Announcement: Brown bag this Thursday!

Ms. Sandmeyer will speak on "Assessing the impact of the Spellings Commission"

Our next HESA brown bag is this Thursday, October 2, at 12:30 pm in 221 Chambers.  Louise Sandmeyer, Executive Director of Penn State’s Office of Planning & Institutional Assessment, will be in for a discussion about the report she recently coauthored, entitled, Assessing the Impact of the Spellings Commission:The Message, the Messenger, and the Dynamics of Change in Higher Education.

The report was recently published by the National Association of College and University Business Officers (NACUBO) and reviews the work of the Commission, discusses how college and university leaders perceive the future impact of the Commission’s work, and examines the process of change in higher education.

The Executive Summary is here: Executive Summary

The full report is available at
http://www.nacubo.org/documents/business_topics/AssessingImpact.pdf

We hope to see you there!

Announcement: Don Heller Challenge

The Don Heller Challenge is this Friday October 3rd at Northland Bowl. We will be meeting at 6:00 pm to take on Don and raise some money for HESA. Don will donate .01 for every pin and $5 for scores that beat his score on up to five games. There is one caveat, to help raise funds you must be a paid member of HESA, so if you have not already done so please visit the membership tab. This is a great fundraiser for HESA and a good opportunity to interact with colleagues. This is a child friendly event, we we hope to see you all at Northland Bowl.

Don Heller Challenge
Friday, October 3rd
6:00 pm
Northland Bowl
1521 Martin St
State College, PA  16803
http://www.northlandbowl.com/

Chronicle Editor Speaks at Brown Bag

Chronicle Editor visits Penn State

On September 26, a standing-room crowd gathered for the year’s second brown bag discussion with Jeffrey Selingo, Editor of the Chronicle of Higher Education. Mr. Selingo opened by sharing a bit about his professional background and some of the current pressing challenges he sees facing higher education.

Among these are the economy’s conditions and its likely effect on not only state appropriations for public institutions, but the ability of students at all institutions to secure private loans with as much ease as in the recent past. On a related note, he predicted that more small colleges – which are heavily tuition dependent – will close, combine, or be bought by for-profit institutions of higher education. Mr. Selingo also talked about the likely shortfalls in federal research funding for universities, the growth in higher education by countries such as China and India, the lukewarm effects of the Reauthorization of the Higher Education Act, and the increasingly common but not necessarily positive shift by universities in their faculty hiring practices.

In regard to the Chronicle itself, Mr. Selingo discussed its challenges and changes, which spring in part from shifting readership demographics and increased competition resulting from the democratization of the media through the Web.

The brown bag closed with the presentation of a Penn State t-shirt to Mr. Selingo by HESA president Wil Del Pilar.

September 18 HESA Happies

Happy at HESA Happies,
originally uploaded by psuhesa.

On September 18, HI ED students, faculty, and friends met at Whiskers at the Nittany Lion Inn for the first HESA Happies of the 2008-2009 academic year. While we didn’t solve the problems of the universe – or even Higher Education – we had a great time. The plan is to schedule HESA Happies for the third Thursday of each month, so mark your calendars and plan to join us next time! For pictures of our September 18 gathering visit our Flickr photostream.

Brown Bag with Joan Stark

Our professional development brown bag series for the year kicked off with high attendance at an informal discussion with Joan Stark, Former Dean and Professor Emeritus, University of Michigan.  Dr. Stark shared details of her rich career in both academic and administrative positions, giving the students and professors in attendance a starting point for asking questions and engaging in a rich discussion that touched on many subjects, including how to make research relevant to practice and the relationship between university administration and academia.

2008 “Welcome Back” Picnic

Having Fun at the Welcome Back Picnic

Originally uploaded by psuhesa

HESA would like to thank the Dr. Dorie Evensen, the Professor-in-Charge of the Higher Education (HI ED) Program, for hosting the Welcome Back Picnic on Friday, September 5. This annual potluck event provides an informal opportunity for first-year master’s and doctoral students to get to know other HI ED students and the faculty, as well as for returning students and faculty to reconnect after the summer. A great time was had by all. For proof, check out these photos.