An aspiring actor from Goldsboro could have an audience of 250 million people on Super Bowl Sunday. But he needs your help.

Jason Walston (right), a 2007 Elon University graduate, is featured in one of the top five commercials – out of more than 6,000 consumer-submitted entries – for Doritos’ sixth annual “Crash the Super Bowl” contest. The top two vote-getters will be aired during the Feb. 5’s Super Bowl broadcast on NBC. Those are determined by online voting.

The commercial, called “Hot Wild Girls,” was produced by Brad Scott and Nate Watkin of Denver. In the ad, an actor shows off the power of his smartphone by asking for things like Doritos, which suddenly appear (our Tech Junkie blog has video). Walston’s character then asks for “three hot wild girls,” but the phone misinterprets his request and hilarity ensues.

RALEIGH – This one wasn’t close or dramatic, but N.C. State fans will take it.

An 82-67 victory over Elon on Friday night in front of a near sellout crowd at Reynolds Coliseum was fueled by a balanced scoring attack and solid defense from the Wolfpack.

Ten North Carolina schools have made The Princeton Review's Guide to 311 Green Colleges.

Several private institutions from North Carolina pop up on the latest magazine rankings evaluating the affordability of higher education.

This time, it's Kiplinger's Personal Finance, which has unveiled its 2011 Best Values in Private Colleges issue.

Duke, Davidson, Wake Forest and Elon all make their lists.

(Illustration courtesy thedigeratilife.com)

Kiplinger's actually has two lists. On its private-college list aimed at liberal arts colleges, Davidson College ranks 5th nationally.

Swarthmore College in Pennsylvania tops that list.

On the private university list, Duke ranks fifth, Wake Forest is 21st and Elon is 35th.

Princeton sits atop that list.

Kiplinger's looks at the total cost of attendance but also examines the "net" cost, meaning the cost after factoring student aid.

Consider: The total cost of attending Duke is $53,157. But because Duke meets 100 percent of demonstrated need, it gives out, on average, $33,810 in need-based aid and $23,185 in non-need-based aid, significantly defraying the cost for a lot of students.

Click here to search the magazine's database to see how your school fares.

Elon University has designed a 56-acre land tract as a dedicated land preserve and natural area.

In designating the areas as Elon University Forest, campus leaders have protected the largest remaining intact forest in the town of Elon, protecting thousands of species of plants, animals and other organisms, according to a university news release.

The land north of University Drive has been and will continue to be used as an outdoor laboratory.

(map courtesy of Elon University)
 
"The Elon University Forest represents our deepest values, including community, stewardship and global awareness," said Elon University President Leo M. Lambert. "The forest will serve primarily as a teaching resource and research site for our academic programs, and is an important component of the university's sustainability master plan."
 
Some trees in the hardwood sections of Elon Forest, which make up more than 50 percent of the property, are estimated to be 150-200 years old. About 40 percent of the area is pine forest planted on an old farm field about 50 years ago.
 
The property was owned by the Isley family for generations and was bought by Elon in 1997 from the heirs of Nellie Tickle Isley, who died in 1961. While various proposals for developing the land were discussed, the idea of letting the area remain natural gained support.

It will be preserved with the use of a comprehensive management plan, and the property's uses will be guided by an advisory committee. It will not be open to general public use.

NOTE: THIS POST HAS BEEN UPDATED.

Local universities fare well, as usual, in the 2011 edition of the U.S. News & World Report's "Best Colleges" issue.

UNC-Chapel Hill can go ahead and print up their "We're number 5" banners, should they so desire. Carolina ranks fifth among public universities for the 10th straight year.

The University of California-Berkeley is once again the top public, followed by more usual suspects - UCLA and Virginia in a tie for second, and Michigan in fourth.

N.C. State placed 52nd on that list, tied with Oklahoma, Oregon, Washington State and South Carolina.

Duke, which ranked 10th among national universities offering doctoral degrees a year ago, crept up one slot into a three-way tie for ninth. It's 9th-place compatriots are Dartmouth and the University of Chicago.

