Campus Talk: Hendrix collaborates with Chinese liberal arts college

Editor’s note: Each Tuesday, Talk Business & Politics provides “Campus Talk,” a recap and deep-dive into education topics.

HENDRIX COLLABORATES WITH CHINESE COLLEGE ON NEW STUDENT EXCHANGE, STUDY PROGRAM: Hendrix College and United International College (UIC) in Zhuhai, China, will collaborate on new study abroad opportunities, as well as student, faculty and staff exchange programs, and collaborative research projects. Under the new student exchange agreement, an equal number of Hendrix and UIC students will study at the other institution each year. Participating students will pay tuition to their home institutions and pay room and board to their host institutions. The student exchange could begin as early as the 2016-2017 academic year. Hendrix President Bill Tsutsui visited UIC this week to sign a memorandum of understanding and to attend the 10th anniversary celebration of UIC, the country’s first liberal arts college.

A-STATE IS FIRST AS NOAA ‘WEATHER-READY NATION AMBASSADOR’: Arkansas State University is the first state higher education institution to become a “Weather-Ready Nation Ambassador” for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association. By establishing a closer dialog with the National Weather Service, A-State’s safety officer Jon Carvell said the university is working to help students, faculty, staff and visitors to campus become more aware of severe weather when it threatens campus. To become a WRN Ambassador, Arkansas State maintains an active dialog with the National Weather Service and works to educate the public on weather-related information such as preparedness as well as warnings and alerts.

U.S. EDUCATION SECRETARY SAYS DEPARTMENT HAS RECEIVED MORE THAN 1,000 RACIAL HARASSMENT COMPLAINTS: The U.S. Education Department has received more than 1,000 complaints about racial harassment at colleges and universities in the last seven years, Education Secretary Arne Duncan said Friday in an essay published in The St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

Duncan wrote that, based on recent meetings with college leaders, institutions can take several steps to improve race relations on campus. He recommended that colleges issue “a statement of values” to “set the tone for students on campus.” And when incidents take place that conflict with the desired tone, Duncan said it was important for college presidents to “lead from the top.”

NASA ANNOUNCES EARLY-STAGE, UNIVERSITY AWARDS FOR U.S. SPACE PROGRAM: NASA has selected 15 university-led proposals for the study of innovative, early stage technologies that address high priority needs of America’s space program. The Early Stage Innovations awards from NASA’s Space Technology Research Grants Program are worth as much as $500,000 each. Universities have two to three years to work on their proposed research and development projects.