It was the need for great customer service that motivated CEO & Founder Bassim Hamadeh, MBA (Stanford '05) to start University Readers while attending University of California, San Diego for undergraduate work in 1992. "The bookstore sold course packs with high prices and low quality... and off-campus copy shops were generally not obtaining copyright clearance. No one was getting great service. I knew professors and students deserved better." Now 15 years later, Bassim's unwavering focus on the customer is still guiding the company. We sincerely thank you, our valued customers, for helping us to grow and serve you better!

More Schools Leaving SAT Scores Behind The SAT and ACT — rites of passage for millions of high school students — are becoming optional at a small but growing number of colleges... Panel: Page Needs to Turn on Textbook Costs A federal advisory committee charged with finding ways to contain the rapid rise in college textbook costs recommends overhauling the textbook market to produce long-term results...

MIT, Caltech — And The Gators? When it comes to spawning new companies, a clique of universities has long topped the lists: Massachusetts Institute of Technology, California Institute of Technology, and the 10-campus University of California system. These schools are in high-tech communities brimming with scientific brainiacs and risk-taking investors. Now, against all odds, the University of Florida is joining their ranks... Teen Fakes Student Status At Stanford For 8 Months An 18-year-old Fullerton woman spent the past eight months posing as a freshman biology major at Stanford, buying textbooks, sneaking into meals and even moving into a dorm with an unsuspecting roommate... Stanford Impostor Fooled the ROTC A young woman accused of posing as a Stanford University student for eight months also fooled Santa Clara University's Army ROTC, which provided her with equipment and included her in classes... Recruiters Come Calling For Talented Minorities Like most students at Charles H. Flowers High School in Prince George's County, Chin is black. But as far as colleges are concerned, he is pure gold. He graduated first in his class. He scored a 2000 on the SAT. He's an Eagle Scout and a Maryland Distinguished Scholar...

Study Finds College-Prep Courses in High School Leave Many Students Lagging Only a quarter of high school students who take a full set of college-preparatory courses — four years of English and three each of mathematics, science and social studies — are well prepared for college, according to a study of last year's high school graduates released by ACT, the Iowa testing organization... Rank This, U.S. News Patricia McGuire, president of Trinity University, is one of 12 presidents who wrote a letter urging colleagues to take a stand for greater integrity in college rankings — starting by boycotting U.S. News & World Report's "reputation survey"... Some Colleges Want to Curb Flow of Data to Magazine A group of college presidents, fed up with the annual U.S. News & World Report list of top colleges, has begun pressuring colleagues to limit the information they provide to the magazine and eliminate any mention of the list when promoting their schools... Massachusetts Governor Proposes Free Community Colleges Community colleges in Massachusetts would be free to all students within 10 years under a proposal by Gov. Deval Patrick. The plan would make Massachusetts the only state with no-cost community college. California's system was free until 1984... State to Waive Tuition for Fallen GIs' Kin Washington's public universities and colleges will now waive tuition and fees for spouses and children of fallen soldiers...

Hopkins Aid Officer Was Paid More by Lenders Than Disclosed A former financial aid director at Johns Hopkins University who cultivated a national reputation as a stickler for ethics accepted more than $130,000 from eight lending industry companies during her tenure, twice as much money as previously disclosed, according to documents and interviews... Suicides a Symptom of Larger UC Crisis Jennifer Tse was one of at least nine students who committed suicide at UC Davis during the last three academic years. Her death came four months after a high-level UC committee concluded that the university's overtaxed mental health services fell "significantly short" and that the 10-campus system must urgently expand its counseling programs... Why We Need Women's Colleges A woman's college is the equivalent of Virginia Woolf's "room of one's own," a college of women's own, free of many of the inhibiting presumptions of the male-dominated world. With its own powerful traditions, norms, and values, and a sense of wholeness sui generis, a women's college helps to develop in students a sense of confidence, competence, and agency... Colleges Deal With Furniture and More That Students Leave Behind College students have more possessions than ever, and in the frenzy of finals, commencement and last-gasp partying before the end of the school year, little time is left for an orderly move. Purging is often easier than shipping or storing... Résumé Lies a Major Concern for Employers It was more than a shock when the MIT's dean of admissions resigned Thursday, admitting that she had misled school officials over a 28-year period into believing that she held three degrees from New York institutions. In fact, she had never received even an undergraduate degree from any school...

Public Administration in Criminal Justice Organizations by Arthur D. Wiechmann (published 2007, $54.95, 379 pp) The Police Function by Arthur D. Wiechmann (published 2007, $59.95, 428 pp) Generaciones, 2nd Edition by Dr. George Greenia (published 2007, $49.95, 227 pp) Management Decision Theory by Howard Flomberg (published 2007, $45.95, 200 pp) The Human Body: Essentials of Anatomy and Physiology (Coming Soon!) by Bruce Wingerd (to be published September 1st, 2007, $49.95, 480 pp)