In probably the biggest research project Montana State University has ever undertaken, MSU scientists will lead a $67 million, eight-year experiment to find out if greenhouse gases can be successfully locked underground. The U.S. Department of Energy has approved the project, which calls for pumping 1 million tons of carbon dioxide into porous rocks almost a mile...Read More >>

Arizona’s university funding system could switch to a pay-for-performance model as early as 2013. Arizona would be the first state to base 100 percent of new money received by state universities on performance, a change from the current funding model that is tied to the number of students enrolled. “It is going to help the long-term goal of increasing the...Read More >>

Nearly a year after two former Washburn University administrators filed a lawsuit against the university, its Board of Regents and President Jerry Farley, a settlement agreement has been reached, and the two women's attorney said he believes they are pleased they can move on with their lives. Robin Bowen, former vice president for academic affairs, and Wanda Hill,...Read More >>

Fired two years ago for misappropriating student funds, Florida Gulf Coast University forensics associate professor David Lounsbury should be reinstated, a Lee County circuit judge has ruled. However, Lounsbury will remain in limbo as FGCU continues to appeal the ruling. Judge Sherra Winesett’s ruling, issued in a Friday hearing, confirmed an arbitrator’s...Read More >>

The proposed regulation sounds deceptively simple: Require universities to communicate before establishing programs in each others' back yards and outline a way to settle disputes. But the Board of Governors is dealing with the kind of turf battle that it hoped to solve with the proposal. University of Florida officials see the plan as a threat to the...Read More >>

Federal prosecutors on Thursday accused a former UNC Charlotte employee of falsifying student visa information to help about 66 foreign nationals stay in the United States illegally. Prosecutors say Thomas C. Briggs, who was an administrative support specialist in the school's Office of International Programs, entered false information in a database federal...Read More >>

With a new president at the helm, the University of Kentucky will pay a Chicago-based consulting firm $285,000 to re-examine the school's long-term goals — set during rosier financial times — and suggest efficiencies. Results from the study conducted by Huron Consulting Group will be considered during a UK Board of Trustees retreat with new president Eli...Read More >>

University of Illinois officials have decided to shut down its Institute of Aviation after 50 years, pending approval by university trustees this week. The program, at the university's Urbana-Champaign campus, has fewer students than any other program on campus. It came under review last year as the university looked at ways to cut costs. Some had argued to keep...Read More >>

Letters were mailed early Monday to Clemson University employees whom administrators have asked to consider leaving their positions. Voluntary separation and retirement deals were extended to hundreds of employees in nine university divisions, most of which are not faculty members. All employees were informed of the program on Monday and details of who is eligible...Read More >>

An ABA committee is leaning toward extending job protections for law school clinicians, writing instructors and other nontraditional faculty in a way that would stop short of traditional tenure. The Standards Review Committee on July 10 voiced initial support for a proposal to require that schools at least provide full-time faculty members with a "program of...Read More >>

Purdue University President France Córdova will step down from office next summer after five years leading the school. Córdova announced the decision Friday afternoon during a small news conference on the West Lafayette campus. "I reflected on the chapters that I have had in my life and the chapters that lay before me. I think of life as a series of...Read More >>

This fall, when students of Missouri State University in Springfield, Mo., take an introductory journalism class, they'll have some of the most qualified teachers in the field. But the teachers won't be on the university payroll. They work for St. Petersburg-based Poynter Institute, a non-profit journalism training group, which has agreed to supply the...Read More >>

One of the richest men in America is helping to create a faculty chair position at College of the Atlantic. Robert M. Bass, listed in March by Forbes Magazine in a five-way tie for 74th richest American, and his wife, Anne T. Bass, have given $1.25 million to the school to create the Bass Chair in Earth Systems and GeoSciences faculty position, the college...Read More >>

At Central Michigan University, there have been no discussions about automatically extending the existing faculty union contract if negotiations continue beyond the June 30 expiration date, union officials said. It's the first time there has been a real threat of a contract lapsing since at least 1989, faculty union President Timothy Connors told the Free...Read More >>

In early May, when the University of Texas System released much anticipated data used to measure faculty productivity, it came with a caveat: users were warned that the information had not been verified and could not yield "accurate analysis, interpretations or conclusions." Today, the UT System released an updated data set. Even so, the system did include some...Read More >>

Missouri State University today announced that James Cofer is stepping down as president of the university and will be leaving immediately to return to the classroom. He officially leaves on July 31 but will relinquish his day-to-day duties immediately. He has been president less than one year. At the news conference, Cofer, who turns 62 on Wednesday, said it...Read More >>

This year’s incoming MBA class at the Harvard Business School will have a greater percentage of women than ever before, according to preliminary statistics released by the school. Of the 918 students in the MBA Class of 2013, 39 percent will be female. In the two previous classes, women comprised 36 percent of the enrolled students. Additionally, the Class...Read More >>

