News http://chronicle.com/section/News/6/ News A Florida Professor Helps Launch a New Space Industry http://chronicle.com/article/A-Florida-Professor-Helps/49131/ More than 40 years after man first set foot on the moon, space travel remains for its many fans a lifelong dream that is rarely realized.

Joshua E. Colwell, an associate professor of planetary science at the University of Central Florida, is about to help change that.

In the past three months, Mr. Colwell and a few other university scientists have begun working with a group of small companies that are close to launching a new generation of privately built spacecraft that would...

...]]> Business Software, Built by Colleges for Colleges, Challenges Commercial Giants http://chronicle.com/article/Business-Software-Built-by/49147/ Managing grants often means pushing paper. But the big source of grant money, the federal government, is going digital. And this move to transmit proposals through mouse-clicks rather than mail trucks has universities shopping for better software to administer their research.

The Kuali Foundation hopes its wares will be the most tempting—and the least expensive. A nonprofit group that coordinates colleges' efforts to produce free software that is built through a...

...]]> In Appalachia, a Researcher Makes Honey From Coal http://chronicle.com/article/In-Appalachia-a-Researcher/49141/ The library at the Lotts Creek Community School is buzzing with excitement as a half-dozen grade schoolers struggle into full-body protective "wee bee" suits. As they labor with zippers and wrestle with veils, a visitor lowers herself into a pint-size chair in their midst.

"My name is Tammy Horn," she says, "but you can just call me the Bee Lady."

For the next hour and a half, Ms. Horn, an English professor turned apiarist, fields a rat-a-tat-tat of questions: "Are there...

...]]> Lecturing Aboard the 9:04 to Tel Aviv, Israel's Train of Thought http://chronicle.com/article/Lecturing-Aboard-the-9-04-to/49146/ Albert Einstein, who explained his theory of relativity using the metaphor of a sealed railway carriage, probably did not foresee the day when professors would turn a commuter train into a lecture hall to convey his ideas.

But this month,  Israeli commuters on the 9:04 from Platform Four at Modiin Central to Tel Aviv were treated to an academic lecture on Einstein's love letters to his two wives and various mistresses. It was the first in a series of railway lectures titled...

...]]> The (Cheap) Shot Heard Round the World http://chronicle.com/article/The-Cheap-Shot-Heard-Round/49145/ When the University of New Mexico soccer player Elizabeth Lambert grabbed a fistful of ponytail and whiplashed an opponent to the turf, the clock began ticking on her 15 minutes of infamy.

...

...]]> Rape-Prevention Programs Proliferate, but 'It's Hard to Know' If They Work http://chronicle.com/article/Rape-Prevention-Programs/49151/ Imagine that you are a male police officer walking down a dark alley. Two drunken men surprise you, take your gun, and then sexually assault you.

This is the scenario groups of young men are asked to visualize during a presentation at Binghamton University. Part of a sexual-assault-prevention program designed for college fraternities, the exercise is meant to sensitize men to the way a female rape victim might feel.

The program, a combination of popular prevention strategies,...

...]]> Legality of Racial-Preference Bans Is Disputed in Federal Court http://chronicle.com/article/Legality-of-Racial-Preference/49137/ In a legal battle with potential implications for any state that bans affirmative-action preferences, a federal appeals court is weighing arguments that the ban adopted by Michigan voters in 2006 is unconstitutional because it places distinct burdens on minority residents seeking more access to the state's public colleges.

A three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit is expected to hear oral arguments in the case this week. It involves two lawsuits by...

...]]> For This Turnaround Specialist, No College Is Too Troubled http://chronicle.com/article/For-This-Turnaround/49138/ Most people here know G.T. Smith simply as "Buck," a grandfatherly figure who strolls around the wooded campus of Davis & Elkins College picking up bits of litter and chatting up students, professors, and groundskeepers by name.

But in higher education, Mr. Smith is known as a turnaround artist, a man with the talent and disposition to take a failing college and transform it into a winner. Here, at 74 years old, taking no salary, he is trying to save a tiny, debt-ridden college in...

