If you work at a community college that teaches cybersecurity, it pays to be located in the backyard of a spy agency. Just don't ask Kelly A. Koermer, administrator of the Anne Arundel Community College, what's inside those dark towers at Fort Meade. She points out other highlights of the restricted region: an employees-only exit off the highway,…

As the federal government prepares to pour billions of stimulus dollars into increased broadband Internet access, colleges are trying to claim much of the money and shape the emerging national networking policy. Their focus is $4.7-billion that will be doled out under a new grant program administered by a small Commerce Department agency called…

This article describes Hanover College's Early Alert Team, an early-alert program that seeks to identify students' academic, social, or personal troubles as soon as they surface. The team's five members gather information about students from all corners of the campus and then devise strategies to help them. The early-alert system has not only…

Collision of a comet with Jupiter beginning July 16, 1994 will be observed by astronomers worldwide, with computerized information relayed to a center at the University of Maryland, financed by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration and National Science Foundation. Geologists and paleontologists also hope to learn more about earth's…

Describes technological advances at North Dakota State University under the direction of Bonnie M. Neas, formerly the director of information-technology services and currently the head of Internet research. Campus networks were in their infancy when she began her programs, but now the university is part of a consortium building a high-speed…

Computing authorities at 34 research universities have launched an effort to create a national computer network for higher education several times as fast as the Internet. The network would be supported by several corporate partners in computer and telecommunications industries and by the federal government, would not replace Internet connections,…

The most important results of computer networking experiments on campus may be increased use of technology, but the projects did not always take the directions anticipated. The projects also highlighted problems in social and educational systems that must be solved before computing can be comfortably integrated into higher education. (MSE)

Since 1985, the University of Missouri at Columbia's School of Journalism has been developing a high-technology environment for student work, including word processing, electronic imaging, networked personal computers, and telecommunications. Some faculty worry that the emphasis on technology may overshadow the concepts, principles, and substance…

An Education Department plan to restructure ERIC, the government's network of education-research clearinghouses, has members of Congress concerned and they have asked that the plan not be put into effect until they can study it further. The department's plan follows a year-long review of ERIC. (MLW)

A Vanderbilt University (Tennessee) junior has organized 500 young people into a group, Peacefire, that opposes public schools' and libraries' use of software to block access to some sexually explicit portions of the Internet. He feels the software is too restrictive, also blocking access to important sources of information about women's issues,…

The combination of the nascent National Education and Research Network and new imaging technology that could turn data into books in minutes would irreversibly change scholarly publishing. The Coalition for Networked Information is working to remove scholarly publishing from the commercial publishing industry. (MSE)

Case Western Reserve University (Ohio) is hoping a high-powered campus information system will help diversify its student body and provide innovative education. A new optical-fiber network will connect computers in dormitory rooms, faculty and staff offices, classrooms, libraries, and laboratories and be linked with local, national, and…

The Network of Colleges and Universities Committed to the Elimination of Drug and Alcohol Abuse, a national higher-education group for exchanging information about substance abuse programs has issued a set of 22 standards for college policy formation and enforcement. Institutions will be invited to join the network. (MSE)

Internet II, a higher-speed information network under development, is supported by almost 100 colleges and universities. It would let researchers develop advanced tools, but would be costly for institutions. A similar but more limited project, the Very High Speed Backbone Network Service (VBNS), has also garnered college support. Technical,…

College alumni associations are providing graduates with such electronic services as bulletin boards, computer mailing lists, online alumni magazines and newsletters, alumni forums on commercial networks, and electronic mail addresses. Other anticipated uses of the technology include fund raising, classes offered on networks, electronic bookstore…