One year associate degree

Although this article from the Chronicle of Higher Education talks about an accelerated traditional format, with the number of dual enrollment community courses that high school students take now, I'd be surprised if a great many students don't already spend only one year actually on the community college campus.

Experiment at Ivy Tech: a One-Year Associate Degree

ABD hell

College Inc. - Nearly half of doctorates never completed

ACHE website wins award

The ACHE website recently won a Hermes award at the Gold level for "Electronic Media: Web site Overall."  The website was designed and developed by Bonny Million. Visit the site here.

Continuing education job openings

Even in tough times, colleges and universities are still hiring. Here are some continuing education jobs from the Chronicle of Higher Education and HigherEd.Jobs.

Winston-Salem State University:  Associate Provost for Lifelong Learning

Mount Aloysius College:  Associate Dean, Director of Graduate & Continuing Education

Harvard University:  Program Assistant

Bloomfield College:  Assistant Vice President of the Institute for Technology and Professional Studies

Craven Community College:  Director OE Workforce Development and Military Programs

Lesley University:  Director of the Lesley Center for the Adult Learner

Duquesne University:  Academic Program Manager - HEJ# - 66

Wor-Wic Community College:  Director of Continuing Education and Workforce Development

Santa Barbara City College:  Dean - Continuing Education

God help me I do love Top 10 lists

10 tragic moments in food names

From the CSU

Continuing Education Blog.

Top 8 Reasons to Keep Learning (David Letterman style)! »

Call for proposals

Adult Higher Education Alliance

30th Annual Conference

The Future of Adult Higher Education: Principles, Contexts and Practices

October 5-8, 2010

Saratoga Springs, New York

The 2010 Conference Committee is seeking Proposals for conference sessions. Download the Call for Proposals Form, complete and email to ahea@hotmail.com

Deadline for submission of proposals is May 28, 2010.

Community colleges sign

A call to action.  They pledge to boost completion rates from 40% to 50%.   Quite a task.  Of course, it depends on what the meaning of the word completion is. Is it graduating from the community college?  What about students who transfer to a university and then graduate without completing that community college degree? How are they counted?  From the WSJ.com:

Community College Officials Pledge to Boost Graduation Rates

The pledge, signed at the annual meeting of the American Association of Community Colleges in Seattle, was followed by an announcement there that the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation would pump as much as $110 million into replacing lackluster remedial-education programs at community colleges, long a barrier to graduation.

Community-college students "are key to the competitiveness of the U.S.," Ms. Gates said in an interview. "Over the last decade we've realized it wasn't enough to graduate these kids from high schools."

Long considered the backwater of higher education, community colleges have found themselves at the vanguard of training the U.S. work force as laid-off employees clamor for new opportunities and skyrocketing university tuition rates push more students into the two-year institutions. President Barack Obama and business leaders have called for a major overhaul of community colleges.

Some tips on emall marketing

From Ray Ulmer at TargetX.  You don't have much time to make a first impression and hook the reader.  Between 5 and ...

You’ve got 8 seconds. Maybe.

We have met the enemy

And the enemy is PowerPoint.

Enemy Lurks in Briefings on Afghan War - PowerPoint

What? I'm sorry

Could you repeat that?

Have we forgotten how to concentrate?

Foursquare was mentioned

At our recent 2010 Spring Articulation Coalition Conference.  I confess to not knowing much about it.

Foursquare: What Does It Really Mean To Your University?

God help me I do love Top 10 lists

And cartoons.

Top 10 Controversial Cartoons

Late afternoon

Hail storm.  Lousy Smarch weather

They tried to make me go to rehab

Students are asked to abstain from using social media.  I read about it on Facebook. There was no rehab involved...

Campus Overload - Fighting a social media addiction

And next door in Virginia

Students are also looking at a double-digit tuition increase.

Va. tuition up nearly 10 percent

And higher education is getting even more expensive in Tennessee

TN college tuition may increase by double digits

Tennessee Board of Regents starts discussion of tuition increases

Why does it take so long

To finish a college degree?  John Bound, Michael F. Lovenheim, and Sarah Turner, writing in the National Bureau of Economic Research, argue that it's all about the Benjamins--the ever-increasing costs to attend colleges and universities.  Here's the abstract; the entire article can be purchased for $5.

