Turtles live life slower, which is why they live it longer, says Earlham professor of biology John Iverson in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Turtles and tortoises hibernate and sleep a great deal, but some say that their longevity may be due to factors other than extremely slow metabolism.

A feature story in the Chronicle of Higher Education on 'stealth applicants,' those students whose first contact with a college or university is when their electronic application shows up in the admissions office in box, are challenging traditional wisdom about what makes a prospect apply. Earlham's Dean of Admissions and Financial Aid, Jeff Rickey, has been on top of the stealth trend for several years and serves as one of the lead experts in the story. You may also read our original coverage of stealth trends at Earlham.

According to an article in today's Chicago Tribune, a record number of students are applying for admission to college this year, but not all will get in. In fact, it's a banner year for rejection letters. These letters range from perfunctory form letters to the "gentle" letter sent from the Earlham College admissions office. The article describes the letter and quotes Earlham Director of Admissions Nancy Sinex.

Earlham President Douglas C. Bennett was asked to be the luncheon speaker at a gathering of student loan company representatives at the Consumer Bankers Association conference in the Washington, D.C. suburbs in late February. Bennett's forthright presentation, which he ended with a PowerPoint slide asking the bankers "Are you part of the problem? Or part of the solution?" had such an impact that the Chronicle of Higher Education reported the speech as a major "Government & Politics" story in the most recent issue.

SPEECH NOW AVAILABLE: President Doug Bennett's speech and PowerPoint presentation are now available by request. To receive a PDF version, please e-mail Director of Media Relations Mark Blackmon.

According to a USA Today/Gannett News Service story focusing on alumni giving, colleges and universities across the country are trying to build a bond with students before they graduate from the institution. Earlham Vice President for Institutional Advancement Jim McKey notes in the story that the College has found that continuing to connect alumni to the school yields results when soliciting contributions but that diligence is the key in keeping up with tech-savvy mobile grads.

The Columbus Dispatch reported on the week's upcoming lunar eclipse which, if the skies are clear on Wednesday evening, February 20, will be the first such lunar event visible in the region since 2004. Lunar eclipses have fascinated mankind since prehistoric times. One group, the Hopewell people, created earthworks, "moon mounds," in Ohio which turned out to be a highly accurate lunar observatory. The purpose of the earthworks and their lunar alignment was first discovered, as the article points out, by EC Physics professor Ray Hively and retired prof Ray Horn.

Earlham's frugal facilities director Alan Bigger is the subject of a profile on NewsLink Indiana. Bigger also relates a few of his frugal living tips from the recently-published book Frugalisms. A video clip, broadcast on Indiana Public Broadcasting accompanies the story above. Read our original story on Alan Bigger.

Wayne State University history professor Denver Brunsman contributes a moving essay on self-reflection and unfulfilled career goals in today's Inside Higher Ed. Brunsman tells of two recent deaths which affected him profoundly -- those of his father and Earlham's Bob Southard, a colleague at Chicago's Newberry Library. The article also provides a link to Earlham's online memorial to Southard.

When Earlham College Dean of Admissions and Financial Aid Jeff Rickey completed an interview with The Chronicle of Higher Education reporter Elizabeth Farrell, she asked if Rickey could supply her with photographs of the Earlham admissions office during the busy January season. The Chronicle liked Rickey's work enough to include two photos with the print version of the article. Though he has an impressive and diverse resume, Rickey reports that this will be the first time that he will be able to add "nationally-published photojournalist" to his vita. Rickey's photos of Stella Abagyan and Kim Wills can be found on page A20 of the January 25, 2008 edition of The Chronicle of Higher Education.

Earlham President Doug Bennett, also the current president of the North Coast Athletic Association, weighs in on hoped-for changes within NCAA Division III athletics in an article in Inside Higher Ed. It's been 35 years since the NCAA has made major changes in membership, and in that time Division III membership has surged. The diverse philosophies of so many schools, says Bennett, "make life increasingly awkward."

Responding to an opinion piece in Inside Higher Ed, Earlham President Douglas C. Bennett says that the argument put forth by W. Kent Barnds of Augustana College is "all about competitiveness and says little about the educational values that should guide how we fit intercollegiate sports into our mission." Dr. Bennett's writing on the subject of Division III athletics includes this June 2007 article in The Chronicle of Higher Education.

More Americans are growing old without significant disabilities, says a recent article syndicated by McClatchy Tribune. Profiled in the article, which ran in major papers such as the Houston Chronicle, Detroit Free Press, St. Paul Pioneer-Press, and the Sacramento Bee, were 91-year-old NPR news analyst Daniel Schorr and Earlham College President Emeritus Landrum Bolling, 94, the "globe-trotting director at large for the relief agency Mercy Corps."