...]]> Teaching Experiment Decodes a Discipline http://chronicle.com/article/Teaching-Experiment-Decodes-a/49140/ Why were Nazi critiques of Weimar-era art persuasive to many Germans? What historical experiences predisposed some Germans to share the Nazi perspective on modernist culture?

All too often, undergraduate history students make a hash of essay questions like those. They fill their blue books with disconnected strings of names and dates. Or they sketch a plausible argument but leave out supporting evidence.

Several years ago, a small group of faculty members at...

...]]> Foreign Demand Drops for American M.B.A. Degrees http://chronicle.com/article/Foreign-Demand-Drops-for/49136/ The United States' dominance in graduate business education seems to be slipping as growing numbers of young foreign applicants are opting to study elsewhere, according to an analysis released this week by the Graduate Management Admission Council.

Between 2005 and 2009, the demand for business education grew 75 percent in Asia, compared with 25 percent...

...]]> Buy Stock in the Boise State Broncos—and Own a Piece of Blue Turf http://chronicle.com/article/Buy-Stock-in-the-Boise-State/49135/ The Boise State University Broncos don't shy away from the unconventional. After all, they're the only team in college football to play on a bright blue Astroturf field.

On Wednesday, the university's athletic director unveiled an unusual plan for raising money to build and renovate the institution's athletics facilities: The Broncos will sell 200,000 shares in a new nonprofit corporation, Boise State Broncos Inc., at $100 each. The anticipated $20-million in proceeds...

...]]> Professors Threaten No-Confidence Vote Against President of Oakland U. http://chronicle.com/article/Professors-Threaten/49134/ Faculty unrest continues to roil Oakland University. Professors staged a weeklong strike there early this fall, and won concessions from the university. Now a group of senior faculty members are pushing for a no-confidence vote against the institution's president, Gary D. Russi.

A "bill of particulars" from the group says Mr. Russi does not support shared governance and has made it difficult for professors to...

...]]> In Face of Professors' 'Fury,' Syracuse U. Library Will Keep Books on Shelves http://chronicle.com/article/In-Face-of-Professors-Fury/49133/ A fight between humanities scholars and the library at Syracuse University over plans to send books to a remote storage facility has reached a temporary truce, with both sides agreeing to consider alternative solutions. The conflict began several weeks ago when the library announced it wanted to free up shelf space and save money by sending some of its print collection to a facility in Patterson, N.Y., nearly 250 miles away.

The humanities faculty reacted with what James W. Watts,...

...]]> Land-Grant Universities Consider Restructuring to Cope With Expected Shortfalls http://chronicle.com/article/Land-Grant-Universities/49130/ More than two-thirds of the institutions that responded to a survey by the Association of Public and Land-Grant Universities are considering overhauling their administrative structure or academic programs to deal with long-term declines in state appropriations and pessimism about the future financial health of their institutions, the association reports.

Sixty of the 87 respondents to the survey said they experienced cuts to their state appropriations for the current 2010 fiscal year,...

...]]> Audio: Making College Sports Accessible—and Equitable http://chronicle.com/article/Audio-Making-College-Sports/49125/

After 25 years of overseeing the Ivy League's athletics conference, the newly retired Jeffrey H....

...]]> Canada Will Require Foreign Students to Submit Biometric Data http://chronicle.com/article/Canada-Will-Require-Foreign/49129/ International students applying for study visas to Canada will be required to provide biometric identification details, such as fingerprints, within two years, according to a senior Canadian immigration official who spoke here on Wednesday at the annual conference of the Canadian Bureau for International Education.

"I'm giving you a heads up that starting in late 2011, foreign students will be required to enroll their biometrics each time they apply for a study permit...

...]]> Audio: Why Can't Colleges Maintain What They Buy? http://chronicle.com/article/Audio-Why-Cant-Colleges/49117/

Technology needs care and feeding, yet some colleges have trouble keeping up. Scott Carlson and...

...]]> Beset by Financial Woes, U. of New Orleans Considers Leaving Division I http://chronicle.com/article/Beset-by-Financial-Woes-U-of/49118/ After several years of mounting deficits in its athletics department, the chancellor of the University of New Orleans announced today that the university was considering a move from the NCAA's Division I to Division III.