Increasing Time to Baccalaureate Degree in the United States

Time to completion of the baccalaureate degree has increased markedly in the United States over the last three decades, even as the wage premium for college graduates has continued to rise. Using data from the National Longitudinal Survey of the High School Class of 1972 and the National Educational Longitudinal Study of 1988, we show that the increase in time to degree is localized among those who begin their postsecondary education at public colleges outside the most selective universities. In addition, we find evidence that the increases in time to degree were more marked amongst low income students. We consider several potential explanations for these trends. First, we find no evidence that changes in the college preparedness or the demographic composition of degree recipients can account for the observed increases. Instead, our results suggest that declines in collegiate resources in the less-selective public sector increased time to degree. Furthermore, we present evidence of increased hours of employment among students, which is consistent with students working more to meet rising college costs and likely increases time to degree by crowding out time spent on academic pursuits.

Developing iPhone apps

With Stanford's online help from iTunes.

COMPUTER SCIENCE 193P: IPHONE APPLICATION PROGRAMMING

More on the 3-year

degree.

College in three years? Why some students are hopping on the fast track

The debt load for students

Enrolled in for-profits is huge.

Study: Half of for-profit students borrow $30k

Transfer student blues

This is why legislatures step in.  Kevin Carey, writing in The Chronicle of Higher Education.

Despite Years of Credits, Still No Degree - Commentary - The Chronicle of Higher Education

Sharon didn't expect to be at Kent State long—she had three semesters at Cedarville under her belt, plus the degree from Akron. That seemed awfully close to four years. 

But the process of transferring those credits to Kent State quickly turned into a maze. In theory there were advisers to help. But Sharon had a full-time job, and the advising office was open only during the day. She tried to go on her lunch hour, but they were closed for lunch. She sent e-mail messages and left voice mails but most were never returned.

So she took to analyzing her transcript on her own. It didn't make much sense. Some courses had been accepted for transfer, but many had not. She had taken several classes at Cedarville, a Baptist university, with the word "Christian" or "Bible" in the course name. None of those were accepted. Neither were the vast majority of credits from Akron. In total, she had earned 70 college credits—over two years' worth—that had disappeared as if they had never been.

As Sharon stared at the spreadsheet, her eyes fell on three courses she had taken at Akron that Kent State had classified as 300-level, or upper-division. Kent State required graduates to earn at least 42 upper-division credits. But it wasn't counting those three Akron courses toward her total. The problem, it seems, was that Akron had given them a 200-level designation. Sharon asked why Kent State's designation wasn't good enough for Kent State, and was shuffled from office to office until she eventually found herself sitting nervously across a desk from a dean.

On the interwebs

For reasons I can't explain, I love this site.  There may be similar sites, but I just haven't met them yet.

Michael Bublé Being Stalked By A Velociraptor

How many puns on poop

Can fit on the front page of The Chronicle of Higher Education?  The media has fun with the Chair of ETSU's Department of Geosciences.

Paleontology's No. 2 Expert

In a moment of weakness

Our local chapter of Alpha Sigma Lambda asked me to speak at its initiation ceremony tonight.  Here's a sneak peak:

Alpha Sigma Lambda Initiation Ceremony Speech
April 23, 2010

Good evening, students, families, faculty, staff, and guests. I want to welcome all of you to the Alpha Sigma Lambda National Honor Society Initiation Ceremony.

I will be taking up the next few minutes of your life by speaking about Alpha Sigma Lambda, my connection with it, and why I think so highly of it.

And I’ll only take a few minutes. I remember what Franklin D. Roosevelt said on speech making: “Be sincere; be brief; be seated.”

Or Lord Reading who advised “Always be shorter than anybody dared to hope.”

And after all, tonight is about your success, not about me.

Although I never had the opportunity to join ASL as a student, I have found my career in adult and continuing education intertwined with the organization. Alpha Sigma Lambda was founded in 1946 by Dr. Rollin B. Posey, Dean of University College at Northwestern University. In 1948, Dean Posey became President of The Association of University Evening Colleges which, in 1973, was renamed the Association for Continuing Higher Education or ACHE. Stay with me here.

Last year, I served as President of ACHE, so we’ve held the same office, Rollin and I. In addition, Alpha Sigma Lambda partners with ACHE, participating in each of our ACHE Annual Conference and Meetings, and I have worked with several of the ASL leadership.

Because of this professional relationship, I feel a kinship to Alpha Sigma Lambda.

But this kinship goes beyond sharing a national office with the ASL founder.

It’s also a kinship with adult and nontraditional students. After all, Alpha Sigma Lambda is all about these students, and that is what makes it special. Tonight we celebrate you and your accomplishments as you are initiated into this prestigious national honor society.

