October 21-23, 2010

Houston, Texas
Deadline for proposals: March 15, 2010.

Facing the Divides: Diversity, Learning, and Pathways to Inclusive Excellence will focus on the creative ways in which colleges and universities are building these bridges and investing in the kind of learning that matters for our shared futures.

The College Board has published a report, "The Educational Crisis Facing Young Men of Color," that examines how minority male students face extraordinary challenges that hinder educational achievement. Released at a Congressional hearing last week, the report identifies barriers faced by minority males throughout their scholastic careers, and recommends reforms for K-12 and higher education institutions and systems based on a national survey of successful educational and community programs that support these students.

Read the press release and download the full report here.

"WASHINGTON -- Two national organizations -- the National Association of Independent Colleges and Universities and the Council of Independent Colleges -- will today announce a new campaign to identify practices at member institutions that contribute to President Obama's goals for increased enrollment and graduation rates by 2020. The organizations plan to collect and publicize the various efforts colleges have that could be tried elsewhere."

Read more...

January 19, 2010
By Jerry Pattengale

"The academy at-large is. . . divided over this generation's profile. We tend to classify today's students as either lazy (putting our country's future in peril) or industrious and creative (offering national hope). It appears that we have a 'Janus Generation;' researchers continually picture its students with contrasting faces, like the two-headed Roman god, Janus."

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Register now for A Climate Change on Campus, New England Sustainability Summit 2010 to be held on Friday, April 23 at the Crowne Plaza  in Worcester, MA.

NEBHE's second annual sustainability conference will explore topics from renewable energy to growing the green workforce with the nation's higher education and industry leaders.

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"The Massachusetts College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences announced that its identification rule requiring students to wear their ID cards and barring 'any head covering that obscures a student's face ... either on campus or at clinical sites' -- which went into effect on January 1 -- has been amended to permit students to wear face-obscuring coverings for religious reasons."

Read the story here.

The Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching and NERCHE have entered into a long-term partnership for the continuation of the elective Carnegie Community Engagement Classification.

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A paper intended to capture the cumulative "learnings" from a meeting held at the Kettering Foundation in February 2008 about Higher Education and the Future of Engagement.

In the December 3, 2009 issue of Inside Higher Ed, Student Affairs Think Tank member, Lee Burdette Williams, co-authored an essay, "Define 'Frill' and Use it in a Sentence," which addresses the complexity surrounding campus discussions about "stripping down" their educational services to only that which is essential.

Click here to read the essay.

Think tank registration for the 2009-2010 academic year is now open.

To learn more about NERCHE's think tanks, please click here.

To apply for or renew a membership in a think tank, please click here.

To nominate an individual or individuals for a think tank, please click here.