Librarian Leaves $4 million endowment to the University of New Hampshire

At the University of New Hampshire (UNH), retired librarian, Robert Morin, passed away March of 2015 and left an endowment of $4 million to the school. Morin’s financial advisor, Edward Mullen, revealed that Morin saved this money by being frugal and staying home for a majority of his time. Morin, an UNH alum, decided to leave his savings to the school. The only specified gift by Morin was $100,000 specifically for the Dimond Library. The rest Morin said, would be in good hands for the school to decide, reiterated by Mullen. President Mark Huddleston announced that $2.5 million will be used to renovate a new student career center; another million will be used for a video scoreboard.

Boston University stands against climate change

On Tuesday, Sept. 20, Boston University revealed they will cease investments in coal and tar sands to solidify a stance against climate change. President Robert A. Brown announced by letter that they will limit but not entirely ban investments to build a more environmentally friendly campus and community. A full ban was blocked by benefactors that share mutual bonds as well as protests by students and faculty. However, some community members are not satisfied with the partial ban. Divestment has been cause of heated debates at BU.

STEM initiative at UMass Lowell

UMass Lowell has recently been awarded a grant of $3.5 million from the National Science Foundation to offer women greater opportunities in science, technology, engineering, and math fields. The new Making WAVES initiative will introduce a system to hire new female faculty members and provide training, receive feedback, and research new hiring methods. One of the primary objectives is to analyze micro-aggressions and biases against women in the STEM workforce. The presiding members of the initiative at UMass Lowell hope that the research will become accessible to other institutions to improve opportunities in the STEM fields.

Southern New Hampshire University plans to recover Daniel Webster College

Southern New Hampshire University (SNHU) revealed there is a plan in discussion to recover Daniel Webster College (DWC), led by SNHU President Paul LeBlanc. Daniel Webster’s parent company, ITT Technical Institute, has now reached a teach-out agreement, which will allow students and faculty to remain at DWC and pursue their desired course of studies. The intention is to move all employees to the SNHU payroll. Underclassmen will receive SNHU diplomas while seniors will earn DWC diplomas. The process had been criticized by many students but Leblanc has stated that students care and education is a top priority. Acquiring DWC will allow SNHU’s STEM fields to expand. LeBlanc is particularly interested in bringing Aviation Studies to SNHU. Problems may ensue in the acquisition if ITT files for bankruptcy.