In order to get to this point, you must have established a successful track record at ETSU which includes a minimum 30 semester hours and a GPA of at least 3.2 on a 4.0 scale. You pledge to participate in two or more service projects and one general membership meeting per semester to remain in good standing.

And you have done all this, and have pledged to do more in the future, all while overcoming the many obstacles that adult and nontraditional students face. To paraphrase Three 6 Mafia—It’s hard out here for a nontraditional student.

After all, you don’t have enough time. School has to compete with other things in your schedule. Money is tight. Textbooks are expensive. Many of you have families. Many of you have jobs. And many of you have both. Some of you are retraining for a new career. Some of you are completing a degree you started earlier. All of you are seeking to make a better life through higher education.

By being invited to join Alpha Sigma Lambda, you have excelled in this difficult path you have chosen to follow. And you are to be commended for it. I can’t tell you how much I admire you for it. I am always inspired by the success of adult and nontraditional students, and I am always moved by your stories. You are the reason I went into higher education—to do what I could to change colleges and universities so that they serve you better.

Congratulations. I wish you nothing but continued success, both at ETSU and in the rest of your life. Thank you for allowing me to share in this event.

Have to brag on my son

A little bit.  He gave a lecture at ETSU last night.

ETSU alumnus to give talk on ‘Racial Politics in Post-Civil War East Tennessee’


JOHNSON CITY – Kyle Osborn will give a talk on “Racial Politics in Post-Civil War East Tennessee” on Thursday, April 22, at 5 p.m. in 118 Rogers-Stout Hall at East Tennessee State University.

Osborn, a graduate of Science Hill High School, earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees in history and education at ETSU and is now a doctoral student in history at the University of Georgia. He is returning to his hometown and alma mater to share some of his research about East Tennessee during the Civil War era. His talk is based on an essay that is being published in an anthology edited by Dr. Andrew Slap, ETSU associate professor of history.

Osborn will focus on the career of William “Parson” Brownlow as he shows how the changing political dynamics in East Tennessee forced whites to alter their language about race in the years after the Civil War. Much of Brownlow’s success as a politician, minister and newspaperman derived from his humble origins in southern Appalachia and his experiences communicating with the people of the region.

Continuing education job openings

Even in tough times, colleges and universities are still hiring. Here are some continuing education jobs from the Chronicle of Higher Education and  HigherEdJobs.com.

Mount Aloysius College:  Program Coordinator Office of Graduate & Continuing Education

Collin County Community College:  Director, Weekend College

Del Mar College:  Assistant Dean of Continuing Education

Dallas County Community College District:  Coordinator, Continuing Education & Workforce Development

Lincoln Memorial University:  Director, Bachelor of Applied Sciences in Interdisciplinary Studies (BASIS)

University of North Carolina at Charlotte:  Senior Program Manager, Credit Programs

Brookdale Community College:  Director, Wall Higher Education Center

Tennessee adult students leaving public institutions

For for-profit colleges?  The Chattanooga Times Free Press reports they do.  We can only wonder how well they are served.

For-Profit Colleges Lure Adults

Tennessee Higher Education Commission officials say they would be more concerned with the share of students fleeing their schools to for-profit counterparts if the state's technology centers, community colleges and universities weren't already being stretched to meet growing demand with fewer resources.

"We just don't have the capacity," said Rich Rhoda, executive director for the THEC. "These students are being served by for-profit institutions. If they are getting the training they are seeking and are being employed, then there is absolutely nothing wrong with that."

In the last decade, adult enrollment has plummeted at many public colleges statewide, but particularly in Chattanooga, according to data compiled by THEC.

UTC adult enrollment has shrunk 40.3 percent since 1999 to total 1,008 students in the fall term of 2009. The share of adult students at Chattanooga State Community College decreased 11.9 percent, and at Cleveland State Community College the number is down 21.2 percent.

