OPA has selected these articles based on topics being reflected in national conversations. If you have selections to share, please forward them to rcvoris@alaska.edu, understanding that the articles need to be accessible to all without membership restrictions.

By Kristen Domonell

As a result of March’s sequestration, colleges and universities are starting to figure out how to deal with government cuts from student loan funding and the trickle down of major cuts to agencies that support the bulk of institutional research and development. Tribal colleges and universities, Hispanic-serving institutions, and historically black colleges and universities have even more to contend with than the average school with cuts from separate federal grant funding they rely on to operate. MORE...

By Debra Houry

This month high-school seniors have been frantically submitting their college applications for the January deadlines. Students aspire for acceptance into a reputable college, yet how do they determine which one is the best for them? Many of them turn for guidance to U.S. News & World Report and other resources that rank institutions.

Unfortunately, those "one size fits all" rankings, which are influential to both students and institutions, are often poorly designed and untrustworthy. MORE...

by Mary Beth Marklein

Parents and their high school students are fascinated by the grade point average and what it means in college admissions, but the truth is that a number of colleges and universities are not all that interested.

Admissions officers at some of the nation's most selective colleges, who are now sending acceptance letters for their fall freshman classes, say they barely look at an applicant's GPA. MORE...

By Kevin Carey

In 1972, Clark Kerr was, once again, helping shape the future of American higher education. He was 61 years old, and his greatest works lay behind him. The California Master Plan for Higher Education, which he helped broker in 1960, would become the model for organizing public colleges and universities. The Uses of the University, delivered 50 years ago this April as the Godkin Lecture at Harvard University, became one of those rare books that both predicted and, through sheer force of insight, created the future. MORE...

by Nate Kreuter

I’m more or less perpetually awed by how poorly we academics take care of ourselves much of the time. Sometimes I think that, almost by definition, the typical scholar-teacher is a neurotic who routinely puts work before his or her own health. Unnecessarily. Perhaps this is why I frequently find myself writing about self-care issues, because I’m worried about the ways in which many of us routinely neglect our own physical, mental, and emotional health. MORE...