Watching the Ivies
BROWN: Brown University’s School of Public Health received a $1.9 million grant for a research collaboration with the University of Cape Town, according to the Brown Daily Herald. The project will explore strategies to address the HIV/AIDS epidemic from a social science perspective. The initiative will be carried out in two cycles, consisting of five to eight projects, each lasting for two years. It will involve faculty members and students from both universities.
COLUMBIA: Columbia University’s EcoReps plan to expand the college’s bike share program this fall, according to the Columbia Daily Spectator. After its debut as a pilot program last spring, the program was relaunched for an additional test run last Monday. The program requires students to attend a 45-minute information session about bike laws and safety in New York City. Members of EcoReps hope to attract 150 to 200 students to the program this semester.
CORNELL: Cornell University will host a performance by pop artist Ke$ha on Sept.29, according to the Cornell Daily Sun. The concert’s 4,000 tickets sold out in a period of about two and a half hours, leaving some students disappointed, as members of the Cornell Concert Commission reported. Traffic on the ticket sales website and a slow online checkout process prevented some students from purchasing tickets before they sold out.
HARVARD: The Crimson released the results of an online survey compiling data on Harvard University’s incoming Class of 2017. The survey addressed class demographics, academic and extracurricular interests and experience with sex and drug use. Results indicated that 26 percent of respondents intended to concentrate in economics or government, and 69 percent reported high school involvement in athletics. Thirty-five percent of respondents had sex before coming to Harvard, while 60 percent had previously tried alcohol. The survey’s full results can be viewed on The Crimson’s website.
PRINCETON: Princeton University alumna Susan Patton completed the manuscript of her upcoming book, “Smarten Up!: Words of Wisdom from the Princeton Mom,” according to the Daily Princetonian. Patton, a member of Princeton’s Class of 1977, wrote a letter to the editor of The Daily Princetonian last March urging female Princeton students to find a husband prior to graduation. The book will offer advice to groups including female college students, recent college graduates and others, and will likely be published in Spring 2014.
UPENN: The University of Pennsylvania’s Counseling and Psychological Services is implementing a program called Sexual Trauma Treatment, Outreach and Prevention, as the Daily Pennsylvanian reported. The program aims to provide treatment and support to victims of sexual violence. The program’s team of four CAPS counselors has received intensive training to treat sexual violence victims, including a conference over the summer. STTOP’s pilot run last spring received a successful response last spring, according to CAPS staff members.
YALE: Faculty at Yale University are leading an initiative to expand online education at Yale, according to Yale Daily News. Four courses taught by Yale professors in art history, political science, psychology and economics are currently open for enrollment on Coursera, a platform for massive open online courses. Yale’s Committee on Online Education, consisting of 14 faculty members, plans to experiment with additional forms of online education in the coming months.