LERN's Marketing Institute

Advanced training for CEOs, decision makers and marketing professionals in lifelong learning

Part of LERN’s Summer Institutes
June 7-10, 2010
Baltimore
Topics covered in this institute include:

• Target marketing
• Customer share marketing
• How to take the guesswork out of marketing by using four simple formulae
• How to identify your best participants and market and program to them
• How to know exactly how many brochures to mail to get the results you want
• Powering up your brochure copy for best results
• How to price courses, seminars and conferences
• How to make your web site a marketing plus
• The latest on e-mail marketing and effective integration with other marketing efforts
• How to beat your competition by developing and maintaining a niche focus

For more information click here

E-TACHE Regional Conference coming up

Using Emotional Intelligence in Times of Transformation
May 7, 2010
UT Conference Center Building
600 Henley Street, 4th. Floor
Knoxville, TN


Agenda

9:00-9:30 Registration & Coffee

9:30-9:45 Welcome and Introductions

Ann Boyd, ETACHE Senior Regional Director
Dr. George Hoemann, Assistant Dean, DEIS
Dr. Fadia Alvic, TACHE President

9:45-11:00 Using Emotional Intelligence in Times of Transformation

Speaker: Christopher Coyne
Presenter: Carla Arbogast

11:00-1:00 Lunch and Trolley Ride to Baker Center

1:00-2:00 Baker Center Tour

Speaker: Nissa Dahlin-Brown
Presenter: Ann Boyd

2:00 – 2:45 Team Building Group Activity

2:45 – 3:00 Break

3:00 – 3:30 Future of Tennessee State Funding

Speaker: Harry Brooks
Presenter: Teri Brahams

3:30 – 4:00 Wrap-Up/Evaluations/Door prizes

The Sloan Consortium's new report

On the state of online learning is available.
Learning on Demand: Online Education in the United States, 2009

Academic freedom

protects him, but I suspect his site will be down before long.  What was he thinking?
Prof's Sex Site Sparks Debate

2010 Spring Articulation Coalition Conference

Transfer Students and e-Learning Trends

April 23, 2010

9.30 – 2.30

Carnegie Hotel

Taylor Salon, Lower Level

Johnson City, TN

 

Schedule of Events

9:30 – 10:00am         Registration  

             

10:00 - 10:30am       Introductions

10:30 – 11:30am      Barry Adams, Apple

11:45 – 12:30pm      Karen King, ETSU eLearning

12:30 – 12:45pm      Lunch Break

1:00 – 2:30pm          Round Table Discussions

2:30pm                    Wrap up/Evaluation

2:30 – 3:30pm         Tours

Offered by the Office of Transfer Articulation and the School of Continuing Studies and Academic Outreach.  Office of Transfer Articulation

Tim Copeland's white paper

for DemandEngine forecasts 10 enrollment marketing predictions for 2010.

Ten Enrollment Marketing Predictions for 2010 
The ten are as follows:

1. Reduced Budgets Shine the Light on Marketing Inefficiencies
2. Lazy Marketing Communications are Out … Students Expect More
3. Higher Education CRM Will Begin to Take Hold
4. Yet, Many CRM Initiatives Will Fail
5. Institutions Will Move to Manage Enrollment Holistically
6. Professional and Continuing Education Will Discover the Benefits of Price Discrimination
7. Social SPAM Will Emerge …
8. … And The Bloom Will Come off the Social Rose
9. Email and Search Engine Marketing will Finally Become Foundational Channels
10. The Enrollment Funnel Still Matters

Change is coming

TN colleges phase in graduation reforms

Grade inflation higher

At independent colleges and universities?

Want a Higher G.P.A.? Go to a Private College - Economix Blog - NYTimes.com

Put down

The crossword puzzle.  It only makes you better at solving crossword puzzles, not at other cognative functions.
Study: Brain Games Don't Boost Overall Mental Function - TIME

Distance Ed to the rescue

The Baton Rouge Business Report addresses the problems facing higher education in Louisiana.  One solution--distance education.  Other ideas include clarifying missions and expanding research.

How to Save Higher Education

Expand distance learning 

Online degree programs should emerge as common practice for colleges and universities in Louisiana for several reasons. They trim cost per student by about two-thirds. Convenience to students can help improve graduate rates, a historic challenge for all of the state’s colleges and universities. Online classes are also tremendous opportunities for institutional cost-sharing, since students from several universities can potentially enroll in an online class administered by a single school.

“We’re very aggressively pursuing online degrees and distance education,” Martin says. “There is a market of nontraditional students that we can tap.”

Meanwhile, the UL System is preparing to offer a network of online options throughout its eight schools. Northwestern State University in Natchitoches, Moffett says, has been a longtime leader in the area, having invested in infrastructure more than a decade ago. Moffett says classes will soon be open to all students within the UL system, regardless of their home school.

Despite the program’s long-range cost savings, it will require an initial capital investment for some schools, and upkeep for others.

“The challenge for schools will be to maintain the training, professional development and equipment needs required to do this right,” Moffett says.

