| A Liberal Arts College Marks Five Years in Ghana
Tell me about Ashesi, your mission and your focus. If you had the ear of a potential donor at a cocktail party for just two minutes, what would you most want them to know? A. Well, I would want them to know that Ashesi is about educating a new generation of leaders in Africa who think ethically and who are problem solvers and have the ability and the desire to confront problems on the continent. Q. And it has a liberal arts focus? A. Yes, I think that the liberal arts focus is probably the most important thing that we're doing at Ashesi and it's driven in part by my experiences at Swarthmore, but also comparing that with the experiences of my colleagues who were educated in Ghana for college. In Ghana the educational system is very heavily dependent on rote learning, just memorizing facts and repeating them to faculty.
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That high figure must have seemed like a stretch to the school, too. In the 2005 catalog that students received, a 2003 figure of 98 percent is covered by a stapled-in page that drops the placement rate down to 89 percent. Today, the school's materials claim an 81 percent placement rate. Graduates say the new figure might be accurate if the school is including every Starbucks barista in its count of positive outcomes. The complaints and allegations against CCA should sound familiar to its parent company, Career Education Corporation. Over the past few years, the company has been hit with a succession of student lawsuits, and federal investigations are underway. All take issue with admissions policies and question the truthfulness of admissions representatives. In 2005 people began asking questions about the company's business model, and investigating how it made such spectacular profits.
BBB releases latest set of consumer alerts
This week the Better Business Bureau of Northern Indiana released its latest consumer/business tips. The BBB notes that readers should take into consideration the importance of the practice in question and the total performance of a company. For complete information on these companies, go to www.bbb.org on the Web. • Wish Children of Indiana — Do not confuse this group with the Indiana Children’s Wish Fund. Wish Children is calling consumers claiming that they grant wishes to terminally ill children. Calls to the organization are answered by a professional fundraiser who opens with "accounting" and not the name of the organization. The professional fundraiser is keeping 85 percent of the money the company collects. The BBB recommends no more than 35 percent be spent on fundraising. • LSAT Intensive Review advertises weekend Law School Test preparation seminars in cities throughout the U.S.
Luke Johnson: pizza entrepreneur to turn round Borders
All turnrounds are hard work and never go according to your initial plan, but on many of the crucial measures we are doing well and there is potential." Having grabbed Borders' UK operations from under the nose of bigger rival WH Smith for a bargain price of £10m, Mr Johnson intends to spend in excess of £2m over the next two years on reviving the business. He believes that WH Smith was "mad" not to have bought Borders and could have found a way through the potential regulatory hurdles which stopped it making a bid. Philip Downer, whom Mr Roche replaced as head of the business in 2006, has been re-promoted to his old job and will implement the turnround plan. New IT systems and an upgraded website are on the way and Borders is also looking for new product categories, such as computer games or educational toys, to fill empty shelves created by diminishing demand for CDs and DVDs.
America crazy about breadbox on wheels called Smart car
With gas prices headed squarely past the $3-a-gallon mark again, "Timing couldn't be any better," says Bob Cosmai, a consultant and former CEO of Hyundai Motor America.
The Smart, which will be displayed starting later this week at the Los Angeles Auto Show, isn't new - only new to most of the USA. The original idea hearkens back to the 1970s, but took off after Nicolas Hayek, who founded the Swatch wristwatch line, announced in 1989 that he wanted to bring a newfangled small car to market. The Smart name comes from combining the S from Swatch, the M from Mercedes and ART.
Production of the Smart ForTwo, as the model is known, began in Hambach, France, in 1998. Daimler flirted with the idea of bringing it to the USA from the start. In 2004, the plan was to import the four-passenger sport-utility model.
IPC Media Selects Interwoven Optimost to Optimize Their Web Presence
SAN JOSE, Calif. and LONDON, March 4 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- IPC Media, a leading UK consumer magazine publisher whose titles include Marie Claire, Country Life and What's on TV, has selected the Interwoven Multivariable Optimization solution, powered by Interwoven Optimost, to increase visitor conversion rates on its magazine portfolio subscription site, http://www.giftmags.co.uk. (Logo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20071205/INTWOVLOGO) IPC Media, which sells subscriptions for almost 80 media titles, will use the Interwoven Multivariable Optimization solution to identify the optimal page design and content in order to increase subscription sales. "Online subscription sales have become a huge focus for us," said Beatriz Montoya, Head of Subscriptions at IPC Media.
Brandy's Mom: Kim Kardashian Abused My Credit Card
R&B singer Brandy Norwood's mother filed a lawsuit Monday against Kim Kardashian accusing her of running up more than $120,000 in credit card charges without permission. The suit, which also names Kardashian's siblings Khloe, Kourtney and Robert Jr., alleges they ran up the charges on the mother's card in 2006 and 2007. It seeks the return of the money plus 10 percent interest. In a statement, the Kardashians denied the allegations. "The charges against the Kardashians are meritless," the statement said. "Both Kim and Khloe were employed by the Norwoods and never used their credit cards without their express authorization. The Kardashian family looks forward to proving the absurdity of these claims in a court of law." In the lawsuit, Norwood's mother, Sonja Norwood, who is also her manager, alleges Kim Kardashian had only been authorized in 2004 to make one purchase on the Norwood American Express card in Kim's then-capacity as a stylist for Brandy (Brandy's brother, Ray J, also appeared in the infamous sex tape with Kim).
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