The 22-year-old Whitaker Foundation, the largest private supporter of biomedical engineering, will close in 2006 to avoid becoming a bureaucracy in search of a reason for being. The foundation, with assets of about $442 million, will increase payouts until 1999, then decrease them as it spends its way out of existence. About 95% of grants go to…

DeVry Inc., one of the nation's largest for-profit postsecondary education systems, has been aggressive and successful, expanding to 13 technical institutes in the United States and Canada. The company specializes in providing high-school graduates seeking technical jobs and older workers needing additional training with no-frills, skills-based…

Efforts to reform teacher education are widespread, but each has different priorities. Common threads include extending teacher training programs to five years, forging closer relations with public schools, emphasizing technology, and placing prospective teachers in the schools more frequently. However, faculty resistance and tight budgets inhibit…