Meetings are down

A recent USA Today piece talks about the decline in business meetings and its impact on hotels.  While we are concerned with shrinking numbers at continuing education conferences, we might be in a position to negotiate better rates at better hotels.

Meeting Planners Cut Back on Conventions in Pricey Hotels

And Hilton responds.  (Not Paris, by the way.)

Why Face-to-Face Business Meetings Matter

Today is

Administrative Professional's Day. 

National Professional Secretaries Week and National Secretary's Day was created in 1952 through the work of Harry F. Klemfuss of Young and Rubicam. Klemfuss recognized the importance and value of the position to a company or business. His goal was to encourage more women to become secretaries. Using his skill and experience in public relations, Klemfuss, promoted the values and importance of the job of secretaries. In doing so, he also created the holiday in recognition of the importance of secretaries.

Today, the title is changing and evolving. But, the recognition is equally important. There are two new terms in use today. They are "Administrative Professionals" and "Executive Admins". The two names sometimes mean different roles and responsibilities to different companies. Both are broader terms, that encompass more positions than the original "Secretary" role.
*
The name change recognizes and acknowledges that the role has changed significantly since 1952, and for the better at that. And in Harry Klemfuss' day, these postions were the realm of women. Today, you find some males in these positions.

I may have mentioned something about

Loving my iPhone. It turns out, dyslexics may share the love, as well.
iPhones Aren’t Just for Fun

From the lobby of the Hotel Albuquerque, site of this fall's ACHE Annual Conference & Meeting.

On the road

To the ACHE Midyear Board of Directors meeting.  My last.  It's being held at the sight of the ACHE 2010 Annual Conference and Meeting in Albuquerque. My postings will be sporadic.

Hers Institute

2010-2011 HERS Institute at Wellesley College

This year's HERS Wellesley Institute features a special focus on Women Leaders Leveraging Responses for Institutional Renewal. Women faculty and administrators will return to campus ready to lead efforts to make our institutions better today and stronger tomorrow.

HERS Wellesley consists of four three day sessions accross the academic year: October 7-9, November 11-13, 2010 and February 3-5, March 10-12, 2011.

The fee of $4400 covers tuition, materials, and meals. A Wellesley Institute hotel rate is available for $135/night plus tax (rates may vary). The application deadline is: May 1, 2010.

Click here for a PDF of the HERS Wellesley Institute announcement.

ACHE West

Regional Conference.
Looking to a New Decade: Leveraging Resources/Identifying Markets


April 29 and 30, 2010
BYU Salt Lake City Center

For more information or to register

ACHE Northeast Metro Spring Conference Webinar

Understanding the Green Economy: What Are "Green Collar Jobs?"

May 6, 2010

What are “green collar jobs?' Which jobs are truly “green” and which are not? What training and educational programs are relevant for “green” industries?"

Every week, articles and workforce reports on ‘green’ industries find their way into our e-mail inboxes each using a different approach, method, or definition for green collar jobs. This session will highlight how the 10 regional Centers of Excellence (an initiative of the Economic and Workforce Development program of the California Community Colleges), partnered with industry and governmental agencies to define the ‘green’ workforce needs for California.. This session will showcase the findings from recent environmental scans in Wind Energy and Energy Efficiency. The information has already proven to be extremely valuable to colleges in curriculum and program planning, securing grants and connecting with employers.

After registering you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the Webinar.

System Requirements
PC-based attendees
Required: Windows® 7, Vista, XP, 2003 Server or 2000

Macintosh®-based attendees
Required: Mac OS® X 10.4.11 (Tiger®) or newer

Space is limited.  Register now.

Visiting the Kennedy Space Center

New ACHE South banner.

It should read

Wise guy. I'm on the agenda today at the ACHE South Conference.

Wednesday, April 14, 2010

Day Chair- Sharon Woodward

7:30 to 8:30 a.m. Continental Breakfast

8 to 8:30 a.m. Sponsor Presentations and Door Prizes

8:30 to 9:20 a.m. Concurrent Sessions IV

9:30 to 10:30 a.m. Keynote

A Blast From the Past: Three Wise Men

Phil Greasley, Bob Leiter, & Rick Osborn: Three leaders with

long-standing ties to ACHE and ACHE South will share their

knowledge, insights and experiences

10:30 to 11 a.m. Closing Remarks/Door Prizes/Evaluation w/ Gift

11 a.m. to Noon Hotel Check-Out

ACHE New England

One Day Conference
What’s the Number? Recruiting and Retention Today.
Friday, April 16, 2010

Roger Williams University
Baypoint Inn and Conference Center
Portsmouth, Rhode Island

Register here.

