Posts by Jennifer Ruark
December 22, 2009, 09:00 AM ET
Bucknell U. Professor Is Sentenced to Die in Ethiopia
An Ethiopian professor who teaches at Bucknell University was sentenced to death today by an Ethiopian court on charges of conspiring to assassinate government officials, the Associated Press reported. The professor, Birhanu Nega is one of five people who were sentenced to death; 33 other defendants were sentenced to life in prison. Mr. Nega, who was elected mayor of Addis Ababa, the Ethiopian capital, in 2005, is an exiled opposition leader and associate professor of economics at Bucknell known for his longtime opposition to the Ethiopian government since he taught at Addis Ababa University.
Read MoreNovember 21, 2009, 04:58 PM ET
U. of Washington Provost Is Named to Nike Board
Phyllis Wise, provost of the University of Washington, has accepted a position on the board of directors of Nike, which last year signed a 10-year contract to provide the university's athletics department with all its footwear, apparel, and some equipment. The Associated Press reports that some students are not happy with Ms. Wise's decision. They have been urging the university to pressure Nike to stop its reported abuses of workers.
Read MoreNovember 21, 2009, 11:53 AM ET
Berkeley Sit-In Ends With Arrests
University of California at Berkeley students protesting a planned 32-percent increase in tuition ended their occupation of an academic building on Friday night, escorted out by county sheriffs, the San Francisco Chronicle reports. The protesters will face misdemeanor trespassing charges. Protests at the University of California at Santa Cruz continued on Saturday, according to the Associated Press.
Read MoreOctober 3, 2009, 01:00 PM ET
College Grads See Heavy Job Losses
New data from the U.S. Department of Labor show that the recession is hitting college graduates harder than high-school dropouts, the Boston Herald reports. People with college diplomas are still much less likely to be unemployed, but since December 2007 the number of jobless college graduates has risen by 136 percent, compared with a 99 percent increase among adults who did not finish high school. A University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee economist says the figures show that "recessions are becoming a bit more egalitarian."
Read MoreAugust 15, 2009, 10:25 AM ET
Cal State Graduate Student Who Was Held in Iran Returns Home
August 15, 2009, 10:21 AM ET
White House Picks Harvard Professor to Help Iraq's Refugees
The Obama administration has selected Samantha Power, a professor of public policy at Harvard University on assignment to the National Security Council, to coordinate the government's efforts to help refugees from the Iraq war, reports The Boston Globe.
Read More
The Ticker is The Chronicle's breaking-news blog, with frequent updates from editors and reporters who scour the world for higher-education news.