Community College Week articles from February 2008

Community College Week archives from February 2008

Poor economy blamed for failure of Calif. ballot initiative.(around the nation)
February 25, 2008... Community college supporters in California were disappointed after Super Tuesday's primary election by the failure of a state ballot initiative that would have lowered student fees to $15 per unit and guaranteed a fixed percentage of the...

Partnership in Iowa to ease college transfers.
February 25, 2008... WATERLOO, Iowa (AP) -- Students at Waterloo's Hawkeye Community College will have an easier time transferring to Iowa State University under an agreement announced by the presidents of both institutions. Hawkeye students accepted into...

New names in store for N.H. technical colleges.
February 25, 2008... CONCORD, N.H. (AP) -- New Hampshire-s community technical colleges are changing their names. Gov. John Lynch and the Executive Council have approved name changes that drop the word "technical" from most of the college names. In...

Shooting at Louisiana Technical College leaves three students dead; motive unclear.(around the nation)
February 25, 2008... BATON ROUGE, LA. -- Police say a 23-year-old woman who fatally shot two fellow students and then herself at a technical college here was distraught and called a local suicide hotline on the morning of the Feb. 8 incident. Baton Rouge...

NIU gunman identified as former student.(around the nation)
February 25, 2008... DEKALB, Ill. (AP) -- The man who gunned down five people at Northern Illinois University in a suicidal rampage became erratic after halting his medication and carried a shotgun to campus inside a guitar case, police said. The man,...

Report calls for more money for nation's community colleges, but also cites need for institutions to deliver better results.(Report)
February 25, 2008... WASHINGTON (AP) -- As universities debate Congress over how much of their multibillion-dollar endowments to spend, a new report argues that higher education's heavy-lifters, community colleges, need more money and better results. The...

Caught in the middle: demand for 'middle skills' jobs presents opening for technical colleges.(SPECIAL REPORT: Status & Missions--Technical Schools)
February 25, 2008... They are called "middle-skills jobs," positions requiring more than a high school education, but less than a bachelor's degree. And according to the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics, about 45 percent of all jobs created over the next...

From the vaults of Community College Week.(SPECIAL REPORT: Status & Missions--Technical School)
February 25, 2008... One of the first times we at Community College Week realized how comprehensively technology was impacting education was nearly 20 years ago. We started a series of articles on ways that technology vendors were starting to reach out to...

Wind farms turning to colleges to keep turbines running.(SPECIAL REPORT: Status & Missions--Technical Schools)
February 25, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] LINCOLN, Kan. (AP) -- The line of towering wind turbines stand motionless on the ridgeline above Interstate 70 in central Kansas, Y-shaped silhouettes amid the swirling snow. Despite the weather, dozens of...

Wyoming contemplates statewide tax for community colleges.
February 25, 2008... CHEYENNE, Wyo. (AP) -- Lawmakers have resumed talk of a statewide tax to support community colleges but decided not to endorse building projects at three colleges. The Joint Education Committee previously rejected a bill that would...

Winners and losers: Bush's spending plan budget would increase funding for Pell, end some tech ed programs.(dateline washington)
February 25, 2008... WASHINGTON -- If the Pell grant program would be the big winner in President Bush's $3.1-trillion budget proposal, released earlier this month, then the big losers would be career training programs and those that aid minority-serving...

College affordability act contains new requirements.(capital briefs)
February 25, 2008... WASHINGTON -- Some new reporting requirements may be on the way. The U.S. House of Representatives passed the College Opportunity and Affordability Act in a form substantially different from a version approved last fall by its Committee on...

Revisions planned for direct aid applications.(capital briefs)
February 25, 2008... WASHINGTON -- The Office of Federal Student Aid plans to revise the Direct Loan Program Electronic Debit Account Application and Brochure to explain the repayment option more clearly. Borrowers use the form to ask for automatic debiting of...

Bill aimed at promoting rural college partnerships.(capital briefs)
February 25, 2008... WASHINGTON -- Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, introduced the College and University Rural Education Act of 2008, or the CURE Act, which has been referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions. The bill would create...