Inside Higher Ed reports today that the movement started in the psychology department at Earlham College calling for the American Psychological Association to take a stronger stand against its members participating in interrogations that might deny basic human rights to prisoners continues to grow. Previous Inside Higher Ed coverage of this story found here. ALSO: Read our original story and the resolution here.

After spending 40 years at Earlham College, the skeletal remains of an approximately 140-million-year-old Allosaurus fragilis, has been reassembled by a team from the Cincinnati Museum Center's Museum of Natural History and Science according to this article from the Cincinnati Enquirer. The allosaurus came to Earlham in the early 1960s from Utah's Cleveland-Lloyd Dinosaur Quarry but was never assembled. The museum purchased the bones from Earlham several years ago.

Jay W. Marshall, dean of the Earlham School of Religion and author of the new book Thanking & Blessing - The Sacred Art, says that Thanksgiving shouldn't be left to degenerate into a time for "stuffing ourselves or watching parades and football" in a wire service article from Religion News Service and published in multiple papers across the country. Thankfulness and counting blessings can have a restorative impact. Marshall says, "Thanksgiving heals our injured spirits, and when we share thanksgiving with others it also contributes to their well-being."

EC Dean of Admissions and Financial Aid Jeff Rickey is quoted extensively in the Fall 2007 edition of The Lawlor Review, one of the preeminent publications for higher education leaders. In the report "The Year in Review: A Brave New World of College Admissions," Rickey comes out strongly against ranking of colleges and universities, comments on the rise of "stealth applicants" and says that admissions officers need to stay out of student social networking sites such as MySpace and Facebook. NOTE: This link is for a pdf download.

The Indianapolis Star notes that while an IMAX film on Egytian mummies is playing at the Indiana State Museum, the only place where Hoosiers can see an actual mummy is Richmond. There are two mummies in the state. One is on display at the Wayne County Historical Museum and the other is on the Earlham campus in the Joseph Moore Museum.

The Indianapolis Star's latest college guide notes that high school juniors still have plenty of time to show colleges that they can compete at a selective post secondary school. There's plenty of good advice and timely tips in the article from Earlham's Director of Admissions, Nancy Sinex, who says "Colleges want a trajectory that's going from 'C' work toward upper 'B' and 'A' work...."

For EC Computing Services Director Tom Steffes, life outside of the office doesn't bear much resemblance to life inside the office. The Muncie Star-Press profiles Steffes and his wife, Dawn, who, with their four sons, raise most of their own food on their Indiana farmstead.

Hillary Carter split the uprights for an extra point in the Quakers' 31-14 victory at Hiram on Oct. 27. The junior from Middletown, Ohio, is the first female student-athlete to play in a football game for Earlham. For more information on Hillary, see our original profile.

Earlham College has been joined by Guilford College as their Psychology departments pass resolutions condemning the American Psychological Association's policy on interrogations. The story has appeared in Inside Higher Ed, The Chronicle of Higher Education, on the Democracy Now program as well as in the blogosphere. Our original story is here.

Earlham's Joanna Swanger, director of peace and global studies, has been quoted in The American Prospect in a new article about the response of the religious left to the wars American troops are currently participating in. Progressive Protestants are struggling, says the article, to reconcile their support for the troops and a moral opposition to war.

In an interview published in the Sept. 30, 2007 edition of the New York Times magazine, Lloyd Thacker, founder of the Education Conservancy, is asked to name schools that he thinks are "good schools." Thacker dodges a bit before listing Earlham in his list of six underrated schools. Thacker's group questions rankings and commerical influence in the admissions process.

Earlham President Douglas C. Bennett was one of 100 leaders participating in an hour-long, interfaith encounter with Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad at the Church Center for the United Nations in New York on Wednesday, Sept. 26, 2007. The gathering was organized by the Mennonite Central Committee and endorsed by the American Friends Service Committee and the Friends Committee on National Legislation, among others. This is the third in a series of conversations focused on establishing a dialogue between people of faith in the United States and the people and government of Iran. Known as “peace churches” for their historic witness to nonviolence, Mennonites and Quakers have long been at the forefront of international movements for peace and reconciliation. Continuing a strong commitment to Earlham’s mission to “engage the world,” Bennett was the only Indianan invited to take part in this dialog, according to the United Nations Liaison Office of the Mennonite Central Committee. You can read about this historic meeting in the New York Times or USA Today.

