It is clear that the tragic events at Virginia Tech and other institutions of higher education (IHEs) have brought threat assessment to the forefront of higher education literature and increased public concern for campus safety. IHEs have a profound duty to learn from the Virginia Tech tragedy and to recognize their responsibility in providing a…

Although service learning provides unparalleled real world experiential student learning opportunities and benefits to four major constituencies--student, faculty, community and institution, it takes place in an uncontrolled environment introducing uncertainty into the instructional process. Faculty might avoid this valuable approach to…

Concerns about children's online safety have evolved from protecting them to focusing on encouraging positive social norms, transmitting effective skills, and encouraging students to be helpful allies. In fact, federal law now requires schools that receive funding to educate students about cyber safety. Nancy Willard integrates her expertise in…

In our diverse and interconnected world, expanding students' horizons beyond the classrooms and laboratories of home campuses is increasingly important. Even some of the brightest honors students remain naïve to the causes and ramifications of current world events and lack the necessary intercultural skills to become effective ethical leaders with…

Much of our critical infrastructure is controlled by large software systems whose participants are distributed across the Internet. As our dependence on these critical systems continues to grow, it becomes increasingly important that they meet strict availability and performance requirements, even in the face of malicious attacks, including those…

Information security threats to educational institutions and their data assets have worsened significantly over the past few years. The rich data stores of institutional research are especially vulnerable, and threats from security breaches represent no small risk. New genres of threat require new kinds of controls if the institution is to prevent…

In a context where more than 1,000,000 American adolescents are processed by juvenile courts annually and approximately 160,000 are sent to residential placements, this paper examines "what works" and "what doesn't work" in reducing the criminal behavior of juvenile offenders and presents examples of government initiatives that have successfully…

Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) has been known by other names and not well studied prior to returning Vietnam veterans who suffered psychological dysfunction. However, the term PTSD became part of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual for Mental Disorders in 1981. Since that time PTSD has been researched extensively in veterans. However,…

A business that depends on a fleet of vehicles to deliver its products or services to customers usually recognizes the risk that comes with driving from one place to another. To an organization that does not see movement as part of its main mission, however, the need to consider transportation liability may be less obvious. In today's litigious…

Negotiation skills are vital for concluding international treaties on subjects ranging from arms agreements, and rights in outer space to trade agreements. Yet the importance of being able to negotiate effectively is not limited to international treaties or crises situations. Using negotiation exercises represents a student-centered approach to…

Lapses in supervision of children can happen in all types of programs, and even a momentary lapse can have disastrous consequences. When a lapse occurs that affects program quality and puts children at risk, it is critical to consider the nature of the incident and its lessons for future risk management. Between September 2006 and September 2009,…

This survey was jointly conducted by the Association of Governing Boards of Universities and Colleges (AGB) and United Educators (UE) and reports data on attitudes, practices and policies regarding enterprise risk management among American colleges and universities. The survey was completed by more than 600 respondents in June 2008. The population…

Higher education today is facing its own financial challenge. Conditions are grim nationwide. The fiscal climate exacerbates the pressure on colleges and universities to provide more resources and services--with less funding. For information technology (IT) professionals, the economic downturn presents an opportunity to stop, reprioritize, and…

In February 2009, the World Health Organization (WHO) reported that the cholera epidemic in Zimbabwe had claimed 3,300 lives and infected 66,000 people--greater than the toll of that disease in the whole of Africa in most years. How is it possible that a disease such as cholera can have such a devastating effect in modern times? How should one…

The nutrition environment in schools can influence the risk for childhood overweight and obesity, which in turn can have life-long implications for risk of chronic disease. This dissertation aimed to examine the nutrition environment in primary public schools in California with regards to the amount of nutrition education provided in the…