From auto mechanic to HVAC technicians, many occupations require repair skills. For jobseekers with the right skills, there are many advantages to a repair career. Repair work provides millions of jobs throughout the United States. Wages are often higher than average. And in many occupations, the employment outlook is bright. Plus, most repair…

The war contributions of the Harvard Fatigue Laboratory in Cambridge, MA, were recorded in 169 Technical Reports, most of which were sent to the Office of the Quartermaster General. Earlier reports were sent to the National Research Council and the Office of Scientific Research and Development. Many of the reports from 1941 and later dealt with…

This article explores long-term trends in spending using data compiled from the "Training" magazine Annual Industry Survey from 1982 through 2008. It builds on literature that proposes spending on training is an investment that yields benefits--and that offers methods for demonstrating it. After adjusting for inflation, aggregate spending on…

This article describes a pioneering initiative of a Brazilian university to introduce sustainability in all undergraduate curricula and in its operations. The Methodist University Sustainable Program was developed in a bottom-up way and began with the introduction of sustainability as a core value in the Institutional Political-Pedagogical Plan,…

Adult education will have an important role to play in addressing the challenges facing the world in the wake of the Copenhagen climate change talks. What can providers do to make a difference--and what is already being done? In this article, the authors give their perspectives.

The exit and entry of executive leadership presents a powerful moment. In the exit of leadership, an institution must reflect on both successes and failures. With a contentious exit, as was the case of John Bowen at Nelson College, which is presented in this chapter, the organization needs to understand what precipitated the call for change and…

Every year, K-12 facilities waste millions of dollars in excess energy consumption. Those dollars may take the form of lost heat through walls, windows, doors, and roofs. Or the villain may be poorly conceived or mismanaged control systems. Those excess funds that districts are sending to the local utility companies could be invested "at home" to…

To engage students in a real-world issue (Bransford, Brown, and Cocking 2000) that affects their communities, the author designed an entire unit to investigate air pollution in their home state, Connecticut. The unit's goal is to understand how the use of resources, such as fossil fuels, might affect their quality of life. Through this unit,…

In today's knowledge economy, collaboration and competition are critical in success. New postsecondary organizations have emerged in the higher education landscape, including consortiums and inter-institutional and interdisciplinary partnerships. One new organization is the Higher Education Center (HEC) in which multiple institutions partner to…

For some 5-year-olds, delayed kindergarten enrollment may result in long-term academic benefits. Although waiting an additional year allows for further development prior to the start of formal education, the economic costs of the next best alternatives can be significant. This study examines the impact of short-term economic fluctuations on a…

We examine effects of entering the labor market during a recession on subsequent employment and earnings for Japanese and American men, using comparable household labor force surveys. We find persistent negative effects of the unemployment rate at graduation for less-educated Japanese men, in contrast to temporary effects for less-educated…

The higher education systems in Ireland and the UK have seen several decades of remarkable change, particularly with the development of mass higher education. Yet the economic recession is creating a turbulent environment for higher education systems which will pose new challenges for universities. In this article, Michael Shattock argues that…

The fiscal condition of states deteriorated dramatically over the last two years because of the depth and length of the economic downturn, and state officials do not expect this situation to improve any time soon. Previous downturns have proven that the worst budget years for a state are the two years after the national recession is declared over.…

Although some school improvement literature has suggested that schools will improve when unions are removed from the school system, unions have rarely been isolated in the research. This study involved a mixed method case study approach to explore whether support of the local teacher union affected perceptions of school climate, as measured by the…

In this article, the author features Virginia, a state of contrasts--from the suburbs of Washington, District of Columbia, in northern Virginia to the Great Dismal Swamp in the south and from the scenic mountaintops in the west to the beachside resorts along its eastern shore. Virginia became a state in 1788, the tenth state to join the Union.…