Coalition backs transfer of vets' education benefits.(capital briefs)
February 25, 2008... WASHINGTON -- A bipartisan coalition has introduced legislation to implement President Bush's call to allow service members to transfer their educational benefits to their spouses or dependents. In the House, 23 Democrats and 21...

Holcomb named chancellor of Florida community colleges.
February 25, 2008... TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP)--Former Broward Community College president Will Holcombe has been named Florida's community colleges chancellor after holding the job on an interim basis since October. He was appointed by Education Commissioner...

N. C. program puts high school students on college campus.(tracking trends)
February 25, 2008... SANFORD, N.C. (AP) -- Led by two of its classmates, a freshman literature class plotted to break out of a concentration camp. The high school students held a detailed discussion of the best time to elude the guards and how to survive...

Iowa dual enrollment advocates touts return on investment.(tracking trends)
February 25, 2008... DES MOINES (AP) -- The state gets a huge return on money it spends to allow high school students to take courses at community colleges, public universities and private colleges, advocates of dual enrollment said. Supporters of the effort...

Alabama lawmaker indicted in 2-year college investigation.
February 25, 2008... BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (AP) -- State Rep. Sue Schmitz was arrested after being indicted on federal charges of taking $177,251 in pay from a program affiliated with Alabama's two-year colleges, yet doing virtually no work. Schmitz, a Democrat,...

Ala. construction company accused by prosecutors seeks court hearing.
February 25, 2008... MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) -- Lawyers for a Tuscaloosa construction company facing the forfeiture of millions in a federal investigation into the state's two-year college system say the government's case contains "materially false statements,"...

Former Southern Union President Charged with lying to grand jury.
February 25, 2008... BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (AP) -- Former Southern Union State Community College President Joanne Jordan has been charged with obstruction of justice for lying to a grand jury probing Alabama's two-year college system. U.S. Attorney Alice Martin...

School board member denies seeking favors from Chancellor.
February 25, 2008... MONTGOMERY, Ala.(AP) -- State school board member Sandra Ray says a former two-year college employee's claims that she helped secure jobs at Shelton State Community College for her relatives are false. Amanda Vaughan, who was former...

'Teach-in' at colleges focuses on effects of global warming.
February 25, 2008... PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) -- Global warming issues took over lecture halls in colleges across the country last month, with more than 1,500 universities participating in what was billed as the nation's largest-ever "teach-in." Organizers said...

Ky. college leaders bemoan impact of proposed budget cuts.
February 25, 2008... FRANKFORT, Ky. (AP) -- Education leaders are bemoaning the potential impact of budget cuts proposed by Gov. Steve Beshear, claiming they would lead to fewer course offerings and increased tuition. Fueled by sagging revenues and...

Mich. governor calls for colleges to lower tuition increases.
February 25, 2008... GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (AP) -- Gov. Jennifer Granholm said she'd like to see state universities with major endowments use some of that money to make college more affordable. The governor also said all state universities should try to hold...

Mississippi colleges seeing surge in on-line instruction.
February 25, 2008... HATTIESBURG, Miss.(AP) -- Almost all of Ashleigh Kammer's nursing classes at the University of Southern Mississippi have some Internet component. "Most nursing classes have it," said Kammer, 20. More professors are finding ways to...

Nebraska coach defends himself in explaining firing.
February 25, 2008... MCCOOK, Neb. (AP) -- A college volleyball coach who was fired by the district says he didn't do anything illegal or have any improper contact with players. Coach Gary Payne said in a letter to the McCook Daily Gazette newspaper that his...

Mass. lawmakers back plan for reorganizing education dept.
February 25, 2008... BOSTON (AP) -- House lawmakers are backing Governor Deval Patrick's plan to reorganize the state's education system. A key part of the plan is to create a cabinet-level secretary of education. Unlike most bills, Patrick's plan was...

