Maine's public universities and community colleges have a long tradition of working together. They are doing so now more closely than ever before given the needs of Maine students and employers and the institutions' imperative to achieve efficiencies and savings through partnership. As required by Public Law 2015, Chapter 261, the leaders of both…

Public Law 2015, Chapter 261 created the Public Higher Education Systems Coordinating Committee to recognize more formally the importance of cooperative efforts between Maine's two public systems of higher education. The Committee is comprised of the Chancellor of the University of Maine System (UMS), the President of the Maine Community College…

Public higher education produces many benefits that are vital to the New England economy, but it is increasingly at risk following years of state budget cuts. In 2017 in New England, real per-student state funding for higher education was lower than it was in 2008, with a double-digit decline in each of the region's states except Maine. States…

Public Law 2015, Chapter 261 (LD 1441) created the Public Higher Education Systems Coordinating Committee to recognize more formally the importance of cooperative efforts between Maine's two systems of higher education. The Committee is comprised of the Chancellor of the University of Maine System (UMS), the President of the Maine Community…

First-time community college presidents are typically chosen from the senior ranks of two-year colleges' administrations, so they know what the job entails to some extent--at least from a close secondhand perspective. Leaders of community colleges who have taken the reins in the mid-2010s say that a close secondhand view only goes so far in…

Experience from the fall 2020 semester suggests that fast, frequent testing can help mitigate the spread of COVID-19 in a large and diverse university community, but it must also be emphasized that testing is only one component of a coherent mitigation strategy. A comprehensive approach requires the application of epidemiology and science; rapid…

Business, education and community leaders are working together to create alternative career pathways for young people who are not profiting from the four-year college track. The new Pathways to Prosperity Network brings together the Pathways to Prosperity Project at Harvard Graduate School of Education (HGSE), Jobs for the Future (JFF) and six…

Research suggests that institutional commitment to community engagement can be understood by examining levels of student, faculty, and community involvement in engagement; organizational structure, rewards, and campus publications supporting engagement; and compatibility of an institution's mission with this work (Holland, 1997). Underlying all of…

The Maine Center for Workforce Research and Information's website reports a 36% loss of jobs in the manufacturing sector from 2000 to 2010 (over 28,500 jobs). Increasingly, employers are requiring a more educated workforce. With only 25% of Maine's population holding a bachelor's degree, Maine lags behind the rest of New England (at 35%),…

New Englanders have been well-served by the region's higher education legacy. They tend to be better-educated and more prosperous than the rest of the nation, and the cultural life in their cities and towns is exceptionally rich. But New England dares not rest on its laurels. The growing demand for even greater levels of educational attainment in…

"The New England Journal of Higher Education" (formerly "Connection") presents its "Annual Directory of New England Colleges and Universities," providing a wealth of information on New England higher education. For more than a quarter of a century, this college and university directory has been the publication of…

Although we may claim our students are developing a sociological imagination, it is quite another to realize this in our teaching and our students' performances. Through a professional move from teaching in Chicago to Maine, I was led to rethink how I teach the sociological imagination. I argue that if we are to teach the sociological imagination,…

"Connection" presents its "Annual Directory of New England Colleges and Universities," providing a wealth of information on New England higher education. For more than a quarter of a century, this college and university directory has been the publication of record for those seeking important information about New England…

Patterns of history and culture help define the path one finds acceptable and follows. In Tremont, Maine, out-migration coupled with the influx of summer visitors has helped create a culture that undercuts students' appreciation of their own abilities and diminishes their aspirations to postsecondary education. Maine students in the "high…

There is a growing gap between Maine high school graduates' "college intentions" and their actual college enrollment, according to a recent study by the Senator George J. Mitchell Scholarship Research Institute. A follow-up to a similar study the institute conducted five years ago, the new research is based on enrollment data from…