Describes the housing issues that are a frequent point of contention between universities in New England and communities. New England colleges are experiencing a boom in dorm building, but many students, as the experiences of several cities show, prefer to live off campus, sometimes creating tensions between the college and the town. (SLD)

Describes the critical housing shortage and soaring rents in Boston, Massachusetts, that are exacerbated by the housing policies of the city's institutions of higher education. Boston colleges have accelerated their construction of dormitories, but nearly 107,000 students still live off campus. The issue is not one of student behavior, but of the…

In Burlington, Vermont, city concerns about student pressure on the rental housing market, neighborhoods, and traffic and parking resulted in the city's zoning board making approval of the University of Vermont's new microbiology building conditional on the provision of additional student on-campus housing and parking. The university has adopted…

Describes the efforts of Village Ventures, a company that manages early stage venture capital funds and invests in promising companies, to develop markets that are as rich in intellectual capital as the top 10 venture markets but substantially cheaper to live in. These are primarily college towns with a high potential for launching technology…

Describes how what happens in the most elite institutions of higher education in the United States creates the body of knowledge and attitudes by which most colleges are judged. Among the issues for which this phenomenon is apparent are those of grade inflation, graduation rates, and core curricula. (SLD)

Describes ENFOR (environmental forestry) and initiative of the New England Governors' Conference, the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy, and the U.S. Forest Service that is exploring whether distance learning through home computers can be used to improve the management of New England's 700,000 privately owned nonindustrial forestlands. Courses and…

Presents seven myths about online learning that discourage its expansion. These myths revolve around the purported inadequacies of online learning, the limits imposed by for-profit ventures, and the damage that virtual colleges will do to their traditional counterparts. (SLD)

Describes the Futures Project, an initiative funded by the Pew Charitable Trusts to develop the policies and practices essential to the effective evolution of the U.S. system of higher education. Outlines the efforts of the New England Board of Higher Education toward the same goals and describes some specific programs developed in New England,…

Describes the responses of pharmacy schools in New England to the current shortage of pharmacists. The lengthened pharmacy program, recently expanded from 5 years to 6, is being accompanied by increased regional cooperation, with internships and some tuition breaks for pharmacy students. (SLD)

The City of Burlington (population 40,000) is home to the University of Vermont (UVM), Champlain College and Burlington College. UVM alone enrolls some 7,300 undergraduate students and almost 9,000 students overall. With the university just a half-mile up the hill from the city center, Burlington's urban amenities--its arts and culture,…

As pre-K-12 classrooms become more diverse, and teachers and students are held ever more accountable for learning, the task of preparing pre-K-12 teachers becomes more of a hot potato. Reflecting public skepticism about whether teachers know as much as they should, Congress has required teacher preparation programs to report their graduates' pass…

When a fire breaks out in the twin cities of Lewiston and Auburn, Maine, the firefighter response time is just a bit quicker these days, thanks to student research at Bates College. When the alarm sounds, firefighters click on a computer map that tells them the size of the burning structure, the quickest route to the fire, the closest hydrant and…

American research universities are renowned for applying cutting-edge science to the improvement of the world's health and environmental systems. Indeed, as a society, people have come to expect this type of intellectual leadership from their great universities. Less appreciated is the robust opportunity for state and local governments to harness…

A wave of teacher retirements is expected just as fewer college-bound students express a preference for teaching careers, and more diverse students reach school age. Former U.S. Education Secretary Richard Riley suggested the nation would need more than 2 million new teachers over the next decade. This article presents some perspectives on…

Students returning to pre-K-12 classrooms across New England this fall expected well-kept facilities, up-to-date textbooks and basic supplies. Unfortunately missing from an increasing number of these classrooms is a certified teacher with a mastery of the subject matter being taught and an understanding of how children learn. In this article, the…