Women are being rejected at a much higher rate than men to many U.S. colleges, according to an article in U.S. News and World Report. At the University of Richmond, for example, the female admissions rate over the past decade has been on average 13 percentage points lower than the male admissions rate, a direct result of the need to maintain the 49 percent male and 51 percent female ratio necessitated by the availability of on-campus housing, according to the college. The study found that at the most competitive colleges, including Harvard, Duke and Rice, gender parity occurs naturally as the schools skim the admissions pools for only the strongest applicants, but the issue of maintaining a gender balance plays a major role at second-tier schools, like Boston College, Tufts and Welsleyan University. Across the board, women graduate from high school at a higher rate than men, and currently comprise 57 percent of college students. The article, published June 17th, examined admissions data from more than 1,400 four-year colleges and universities.
"Cultures of Migration," a conference examining Italian immigration, was held at Dartmouth this past weekend. The conference welcomed a breadth of professionals including geographers, anthropologists, literary specialists, film experts and sociologists. Taking an interdisciplinary approach and examining migration from a number of different angles, "Cultures of Migration" was the first academic gathering of its kind to take place in the U.S.
The National Institute of Health awarded two Dartmouth Medical School (DMS) professors with MERIT Awards, effective May 1 of this year. MERIT Awards, an acronym for Method to Extend Research in Time, are granted based on competence and productivity. Dr. Charles Barlowe, professor of biochemistry, and Dr. Ron Taylor, professor of microbiology and immunology, join the ranks of nine other DMS faculty members who have received MERIT Awards since 1990. Barlowe's work focuses on intracellular transport, observing how proteins and hormones travel though cells, while Taylor is working to develop new strategies to vaccinate against cholera.
