By Lamar Smith. A hallmark of a great university is an active, engaged board of trustees that asks tough questions and holds university leadership accountable for meeting the highest standards. So I was surprised that the leaders of the Association of American Universities recently registered concern about similar oversight efforts by the House Science Committee, which I chair, involving requests for information from the National Science Foundation. More...

By Orlando Patterson. Early in 2014, President Obama announced a new initiative, My Brother’s Keeper, aimed at alleviating the problems of black youth. Not only did a task force appointed to draw up the policy agenda not include a single professional sociologist, but I could find no evidence that any sociologist was even consulted in the critical first three months of the group’s work, summarized in a report to the president, despite the enormous amount of work sociologists have done on poverty and the problems of black youth. More...

By Vimal Patel. After her talk to a packed room on Thursday, Janet Napolitano, president of the University of California, asked audience members to raise their hands if they planned to meet with members of Congress or their staffs while here in Washington.
Only about a half-dozen or so hands shot up in a room full of some 700 graduate-school administrators attending the annual meeting of the Council of Graduate Schools. More...

By Max Lewontin. With an increased focus on the barriers that keep many students from enrolling in or graduating from college, the second White House Summit on College Opportunity invited a broader range of college leaders, pre­college educators, and organizations to the table. More...

By Mary Bowerman, Max Lewontin, and Jared Misner. Some college leaders have dismissed the White House’s Summit on College Opportunity—the second installment of which takes place on Thursday—as a dog-and-pony show focused more on drawing attention than on stoking action. But all of the more than 100 institutions that scored invitations to the first summit, held in January, had to pledge to do something to expand college access for needy students. More...

By Kelly Field. When college leaders convene here on Thursday for the second Summit on College Opportunity, they’ll notice a few changes from the inaugural event, held in January.
Most obvious will be the size of the event. Twice as many people are expected to attend the second summit, which has been moved from the White House to the Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center to accommodate the crowd. More...

LatAm talent, Chevron judicial victories, Colombia currency reform and doing business in Central America and Dominican Republic.
Chile is the best country in Latin America when it comes toability to develop, attract and retain talent for companies that operate there. Meanwhile, Venezuela is worst, according to the IMD Talent Ranking from Swiss-based business school IMD. More...