For the second day this week, Earlham's Doug Bennett has been at the forefront of the nation's higher education news reporting. Today, Inside Higher Ed quoted Bennett, participating in an audio press conference held this week after the "Beyond Rankings" conference at Yale University. The Web sites are "tremendous steps forward," says Bennett referring to the U.S. Department of Education's College Navigator and U-CAN, launched today by the National Association of Independent Colleges and Universities (NAICU), "but we need to do better than that. They end up being fairly passive measures that project information to students."

In a USA Today report on the launch of a new Education Department Web site which it considers to be more user-friendly and accessible to low-income students, Earlham President Douglas C. Bennett says that he sees no “real harm” in improving the Web site College Navigator, but says there is more to be done. Looking to minimize the influence of U.S. News & World Report rankings, Bennett says, “this is the beginning of a very important, long conversation.”

David Keyes ’02 discusses in the Christian Science Monitor how the universal game of soccer has very different meanings. In the article Win or Lose, It's How You Say The Game, Keyes says “English soccer, for example, is to Argentinian soccer as country music is to rap.” Noting the importance of linguistics Keyes states, “soccer may be the simplest and most universal sport,” but it also, “shows how language causes people around the world to see the game very differently.” This article first appeared on his blog, Culture of Soccer.

Earlham's Director of Japan Study, Gary DeCoker gives his guide for entry-level administrators embarking on careers in higher education in the Sept. 21 edition of the Chronicle of Higher Education. DeCoker suggests keeping relationships with students professional, but urges administrators to “make the most of each interaction with a student” and to “take the time each situation requires, no matter how busy you may be.”

Earlham President Douglas C. Bennett continues to be one the country's most vocal critics of college rankings, such as those compiled annually by U.S. News & World Report (USNWR). Today, at Inside Higher Ed, Bennett expresses "dismay" at his fellow college presidents who refuse to stop filling out USNWR's "reputational survey" and challenged them to explain why they believe the magazine's approach is valid. Bennett was one of the original 12 signatories of a letter circulated in May urging colleagues to stop filling out the reputational survey and stop using USNWR rankings in promotional efforts. For previous coverage, see the June 22, 2007 entry in this category. You may read Dr. Bennett's remarks to the Annapolis Group on rankings here.

An interview with the editors of Founded by Friends: The Quaker Heritage of Fifteen American Colleges and Universities posted at insidehighered.com notes the contributions of Thomas D. Hamm, Earlham history professor and archivist. Hamm finds "no consensus" on the issue of what makes a Quaker college distinctively Quaker. Article also links to a site where you can purchase the volume. Later in the week, Hamm was quoted again in a Religion News Service story about contemporary Quakerism which ran in papers across the country.

Earlham College Professor of Philosophy Peter Suber talked with Global Politician about copyright law and recent developments in the free online scholarship movement which makes scientific and scholarly literature available online at no charge.

Earlham alumna Mara Vanderslice '97 is profiled as a part of the Time magazine cover story "How the Democrats Got Religion" in its July 23, 2007, edition. Vanderslice, who worked in the Howard Dean and John Kerry campaigns in 2004, is busy trying to convince Democratic party officials that being religious or having faith does not have to equal being conservative or betraying liberal political ideals.

Alaskan Artist Sarah Asper-Smith ’02 was profiled in a July 9 Juneau Empire article about her series of designs depicting the collective nouns for an alphabet worth of animals. The art pieces feature animal silhouettes set against brightly colored backgrounds and visually represent such evocative turns of phrase as “a bloat of hippopotamuses” and “a flutter of butterflies.” Asper-Smith’s creations are available on t-shirts, greeting cards and prints. A children’s book version of the entire series is in the works.

Sophomore Jenny Lawson was featured in the South Bend Tribune for her role in a far-reaching campaign against the practice of chaining up or penning dogs for long periods of time. From 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. on July 7, Lawson wore a dog collar tethered to the porch of her family’s home. Many animal experts believe that prolonged chaining of dogs increases the animals’ anxiety, encourages excessive barking and leads to aggressive behavior towards strangers. Lawson is one of at least 100 people from across the United States and Canada who participated in the protest.

Jay Roberts, director of wilderness programs and instructor in education at Earlham, was quoted in a June 28, 2007 article in The Washington Post about the Seri, one of the last truly autonomous tribes in Mexico. “They’re a case study for what’s happening to indigenous people around the world,” says Roberts.

Doug Bennett has become a prominent national spokesman in debate over college rankings as dozens of liberal arts colleges have decided to stop participating in U.S. News & World Report’s “reputational survey” and to quit mentioning ranking results in their marketing materials. Bennett has recently been quoted in an article published by CNN.com and interviewed at length on National Public Radio.