Astronaut & Dean at F.I.T. Capt. Winston E. Scott opens the ACHE South Conference.

Closing a branch campus

Stony Brook University to End Undergraduate Program - NYTimes.com

On the road

I'm off to the ACHE South Annual Conference at Cocoa Beach where I speak with a couple of other ACHE past presidents from the region.  I then attend my last ACHE Midyear Board Meeting.  My postings will be sporadic for the next ten days or so.

Finally made it to the conference hotel. This was taken from the pool.

Lunch in St. Augustine on the way to ACHE South.

Marina Restaurant, historic downtown Amelia Island.

Spending the night at Amelia Island on the way to ACHE South.

Word from the Tulsa president

Colorada says no to Facebook

“Shut. Down. EVERYTHING.”  from .eduGuru.

Wednesday we received information that was both surprising and almost unbelievable from a friend and reader of ours over in Colorado. After some digging and communication with other contacts we have confirmed with other schools and the CO State Controller that it appears that the state of Colorado has advised state agencies, including higher ed, to halt the use of Facebook indefinitely. Yes, you read that correctly.

Continuing education job openings

Even in tough times, colleges and universities are still hiring. Here are some continuing education jobs from the Chronicle of Higher Education and HigherEdJobs.

Lone Star College-System Office:  Director, Continuing Education (Multiple Positions) # 00752

Marymount University:  Executive Director of the Reston Academic Center

Ohio University Lancaster Campus:  Dean of the Campus

College of Southern Maryland:  Vice President for Corporate and Community Training (FY10-47)

Mount Aloysius College:  Associate Dean, Director of Graduate and Continuing Education

University of Wisconsin Colleges:  Director of the Center for Engagement Learning & Professional Training

Borough of Manhattan Community College:  Academic Program Specialist - Assistant Director, Evening/Weekend ASAP Program (Higher Education Assistant)

Kent State University:  Outreach Program Director - 994038

University of Illinois:  Training Specialist (Lean and Leadership Trainer/Instructor)

Central Piedmont Community College:  Associate Dean, Professional Development

Today is

Winston Churchill Day.

Winston Churchill Day celebrates the day he was made an honorary US citizen. On this day in 1963, Winston Churchill became the very first person to become an honorary citizen. He was given this honor posthumously. There have only been 6 people (two are a married couple who received it jointly) to be accorded this stature.

Lumina's Goal 2025

Lumina Foundation: Helping People Achieve Their Potential

The mission of Lumina Foundation for Education is to expand access and success in education beyond high school, particularly among adults, first-generation college going students, low-income students and students of color. This mission is directed toward a single, overarching big goal – to increase the percentage of Americans with high-quality degrees and credentials1 to 60 percent by the year 2025.

Virtual TA

Hmmm.  I wonder if I could teach a course for extra compensation, outsource the all the grading, deduct the cost of the outsourcing from my income taxes, and still clear a little beer money?  Of course, I would still have to teach...

Outsourced Grading, With Supporters and Critics, Comes to College - Teaching - The Chronicle of Higher Education
*

Virtual-TA, a service of a company called EduMetry Inc., took over. The goal of the service is to relieve professors and teaching assistants of a traditional and sometimes tiresome task—and even, the company says, to do it better than TA's can.

The graders working for EduMetry, based in a Virginia suburb of Washington, are concentrated in India, Singapore, and Malaysia, along with some in the United States and elsewhere. They do their work online and communicate with professors via e-mail. The company advertises that its graders hold advanced degrees and can quickly turn around assignments with sophisticated commentary, because they are not juggling their own course work, too.

The company argues that professors freed from grading papers can spend more time teaching and doing research.

Trophies and horses

Now that I have everyone's attention....Trophy would have been far down on my list of things that would attract the attention of men.  Trophy wives, maybe...

The secrets of selling to women (and men)

So how do you capture the attention of the guys flipping through Golf Digest and the ladies who subscribe to Travel & Leisure? Aha! For the men's ad, focus on a close-up of a trophy. For the ladies, add horses.

This might sound insanely reductive, but it's what Rolex actually did in 2009. And it worked! According to a study conducted by MRI Starch Communications, a print advertising research firm, 80 percent of young women were attracted to the ad that featured an equestrian in the Kentucky Three Day, while 86 percent of men gravitated towards the Rolex advertisement flashing the President's Cup.