Okla. City college joins in Global Corporate initiative.
February 25, 2008... OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) Oklahoma City Community College is l of 20 two-year colleges across the nation joining in the creation of what is being called the Global Corporate College. College officials say the Global Corporate College has a...

Georgia names head of technical and adult education.
February 25, 2008... ATLANTA (AP) -- The commissioner of the state Department of Technical and Adult Education can now remove the word "interim" from his title. Ron Jackson was unanimously approved at the agency's board meeting in Augusta. He joined the...

Va. house OKs banning illegal immigrants from colleges.
February 25, 2008... RICHMOND, Va. (AP) -- The House of Delegates passed a bill to ban illegal immigrants from attending public colleges and universities. Republican Delegate Christopher Peace's bill passed 73-26 and now heads to the Democrat-controlled...

Backing up is easier than ever and can avert disastrous data loss.(technology today)
February 25, 2008... The mantra to prevent loss of important data created with a computer is "Back up , back up." Even if some of the worst disasters strike, whether a natural disaster such as a fire, a machine disaster such as a hard disk crash, or a human...

Los Angeles Mission College.(around campus)
February 25, 2008... In order to train more of tomorrow's science and technology workforce, Los Angeles Mission College administrators joined faculty, staff and students to mark the official grand opening of the college's newly completed biology laboratory and...

Northampton Community College.(around campus)
February 25, 2008... Northampton Community College in Bethlehem, Pa. has become the first college or university in the Lehigh Valley use 100 percent recycled paper for most of its printing and copying. In serving more than 32,000 credit and non-credit students a...

Manatee Community College.(around campus)
February 25, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Manatee Community College sophomore and flutist Angela Galestro won a first-place award at the Florida Community College Activities Association Winter Music Symposium held at the University of North Florida.. She...

The Lorain County Community College Foundation has received a $5 million endowed gift from the estate of the late Beth K. Stocker.(grants & gifts)
February 25, 2008... The Lorain County Community College Foundation has received a $5 million endowed gift from the estate of the late Beth K. Stocker. The gift will support programming at the C. Paul Stocker Fine Arts and Humanities Center on the college's...

Two Elgin Community College alumni, a college employee and a family from St. Charles, Ill., capped off the college's 10th annual Founders' Brunch, an event which set a fundraising record.(grants & gifts)
February 25, 2008... Two Elgin Community College alumni, a college employee and a family from St. Charles, Ill., capped off the college's 10th annual Founders' Brunch, an event which set a fundraising record. Some 270 people attended the event, which raised...

Syracuse Research Corporation, an independent, not-for-profit research and development organization, joined with representatives from central New York's Onondaga Community College and the community to announce the largest cash gift in the college's nearly 50-year history.(grants & gifts)
February 25, 2008... Syracuse Research Corporation, an independent, not-for-profit research and development organization, joined with representatives from central New York's Onondaga Community College and the community to announce the largest cash gift in the...

Santa Monica College.(faculty lounge)
February 25, 2008... Chui L. Tsang, president of California's Santa Monica College, announced his pledge to fight global warming by signing the American College and University Presidents Climate Commitment. The announcement--which commits Santa Monica College to...

Christine Schultz.(honors & awards)(Awards list)
February 25, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Santa Monica College political science professor Christine Schultz--who is known for her deep love of teaching and her success in growing and diversifying Santa Monica College's honors transfer program--has been...

The Community College Futures Assembly announced that Brookdale Community College, New Jersey, the Community College 'of Baltimore County, Maryland, and the University of Hawaii-Maui Community College, Hawaii, were this year's winners of the prestigious Bellwether Awards.(honors & awards)(Awards list)
February 25, 2008... The Community College Futures Assembly announced that Brookdale Community College, New Jersey, the Community College 'of Baltimore County, Maryland, and the University of Hawaii-Maui Community College, Hawaii, were this year's winners of the...

Thomas Nelson Community College.(honors & awards)
February 25, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] On Feb. 7, 35 members of the U.S. Navy, nine of whom are foreign-born students, graduated from the Medical Laboratory Technology Program at Thomas Nelson Community College in Hampton, Va. The foreign-born students...

