When Stephanie Burt decided to carry a pink and blue Taylor Swift tote bag to class one day in fall 2023, she just thought it would be a fun way to transport her books and laptop, and let her students know she was a Swiftie. The Donald P. and Katherine B. Loker Professor of English had no idea that just one semester later she would be teaching a Taylor Swift lecture course to 200 undergraduates
Tell Us We want to hear from job seekers in Massachusetts about how long you've been looking - and what your experience has been like in today's market. Recent layoffs, tough competition, and slow job growth rates have made this one of the most challenging job markets in years for Massachusetts residents. If you're actively looking for a job right now, we'd like to hear from you. How long have you been on the hunt - weeks, months, a year or more?
In today's job market, employers want more than enthusiasm. They want professionals who can analyse data, manage teams, and deliver results. Postgraduate study can build those career-ready skills, preparing individuals for leadership and specialist roles in industries ranging from healthcare to technology. Institutions like the Walbrook Institute London reflect this change. Their postgraduate pathways go beyond classroom knowledge. They are designed to help individuals build the practical skills needed for today's professional environments, where careers demand more than enthusiasm.
In a blog post, Redmond said a cybercrime crew it tracks as Storm-2657 has been targeting university employees since March 2025, hijacking salaries by breaking into HR software such as Workday. The attack is as audacious as it is simple: compromise HR and email accounts, quietly change payroll settings, and redirect pay packets into attacker-controlled bank accounts. Microsoft has dubbed the operation "payroll pirate," a nod to the way crooks plunder staff wages without touching the employer's systems directly.
"However, it's important to note that any SaaS systems storing HR or payment and bank account information could be easily targeted with the same technique," Microsoft researchers said. "These attacks don't represent any vulnerability in the Workday platform or products, but rather financially motivated threat actors using sophisticated social engineering tactics and taking advantage of the complete lack of multifactor authentication (MFA) or lack of phishing-resistant MFA to compromise accounts."
As the Supreme Court begins its new term this week, legal experts predict that higher education will be a frequent subject for the justices. Yet only two college-related cases-both of which center on transgender rights-are currently listed on the main docket. That's in large part because of a less formal but increasingly popular second list of cases known as the shadow docket. Historically, the shadow docket, also called the emergency docket, was used on rare occasions for just that-emergencies.
"Phoenix Education Partners, parent company of the for-profit University of Phoenix, which announced its IPO plans one day before the shutdown began, said on Wednesday that it has priced its shares at $32. That's the midpoint of its earlier targeted range of between $31 and $33 a share. The company intends to list on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) under the "PXED" ticker symbol. Selling shareholders will offer roughly 4.3 million shares of its common stock,"
The fee, the complaint states, "will result in significant and potentially catastrophic setbacks to research that benefits the American public and ensures the United States remains a leading source of innovation and expertise. For example, the fee will likely result in sharp cutbacks in the employment of highly talented foreign workers and severe setbacks for university research, graduate programs, and clinical care, compounding an anticipated shortfall of 5.3 million skilled workers over the next decade."
This year's Banned Books Week (Oct. 5-11) comes at a moment when the threat of censorship is reaching alarming heights. According to a new report issued last week by PEN America, " Banned in the USA, 2024-2025," there were 22,810 instances of book banning in U.S. public schools from 2021 to 2025. As the coordinator of Chicago Banned Books Week, I can see a growing climate of fear where even some librarians are wary of promoting banned books.
For students at Gettysburg College in Pennsylvania, alumni mentors are becoming embedded in their experience. A recently launched mentorship program pairs each rising junior with a graduate from the college to provide advice and encouragement as they finish their last two years of college. The initiative, part of Gettysburg's reimagining of career development, helps students build a professional network before they leave college and hopefully eases the transition into life after graduation, said Billy Ferrell, director of external relations in Gettysburg's Center for Career Engagement.
A Reagan-appointed judge has issued a scathing ruling rebuking the Trump administration's targeting of pro-Palestine students. Judge William G. Young called the case AAUP v. Rubio "perhaps the most important ever to fall within the jurisdiction of this district court" and ruled that contrary to the State Department's claims, "non-citizens lawfully present here in [the] United States actually have the same free speech rights as the rest of us."
The Supreme Court's decision in 2023's Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard didn't just signal the end of affirmative action in higher education in the United States; it also launched a thousand lethal torpedoes at diversity and equity programs across the country. This case turbocharged a whole new way of thinking about colorblindness and the Constitution, and its ripple effects have been felt beyond education-in the C-suite, in the military, and more.
