The Council for Advancement and Support of Education has adopted standards to guide colleges and universities in defining the purpose and length of fund-raising campaigns and in counting gifts. Debate over the standards has focused on the reporting of deferred gifts, government money, bequests, and other specific types of gifts. (MSE)

Founded in 1968, the Transitional Year Program at Brandeis University (Massachusetts) continues to offer intensive remedial math and English for students who might not be admitted to college otherwise. The tuition-free program has been highly successful in turning mediocre high school performance into college achievement. Most participants are…