Georgetown on ‘Watch’

THE NEW YORK TIMES, April 15—St. Peter's College of Jersey City, N.J., and New York's Mercy College were among 11 colleges to have bonds downgraded by Moody's Investors Service in the first quarter of 2003, part of a record number for downgrades in a single quarter, the Times reported.

Though not downgraded, Georgetown University saw its rating outlook go from positive to stable with its bonds, placed on “watch” for a possible rating downgrade. The downgrades for all private colleges were nearly three times what Moody's reported for the same period last year and more than five times as many as in the first quarter of 2001.

The Times said the trend reflects the pressures to spend heavily despite waning endowments, competition from public universities and the need to raise tuition.

On a Mission

ZENIT, April 14—Rome's Lateran University now offers a master's degree in the “theology of evangelization” in order to provide missionaries with a solid formation that does not require years to accomplish.

The master's degree, which is recognized by the Congregation for Catholic Education, is designed to be completed in two years with one spent in Rome while the other is completed through correspondence.

First Steps

ALL AFRICA.COM, April 7—The new Catholic University of Ghana has completed its first months of operations and all appears on schedule, reported the Web news service.

The university is operating from temporary quarters within the Sunyani Catholic Diocesan Pastoral Center as permanent facilities are still several years away, said the school's president, Father Michael Schultheis.

While Father Schultheis is an American, all five of the university's professors are Ghanan. They teach a student body of 50 that is 70% Catholic. The first academic year will come to a close in October.

Ruined by Success

ASSOCIATED PRESS, April 14—The Ten Commandments Project, a ministry that sought to help children distinguish between right and wrong by paying them $10 each to memorize the Ten Commandments, has run out of money.

Retired florist George Kelley started the program in 1997 and saw to the payment of some $75,000 in prizes through last December. That's when newspapers nationwide published an Associated Press report on the project and Kelley received 15,000 letters from children in all 50 states, breaking the project's bank.

As donations can no longer keep pace with costs, the project is on hold, the founder said, “until the Lord provides additional money.”

Barry Gets Nod

THE MIAMI HERALD, April 16—Barry University's nine-year quest for accreditation by the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business has finally succeeded, the Miami daily reported.

Barry, which is administered by the Dominican Sisters of Adrian, Mich., had been turned down several times for the association's validation because of a relative lack of academic research and the small size of the business school library.

As part of its effort to gain accreditation, a weekend MBA program was added, the college worked to better document alumni successes and, one administrator told the Herald, “the faculty made a big effort to publish.”