With the need to host both one-on-one donor chats plus receptions for a hundred or more alumni and friends, campus alumni houses tend to be versatile venues. While great rooms in these buildings must have space for that next big event, the aim is for an intimate group not to feel swallowed up by the […]
New momentum has built behind higher education's pivotal role in helping prison inmates turn their life around and re-enter society. So, what if a city offered convicted felons a college education instead of a jail sentence? The Philadelphia District Attorney's Office partners with the Community College of Philadelphia on the Future Forward initiative, which gives […]
Online learning has expanded dramatically over the past two decades, reaching a high of more than 5 million enrollments in 2013. While that expansion has slowed recently, it still far exceeds overall growth in higher education. The growth of Penn State World Campus has mirrored this trend, consistently outpacing annual projections. What started as a […]
Encouraging students to take a full-time course load to target on-time graduation has become a popular focus area in higher ed. Cleveland State University takes the concept a step further with its graduation incentive plan—in which students earn tuition rebates and bookstore credits for staying on track. The incentives are available to all CSU undergrads who […]
Have you ever made a call with a soft phone? You have if you've ever Skyped or used FaceTime. It also means you're on the cutting-edge of phone communications. Sean Jameson, chief technology officer at Sarah Lawrence College in New York, knew it was time to upgrade campus phones when he realized the traditional cable-based […]
Early adopters tout virtual reality as the next big thing, and in higher education, 360-degree videos are adding exciting, immersive experiences. The best indicator that the time is right for "VR" can be found in the investments made by two competing tech giants, Google and Facebook. YouTube and Facebook now both support the showing of 360-degree […]
Oral Roberts University made headlines recently with news that all first-year students will be required to buy and wear a Fitbit, one of the many fitness-trackers that have come to market in recent years. The device, worn on the wrist, uses an accelerometer to turn movement into digital measurements that can track steps taken, distance […]
In recent months, students have confronted societal problems such as climate change, race relations, social class inequity and sexual violence with protests and sit-ins at colleges across the country. It's a chaotic process, and how an administration responds to a protest is vitally important to a school's ability to alleviate the issues that spark it. […]
Campus facilities pros have long worked to lower energy costs while keeping building temps comfortable. As they know, complaints about comfort can quickly clog facilities department phones and make work orders pile up. Compounding the issue: Everyone seems to have a different idea about the best temperature. Studies show that men generally like buildings a […]
Some colleges and universities don't need to market themselves to prospective students. Names like Harvard, Princeton and Stanford are the academic equivalent of Rolex, Tiffany and Mercedes. Other schools don't have it so good. So more of them are advertising these days. But some, paradoxically, seem to do it without much use of what is […]
