Financial Literacy Programming in Higher Education: What’s There and What’s Missing [Scholarly Article - Journal of Student Affairs Research and Practice, July 2022]

Title:

Financial Literacy Programming in Higher Education: What’s There and What’s Missing

Authors:

Terron Phillips, Purdue University

&

Christine Kiracofe, Purdue University

 

Published:

Journal of Student Affairs Research and Practice, 18 July 2022

https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/19496591.2022.2074796?journalCode=uarp20

 

Abstract:

College student retention theorists have suggested that improving students’ financial literacy may improve student retention and completion rates. Before this important line of inquiry can be thoroughly examined, it is first important to understand if and how major state universities in the United States currently provide students with financial literacy education. This qualitative study investigates the existence, content, delivery modalities, and participation timing of financial literacy programs at major state institutions throughout the United States.

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA - Meet the National Security Agency (NSA) spies shaping the future

Title:

Meet the NSA spies shaping the future 

 

Author:

Patrick Howell O'Neill

Published:

Technology Review, 1 February 2022

https://www.technologyreview.com/2022/02/01/1044561/meet-the-nsa-spies-shaping-the-future/

 

From the article:

In his first interview as leader of the NSA's Research Directorate, Gil Herrera lays out challenges in quantum computing, cybersecurity, and the technology American intelligence needs to master to secure and spy into the future.  

 

Note:

Gil Herrera is the leader of the the National Security Agency's (NSA) Research Directorate.

 

National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER), USA (2021) - The Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic and Policy Responses on Excess Mortality

Title:

The Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic and Policy Responses on Excess Mortality

 

Authors:

Virat Agrawal, USC Sol Price School of Public Polict, USA

Jonathan H Cantor, RAND Corporation, USA

Neeraj Sood, Schaeffer Center for Health Policy and Economics Sol Price School of Public Policy, USA

Chritopher M Whaley, RAND Corporation, USA

 

Published:

National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER), USA, June 2021

https://www.nber.org/system/files/working_papers/w28930/w28930.pdf

[NBER Working Paper Series]

 

Abstract:

As a way of slowing COVID-19 transmission, many countries and U.S. states implemented shelter-in-place (SIP) policies. However, the effects of SIP policies on public health are a priori ambiguous as they might have unintended adverse effects on health. The effect of SIP policies on COVID-19 transmission and physical mobility is mixed. To understand the net effects of SIP policies, we measure the change in excess deaths following the implementation of SIP policies in 43 countries and all U.S. states. We use an event study framework to quantify changes in the number of excess deaths after the implementation of a SIP policy. We find that following the implementation of SIP policies, excess mortality increases. The increase in excess mortality is statistically significant in the immediate weeks following SIP implementation for the international comparison only and occurs despite the fact that there was a decline in the number of excess deaths prior to the implementation of the policy. At the U.S. state-level, excess mortality increases in the immediate weeks following SIP introduction and then trends below zero following 20 weeks of SIP implementation. We failed to find that countries or U.S. states that implemented SIP policies earlier, and in which SIP policies had longer to operate, had lower excess deaths than countries/U.S. states that were slower to implement SIP policies. We also failed to observe differences in excess death trends before and after the implementation of SIP policies based on pre-SIP COVID-19 death rates.

 

United States of America - New Alzheimer’s drug is 1st of its kind to be FDA approved [yahoo! news, June 2021]

Title:

New Alzheimer’s drug is 1st of its kind to be FDA approved

 

Published:

yahoo! news, 7 June 2021

https://news.yahoo.com/alzheimer-drug-1st-kind-fda-154200651.html

From the article:

* In a major development for patients and the biotechnology industry, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved the use of a new drug, Aduhelm (aducanumab), for treating early Alzheimer’s disease.  

 

* But the new drug, made by the biotechnology company Biogen, has been marred by controversy throughout its development history, with prominent Alzheimer's disease specialists arguing the drug's meager benefits are unlikely to outweigh the risk of serious side effects.

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA - 50 Colleges With No Student Loans, Reduced Tuition [Forbes, 22 February 2021]

 Title:

 50 Colleges With No Student Loans, Reduced Tuition

 

Author:

Zack Friedman

 

Published:

Forbes, 22 February 2021

https://www.forbes.com/sites/zackfriedman/2021/02/22/no-student-loans-50-colleges-with-reduced-or-free-tuition/?sh=5f27fc827043

 

From the article:

Here are 50 colleges that offer “no student loans,” free tuition or reduced tuition financial aid packages for undergraduates. Is this list comprehensive? No, there are many more colleges that offer similar financial aid policies.

