Trustees end calendar year by taking several actions
In its final board meeting of the calendar year, the Michigan State University Board of Trustees authorized the university to proceed with the next phase of the T.B. Simon Power Plant Modernization Project.
During this phase, the university will improve the plant’s natural gas infrastructure to complement the reciprocating internal combustion engines currently under construction. Installing separate electric- and steam-production equipment will result in higher overall plant efficiencies, reducing fuel expenses and carbon dioxide emissions. The project cost is $17.7 million.
Trustees and President Samuel L. Stanley Jr., M.D., also recognized 29 students with the Board of Trustees Award for achieving a 4.0 grade point average at the close of their last semester.
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Opportunity has arisen for those of us who are true believers in the intrinsic worth of liberal education for students.
Counterintuitive thought, for sure, as we observe the steady disassembling of classic liberal arts programs and colleges, driven by the blend of chronic budget problems and the long-running strategies of educational entrepreneurs to gleefully monetize alternative pathways for students. An example is the credentialing business heavily praised in a recent series of education articles by
Doubly discouraging because so many academics have fought so valiantly for so long for liberal education, providing a passionate defense of its value both rhetorically and empirically. Heck, we’ve even reframed liberal education along utilitarian lines to promote it amid criticism and indifference. We’ve shifted to describe the lifetime skills students receive, enlarging the conversation to include ideas like experiential learning and amplif
College leaders offer 4 takeaways on mergers, campus consolidations and closures
Updated Dec 16, 2020;
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This article first appeared on the Boston Business Journal’s
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Higher education’s existential crisis, brought on by years of demographic changes as well as the crushing weight of the coronavirus pandemic, is forcing schools to rapidly adopt strategies that were long discussed but rarely implemented. Tops among them are campus consolidations, land sales and the elimination of entire non-core programs and departments.
That was one takeaway from a recent panel during the New England Commission of Higher Education’s annual meeting last week, when industry experts gathered virtually to assess the sector’s worsening financial squeeze and potential paths forward in the age of Covid-19. The group included two leaders Thomas O’Reilly, president of Pine Manor College in Newton, Massachusetts, and James Erwin, chair of the University of Maine System Board
AGB Announces New Board Professional Certificate Program
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New Course Will Offer Professional Development to the Liaison Between Higher Education Governing Boards and Administrative Leaders WASHINGTON (PRWEB) December 10, 2020 The Association of Governing Boards of Universities and Colleges (AGB), the premier organization representing higher education governance, today announced the creation of a new Board Professional Certificate Program. The board professional, designated as the primary individual who staffs the governing board, is the critical liaison between the board and other key leaders on campus. The position is more important than ever given the current tumultuous higher education landscape, which has forced many boards to reexamine key institutional strategies and priorities.