Harvard, Princeton and Yale were the top three institutions on that list. Wake Forest placed 25th and UNC-CH placed 30th.

Elon University did well. It ranked 2nd among southern regional universities and placed well in a series of other rankings as well.

Appalachian State ranked 9th on the southern regional universities list.

N.C. Central University ranks 11th nationally among historically black institutions, one spot higher than another member of the UNC system - N.C. A&T.

And UNC-Wilmington placed fifth among public master's institutions in the south.

NOTE: This is not a comprehensive list of rankings for local universities. I probably missed some. For the full package, check out the U.S. News website.

Three local colleges have been recognized as top places to work.

Elon and Duke universities and Wake Technical Community College made the latest "Great Colleges to Work For" survey from the Chronicle of Higher Education.

The Chronicle, a national trade publication covering higher education issues, noted 97 of 275 universities it surveyed. Designated universities had to stand out in at least 1 of 12 categories the magazine deemed crucial to maintaining a good workplace.

Wake Tech was honored in five categories:  collaborative governance, job satisfaction and support, confidence in senior leadership, supervisor or department chair relationship, and respect and appreciation. In addition, Wake Tech was named to the 2010 Great Colleges Honor Roll for receiving the most recognition in its size category.

Duke was recognized for facilities, workspaces and security, while Elon ranked high for collaborative governance, teaching environment, facilities, workspaces and security, confidence in senior leadership, and respect and appreciation.

A Connecticut couple has donated $1 million to Elon University to support its college access program for Alamance County high school students.

The gift from Douglas G. and Edna Truitt Noiles, of New Canaan, Conn., will support the Elon Academy.

_{photo credit: Elon University}

This is the couple's fourth major gift to the Elon Academy and the largest yet to support the academic enrichment program established in 2007 in conjunction with the Alamance-Burlington school system.

Edna Truitt Noiles is a 1944 Elon graduate.

The Elon Academy is a three-year intensive program that serves academically promising students with significant financial need and/or no family history of attending college.  
The Noiles' are among Elon's most generous donors. In 2003, they gave $1 million to endow the Vera Richardson Truitt Center for Religious and Spiritual Life on campus.

The Elon Academy combines intensive four-week summer residential experiences at Elon with a variety of academic and enrichment activities throughout the school year. The first class of 22 students is scheduled to graduate this spring.

Duke University is one of 17 private colleges across North Carolina participating in the government's Yellow Ribbon program, which will provide significant financial aid to veterans.

Under the program, veterans can attend public universities for free and get significant tuition help at more than 500 private institutions and out-of-state public universities across the country. It is a federal, matching-grant program where the government matches a university's contribution on a dollar-for-dollar basis.

Institutions and professional schools within them are allowed to choose how much they contribute; at Duke, for example, the contributions range from $4,000 per student per year at the undergrad, graduate and doctoral nursing schools to $17,500 from the graduate business school.

Wake Forest's school of management is participating, as is Meredith College, Guilford College in Greensboro, Elon's law school and school of physical therapy, and a host of others across the state.

For a full list, click here.

Here's a story on the program from the Chronicle of Higher Education. It may require a password.

Elon University spent four months looking high and low for its new chief academic officer, and then settled on someone in their own backyard.

Steven House, currently the dean of Elon College, the College of Arts and Sciences and associate vice president for academic affairs, has been named Elon's next provost.

Starting June 1, House will oversee the academic side of the university. House came to Elon from Seton Hall University in 2001 as the founding dean of Elon College, the college of arts and sciences. 

Here's what Elon President Leo Lambert has to say:

"Dr. House is an exceptional leder and uniquely qualified to serve as Elon's next provost. He has a deep understanding of the university gained through seven years of service as dean, and is an academic leader of tremendous energy, integrity and vision. Through his service as founding dean of Elon College, the college of arts and sciences, Steven has played a major leadership role in promoting the centrality of arts and sciences at Elon and affirming our identiy as a liberal arts university."