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BRIEFS
- Jack R. Ohle, was named the 15th president of Gustavus Adolphus College. Ohle is currently the president of Wartburg College in Waverly, Iowa. He will take office July 1.
- Legislation passed on the last day of the Minnesota legislative session will increase the financial aid packages of thousands of Minnesota's neediest college students. The Minnesota State Grant Program received $11.3 million in additional funding — an investment that will help increase both the affordability and access to higher education for students across the state. The bill is expected to be signed by Governor Pawlenty in the coming days. It is part of the "global agreement" between the governor and legislative leadership that solved the state's $935 million budget deficit and brought an end to the legislative session. More than 70,000 Minnesota students benefit from the State Grant Program each year, including almost 10,000 who attend one of Minnesota's private colleges.
- The Barry M. Goldwater Scholarship and Excellence in Education Foundation awarded 321 undergraduate scholarships for the 2008–2009 academic year to students majoring in science, math and engineering. St. Olaf College, Concordia College and Carleton College each had one recipient; the University of St. Thomas had two recipients.
- Close the Gap is a new documentary series which examines disparities based on race, place, and income throughout the Twin Cities metro area.
- Carleen Gulstad was named the 2008 Teacher of the Year by Education Minnesota, the state's teachers union. A teacher at Hopkins North Junior High, Gulstad attended Concordia College in Moorhead and earned a master's degree at St. Mary's University.
- The College of St. Catherine will be changing its name. In August, the administration will propose the new name to the board and present a full plan for implementing it by June 2009.
- Students at four-year colleges aren't optimistic about the direction of the U.S. A national survey found that two-thirds of students are worried about being able to find a good job, 85 percent view the state of the economy as not so good or poor, and 53 percent think the country is generally headed in the wrong direction.
- Most high school dropouts see the result of their decision to leave school most clearly in the slimness of their wallets. If the students who dropped out of Minnesota's high schools had graduated, the state's economy would have benefited from an additional $3.9 billion in income over their lifetimes according to the Alliance for Excellent Education. The average annual income for a Minnesota high school dropout aged 25-34 working full-time in 2000 was $16,812 as compared to $23,384 for a high school graduate and $37,218 for a college graduate.
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