By Allan Metcalf. Just as California offers the most neutral and unobtrusive variety of American English (we don’t think of someone having a “California accent”), so The Associated Press Stylebook offers the most neutral, unobtrusive, and inoffensive choices in spelling, punctuation, and usage. For this reason both are worthy of note as reflecting the norm, the unmarked version of American English. More...
Adjuncts at One Maryland College See Union as Way to Get Seat at the Table
Adjunct faculty members at the Maryland Institute College of Art are preparing for a union election in which they will decide whether to join Local 500 of the Service Employees International Union. Organizers among the institute’s adjuncts, who say they earn about $4,000 a course, hope to join 2,400 other part-time professors at colleges in Maryland and the District of Columbia who are represented by the union. The SEIU is making a push to help adjuncts gain power through regional organizing efforts. More...
Recession Spurred Enrollments in STEM Fields, Study Finds
By Chronicle Staff. Report: “STEM Majors, the Liberal Arts, and the Great Recession” (report not yet available online)
Authors: Jerry A. Jacobs, a professor of sociology at the University of Pennsylvania; and Linda J. Sax, a professor of education at the University of California at Los Angeles. More...
Report: “STEM Majors, the Liberal Arts, and the Great Recession” (report not yet available online)
Authors: Jerry A. Jacobs, a professor of sociology at the University of Pennsylvania; and Linda J. Sax, a professor of education at the University of California at Los Angeles
Organizations: University of Pennsylvania; University of California at Los Angeles; presented at the American Educational Research Association’s annual meeting
College Plans Outreach and Training After Transgender Student’s Complaint
By . Central Piedmont Community College, in North Carolina, on Tuesday announced that it had planned a series of discussions with lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender advocacy groups after a transgender student accused the campus-security staff of harassing her when she left a women’s restroom, The Charlotte Observer reported. More...
Families’ College Savings Start to Rebound, Report Says
By Chronicle Staff. Report: “How America Saves for College 2014″
Organization: Sallie Mae
Methodology: Ipsos Public Affairs interviewed 2,020 parents with a child under age 18. The survey was conducted online, in both English and Spanish, in November and December 2013. The sample was selected to be nationally representative on certain demographic variables. More...
Papyrus Referring to Jesus’ Wife Is Probably Not a Forgery, Scientists Say
By . New testing of a fragment of papyrus that is said to refer to Jesus’ being married shows that it is very likely ancient and not a modern forgery, according to research described by The New York Times and The Boston Globe.
The existence of the papyrus fragment was revealed by Karen L. King, a historian of early Christianity at Harvard University’s divinity school. Ms. King has said that the text does not prove that Jesus was married. Her presentation of the fragment, at a conference in Rome in 2012, prompted heated criticism—the Vatican declared it to be a fake, and skeptics later raised questions about why the analysis was taking so long. More...
Support for Minority-Serving Colleges Would Serve the U.S. Too, Report Says
By . Report: “Lessons Learned: Implications From Studying Minority-Serving Institutions”
Authors: David A. Bergeron, vice president for postsecondary education; Farah Z. Ahmad, policy analyst; and Elizabeth Baylor, associate director for postsecondary education, all at the Center for American Progress. More...
Review Didn’t Support Researcher’s Claims on Athletes’ Literacy, UNC Says
By . Three outside experts hired by the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill to review a learning specialist’s findings about the subpar reading abilities of Tar Heel athletes did not find evidence to support those claims, the News & Observer reported. More...