Stacks of SAT-prep books may soon be a memory for high-school students. Kaplan Test Prep, founded in 1938 to help students prepare for the SATs, has partnered with Apple to produce iPod-based SAT preparation programs. Citing the ubiquitous nature of iPods among today's high school-age population, Kaplan announced recently that it would be introducing three programs available through iTunes in critical reading, mathematics and writing -- the three sections of the SAT. The programs retail for $4.99 each. Kaplan is also making other attempts to modernize test preparation, creating a Myspace page and a series of graphic novels.
Samantha Ivery was appointed as Dartmouth's Adviser to Black Students and Assistant Dean of Student Life in the Office of Pluralism and Leadership this week. She last worked for Haverford College as Coordinator of Multicultural Programs and Mentor of International Students, where she oversaw a multicultural orientation program and a cross-cultural immersion trip to Ghana. Before taking the position at Haverford, Ivery worked as a community director for the Office of Residential Life and as Interim Advisor to Black Students from July 2002 to July 2006. She also serves on the Directorate of the Committee on Multicultural Affairs for the American College Personnel Association.
Dartmouth was one of several institutions that collectively won a bid from the Department of Energy to create a $125 million research laboratory at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee. The lab will combine experts in agriculture, engineering and chemistry to search for ways to convert cellulose, a chemical found in all plants, into biofuels. Methods the team will investigate include genetically modifying plants like switchgrass and poplar to make their cellulose more susceptible to breakdown and consolidated bioprocessing in which the cellulose-to-fuel conversion occurs in one step.
