The Payden Academic Center—the first new academic building added to Trinity's historic Washington, D.C. campus in more than half a century, provides much needed instructional space for the school's growing nursing and health programs as well as a step into modern architecture. The four-story, LEED-certified structure accommodates classes from every discipline offered on campus so that […]
Claire Sterk is the new president of Emory University in Atlanta, effective September 1. Currently provost and executive vice president for academic affairs, Sterk's long-range plan includes increasing diversity of staff and students, improving access, making the university more affordable, and strengthening Emory's healthcare programs. Sterk has been at Emory since 1995, when she joined […]
For a long time, the academy has faced questions about whether or not liberal arts and STEM could co-exist. The talking points haven't changed much – liberal arts colleges help students learn how to think and learn, while STEM institutions provide the highly technical education required. But today's colleges and universities are tasked with delivering […]
A recent survey of alumni of institutions confirmed what every university president knows: when asked who set them on a constructive path, at the top of the list are professors who made them excited about learning, professors who cared about them as persons, encouraged them, mentored them, and directed them in projects—what we call "high touch." […]
At one university, a garbage can blocked access to the paper towels, a table was placed in front of the automatic door button, students in wheelchairs couldn't access the accessible sink in a science lab because of a trash can's placement, and staff sometimes plowed snow into disabled parking spaces or access lanes. At another […]
The 18,000-square-foot space in Boston has all the hallmarks of a typical startup: Computers running equations, whiteboards filled with scrawled revenue projections and caffeine-fueled meetings about venture capital in glass-walled conference rooms. But the Venture Development Center (VDC) isn't a startup; it's a business incubator at University of Massachusetts, Boston that houses dozens of fledgling […]
Since its founding in 1856, Niagara University, steps from the Canadian border in upstate New York, has been an international university with students and faculty members from our neighbors to the north. Niagara is governed by a Board of Trustees and sponsored by the Vincentian Community, a religious community with a tradition of missionary work, […]
Alice L. Brown doesn't pull punches when discussing the problems of leadership at the small schools that constitute the Appalachian College Association. Some, she says, are barely surviving and their leaders seem reluctant to take the steps necessary to change course. Brown served 15 years as president of the Appalachian College Association, a nonprofit consortium […]
The founders of George Washington University could not have anticipated that, almost two centuries later, the institution's prime location in D.C.'s Foggy Bottom neighborhood would be a developer's dream—and a golden opportunity for the university. Their major venture, a mixed-use retail, residential and office development called Square 54 and completed in 2011, has close to […]
Two different worlds, divided by a gate: It's a familiar scenario in any college town or urban neighborhood. The phrase "town and gown" is rooted in the notion that universities and the surrounding communities are naturally at odds. But forward-looking colleges and universities are finding deep value in blurring those lines, and instead are leveraging […]