Student Government Association

Election Day.  At least, I guess that's why there are inflatables on campus...

Finally, an M.A.

I can sink my teeth into. I wonder if it's online. Or in the evening. Ba-doom Pshh.
Earn Your Master's Degree In Vampire Literature

The weather is finally nice here in Tennessee

So it's time spruce up the yard and put out the wind chimes.

Help for HBCUs

Good news, but I didn't know we had six active HBCUs in Tennessee.  I thought Knoxville College had closed.

Additional aid thrills TN black colleges

Tennessee's six historically black colleges and universities will receive an estimated $34.5 million over 10 years in badly needed assistance as part of the student loan reform legislation President Barack Obama signed into law last week.

While most of the attention was paid to provisions related to health-care reform and financial aid for low-income students, the new law also sets aside $2.55 billion for historically black schools and those serving other minorities.

In Tennessee this includes Meharry Medical College, Tennessee State University and Fisk University in Nashville and Lane College in Jackson.

Tennessee's Historically Black Colleges and Universities

Fisk University

Nashville, TN 37208-3051

Enrollment: 872

Tuition: $6240/annual

Knoxville College

Knoxville, TN 37921

Enrollment: 914

Tuition: $8320/annual

Lane College

Jackson, TN 38301-4598

Enrollment: 575

Tuition: $4766/annual

Lemoyne-Owen College

Memphis, TN 38126

Enrollment: 1,132

Tuition: $4350/annual

Meharry Medical College

Nashville, TN 37208

Enrollment: 791

Tuition: $13000/annual

Tennessee State University

Nashville, TN 37209

Enrollment: 7,590
Tuition: $1778/annual

Taps for the liberal arts?

Jobs: The Economy, Killing Liberal Arts Education? - Newsweek.com

Lessons from the Postal Service

Plight.

What Online Marketers Can Learn from the Postal Service ReveNews

So here’s my point. There’s an important lesson for all of us in the year-after-painful-year deterioration of the Postal Service. It’s the same lesson Blockbuster is learning as it furiously fights to stave off bankruptcy, protecting an old retail business model while launching mobile movies in a last-ditch effort to compete with companies like Netflix and Redbox.

It’s this: You can do things as you’ve always done them, watch the world change around you, and be tossed onto the garbage heap of irrelevancy. OR you can look out into the future, embrace changing technologies, take a few risks now and then, and be a real leader – or at least keep running with the rest of the pack.

The Postal Service is the kind of sad case study we should all learn from.

Tennessee is number five

Nevada number one.

Most dangerous states in America

Title inflation

In Provost Prose, Herman Berliner discussed the labyrinthian structure of administrative titles at colleges and universities.  Assistant deans reporting to directors, oh my. Titles are cheap.
Title Wave

This top ten list

Just makes me sad. Tennessee top 10 education facts

1. Seventy-seven percent of eighth-graders are not proficient in math.

2. Seventy-five percent of eighth-graders are not proficient in reading.

3. Tennessee ranks 41st in student achievement nationally.

4. Last year, 134 Tennessee schools failed to meet No Child Left Behind minimum performance standards.

5. Nearly 28,000 students dropped out of Tennessee high schools last year.

6. 1.2 million Tennesseans over 18 do not have a high school diploma or GED.

7. Twenty-one percent of Tennesseans over 18 cannot read well enough to fill out an application, read a food label or read a simple story to a child.

8. Sixty-seven percent of Tennesseans who receive the HOPE lottery scholarship fail to keep it for four years.

9. Of every 100 Tennessee ninth-graders, only 72 will graduate from high school and only 17 will graduate from college within six years of leaving high school.

10. Thirty-one percent of Tennessee's young adults, ages 25 to 34, have a college degree.

Source: Complete College America, Tennessee SCORE

Chattanooga Times Free Press Jobs demand more education

Today is

Dyngus Day

Dyngus Day, also spelled Dingus Day, is a Polish Holiday. It is very popular in Poland, and in Polish communities in America. After the long Lenten holiday, Dyngus Day is a day of fun. And, perhaps a little romantic fun. It is always celebrated on the Monday after Easter.

There area all sort of ways for boys to meet girls. But, this one takes the cake.

Guys, on this day you get to wet the ladies down. Sprinkling or drenching with water is your goal. Chase after the ladies with squirt guns, buckets, or other containers of water. The more bold and gallant boys, may choose to use cologne. Hitting (gently, please) the ladies on the legs with switches or pussy willows is also common.

