the weekly digest from NEJHE and other news from the New England Board of Higher Education
Oct. 27, 2021

Thirteen New England higher education institutions have signed on to NEBHE's new North Star Collective (NSC), a multi-institutional collaborative to boost Black, Indigenous and People of Color (BIPOC) early-career faculty at the region's colleges and universities. NEBHE was also awarded a $20,000 grant from the Hildreth Stewart Charitable Foundation to support the development and implementation of a key part of the program: the NSC Faculty Fellowship. Built on a Reparative Justice Framework, NEBHE developed the NSC to restore, nourish and uplift BIPOC faculty in the region and support leaders as they transform institutions around racial equity. The NSC's 13 founding members are: Bridgewater State University, Clark University, Endicott College, Eastern Connecticut University, Framingham State University, Goodwin College, Rhode Island College, Roger Williams University, Salem State University, Simmons University, the University of Bridgeport, UMass Boston and the University of Southern Maine.
More from The New England Journal of Higher Education ...

The 17-institution Connecticut State Colleges & Universities System (CSCU) and its systemwide Open Educational Resources (OER) Council launched the OpenCSCU Blog. "We intend to provide guidance and support to readers by demonstrating the value of open content and practices to better serve student success. As we share more content, we hope that our reader base will grow and that our blog posts will encourage conversation and innovation in open education," write CSCU Executive Director for Digital Learning Kevin Corcoran and his colleagues Hayley Battaglia, who is the serials & electronic resources librarian at Southern Connecticut State University; Eileen Rhodes, interim director of the Connecticut State Community College Library; and Nicolas Simon, assistant professor of sociology at Eastern Connecticut State University. The blog's first featured post, Presenting and Promoting Open Pedagogy Through Different Frameworks,” was written by Simon and three of his students: Tara Nguyen, Jean Rienzo and Maya Vanderberg. 

This image by Inayaysad is licensed under the Creative CommonsAttribution-Share Alike 4.0 International license.
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Separate Senate legislation would allow for a $400 increase in the maximum Pell Grant, a $65 million increase for the Federal Work-Study program, a $5 million increase for the National Institutes of Health and an additional $1.1 billion for minority-serving colleges. ... Also, President Biden's choice for the Education Department's civil rights chief, Catherine E. Lhamon, was confirmed by the Senate after Vice President Kamala Harris broke a 50-50 tie. ... Read the latest from NEJHE's DC Shuttle, featuring national news drawn from our friends at the New England Council.

Dr. Mukesh K. Jain, chief academic officer at University Hospitals in Cleveland and vice dean for medical sciences at Case Western Reserve University, was named dean of medicine and biological sciences at Brown University. A physician-scientist specializing in cardiovascular medicine, Jain will succeed Dr. Jack A. Elias, Brown’s dean of medicine and biological sciences for eight years. ... The University of Maine at Fort Kent appointed Patrick Lacroix as director of its Acadian Archives, which were established by the Maine Legislature in 1989 to research and disseminate information about the Acadian culture. ... See more on these and other changes in NEJHE's Comings and Goings tally of new appointments in New England higher ed and beyond.

Pictured: Dr. Mukesh K. Jain
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NEJHE NewsBlast is a summary of NEJHE content and other news around NEBHE prepared weekly by NEJHE Executive Editor John O. Harney and emailed every Wednesday to opinion leaders and practitioners. When responding to NEJHE content, please make sure that your remarks are relevant, courteous and engaging. Individuals are responsible for their comments, which do not represent the opinions of the New England Board of Higher Education. We urge commenters to briefly note their occupational or other interest in the topic at hand. Please refrain from offensive language, personal attacks and distasteful comments or they may be deleted. Comments may not appear immediately. Thank you for staying engaged.
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