In an effort to cut costs, the Admissions Office has created a two-month pilot program that offers employees a four-day work week, Genevieve Haas, a spokesperson for the College, told the Union Leader in an article this Sunday. Haas explained that office employees will work in shifts, working Monday through Thursday one week and Tuesday through Friday the next week. With two teams of employees on alternating work schedules, this temporary policy gives employees a four-day weekend every two weeks, Haas told the Leader. "With the high price of gas, people were looking for ways to save on commuting costs," Haas said in the article, adding that the College will review the program at the end of the two months. Many businesses throughout New Hampshire are also moving towards a four-day work week to ease fuel and energy costs, according to the Union Leader.
Pathway programs are becoming an increasingly effective way for universities to recruit the brightest and most qualified international students to their campuses, according to an article in the Chronicle of Higher Education on Monday. Oregon State University is cited in the article for working with a private company that recruits and educates foreign students in a college preparatory program. Such programs allow colleges to reach a larger pool of prospective students that may not have applied otherwise due to language difficulties or unfulfilled credits, the Chronicle said. Critics of these programs believe that colleges are too focused on the financial gains they will receive from a higher enrollment of international students, causing them to compromise academic standards by outsourcing "core educational functions" to private groups, the Chronicle said.
With the faltering economy and cuts in state budgets, public colleges nationwide must work harder to retain their best faculty members, according to an article in the Chronicle of Higher Education last Friday. As more prosperous public and private universities attempt to attract new faculty, schools like the University of Georgia and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill are taking proactive measures to keep their faculty retention rates at about 75 and 69 percents, respectively, for the upcoming academic year, the article said. Some of these measures include staying attuned to news that faculty members may be searching for jobs and creating a supportive work environment in which faculty are recognized and rewarded for their efforts. Other colleges have worked to increase salaries for faculty and provided non-monetary incentives, such as more lab space, the Chronicle said.