A WorldsApaRT Interview (17 January 2021) with Walden Bello, International Adjunct Professor, State University of New York at Binghamton - Revenge of Revanche? [USA - In-depth discussion of current events/issues]

Video title:

Revenge of Revanche? Ft. Walden Bello, Intl Adjunct Professor at the State University of New York

Published:

WorldsApaRT, 17 January 2021

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IO_SKk83BcY&t=1016s

Video duration:

28:11

Video description:

Aesop’s fables implore us to be careful what we wish for, lest it come true. After four years of the insufferable Donald Trump, the Democrats are triumphantly returning to power, not only to the presidency but also - to a Congress majority. Is it a reason for celebration or for concern? To discuss this, Oksana is joined by Walden Bello, International Adjunct Professor at the State University of New York at Binghamton and author of Counterrevolution: The Global Rise of the Far-Right.

Empathy as related to gender, age, race and ethnicity, academic background and career interest: A nationwide study of osteopathic medical students in the United States [Scholarly Article - Med Educ, 2020]

Title:

Empathy as related to gender, age, race and ethnicity, academic background and career interest: A nationwide study of osteopathic medical students in the United States

 

Authors:

Mohammadreza Hojat, Jennifer DeSantis, Stephen C. Shannon, Mark R. Speicher, Lynn Bragan & Leonard H. Calabrese

Published:

Medical Education, 2 April 2020

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7317910/

Abstract:

Context 

Research on associations between medical student empathy and demographics, academic background and career interest is limited, lacks representative samples and suffers from single institutional features. This study was designed to fill the gap by examining associations between empathy in patient care, and gender, age, race and ethnicity, academic background and career interest in nationwide, multi‐institutional samples of medical students in the United States and to provide more definitive answers regarding the aforementioned associations, with more confidence in the internal and external validity of the findings.  

 

Methods 

Four nationwide samples participated in this study (n = 10 751). Samples 1, 2, 3 and 4 included 3616 first‐year, 2764 second‐year, 2413 third‐year and 1958 fourth‐year students who completed a web‐based survey at the end of the 2017‐2018 academic year. The survey included questions on demographics, academic background and career interest, the Jefferson Scale of Empathy, and the Infrequency Scale of the Zuckerman‐Kuhlman Personality Questionnaire to control for the effect of ‘good impression’ response bias.  

 

Results 

Statistically significant and practically important associations were found between empathy scores and gender (in favour of women), race and ethnicity (in favour of African‐American and Hispanic/Latino/Spanish), academic background (in favour of ‘Social and Behavioural Sciences’ and ‘Arts and Humanities’ in Samples 1 and 2) and career interest (in favour of ‘People‐Oriented’ and ‘Psychiatry’ specialties).  

 

Conclusions 

Special features of this study (eg, nationwide representative samples, use of a validated instrument for measuring empathy in patient care, statistical control for the effect of ‘good impression’ response bias, and consistency of findings in different samples from multiple institutions) provide more definitive answers to the issue of correlates of empathy in medical students and increase our confidence in the validity, reliability and generalisability of the results. Findings have implications for career counselling and targeting students who need more guidance to enhance their empathic orientation.

 

African Americans making slow but steady progress in Doctoral Degree Awards [The Journal of Blacks in Higher Education, 21 December 2020]

Title:

African Americans making slow but steady progress in Doctoral Degree Awards

 

Published:

The Journal of Blacks in Higher Education, 21 December 2020

https://www.jbhe.com/2020/12/african-americans-making-slow-but-steady-progress-in-doctoral-degree-awards/

 

From the article:

The National Science Foundation recently released its annual data on doctoral degree recipients in the United States. Data for the annual Survey of Earned Doctorates shows that universities in the United States conferred 55,693 doctorates in 2019.  

 

Of these, 3,095, or 5.6 percent, were earned by African Americans or Black students from foreign nations.