Central Community College.(APPOINTMENTS)
February 25, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Greg Smith has been named to succeed LaVern Franzen as president of Central Community College in Nebraska. Smith will assume the presidency of the college's three campuses in Columbus, Grand Island and Hastings and...

Central Arizona College.(APPOINTMENTS)
February 25, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Central Arizona College has promoted Terri Millison Ackland to dean of arts and social sciences. Ackland has been a full-time professor at the institution since 1996 and has been part of the Central Arizona College...

Rancho Santiago Community College District.(APPOINTMENTS)
February 25, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] California's Rancho Santiago Community College District has appointed Loy Nashua as associate dean of student development at Santa Ana College. In his new role, Nashua oversees staff that provides programs and...

Rockingham Community College.(APPOINTMENTS)
February 25, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Sheila Ruhland has been named vice president for instruction at Rockingham Community College in North Carolina. Ruhland is responsible for overseeing all credit and non-credit program and course offerings, and...

Tidewater Community College.(APPOINTMENTS)
February 25, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Tricia Hudson-Childers has been named director of development at Tidewater Community College in southeastern Virginia. Hudson-Childers joins TCC from Virginia Wesleyan College, where she served as director of...

Calendar.(Calendar)
February 25, 2008... MARCH March 2-3, 2008 COMMUNITY COLLEGE CONSORTIUM FOR STUDENT LEARNING RESEARCH "Improving Together" Imperial Palace Casino Resort Biloxi, MS; www.mgcc.edu/ccc March 2-5, 2008 INNOVATIONS 2008 CONFERENCE League...

Planned guilty pleas by former Alabama chancellor could mean more corruption charges in financial scandal.(around the nation)
February 11, 2008... BIRMINGHAM, Ala (AP) -- For nearly three years, the big question surrounding an investigation of Alabama's two-year colleges was when might prosecutors go after Roy Johnson, the fired chancellor of the system. But there's a new question...

Former police cadet blames Mich. college for injuries.
February 11, 2008... PONTIAC, Mich. (AP) -A former police cadet is suing Oakland Community College for injuries she says came from hand-to-hand combat during her final exam. The Detroit News reported that Jennifer Kunz claims she suffers severe headaches and...

Wash. governor promotes nurse training program.
February 11, 2008... OLYMPIA, Wash. (AP) -- Gov. Chris Gregoire is proposing a $3 million program for hospitals and community colleges to train current health care workers for nursing jobs. The governor says the state has a nursing shortage, and that nurse...

Iowa democrats defy governor, vow more funding support for 2-year colleges.
February 11, 2008... DES MOINES (AP) -- Democratic leaders have split from Gov. Chet Culver and vowed to sharply increase funding for the state's community colleges. Culver, a Democrat, has called for a 2 percent increase in state spending for community...

Louisiana approves borrowing plan for new community college.
February 11, 2008... BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) -- Despite concerns about the financing arrangement, a state money panel--backed by Gov. Bobby Jindal's administration--has agreed to the $45 million construction of a new community college campus in Monroe. The...

Colleges feed cycle leading to reliance on part-time faculty.
February 11, 2008... NEW YORK (AP) -- College students are getting a raw deal, a recent New York report asserted. The problem is they're taking too many classes from part-time, or adjunct, professors. But that same report unwittingly revealed something about...

Colorado plans on doubling number of certificates, diplomas.
February 11, 2008... DENVER (AP) -- Gov. Bill Ritter plans to double the number of technical certificates and college degrees awarded in Colorado over the next 10 years by doing away with traditional course titles in public schools and allowing educators to be...

A booming business: with help, community colleges start new programs to cater to the over-50 crowd.(Cover story)
February 11, 2008... For as long as they've been married, Brenda Cooley has been the right-brained one, the junior high school teacher who would talk your ear off if you'd let her. Her husband, Jim Cooley, was more left-brained--a scientist who read books about...