Vulvapalooza

At ETSU
April 6, 1:00-4:00
Culp Center Ballroom

A health fair of sorts with a focus on women's rights, women's health and wellness, and sexual assault prevention and awareness. Campus and community organizations will represent at booths, distribute educational materials, and raise awareness about the work being done in our community to benefit women.

Participants include ETSU Women's Studies, ETSU Women's Resource Center, Washington County Health Dept, Susan G. Komen for the Cure, Agape, NE Tenn Cancer Coalition, Feminist Majority Leadership Alliance, Domestic Violence Awareness Student Group, Feminist Awareness Student Group, OASIS, Body Image Awareness Student Group, Safe Haven Center, and Public Health Student Association.

God help me I do love Top 10 lists

Ten seriously silly award-winning achievements - Science- msnbc.com

Applications available

for ETSU’s Summer Piano Camp for middle, high school students

JOHNSON CITY – East Tennessee State University’s Summer Piano Camp for students entering grades 7-12 who have studied piano for at least two years will be held July 12-16.

A variety of classes will be offered, including introduction to jazz piano, master classes in classical and jazz piano, piano ensemble/duet, piano literature, music theory, ear training, and percussion ensemble, as well as private lessons and supervised practice sessions. Students will have the opportunity to perform in solo classical, jazz trio and ensemble recitals.

Each day, students will enjoy a one-hour, on-campus field trip to a non-musical area of interest. In past summers, campers have visited the ETSU Planetarium, Sherrod Library, Reece Museum, the WETS-FM (89.5) studio, Division of Theatre and Dance facilities, the ETSU Arboretum, and the Wayne G. Basler Center for Physical Activity.

This summer, Piano Camp participants and their families will be treated to a special jazz concert by Lenore Raphael and The Jazz Doctors on Tuesday, July 13, at 7:30 p.m. at the Carnegie Hotel in Johnson City. Raphael, the Piano Camp’s special guest clinician who will conduct master classes in jazz combo performance, is a critically acclaimed jazz pianist, composer and educator. The Jazz Doctors are led by Dr. David Champouillon, ETSU professor of trumpet and Jazz Studies and a Bach Trumpets Performing Artist.

The application deadline is May 7. A limited number of scholarships are available to qualified students, and the scholarship assistance application deadline is April 9. The Piano Camp brochure, which contains the application form, is available online at http://www.etsu.edu/cas/music/camps/pianocamp.aspx.

For more information on the Piano Camp or scholarship assistance, contact camp director Jerilyn Paolini at (423) 439-4418 or paolini@etsu.edu.

More iPad fever

Apple admits iPad is a "massive joke" - Crave at CNET UK
Pad-Dock will turn any iPhone into an iPad.

Today is

April Fool's Day.

The Top 100 April Fool's Day Hoaxes of All Time

Who Were the First April Fools? - Newsweek.com

Our 10 favorite April Fools' Day pranks

Top 10 April Fool's Pranks

Good news for Pell

And I understand Pell Grants will be available for students to use in the Summer for the first time.  This could cause a jump in summer enrollments.
Tenn. to get $608 million in expanded Pell grants » Knoxville News Sentinel

ACE | Joint Statement

on Transfer and Award of Credit
The American Council on Education (ACE), the Council on Higher Education Accreditation (CHEA), and the American Association of Collegiate Registrars and Admissions Officers (AACRAO) have jointly released an updated Joint Statement on the Transfer and Award of Credit (80KB; PDF). This statement provides a framework to revisit increasingly complex transferability issues. The intent of the statement is not to be prescriptive but to provide guidelines based on the current work and policies of our respective associations, encouraging both institutional autonomy and equity and access for all learners.

Originally created in 1978 by ACE, the former Council on Postsecondary Accreditation (COPA), and AACRAO, the revised statement addresses transferability issues that are more pertinent to our times, including:

• New language that reflects the diversity of educational providers engaged in lifelong learning. Learning increasingly occurs in venues outside traditional institutions. Today's educational providers can include training vendors; corporate universities; virtual universities; business and industry; and partnerships among traditional institutions themselves.

• The role of distance learning. Learning outcomes are emphasized as the world of pedagogy shifts from input to outcomes in its understanding of how students need to learn.

• "Balance" in the use of accreditation status when making transfer decisions. As the statement notes: "Institutions and accreditors need to assure that transfer decisions are not made solely on the source of accreditation of the sending program or institution."