Initial economic damage from the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States is more widespread across ages and geographies than initial mortality impacts [PNAS, November 2020]

Title:

Initial economic damage from the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States is more widespread across ages and geographies than initial mortality impacts  

 

Authors:

Maria Polyakova, Geoffrey Kocks, Victoria Udalova & Amy Finkelstein 

Published:

PNAS, 10 November 2020

https://www.pnas.org/content/117/45/27934

Abstract:

The economic and mortality impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic have been widely discussed, but there is limited evidence on their relationship across demographic and geographic groups. We use publicly available monthly data from January 2011 through April 2020 on all-cause death counts from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and employment from the Current Population Survey to estimate excess all-cause mortality and employment displacement in April 2020 in the United States. We report results nationally and separately by state and by age group. Nationally, excess all-cause mortality was 2.4 per 10,000 individuals (about 30% higher than reported COVID deaths in April) and employment displacement was 9.9 per 100 individuals. Across age groups 25 y and older, excess mortality was negatively correlated with economic damage; excess mortality was largest among the oldest (individuals 85 y and over: 39.0 per 10,000), while employment displacement was largest among the youngest (individuals 25 to 44 y: 11.6 per 100 individuals). Across states, employment displacement was positively correlated with excess mortality (correlation = 0.29). However, mortality was highly concentrated geographically, with the top two states (New York and New Jersey) each experiencing over 10 excess deaths per 10,000 and accounting for about half of national excess mortality. By contrast, employment displacement was more geographically spread, with the states with the largest point estimates (Nevada and Michigan) each experiencing over 16 percentage points employment displacement but accounting for only 7% of the national displacement. These results suggest that policy responses may differentially affect generations and geographies.

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA -The impact of COVID-19 on student experiences and expectations: Evidence from a survey [Scholarly Article - Journal of Public Economics, November 2020]

Title:

The impact of COVID-19 on student experiences and expectations: Evidence from a survey

 

Authors:

Esteban M. Aucejoa, Jacob French, Maria Paola, Ugalde Araya & Basit Zafarc

 

Published:

Journal of Public Economics, Volume 191, November 2020

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0047272720301353

 

Abstract:

In order to understand the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on higher education, we surveyed approximately 1500 students at one of the largest public institutions in the United States using an instrument designed to recover the causal impact of the pandemic on students' current and expected outcomes. Results show large negative effects across many dimensions. Due to COVID-19: 13% of students have delayed graduation, 40% have lost a job, internship, or job offer, and 29% expect to earn less at age 35. Moreover, these effects have been highly heterogeneous. One quarter of students increased their study time by more than 4 hours per week due to COVID-19, while another quarter decreased their study time by more than 5 hours per week. This heterogeneity often followed existing socioeconomic divides. Lower-income students are 55% more likely than their higher-income peers to have delayed graduation due to COVID-19. Finally, we show that the economic and health related shocks induced by COVID-19 vary systematically by socioeconomic factors and constitute key mediators in explaining the large (and heterogeneous) effects of the pandemic.

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA - Study suggests possible new COVID-19 timeline in the U.S. [American Red Cross, 1 December 2020]

Title:

Study suggests possible new COVID-19 timeline in the U.S.

 

Article attributed to:

Dr Susan Stramer, vice president of Scientific Affairs at the American Red Cross

Published:

American Red Cross, 1 December 2020

Click here to read

From this article:

The findings of this study indicate that that it is possible the virus that causes COVID-19 may have been present in California, Oregon, and Washington as early as Dec. 13-16, 2019, and in Connecticut, Iowa, Massachusetts, Michigan, Rhode Island, and Wisconsin as early as Dec. 30, 2019 - Jan. 17, 2020.

Students From Sub-Saharan African Nations at U.S. Colleges and Universities, 2019-20 [The Journal of Blacks in Higher Education, 30 November 2020]

Title:

Students from Sub-Saharan African Nations at U.S. Colleges and Universities, 2019-20

 

Published:

The Journal of Blacks in Higher Education, 30 November 2020

https://www.jbhe.com/2020/11/students-from-sub-saharan-african-nations-at-u-s-colleges-and-universities-2019-20/

 

From the article:

The Institute for International Education’s new Open Doors report finds that in the 2019-20 academic year, there were 41,697 students from sub-Saharan Africa enrolled at colleges and universities in the United States.

Harvard University & Massachusetts Institute of Technology - Coronavirus: Elite universities sue over US visa ruling

Title:
Coronavirus: Elite universities sue over US visa ruling

Published:
BBC News, 8 July 2020
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-53337392

From the article:
Two elite US universities are suing immigration services over a decision to withdraw visas from foreign students whose courses move fully online.

