Mirapoint, Blackboard Join Forces to Deliver Secure, Hosted E-mail Solution for Schools

Mirapoint and Blackboard Inc. are partnering to deliver a hosted e-mail solution to K-12 schools, colleges, and universities. As a result of this partnership, all members of academic institutions can now receive a complete hosted solution with e-mail service that is secure and reliable.

The Mirapoint-Blackboard ASP partnership provides a full-featured, professional e-mail and calendar system—for both students and faculty—that students have come to expect as part of their education experience. This new offering allows academic institutions to maintain ownership of messages and control of data storage, and is free of advertising. Additionally, the offering provides 24/7 e-mail appliance and network management by an experienced professional hosting team that guarantees availability service level agreements…

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Bayer Launches STEM Education Guide Aimed at Forging Business-Education Partnerships

Bayer Corp. has announced a new resource guide for businesses and organizations interested in creating STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) education partnerships. Planting the Seeds for a Diverse U.S. STEM Pipeline: A Compendium of Best Practice K-12 STEM Education Programs, which was unveiled at Bayer’s first STEM Education Diversity Forum held in Washington, DC, is the newest component of the company’s award-winning Making Science Make Sense program. The compendium features a sampling of some of the country’s exemplary programs that have a proven track record of helping students—especially girls and underrepresented minorities—to achieve and participate in STEM. The purpose of this new guide is to raise awareness among STEM industry executives and other organizations, as well as showcase successful programs they may want to support and/or replicate in their local communities…

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Senator Authors Bill to Increase Spending for Educational Research, Programs

A US senator plans to introduce a bill that seeks to increase funding for research and science education in an effort to kick-start efforts to pass legislation to improve US competitiveness. Sen. John Ensign (R-NV) said he would introduce the National Competitiveness Investment Act Tuesday. The bill, with both Republican and Democratic co-sponsors, would increase funding for research and for math, science, and technology education by about $20 billion through 2011, an Ensign spokesman said. The bill would establish new research programs in the US National Institute of Standards and Technology, and it would set a goal of 8 percent of the budgets of US agencies that conduct research be directed toward a new Innovation Acceleration Research Program. The bill, which combines competitiveness ideas from several congressional committees, also pumps up education programs in several agencies and authorizes a math improvement program for elementary and middle-school students that is endorsed by President Bush...

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