IRS moves to clarify rules on tuition savings plans.(dateline: washington)
February 11, 2008... WASHINGTON -- The Internal Revenue Service is again trying to clarify rules governing the popular Section 529 college savings programs. More than nine years after starting an effort to write rules for the Section 529 programs--also...

Proposal to transfer vets' benefits greeted warmly.(capital briefs)
February 11, 2008... WASHINGTON -- President Bush's proposal to allow members of the military to transfer their unused education benefits to their spouses or children has received a generally warm reception from members of Congress. In his State of the Union...

SEC ends probe of Career Education Corp. with no action.(capital briefs)
February 11, 2008... WASHINGTON -- The Securities and Exchange Commission ended a three-year investigation into Career Education Corporation by taking no action against the company. The commission's Chicago office had been investigating whether the company was...

Revised law benefits military reservists.(capital briefs)
February 11, 2008... WASHINGTON -- Reservists will be getting some additional education benefits after all. After previously vetoing the National Defense Authorization Act, President Bush has signed a version after Congress revised the measure. Under the...

Audit report faults oversight of student aid programs.(capital briefs)
February 11, 2008... WASHINGTON -- The Office of Federal Student Aid doesn't know if it is getting the most accurate data from applicants for financial assistance. That's because it hasn't developed a process to verify the information it receives, according to an...

New details on student aid being sought from colleges.(capital briefs)
February 11, 2008... WASHINGTON -- The upcoming Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System survey will ask more questions about financial aid. The National Center for Education Statistics plans to update its questionnaire that all Title IV postsecondary...

Education dept. demurs on streamlining proposal.(capital briefs)
February 11, 2008... WASHINGTON -- It "would not be practical to combine the Direct Loan and Federal Family Education Loan program master promissory notes," the Department of Education has determined. The Office of Management and Budget asked the department to...

Alaska college clings to roots through 50 years of growth.
February 11, 2008... PALMER, Alaska (AP) -- Matanuska-Susitna College has something to celebrate. The two-year college is marking its 50th year--a milestone that won't pass without a party. Staff and students are gearing up for a year-long bash that will include...

Moves boosting student aid to ripple through higher ed.
February 11, 2008... NEW YORK (AP) -- When it comes to paying for college, cash-strapped families have had a few good tidings of late. A string of elite, private colleges have announced major boosts in financial aid. Duke kicked things off with a plan to...

Court blocks college from acquiring Calif. parkland for campus.
February 11, 2008... A Private citizen has successfully blocked the transfer of public park land to Mt. San Jacinto Community College District to be used to construct a new college campus. The California Court of Appeal has unanimously upheld a lower court's...

K. C. program would give free tuition to high school grads.
February 11, 2008... KANSAS CITY, Kan. (AP) -- A local government official hopes a plan to provide free college scholarships to the city's children would encourage more people to move here. Pat Huggins Pettey, a commissioner with the Unified Government of...

One year later, Ark. scholarship program boosts economy.
February 11, 2008... LITTLE ROCK (AP) -- One year after its inception, the $50 million El Dorado Promise scholarship program has provided a much-needed economic boost to the south Arkansas city, Mayor Mike Dumas said. "Before the El Dorado Promise, there was...

Two new N.M. college campuses in works.
February 11, 2008... RIO RANCHO, N.M. (AP) -- Central New Mexico Community College plans to open a campus here in two years, and city voters will go to the polls March 4 to decide whether the University of New Mexico will do the same. Residents are being...

Wyoming panels vote to expand college operations.
February 11, 2008... CHEYENNE, Wyo. (AP) -- Officials at the University of Wyoming say they intend to seek $11 million from the state Legislature to construct a building on the campus of Laramie County Community College in Cheyenne. Trustees from the...

Delaware college begins program in homeland security.
February 11, 2008... DOVER, Del. (AP) -- Delaware Technical and Community College is offering an associate degree in homeland security and emergency management. The college started the program last month to train citizens how to respond to attacks and...

