CLASS NAME Intensive Elementary Modern Standard Arabic I
SCHOOL Harvard Extension School
START DATE January 26
BEST FOR Government agents in waiting
Say you graduated with a political-science major and dream of working for the Pentagon, or maybe even the FBI. Good luck — unless you speak Arabic. With wars continuing in both Afghanistan and Iraq, and a dearth of Americans who are able to speak the language, your skills are desperately in demand. This Harvard beginner’s class introduces students to the Arabic writing system, sounds, and grammar; follow-up courses will develop skills to the intermediate level.
CLASS NAME Foundations of Publishing
SCHOOL Boston University
START DATE Information session December 10
BEST FOR Publishers with nothing to publish
Woe are the English majors with seemingly endless possibilities for employment, but few actual job opportunities in sight. What are they to do, write the next Great American Novel? Even better (in terms of a secure paycheck): help put others’ literature on bookshelves. The field of publishing is still the Great White Way for many English majors, which means competition for jobs is stiff. Boston University offers a certificate program in publishing, as well as individual non-credit courses that provide an introduction to the business strategy of the industry, plus design practices and editing principles.
CLASS NAME Wind Energy Apprentice
SCHOOL Online, via Bunker Hill Community College
START DATE Anytime
BEST FOR Second wind–seekers
The answer to your unemployment may be blowing in the wind. President Obama has called for the creation of as many as 250,000 jobs in the wind industry, with the hopes that this emerging energy source will contribute to 20 percent of our electricity needs during the next 20 years. If you want to be at the forefront of the industry, now is the time to make your move — but how? Bunker Hill Community College offers a 240-hour training that will teach you the ins-and-outs of turbine production.
Related:
Words around town, Facebook fracas, Lee’s Store and Bakery, More 
- Words around town
“Every writer I know has trouble writing,” said Joseph Heller. Let that serve as comfort.
- Facebook fracas
Sooner or later, Facebook had to figure into the sports-crime scene. There are at least two cases now of pro football players getting arrested for assault in fights resulting from their wives looking at their Facebook friends lists.
- Lee’s Store and Bakery
I’ve long relied on Web sites like Chowhound and Yelp for tips on new restaurants.
- White losers rejoice: Fletch celebrates 25 years
This holiday weekend marks the 25th anniversary of Fletch , the uneven but wildly enduring 1985 Chevy Chase comedy about a wisecracking reporter embroiled in a potboiler mystery.
- Privacy concerns make facebook the new bad guy
There was, for a time, a pretty clear moral hierarchy in the tech sector. Microsoft was the evil overlord, Apple the virtuous underling.
- High-school nicknames
I didn't recognize him at first ...
- Leveling Up
Are you unemployed? Have you spent the last two weeks playing Red Dead Redemption and seeing how far you can run your horse around the map before the game stops you? (Here's a hint: it's forever. )
- The world is watching
And so far no one knows what to do about it.
- The ultimate negative liberty: Privacy
Privacy, in the scheme of things, is a relatively new invention.
- Review: Catfish
The Internet was supposed to make meeting people easier. Instead, as this ingenious documentary from Henry Joost and Ariel Schulman demonstrates, it's made the process immeasurably more complex, ambiguous, and fraught with danger.
- Review: The Social Network
The ever unpredictable David Fincher, along with screenwriter Aaron Sorkin, didn't try to go high tech with this monumental "bio-pic" about Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg.
- Less
Topics:
Lifestyle Features
, Barack Obama, Business, Jobs and Labor, More
, Barack Obama, Business, Jobs and Labor, Education, Harvard University, Boston University, Higher Education, Federal Bureau of Investigation, Economic Indicators, Labor Market, Less
