Mark Demers is a Fairfield University Professor who just got a grant to study “chaos theory.” Could the gentle flap of a butterfly wing in China set off a tornado in Texas? He’ll study the evolution of systems that change over time and attempt to understand their stability and predictability.
Courtesy of Flickr Creative Commons Photo by No Division
It's been several months since a new law went into effect allowing illegal immigrants to pay the in state tuition rate at public colleges and universities in Connecticut.
As WNPR's Lucy Nalpathanchil reports, more than one hundred undocumented students have signed affadavits to qualify for the rate this semester.
Newsflash -- on this show Garrison Keillor threw cold water on his much-publicized earlier statements that he would retire from PHC in 2013.
You can hear him say, on the audio here: :"I’m starting to doubt that myself. I’ve been thinking about it, thinking: what else would I do? And I can’t come up with anything….If I didn’t do it I would wind up in a tiny walk-up apartment with a couple of cats."
Veterans who have served in the last decade are eligible for benefits under the Post 9-11 GI bill. As WNPRs Lucy Nalpathanchil reports, recent changes to the bill will help veterans pay for vocational training.
Under the current GI bill, veterans can get all or part of their college tuition paid for depending on years of military service. But not all veterans chose four-year schools.
There are several thousand veterans in the community college system in Connecticut. David Welsh is a Veterans Advisor at Tunxis Community College in Farmington.
Recent college graduates are finding it difficult to get a job at a time when the national unemployment rate remains stagnant at nine percent. But imagine if you're a veteran just back from serving overseas. You're trying to find employment while carrying the physical and mental effects of war. A consortium of schools including the University of Connecticut are helping turn disabled veterans into small business-owners. As part of WNPR's Coming Home Project, Lucy Nalpathanchil introduces us to a entrepreneurship 'bootcamp'.
What are we watching when we watch (and cheer about) a college game?
Historian Taylor Branch disputes the notion that we are watching a logical, natural outgrowth of the college's academic identity. If you're a student, are those your fellow students playing football? If you're an alumnus, are those people on the basketball court extensions of what you used to be?
WANTED: Point Guard. $70K/yr. Must work weekends. Student-athletes generate billions of revenue for universities and private companies while they earn nothing. Some who’ve been badly hurt don’t get the care and coverage they’d get with workers comp. Others see their scholarship canceled after a year and find themselves on the hook for expensive tuition if they want to go further. Others object the the use of their images on licensed products long after their scholarship expire. Atlantic and Taylor Branch tackled this in a feature last week.
Small businesses everywhere are learning the lesson – adapt to technology or die. Consumers increasingly look for both marketing and retailing online and companies need to meet those expectations or lose sales. In the first of a series of reports on the rise of social media in marketing, WNPR’s Harriet Jones looks at how one manufacturer is facing up to the challenge.
It’s an exciting time for college freshman as they begin classes this week. Among them are students who just a few months ago didn’t think they could afford college. That changed July 1 when a new state law went into effect, making illegal immigrants eligible for the in state tuition rate at Connecticut colleges and universities. WNPR’s Lucy Nalpathanchil introduces us to one of those students, an 18 year old named Karen.
We talk with Hartford Courant columnist Jeff Jacobs about the “resignation” of UConn athletic director Jeff Hathaway. He is leaving the post he's had since 2003. Although the athletics program has enjoyed success, Hathaway was criticized for low attendance and fundraising.
The move may indicate new President Susan Herbst's commitment to revamping the school's athletic program. Jacobs praised Herbst's handling of the situation:
Veterans are among college students heading back to class this fall. At the University of Connecticut, more than 400 students have military experience. They're considered non-traditional students given the fact many enroll after multiple deployments. WNPR's Lucy Nalpathanchil reports on one way campuses are working to accommodate their needs.
You've probably heard of New Haven Promise by now. It's a scholarship program funded by Yale University and community partners which awards New Haven public school students who show academic potential.
But the Promise program isn't just about paying tuition for some.
WNPR's Lucy Nalpathanchil spoke with New Haven Promise Executive Director Emily Brynes about the program's community outreach.
A group of computer students at Trinity College have created a smartphone app to improve disaster relief management. As WNPR's Lucy Nalpathanchil reports, the project aims to help Haitians recovering from the 2010 earthquake.
Trinity is part of a collaboration between Wesleyan University and Connecticut College to create free software that benefits the common good. It's funded by the National Science Foundation.
Governor Malloy visited Wesleyan University in Middletown on Monday. He met with leaders of Connecticut’s private colleges and universities to talk jobs.
The Connecticut Conference of Independent Colleges represents 16 schools that employ over 22,000 people.
More than 100 students were honored on Thursday as the first class of New Haven Promise. That’s the new scholarship program that provides college tuition for city students.