There are more than 1 million international students in the US - International students in the United States could be made to leave the country if their universities decide to only offer online courses

Title:
There are more than 1 million international students in the US. Here's where they're from

Author:
Luke McGee & Henrik Pettersson

Published:
CNN, 7 July 2020
https://edition.cnn.com/2020/07/07/world/us-international-students-where-from-intl-gbr/index.html

From the article:
International students in the United States could be made to leave the country if their universities decide to only offer online courses, Immigration and Customs Enforcement announced on Monday night.

Several American universities, including elite institutions such as Harvard and Princeton, have already announced that some proportion of their teaching will take place online, even for students based on campus, in response to the Covid-19 pandemic, which has surged in the US in recent weeks.

Massive Saharan Dust Cloud Is Moving Across The US Turning Skies Strange Colors - And a second plume appears to be forming about a week behind the big one

Title:
Massive Saharan Dust Cloud Is Moving Across The US Turning Skies Strange Colors

Author:
Scott Denning

Published:
Science Alert, 26 June 2020
https://www.sciencealert.com/massive-saharan-dust-plume-will-bring-technicolor-sunsets-and-fewer-tropical-storms-to-the-us

From the article:
A hot desert wind is carrying a massive cloud of Saharan dust into the southern United States this week. Dust plumes from the Sahara routinely blow westward across the Atlantic at this time of year, but this event is a doozy – by some measures, the biggest in decades.

And a second plume appears to be forming about a week behind the big one.

Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL), USA - AFRL machine learning and AI experts develop models for COVID-19 decision-making

Title:
AFRL machine learning and AI experts develop models for COVID-19 decision-making

Author:
Gina Marie Giardina

Published:
Medical Xpress, 18 June 2020
https://medicalxpress.com/news/2020-06-afrl-machine-ai-experts-covid-.html

From the article:
Experts in the Air Force Research Laboratory are applying explainable machine learning and artificial intelligence approaches to develop thousands of models that could help federal, state and local decision makers as they make re-opening decisions during the COVID-19 pandemic.

United States of America - Trump puts new hiring limits on foreign staff and graduates

Title:
Trump puts new hiring limits on foreign staff and graduates

Author:
Paul Basken

Published:
Times Higher Education, 23 June 2020
https://www.timeshighereducation.com/news/trump-puts-new-hiring-limits-foreign-staff-and-graduates

From the article:
The Trump administration has announced new limits on entry visas for work-related purposes, threatening the ability of US universities to hire international staff and to entice prospective students from abroad.

International enrolment drop to cost universities US$4.5bn [University World News, 30 May 2020]

Title:
International enrolment drop to cost universities US$4.5bn

Author:
Mary Beth Marklein

Published:
University World News, 30 May 2020
https://www.universityworldnews.com/post.php?story=20200530072612612

From the article:
United States colleges and universities are bracing for declines in international student enrolments in the coming autumn (fall) semester, a prospect that could lead to a loss of revenues as high as US$4.5 billion and further slow the momentum of overseas recruitment, a pair of reports examining the impact of COVID-19 on US higher education suggest.

United States of America - AP-NORC poll: Half of Americans would get a COVID-19 vaccine [AP News, 27 May 2020]

Title:
AP-NORC poll: Half of Americans would get a COVID-19 vaccine 

Authors:
Lauran Neergaard & Hannah Fingerhut

Published:
AP News, 27 May 2020
https://apnews.com/dacdc8bc428dd4df6511bfa259cfec44

From the article:
"Only about half of Americans say they would get a COVID-19 vaccine if the scientists working furiously to create one succeed, according to a new poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research.  

That’s surprisingly low considering the effort going into the global race for a vaccine against the coronavirus that has sparked a pandemic since first emerging from China late last year."

United States of America - Nursing Homes & Assisted Living Facilities Account for 42% of COVID-19 Deaths (FREOPP, 7 May 2020, updated 22 May 2020)

Title:
Nursing Homes & Assisted Living Facilities Account for 42% of COVID-19 Deaths

Author:
Gregg Girvan

Published:
FREOPP, 7 May 2020, updated 22 May 2020
https://freopp.org/the-covid-19-nursing-home-crisis-by-the-numbers-3a47433c3f70

From the article:
Based on a new analysis of state-by-state COVID-19 fatality reports, it is clear that the most underappreciated aspect of the novel coronavirus pandemic is its effect on a specific population of Americans: those living in nursing homes and assisted living facilities.