"We had to reduce funding for athletics in the previous round of budget cuts, and since then the financial picture of the university and the athletics...

...]]> Senate's Slow Move Toward Student-Loan Bill Is Raising Anxieties http://chronicle.com/article/Senates-Slow-Move-Toward/49106/ A yearlong push by Congress to end the bank-based system of student lending has hit rough water in the Senate, as a result of delays due to the health-care debate, persistent pushback by loan companies, and lingering concerns among some college groups.

The House of Representatives approved legislation (HR 3221) in September that would move...

...]]> Digital Medical Records Can Alter the Way New Doctors Learn, Panel Says http://chronicle.com/article/Digital-Medical-Records-Can/49105/ The accelerating shift toward electronic medical records threatens to depersonalize and short-circuit the teaching of medical students even as it provides them with greater access to patient information, according to a presentation here on Tuesday at the annual meeting of the Association of American Medical Colleges.

The economic-stimulus package that President Obama signed into law this year includes $17-billion in incentives for teaching hospitals and other health...

...]]> Foreign Students Are Content With Canada, Even if It Wasn't Their First Choice http://chronicle.com/article/Foreign-Students-Are-Content/49104/ Just under half of international students at universities in Canada admit the country wasn't their first choice among study-abroad options, but nine out of 10 of them give their Canadian experience a thumbs -up, according to survey results released here on Tuesday by the Canadian Bureau for International Education.

"We are seen as a great place to study by those who come to Canada, but they tell us they are attracted to other destinations that also have a lot to...

...]]> Despite Success of Some Programs, 3-Year Degrees Draw Skepticism at Meeting http://chronicle.com/article/Despite-Success-of-Some/49103/ At the Council of Independent Colleges' annual meeting of chief academic officers, which concluded here on Tuesday, there was abundant hallway chatter about three-year bachelor's degrees—a concept that has been on many people's minds this month.

The 450 provosts who met here are generally skeptical. "There's a huge amount of interest now in these three-year programs," said John W....

...]]> AAUP Announces Effort to Shore Up Academic Freedom at Public Colleges http://chronicle.com/article/AAUP-Announces-Effort-to-Shore/49100/ The American Association of University Professors is embarking on a campaign to protect academic freedom at public colleges in response to recent federal-court decisions seen as eroding faculty members' speech rights.

The new campaign urges national faculty unions and higher-education associations, as well as individual public colleges' faculty...

...]]> Foreign Enrollment in U.S. Graduate Schools Remains Flat, Survey Finds http://chronicle.com/article/Foreign-Enrollment-in-US/49099/ The number of international students enrolling for the first time this fall at American graduate schools was unchanged since last year, raising fresh questions about the reliance of U.S. institutions on foreign talent at the graduate level.

Over all, international-student enrollment was up 2 percent, the smallest increase since 2006, according to the results of a survey released on Tuesday by the...

...]]> Colleges and Federal Agencies Should Help Women in Science, Report Says http://chronicle.com/article/CollegesFederal-Agencies/49101/ Women with Ph.D.'s in the sciences will keep "leaking out" of the tenure pipeline if colleges and the federal agencies that award grant money to researchers don't work together to stop the flow, says a new report from three researchers at the University of California at Berkeley.

The report, "Staying Competitive: Patching America's Leaky Pipeline in the Sciences," was prepared with the help of the...

...]]> A Defender of the Liberal Arts Contemplates Their Changing Role http://chronicle.com/article/A-Defender-of-the-Liberal-Arts/49098/ For more than five years, Azar Nafisi has been working sporadically on a book called "The Republic of the Imagination," which she describes as a treatise in defense of the liberal arts. The book, which isn't expected until at least 2012, will explore some of the ideas about culture and democracy that were implicit in her best-selling 2003 memoir, Reading Lolita in Tehran.

On Monday, Ms. Nafisi, who is a visiting fellow at the Johns Hopkins University's Paul H....

...]]>