Program launched to send Spokane students to D.C.
February 11, 2008... SPOKANE, Wash. (AP) -- Former Rep. George Nethercutt announced plans for a program to send college students on two-week study trips to Washington, D.C. The Washington state Republican said the George Nethercutt Foundation fellowships are...

Looking good in e-mail requires a few simple steps.(technology today)
February 11, 2008... Despite the availability of video, at the high end, and texting, at the low end, e-mail remains the most common form of one-to-one Internet-based communication, particularly in business settings. You might think that it's old hat by now....

New president chosen for Luna Community College.
February 11, 2008... LAS VEGAS, N.M. (AP) -- Trustees of Luna Community College have named the superintendent of Las Vegas city schools as the college's new president. Trustees still must negotiate when Pete Campos, who is also a state senator, will start...

Nebraska instructor charged with abusing inmate.
February 11, 2008... OMAHA, Neb. (AP) -- Authorities have issued an arrest warrant for a former contract community college teacher, charging him with sexual abuse of an Omaha Correctional Center inmate. The warrant accused 48-year-old Gary Fowler of the abuse...

Ala. college president stepping down from post.
February 11, 2008... ALEXANDER CITY, Ala. (AP) -- State Rep. Betty Carol Graham, after more than three decades in public education, is retiring from her position as vice president of Central Alabama Community College. Graham said her decision to retire has...

Santa Monica College.(around campus)
February 11, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] A group of California's Santa Monica College students have discovered a previously unidentified species of jumping spider. The discovery came during the launch of a comprehensive animal and plant inventory in Death...

Elgin Community College.(around campus)
February 11, 2008... Esta, an Israeli-based ensemble that performs a musical stew of jazz, rock and world rhythms, will perform at the Elgin Community College's Visual and Performing Arts Center in Elgin, Ill. Born in Israel, the members of the group not only...

Hillsborough Community College.(around campus)
February 11, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Hillsborough Community College, in the Tampa area of Florida, opened its first on-campus student housing on Jan. 3. The $21.1-million complex, located in the southwest corner of the college's Dale Mabry Campus, is...

Central Arizona College.(around campus)
February 11, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Central Arizona College's Superstition Mountain Campus will be the site of "Soup's On," an event designed to benefit the college's Promise for the Future Scholarship program. Members of the Central Arizona Lifelong...

Grisel Fernandez-Bravo, chief nursing officer at Palmetto General Hospital and a graduate of Miami Dade College, presented her alma mater with a check for nearly $115,000 to provide nursing scholarships, as well as to cover the costs of books, uniforms and other educational fees.(grants & gifts)
February 11, 2008... Grisel Fernandez-Bravo, chief nursing officer at Palmetto General Hospital and a graduate of Miami Dade College, presented her alma mater with a check for nearly $115,000 to provide nursing scholarships, as well as to cover the costs of...

Casper College in Wyoming has received a federal appropriation of $295,000 to launch a new program in renewable energy.(grants & gifts)
February 11, 2008... Casper College in Wyoming has received a federal appropriation of $295,000 to launch a new program in renewable energy. The program will be offered in partnership with the Rocky Mountain Oilfield Testing Center in Casper. The funding, from...

Calhoun Community College in Alabama has received a donation of $1.8 million, the largest one-time monetary gift ever given in the college's 60 year history.(grants & gifts)
February 11, 2008... Calhoun Community College in Alabama has received a donation of $1.8 million, the largest one-time monetary gift ever given in the college's 60 year history. The gift was left to the college by the late Josephine Powell of Decatur, Ala. The...

Missouri's St. Louis Community College has received a $10,000 grant from the Boeing Company to implement workshops for area secondary school instructors who are teaching Project Lead the Way courses beginning this spring.(grants & gifts)
February 11, 2008... Missouri's St. Louis Community College has received a $10,000 grant from the Boeing Company to implement workshops for area secondary school instructors who are teaching Project Lead the Way courses beginning this spring. Project Lead the Way...