In the June 8 edition of The Chronicle of Higher Education, Earlham President Doug Bennett calls on the National Collegiate Athletic Association to regroup Division III members on the basis of their approach to fitting intercollegiate athletics into the undergraduate experience. Bennett also serves as chairman of the President’s Council of the North Coast Athletic Conference. (pdf download)

USA Today notes in a May 29 editorial that Earlham’s Doug Bennett is among a group of college presidents stepping forward to take a collective stand against the US News & World Report rankings. Earlier, a letter from The Education Conservancy helped unite the presidents.

Doug Bennett and 11 colleagues are sending a letter to hundreds of liberal arts college presidents and asking them not to participate in the U.S. News and World Report rankings survey. The Earlham president’s view is noted in the May 7 edition of Inside Higher Ed.

Doug Bennett is a co-author of a letter asking college presidents not to participate in the U.S. News and World Report rankings survey. The Earlham president’s view is noted in The Chronicle of Higher Education and USA Today.

Earlham, which joins institutions such as Princeton University and Wellesley College as a “cluster school” in the Davis United World College Scholars Program, is featured prominently on the Davis Web site’s home page. Beginning in 2008, students at cluster schools qualify for a grant of up to $20,000 per scholar, a wonderful opportunity for UWC students at Earlham. International Admissions Director Musa Khalidi says that what both draws and keeps world students here is the College’s Quaker-based focus on openness and mutual support. This article also appeared in print in Davis’ 2006-07 annual report.

An op-ed by David Keyes ‘02 titled “Classroom Caste System” was published in the April 9 edition of The Washington Post. Now a second-grade teacher at Bel Pre Elementary School in Silver Spring, Md., the Earlham alumnus asks members of Congress to “consider the unintended consequence of the act: a new gap between poor and minority students.”

Doug Bennett is a co-author of a letter asking college presidents not to participate in the U.S. News and World Report rankings survey. The Earlham president’s view is noted in The Chronicle of Higher Education and USA Today.

Video of Joey Katona, a first-year student at the University of Virginia, discussing his fundraising initiative for Omar Dreidi, a first-year student at Earlham College. (Video is from the University of Virginia.)

“Intellectual labor is her life’s work” is a profile of Sarah Hernandez ‘88, an associate professor at New College of Florida, in the Feb. 26 edition of the Sarasota (Fla.) Herald-Tribune.

An alleged attack on international students by other students at Guilford College — a Quaker-informed institution in North Carolina — caused InsideHigherEd.com to consider what Quaker values mean in the campus environment. Earlham President Doug Bennett was among those contributing some answers.

With the majority in Congress set to change for the first time since 1995, New York Times writer David D. Kirkpatrick profiles political “rising star” and Earlham alumna Mara Vanderslice ‘97, credited by Democratic party pollsters and strategists with helping a number of their candidates to victory in 2006 by “building a religious component in the practical campaign work.” Read more from the International Herald Tribune.

For more than a dozen years each Yuletide, National Public Radio correspondent Daniel Schorr consulted the National Defense Council Foundation’s official “conflict list” — an ongoing chronicle of war and other violence in regions around the world — to also try to guage the status of peace on earth. Several years ago, however, the foundation stopped keeping its conflict list, contending that “terrorist organizations disregard boundaries” and that, hence, “solely counting state-to-state conflicts or internal state conflicts leaves the total count incomplete and inaccurate.” Consequently this holiday season, NPR reporter Andrea Seabrook was left to consider, “If war has become indescribable, what is peace?” On Christmas Eve, she put the question to Paul Lacey, emeritus professor of English at Earlham and currently presiding clerk of the American Friends Service Committee, the Nobel Peace Prize-winning Quaker organization committed to advancing international peace.

New York Newsday writer Dave Marcus examines the current state — and relative importance — of the college admission essay, as more colleges make providing SAT scores “optional” and some students pay writing coaches “$200 an hour to revise 500-word essays.” Marcus reveals that Earlham still values the application essay, but as just one part of a prospective student’s overall admissions score. He also shares advice from Earlham Dean of Admissions and Financial Aid Jeff Rickey about avoiding tired themes in the “Four Ds” and the “Five Ss.” Read more

“Assessment” is the new darling of U.S. Education Secretary Margaret Spellings’ Commission on the Future of Higher Education — in which case, writes national higher education reporter Mary Beth Marklein, Earlham has little to worry about. President Doug Bennett also is quoted in Marklein’s edition-leading article “Should Government Take a Yardstick to Colleges?”