News 08-30-2002
Technical Grads Have Highest Starting Salaries
Despite the economic downturn in the technology sector, students graduating
with technical degrees are typically offered the highest starting salaries compared
to their peers holding other degrees, according to a new job market survey by
the New York Times. Starting salaries in the New York area for graduates with
bachelor's technical degrees ranged from $38K to $52K. The range for the next
highest group, business degreed grads, was $30K to $35K. However, job seekers
continue to believe that enrollment in a business program will help them secure
good jobs. Nearly two in five job seekers interviewed think that recruiters
are most likely to hire candidates with a business degree (38 percent). A business
program is a top choice among current students (29 percent) and among those
who plan to enroll at a college/university during the next year (30 percent).
Sponsor: James Oliverio Featured Keynote Speaker at Syllabus fall2002
James Oliverio, Professor and Director of Digital Worlds Institute at the
University of Florida, will lead off the first day of Syllabus fall2002's main
conference as keynote speaker on November 4. Oliverio's interest in immersive
collaboration and the use of visualization and multi-modal technologies to increase
understanding and retention promises to be an enlightening, thought-provoking
session. Syllabus fall2002 will be held November 3-5 at the Boston Marriott
Newton Hotel in Newton, Mass with pre-conference seminars on November 3 and
a vendor fair scheduled for November 4.
For further conference details and to register, go to http://www.syllabus.com/fall2002
U. Conn. Adopts Online Alcohol Ed Program
The University of Connecticut said it mandate alcohol education for its students
starting this September. All first-year students will take a three-hour interactive
course, AlcoholEdu, developed by Outside The Classroom, Inc., which provides
online health education for colleges and universities. The university will also
make AlcoholEdu available to other campus groups, including athletic teams,
Greek-letter organizations, and disciplinary referrals. "Binge drinking and
other high-risk alcohol consumption can be a major problem for young men and
women, especially early in their college careers," said John Saddlemire, dean
of students at the university. "Research has shown that the strongest motivation
for behavior change comes from relevant information delivered to students in
effective and non-threatening ways. AlcoholEdu for the first time makes it easy
and practical to provide this preemptive education to all our first-year students
and other selected groups."
For more information, visit: http://www.outsidetheclassroom.com
eCollege Will Integrate XanEdu Coursepacks
Course management system provider eCollege formed a partnership with XanEdu
that will integrate XanEdu coursepacks into the eCollege AU+ online teaching
platform. In the XanEdu system, faculty members can create and edit their own
coursepacks, and then add the coursepack link to any unit inside their eCollege
AU+ course shell.
The integration will enable faculty to enhance their courses
with high quality content, while reducing research and course development efforts.
For students, it will simplify access to professors' custom coursepacks via
a single integrated course login. XanEdu provide users access to more than 5.5
billion pages of articles, case studies and content from thousands of publishers.
Penn State Offers Comm Certification Online
Penn State launched a five-course Web-based communications studies certificate.
"Given the heavy impact of communications in our lives, it makes sense not only
to offer a certificate in communications, but to use current communications
technology to do it," said Dean Doug Anderson. The program grew out of a request
from campus executives who wanted a collection of theory-based courses on which
they could build their own communications programs and retain students. The
courses in the program are: mass media and society, mass media history, law
of mass communications, news media ethics, and the mass media and the public.
"We have put solid resources into this endeavor," Anderson added. "This is not
an adjunct activity, but an integral part of the faculty's teaching load."
For more information, visit: http://www.worldcampus.psu.edu/pub/comm/index.shtml
Bells & Whistles: Smart Laundry Equipment
Students and administrators at the University of Delaware recently attended
"Laundry 101," a part-educational, part-entertaining presentation designed to
create awareness of the benefits of water conservation and environmental responsibility.
Of course, the session wasn't entirely altruistic. It was sponsored by appliance
king Maytag Corp., which contends its high efficiency washers and dryers can
save colleges and universities precious resources -- water, energy and dollars.
U. Delaware, in drought-seared Newark, Del., installed Maytag gear in 55 campus
laundry rooms. The result? The university is in a position to save 3.5 million
gallons of water a year, at a savings of about $71,000, says Marsha Penhaker,
deputy program manager for the Energy Star conservation program. Another view:
the water saved by the university within the next year will be more than its
250 resident assistants will be able to consume in a lifetime, says Maytag.
Awards, Deals, Contracts, in Higher Education
Networks: Merit Network, Inc., provider of Internet connectivity to all of
Michigan's publicly funded universities, selected Cogent Communications' GigE
(1000Mbps) network to deliver ultra-high speed Internet access to students,
faculty, and staff. Among the challenges that Merit has faced is Internet traffic
that has doubled every year for the past four years while the student body size
has remained relatively stable. Cogent's network runs off an 18,500-mile long
haul backbone and metropolitan network and was built specifically for IP data,
so it avoids some commercial network costs associated with voice infrastructure,
the company said.
E-Commerce: The University of Cincinnati signed an agreement with Affiliated
Computer Services, Inc., and infiNet Solutions to implement QuikPay electronic
payment software. Using the system, the University's 34,000 students and their
parents will be able view tuition and fee statements and make payments online.
Ohio State and the University of Illinois are also users of the system. QuikPay
allows schools to present billing statements directly from their website with
single sign-on. Students and their parents are then able to securely view and
pay a consolidated billing statement directly from the school's Website.