Maddie Poshard is a stellar student, with excellent grades, a top ACT score, and a history of exemplary leadership at her Springfield area high school. She is just the kind of student Southern Illinois University wants for its Presidential/Chancellor Scholarships, a taxpayer-funded free ride for four years worth about $80,000. So why would anyone raise...Read More >>

There will be no across-the-board raises next year at Missouri State University, but 282 teachers, or 40 percent of the faculty, will receive equity pay raises totaling $1 million in what university officials believe to be the school's biggest effort to bring faculty salaries closer to the national market. The raises range from $100 to more than $10,000. The...Read More >>

Soon after eliminating the 5-year-old Yale Initiative for the Interdisciplinary Study of Anti-Semitism, Yale has announced a new program called the Yale Program for the Study of Antisemitism, according to the Anti-Defamation League. The ADL, which previously spoke out about Yale’s decision to eliminate the first university-based study of anti-Semitism in the...Read More >>

Nine departments will be eliminated at UNLV. Eighteen degree programs will be gone. Two hundred fifteen jobs will go, and 685 students will be shut out because of budget cuts. Those numbers, revealed Wednesday by UNLV President Neal Smatresk, are far below what was predicted weeks ago, before the governor and the Legislature came up with a deal that lessened...Read More >>

A Fairleigh Dickinson University physics professor is in custody for allegedly running a prostitution website involving about 200 women and more than 1,200 johns, police said Monday. David Flory of New York City, who teaches on the FDU-Metropolitan campus in Teaneck, was arrested Sunday while sitting in a Starbucks in Albuquerque, N.M., said Lt. William Roseman of...Read More >>

The W. M. Keck Foundation on Monday will announce a gift of $150 million to boost scientific research at USC's medical school and at two affiliated hospitals, adding to the university's recent success in attracting supersized donations. The gift is the single largest in the 57-year history of the Keck Foundation, which has backed many scientific projects,...Read More >>

Princeton University continues to run afoul of federal regulations in its testing of primates, including depriving some of the animals of water for over 24 hours, according to a report obtained by The Times. Lab inspections conducted by the U.S. Department of Agriculture in February and April resulted in six violations, most of them involving the watering...Read More >>

Cornell University Law School has signed for faculty and student exchange programs and joint teaching and research initiatives with the Jindal Global Law School of O.P. Jindal Global University, As the first joint effort of this relationship signed on Thursday, the schools are organizing a joint conference "Gender-Based Violence and Justice in South Asia,"...Read More >>

University of Missouri faculty cited myriad reasons for why they didn’t agree to require all students to take a diversity class. Misinformation wasn’t one of them. Some instructors simply don’t think a diversity requirement is necessary, said Leona Rubin, chairwoman of the MU Faculty Council. Others thought it was a knee-jerk reaction to racially charged...Read More >>

University of Missouri System is being "punished" for increasing tuition, according to four of Columbia's representatives, with a cut in state funds to provide more money for disaster relief. Sen. Kurt Schaefer, Rep. Chris Kelly, Rep. Stephen Webber, and Rep. Mary Still gathered at the steps of Jesse Hall Friday evening to show support for the university after...Read More >>

A Chicago business executive resigned today from the University of Notre Dame's board of trustees, after conservative Catholic columnists reported that she donated thousands of dollars to an organization that supported pro-choice politicians. Roxanne Martino, president and chief executive officer of Aurora Investment Management, a Chicago firm that manages more...Read More >>

The University of Illinois hopes to raise $100 million through private donations for scholarships over the next three years to help make up for increasing tuition and shortfalls in state support for students who need help paying for college. University spokesman Jan Dennis said Wednesday university President Michael Hogan and his wife, Virginia, will start the...Read More >>

The Anti-Defamation League is criticizing a decision by Yale University to cancel a program dedicated to the study of anti-Semitism. The Yale Initiative for the Interdisciplinary Study of Anti-Semitism was discontinued after a faculty review committee concluded it did not meet the university’s standards for research and teaching. The Anti-Defamation...Read More >>

The American Association of University Professors issued a scathing statement this week accusing two campuses in the University of Louisiana System of firing tenured faculty and offering to rehire them in non-tenure-track positions in an effort to save money. The statement, released Monday, specifically mentioned Southeastern Louisiana University and the...Read More >>

Hampton University President William R. Harvey and his wife Norma have donated $1 million of their fortune to the university to raise salaries for instructional staff, HU announced Thursday. The raise will become effective at the beginning of the 2011-2012 school year, according to a statement. For the next three years, HU's approximately 300 faculty members...Read More >>

When Professor William Kielhorn found himself in the intensive care unit to deal with chemotherapy complications from treating his stage four colon cancer, he was quite put out. At 79, Kielhorn was just one class short of finishing 45 years of teaching without missing a single day. With his perfect attendance at risk, Kielhorn reminded his oncologist at Good...Read More >>

