Clark University

Central Massachusetts colleges and universities face a variety of pressures in the coming year, with shifting enrollment trends to new leadership to the need to impress incoming students.

A panel discussion of the business and social implications of cannabis will be held Wednesday at Clark University in Worcester.

Clark University has announced a new, full four-year scholarship for rural first-generation college students from Maine’s eastern Washington and Hancock counties.

Marijuana has been a part of college campuses for dozens of years, but the drug is now finding its way into the classroom, as Central Massachusetts educators are opening their doors to the cannabis industry.

Colleges with smaller endowments may be getting relatively poorer compared to deep-pocketed peers, but with the economy providing higher investment returns – and more donor support – nearly every Central Massachusetts college has seen endowments grow in the past decade or more.

Even as standardized tests try to regain some of their lost luster, nearly all Central Massachusetts colleges have found more holistic ways to assess applicants’ potential and aren’t looking back.

Clark University in Worcester has introduced what it calls the country’s first certificate program in cannabis control regulation. 

AbbVie, a Worcester pharmaceutical facility, has joined a statewide program aiming to help low-income students find opportunities in high-demand biotechnology firms.

Check out these movers and shakers of Central Massachusetts.

Workers, residents and visitors to downtown Worcester will begin noticing so-called ambassadors on the sidewalks, who will be keeping the area clean and answering any questions.