Computational science is defined as science done on a computer. A computer can serve as a laboratory for researchers who cannot experiment with their subjects, and as a calculator for those who otherwise might need centuries to solve some problems mathematically. The National Science Foundation's support of supercomputers is discussed. (MLW)

Mediation, in which a neutral third party helps two people come up with their own solutions, is being used to settle faculty and staff grievances. Experiences at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, Duke University, Emory University, and the University of Cincinnati are described. (MLW)

Faculty have designed alternative ways to hear from their students. The use of a box for comments and questions at the back of a University of Vermont chemistry class and an online computer conference to enhance writing classes at the University of Michigan are described. (MLW)

Federal investigators have found that many colleges and universities lack satisfactory systems for recruiting black faculty members, even after years of operating under court-ordered desegregation plans. There was also widespread dissatisfaction among black students at many colleges. The Education Department's Office for Civil Rights' report is…

Rep. Pat Williams, the new chairman of the House Postsecondary Education Subcommittee, visits college campuses and observes what the problems are. A recent visit to Pennsylvania State is described in which he listened to students in the financial aid office, inspected research facilities, and talked with university administrators. (MLW)

The American Institute of Architects honored five recently completed university buildings whose architects solved the difficulties of site and scale: Columbia University's Computer Science Building, Dartmouth's Hood Museum of Art, Emory's Museum of Art, Princeton's Lewis Thomas Laboratory, and the University of California at Irvine's Computer…

Loan deferment and forgiveness programs, first developed at the Harvard Law School, are appearing at a variety of institutions. These schools are helping alumni who choose public interest careers to pay off educational loans. Public interest careers include working for schools, hospitals, the government, arts organizations, etc. (MLW)

Students Against Testing, a Brown University student group that seeks to either abolish or reform the Scholastic Aptitude Test is discussed. As a result of a letter-writing drive, students on at least 50 campuses are seriously considering starting similar efforts next fall. (MLW)

ACCESS: Networking in the Public Interest provides people and job placement offices nationwide with job listings and pertinent information on public-interest organizations. Students at subscribing institutions will be able to punch their employment interest into the computer and get back a listing of appropriate job openings. (MLW)

Harry Edwards of the University of California at Berkeley has formed an organization to monitor the hiring of black coaches and sports administrators--particularly in intercollegiate athletics. The National Organization on the Status of Minorities in Sports will track vacancies in college athletics and submit names of qualified blacks to fill…

The trustees at Southern Methodist University are expected to approve a plan that will cut the board's size in half and revamp a much-maligned governance system. This transformation was impelled by a devastating football scandal. (MLW)

Alumni and other individuals' contributions to colleges rose sharply in academic 1985-86, totaling 48.8 percent of all donations. Institutions' fund-raising focus on individuals has succeeded in increasing the average gift and the number of gifts, while corporate gifts have grown more slowly. (MSE)

High salaries and perquisites such as generous separation benefits, bonuses, housing, and housing improvements have provoked criticism and concern over the use of public or limited institutional funds. (MSE)

Excellent benefits and income from outside sources have made up some of the drastic difference between the earnings of college presidents and those of their counterparts in industry. At the same time, closer attention is being paid to their performance. (MSE)

Uncertainty about attributions of works of art and shifts in opinion leading to reattributions are intensifying the study of connoisseurship, the process by which an art historian or curator seeks to determine who made a work of art. (MSE)