Wearing caps and gowns, New Haven public high school graduates filed into Sprague Hall on the Yale University campus. Parents beamed. City and state officials told the students that the Promise scholarship program was an expression of confidence in their promise for a brighter future.
Dozens of teenagers, the children of recent immigrants, turned out for a ceremonial bill signing with Governor Dannel Malloy today in New Haven. As WNPR’s Lucy Nalpathanchil reports, advocates for the in state tuition bill that became law July 1, say the moment was a long time coming.
The crowd of college hopefuls cheered Gov Malloy as he signed the bill inside the lobby of Wilbur Cross High School. Joining the young adults were immigrant advocates and congregational members who lobbied for the bill in their home communities across Fairfield and New Haven counties.
On Thursday, Governor Dannel Malloy will attend a ceremonial bill signing for a measure that will help illegal immigrant students.
The in state tuition law went into effect July 1, allowing undocumented students who enroll at a state university or community college to be eligible for the in-state tuition rate. As WNPR's Lucy Nalpathanchil reports, the schools are streamlining the admissions process so these students will be billed correctly.
Two men were arraigned last month in connection with an alleged sexual assault at Southern Connecticut State University. SCSU is part of a consortium of Connecticut colleges and universities that are working together to reduce violence against women. As part of our continuing series on campus safety, WNPR's Diane Orson reports.
The statistic is hard to believe. A U.S. Department of Justice study finds one in five women will become a victim of rape or attempted rape while in college.
More than 800 students graduate tonight from Gateway Community College in New Haven. Many took their first steps into higher education through the school’s open door policy. But, budget shortfalls could end open admissions at community colleges in Connecticut.
Walk down the corridor at Gateway Community College and you’ll see a diverse mix of students – teenagers right out of high school, mothers in their early 30's, even senior citizens.
More than 800 students graduate tonight from Gateway Community College in New Haven. Many took their first steps into higher education through the school’s open door policy. But budget shortfalls could end open admissions at community colleges in Connecticut. Walk down the corridor at Gateway Community College and you’ll see a diverse mix of students – teenagers right out of high school, mothers in their early 30s, even senior citizens.
Connecticut would like to reinvent itself as the next Silicon Valley. Some economic development experts say our future lies with the state’s small technology companies. If that’s to become a reality, Connecticut’s universities will have to be a key part of the change. A conference today at UConn aims to show the way.
A bill that would allow undocumented students to pay in-state tuition rates has passed in the state House and now moves to the Senate.
The legislation would allow students who have graduated from a Connecticut high school after attending for at least four years to be eligible for the state tuition rate at a public college or university.
A similar bill was vetoed by former Governor Jodi Rell in 2007. But this year, Democratic Governor Dannel Malloy says he'll sign the bill into law.
Malloy's support is embraced by undocumented students like Carolina Bortolleto.
Governor Dannel Malloy has written a letter to federal officials asking them to delay deporting a college student. As WNPR's Lucy Nalpathanchil reports, the Governor's intervention stems from his support of immigration reform efforts that would allow college students to receive permanent legal status.
Mariano Cardoso is an illegal immigrant from Mexico who has lived in the U.S. for most of his life after his parents brought him here when he was a baby.
Coming from the University System of Georgia, she says that’s a “Southern” code phrase for making UConn a flagship University in the mold of Michigan or Berkeley - an internationally recognized research center that has a powerful “academic brand.”
Let me just throw it down right here. Bisons over Huskies. Not that I believe the UConn men will lose to Bucknell in the first round, but I will be rooting for that to happen. I've really had it with the UConn men's program. I'll happily root for the women.
Eastern Washington University, Flickr Creative Commons
In his State of the Union address, President Obama called on higher education to reinstate the Reserve Officer Training Corps on college campuses. Many elite colleges and universities haven't had ROTC chapters since the late 1960s. But the end of Don’t Ask Don’t Tell could open the door. Most undergraduates at Yale University think its a good idea.
Yale student Katherine Miller says President Obama’s message is clear. The military is becoming more inclusive. And that means she’ll be able to pursue her dream of a career in uniform.
Fleurette King is the director of the Rainbow Center at the University of Connecticut in Storrs. The mission of the Rainbow Center is to serve the diversity of the UConn Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer, Questioning, and Allied community and to provide resources and services to the wider community of students, faculty, staff, and local residents.
It’s commencement weekend for many colleges and universities in Connecticut. Among them is Wesleyan University in Middletown, where there’s been a lot of talk this year about a subject that’s often buried in a culture of silence: campus sexual assault.
In the first of a series of stories on the issue, WNPR’s Diane Orson reports on how the university judicial process handled the case of a 2010 graduating senior named Eve, who’s asked that we not use her last name.