Colleges and universities have long offered majors in religion or theology. But with more and more people now saying they have no religion, one college has decided to be the first to offer a major in secularism. Starting this fall, Pitzer College, a small liberal arts institution in Southern California, will inaugurate a department of secular studies. Professors...Read More >>

Armed with tools and trash bags, the Northern Illinois University students who fanned out across DeKalb didn't just spruce up schools and parks during NIU Cares Day last year: Some were sent to paint the house of the employee who oversees the annual volunteer event. Angela Dreessen, director of student involvement and leadership development, said it was a poor...Read More >>

A 10 percent cut in state funding means a loss of 90 positions and a handful of academic programs at South Dakota State University. But, one Brookings City Council member thinks his plan could save jobs at the university and the community's economy. Last month, SDSU officials announced $3.8 million in budget cuts after a third year of reduced state funding--a hit...Read More >>

The University of Colorado is blaming "defective" toilet paper for expensive plumbing problems -- including overflowing toilets in 27 academic buildings on the Boulder campus -- that janitorial workers had to deal with at the end of the spring semester in 2009. In a lawsuit the CU Board of Regents filed last week in Boulder County District Court against Waxie...Read More >>

Music industry executive and philanthropist Morris "Mo" Ostin has donated $10 million to UCLA for a state-of-the-art campus music facility to be known as the Evelyn and Mo Ostin Music Center. The Ostin Music Center will include a high-tech recording studio, spaces for rehearsal and teaching, a café and social space for students, and an Internet-based music...Read More >>

A former executive assistant at the University of Washington Medical Center has been charged with 19 counts of theft after he was accused of embezzling more than $250,000 from the hospital. Elisha Gustav Lang, 38, worked at the UW from July 2007 until he was fired in May 2010, according to charges filed last week in King County Superior Court. UW police...Read More >>

Jessie Shefrin, the provost in the embattled administration of President John Maeda at the Rhode Island School of Design, has resigned after three years on the job. Less than two weeks ago, Shefrin reversed an academic reorganization which would have merged the division of fine arts with the division of architecture and design. That move, announced in February,...Read More >>

The Holland-area business base is strong enough to continue supporting a local campus of Davenport University, the college’s president said. The Caledonia-based Davenport University announced plans to shutter campuses in Alma, Caro and Gaylord in March. “Those closings were not actually for financial reasons,” said President Rick Pappas. The campuses made...Read More >>

The Osteopathic Heritage Foundations’ $105 million award to Ohio University’s College of Osteopathic Medicine represents the largest private donation ever given to a college or university in Ohio. This gift will be used to address some of the most pressing health care issues across the state and the nation – the impending shortage of primary care physicians...Read More >>

At a meeting of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences last Wednesday, University President Lee Bollinger spent almost 40 minutes fielding questions about the impending cuts to faculty and staff benefits. Since the cuts were announced last month, faculty members have reacted to them with almost uniform exasperation, saying they will lead to faculty flight and make it...Read More >>

Pikeville College is now the University of Pikeville or UPike for short. The school's board of trustees unanimously adopted the new name Saturday, effective July 1. The private, four-year liberal arts school founded in 1889 by Presbyterians has added enough departments and graduate programs to become a university, said President Paul Patton, who was governor of...Read More >>

An association of 63 top research universities in the country has booted the University of Nebraska-Lincoln from the group. The Association of American Universities' members voted to end UNL's membership recently based on the university's inability to meet certain requirements, Chancellor Harvey Perlman said in an email to faculty and staff Friday. The vote...Read More >>

West Virginia University President James Clements will get a $200,000 raise under a new five-year contract the state Higher Education Policy Commission approved Friday. The agreement, which goes into effect June 30, boosts Clements' current $450,000 annual salary by $100,000 in the first year, then by another $100,000 in the second, bringing his total base pay to...Read More >>

University of New Hampshire professors said yesterday they have no confidence in university President Mark Huddleston, according to a faculty union leader. "We wish that this vote hadn't been necessary," said Deanna Wood, president of the American Association of University Professors UNH Chapter. "But we needed to get the president's attention, to open more...Read More >>

A University of Kentucky faculty senate group on Monday urged members of the UK board of trustees not to loan the school's Athletics Association $3.1 million to help fund a $6.25 million project for new video scoreboards and a new sound system at Commonwealth Stadium. The UK Senate Council — the executive arm of the faculty senate — passed the resolution by a...Read More >>

Mesa State College trustees this morning settled on the name Colorado Mesa University for the Grand Junction school and say the change will occur next month if the state legislature gives its approval. The trustees today voted unanimously for the change. They selected Colorado Mesa University over University of Western Colorado and Western Colorado University...Read More >>

The University of Southern California will announce Wednesday a $110-million donation for scholarships from a Colorado couple who made a fortune in the oil and gas industry. The gift is expected to cover tuition and some expenses for about 100 academically gifted undergraduates at the Los Angeles campus each year. The donation from USC engineering school alumnus...Read More >>