DC Digest - October 22, 2010

In Today's Issue:

  • Senator Kaufman to Stay in Public Service While Returning to Duke Law
  • DOE-funded Research Helps U.S. Industry Compete
  • Teenage Winners of Duke-Administered Competition Visit White House
  • Commercialization of University Research
  • More College-Age Voters May Sit Out of Elections as Their Approval of Obama Drops
  • Arne Duncan Opinion: Is Competitiveness a Zero-Sum Game?
  • Obama Signs Executive Order Enhancing Hispanic Education Initiative
  • For-Profit Schools Lobby to Avoid Proposed Federal Aid Rule
  • Duke Law Weekend in DC

SENATOR KAUFMAN TO STAY IN PUBLIC SERVICE WHILE RETURNING TO DUKE LAW
The end of one of the most unique political careers draws nigh, but U.S. Sen. Ted Kaufman (D-Del.) will keep busy when Republican Christine O’Donnell or Democrat Chris Coons replaces him on Nov. 15. Kaufman was appointed to his seat by former Gov. Ruth Ann Minner for two years after former U.S. Sen. Joe Biden, a fellow Democrat, ascended to the vice presidency. And, while there were doubters, Kaufman insisted from the beginning to the end that he would never run to keep the seat and it gave him a unique way to govern.

Kaufman, who will continue a 20-year career teaching at Duke University of Law and spend more time with his grandchildren, sat down with the Community News Tuesday, Oct. 19 for a question and answer session.

Read More:
Senator Kaufman to Stay in Public Service While Returning to Duke Law (CommunityPub.com)


DOE-FUNDED RESEARCH HELPS U.S. INDUSTRY COMPETE
The following power point presentations were presented at an October 20 briefing on Capitol Hill about how Department of Energy-funded research is driving innovation and helping U.S. industry compete. The first is by Dr. James Stevens, a corporate fellow in Core Research and Development at Dow Chemical Company, and the second is by Dr. Kathyrn Clay, Director of Research for the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers.

Read More:
Technology Driven Innovation in Plastics (AAU)
Basic Research with a Purpose: A View from the Auto Industry (AAU)


TEENAGE WINNERS OF DUKE-ADMINISTERED COMPETITION VISIT WHITE HOUSE
Winners of a Duke-administered competition for young game designers were among those honored at the White House Science Fair Monday. Teenage siblings Jack and Haley Hanson of New Mexico received special recognition for their efforts creating new levels and challenges for the popular games SporeTM and LittleBigPlanetTM.

The Game Changers Kids Competition is supported by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, and a network of educators and digital innovators called HASTAC (the Humanities, Arts, Science and Technology Advanced Collaboratory) administers the open competition. HASTAC was founded and is primarily operated at Duke University and the University of California, Irvine.

Read More:
Game Changing Kids (DukeNews)


COMMERCIALIZATION OF UNIVERSITY RESEARCH
Last March, the White House solicited public comments on how best to encourage commercialization of university research. The Department of Commerce has now created a website that provides an overview of the request and the 205 responses it received. The responses are sorted by type of organization—including universities, non-profit organizations, associations, and corporations—and by private individuals.

Read More:
Commercialization of University Research Request for Information Respponses (EDA.gov)


MORE COLLEGE-AGE VOTERS MAY SIT OUT OF ELECTIONS AS THEIR APPROVAL OF OBAMA DROPS
Among eligible voters under the age of 30 who were surveyed by Harvard University's Institute of Politics, only 27 percent said they will "definitely be voting" in this fall's elections, a drop of nine percentage points from a similar poll conducted in November 2009. Sixteen percent of respondents said they would "probably be voting," and 21 percent said the chances were "50-50."

Read More:
More College-Age Voters May Sit Out of Elections as Their Approval of Obama Drops (Chronicle of Higher Ed)


ARNE DUNCAN OPINION: IS COMPETITIVENESS A ZERO-SUM GAME?
For too long, policymakers, lawmakers, and voters have treated competitiveness solely as a zero-sum game, in which another nation's gain is necessarily America's loss. In fact, enhancing educational achievement and attainment - at home and abroad - is more a win-win game. Globalization means that U.S. students will have to compete throughout their careers with their peers in Canada, China, India, European countries and other rapidly developing states. At the same time, international competition has increased international collaboration, making education a public good unconstrained by national boundaries.

Read More:
Back to School (New York Times)


OBAMA SIGNS EXECUTIVE ORDER ENHANCING HISPANIC EDUCATION INITIATIVE
President Obama on Tuesday signed an executive order aimed at helping raise Hispanic academic achievement. The order followed a two-day National Summit and Call to Action hosted by the White House Initiative on Educational Excellence for Hispanics. Education leaders gathered in Washington for the summit to share best practices and strategize about ways to increase education access for Hispanic-Americans and help reach President Barack Obama’s goal to significantly increase college graduation rates by 2020.

Read More:
White House Initiative Spearheads Summit on Latino Academic Excellence (Diverse Issues in Higher Education)


FOR-PROFIT SCHOOLS LOBBY TO AVOID PROPOSED FEDERAL AID RULE
Companies that run colleges and trade schools for profit are mounting a full-tilt, high-dollar campaign against an Obama administration effort to tighten rules for their access to federal aid. The industry has staged a Capitol Hill rally, run advertisements in national newspapers, hired big-name lobbyists and coordinated thousands of comments on the proposed regulation in an effort to derail or dilute it. This month, industry executives are beginning a round of private meetings with senior Education Department officials to argue their case.

Read More:
For-Profit Schools Lobby to Avoid Federal Aid Rule (Washington Post)


DUKE LAW WEEKEND IN DC
A number of Duke Law students and alumni are gathering this weekend to participate in the annual Equal Justice Works Conference and Career Fair in Washington, D.C. Duke Law will host a reception for students and alumni Friday evening at Morgan, Lewis & Bockius, LLP.

In addition to events relating to Equal Justice Works, students have organized a half-day conference featuring alumni working in government and nonprofit positions. The event was created to help students learn more about careers in the public sector. About 50 current students are expected to attend the session, to be held at Hogan Lovells, and they will hear from 14 alumni.

Read More:
Duke Law Weekend in DC (Duke Law News and Events)