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"Some college administrators seem so distracted with fund raising, academic infighting, and community initiatives that they set up their emergency communications departments very poorly. Training is poor to nonexistent, secretaries are pressed into service with tremendous responsibilities for running 'notification systems' 24/7 and on weekends because no one else knows how to do it and the administration won’t pay for additional staff. Procedures are seat-of-the-pants and dependent on HIPPO (highest paid person’s opinion), except when something like Virginia Tech happens and there is some sort of scramble to do something different." --Donna
Most Colleges Avoid Risk Management, Report Says
Jill Biden Shines a Global Spotlight on American Community Colleges
Speaking at a Unesco conference in Paris, the vice president’s wife stressed the importance of two-year institutions to the nation’s educational goals.
Connecticut Public Colleges Lose 200 Professors to Early Retirement
Administrators are scrambling to plug holes in their course schedules for fall, with most expecting to do so by hiring more adjuncts or increasing class sizes.
U. of Georgia Paid 2 Fraternities $2.4-Million to Relocate, Contracts Show
The two were among five with houses on property where the university plans to build new academic facilities.
New Allegations in Admissions Controversy at U. of Illinois Suggest Ex-Provost Played a Role
Linda P.B. Katehi, the incoming chancellor of the University of California at Davis, has insisted she knew nothing of the admission of politically connected applicants at Illinois.
Sonoma State U. Foundation May Lose $350,000 on Loan to Former Board Member
The foundation will be forced to issue fewer scholarships in the 2010-11 academic year because of a diminished endowment, a university official said.
College Suspends Student for Working in Gay Pornography | 58
President Obama's Visit to Notre Dame Carries Barely a Hint of Controversy That Preceded It | 58
Drug Sting Nabs 21 Students at U. of Illinois | 57
Faculty Members and Union Protest Staff Layoffs at Temple U. as 'Cruel' | 57
North Dakota Board's Vote Puts 'Fighting Sioux' Mascot on Thinner Ice | 57
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July 31, 2008
Scholar Suggests How to Stabilize NIH's Biomedical-Research Funds
The issue is dire but not new: Following the doubling of the National Institutes of Health’s budget, from 1998 to 2003, biomedical researchers have fallen on hard times. As the budget has leveled off, researchers’ chances of getting a grant have dropped steeply, as have the chances of getting jobs for the graduate students and postdoctoral fellows whose training was financed by the richer budgets around the turn of the century.
Michael S. Teitelbaum, a demographer at the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, analyzes the trends and suggests some possible solutions in the new issue of Science. He proposes that the NIH convene an advisory committee to find strategies to even out the roller coaster of research grants. The committee, he writes, could consider moves like:
- Aligning the number of graduate students and postdocs with the job market instead of with the NIH budget, perhaps by allowing NIH funds to support staff positions rather than temporary trainees, or by limiting the number of visas for foreign students and postdocs.
- Finding new ways of managing NIH budget increases that result in more stability, perhaps by aiming for steady NIH growth instead of boom-and-bust cycles, or by allowing grantee institutions to reserve funds for lean years.
—Lila Guterman
Posted on Thursday July 31, 2008 | Permalink |
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