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Messenger-Inquirer
August 28, 2003
OCTC gets $1.8 million grant
Materials will be bought to help struggling students
A $1.8 million U.S. Department of Education grant awarded Wednesday to the
Owensboro Community and Technical College will be spent on technology and curriculum
materials to help struggling students stay in school and graduate, officials
said.
The grant will be evenly distributed over the next five years. OCTC will receive
$364,346 this year, including $70,000 that will be matched by the college yearly
and put into an endowment to sustain the programs created by the grant.
The grant, part of the department's Strengthening Institutions program, was
announced by U.S. Sen. Jim Bunning's office.
The grant will help hire at least two people -- an intervention specialist
and an instructional technology specialist -- to help the college identify and
assist students who need extra instruction in basic courses like English and
math, said Kevin Beardmore, OCTC's dean of enrollment.
Money will also go for computers and technology, professional development for
faculty, instructional materials and supplements, testing materials and multimedia
equipment.
"It will help fund all kinds of supplemental education opportunities,"
OCTC President Jacqueline Addington said. "We will take a special area
-- English, reading and writing the first year -- and integrate intervention
strategies into the curriculum that will guarantee their success."
Some of the programs put in place by the grant could evaluate the skills of
students even before they enroll, Beardmore said.
"We already do placement tests," Addington said, "but not only
will we know what courses to put students in, we'll know what specific areas
in that course that they are weak in. With the first assessment an English teacher
gives, he or she will know that this student will need supplemental instruction
in grammar, for example."
"We want to do more for students up front to know what they need so they
can get a good job after college," Beardmore said. "We're looking
to put more processes in place to make sure they have the type of skills they
need."
The Strengthening Institutions program is part of the U.S. Department of Education's
Title III Part A programs that assist eligible colleges to become self-sufficient
by providing funds to improve and strengthen their academic quality and institutional,
management and fiscal stability, according to the department's Web site.
One-year planning grants and five-year development grants are awarded. Funds
may be used for faculty development, funds and administrative management, development
and improvement of academic programs, joint use of facilities and student services.
The Cincinnati Enquirer
August 26, 2003
Crowley: Kentucky politics
Senator gets college money
Kentucky U.S. Sen. Jim Bunning, a Southgate Republican, announced that he has
secured a $32,000 planning grant for the Gateway Community and Technical College.
The money is coming through the U.S. Department of Education's Strengthening
Institutions Program and will be used by the college to create a development
plan that will include identifying and analyzing potential long-term improvements.
The Chronicle of Higher Education
August 28, 2003
Research-Fraud Investigation Leads to 4 More Departures From Northern Kentucky
U.
The Board of Regents of Northern Kentucky University on Tuesday accepted the
resignation of two finance professors, fired an economics professor, and accepted
the retirement of another economics professor -- all of whom the university
said were involved in a research-fraud scandal that it had investigated for
18 months. Another finance professor, Shailendra Verma, who was at the heart
of the fraud charges, resigned last February.
The three finance professors who were involved in the scandal constituted the
entire finance department, which the university has merged with the economics
department.
The university accused the five professors of fabricating data in scholarly
papers, duplicating large chunks of their own work in several papers, plagiarizing
the work of others, and listing as authors professors at Northern Kentucky who
did not contribute to the articles. The university investigated 23 papers on
such topics as investment returns in foreign markets and international influence
on American stock markets. Mr. Verma, who had been chairman of the finance department,
was the lead author on most of the papers, which were written from 1995 to 2001.
A report the university released to The Chronicle says that the same sets of
data and results were used in multiple papers but attributed to different studies.
The report also cites paragraphs that were duplicated in several papers.
During a meeting on Tuesday, the board accepted the resignations of Anju Ramjee
and Balasubramani Ramjee, who are married and had been professors in the finance
department since 1988. In most of the 23 papers that the university examined,
the Ramjees were listed as co-authors with Mr. Verma.
The board also fired Richard S. Snyder, who had been an assistant professor
of economics since 1978 and had been listed as an author on two papers. The
regents accepted the retirement, effective next spring, of Louis E. Noyd, who
had been a professor of economics since 1972 and had been a co-author on five
papers.
Zach Gottesman, a lawyer for Balasubramani Ramjee, said the professor and his
wife had known Mr. Verma since his undergraduate days at Northern Kentucky.
When Mr. Verma returned to the university as a professor, said Mr. Gottesman,
the Ramjees collaborated with him on scholarly papers, helping him frame his
ideas. As a result, they were listed as co-authors. But the Ramjees, said Mr.
Gottesman, did not write the papers or even carefully read them, and did not
realize Mr. Verma had falsified data or duplicated passages.
"They took for granted the integrity of the work, and that was a mistake,"
said Mr. Gottesman. "That was a neglect of their duty."
Neither Mr. Verma nor his lawyer could be reached for comment. But the report
the university released quotes Mr. Verma as saying that he had felt pressed
to produce too many research papers. "I was put under tremendous pressure
to do 7, 8, 10 [papers] in a year, and there was no way I could do that,"
Mr. Verma told university investigators. "I was running out of ideas."
Mr. Snyder could not be reached for comment. Kenneth W. Scott, a lawyer for
Mr. Noyd, said the professor had checked economic data used in some of the papers
but was not guilty of research fraud. The university "said he should have
known" about the fabrications, said Mr. Scott. "He was forced to retire."
James C. Votruba, the university's president, said in a statement on Tuesday
that "the board has sent a clear message that they expect the faculty of
this university to uphold the highest standards of professional conduct."
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