Tuesday, December 23, 2008

Program Note

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It's time to take a break and focus on family and festivities. The batteries need recharging, and the kids need my full attention. I ex...
Monday, December 22, 2008

Ask the Administrator: What Makes a Good Job Talk?

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A new correspondent writes:   I wonder if you’d consider posting a query to your readers about job talk expectations at their institutions, ...
Friday, December 19, 2008

Milestones

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The Boy and The Girl are hitting new milestones. Last week we took them to a local park, where Santa held court near a restored old carouse...
Thursday, December 18, 2008

Ask the Administrator: Go or Stay?

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A new correspondent writes: I am a graduate student at a state school with a pretty decent reputation.  Although I’m ABD (in sociology), I’m...
Wednesday, December 17, 2008

Edifice Complex

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Enough with the freakin' buildings, already. Apparently , the American Council on Education (along with some other groups) is wasting no...
Tuesday, December 16, 2008

“It's Just a Job” vs. “We're All in This Together”

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Okay, I'm a little late to this party, but there's been a fascinating exchange in blogland between Tenured Radical and Dr. Crazy . ...
Monday, December 15, 2008

The One Way We Still Get to Hire...

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is for grant-funded positions. But hiring for grant-funded positions is different than regular hiring. Grant-funded positions exist in a pa...
Friday, December 12, 2008

Quote of the Day

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From yesterday's New York Times article about the faculty at the New School passing a vote of no confidence in their President, former ...
Thursday, December 11, 2008

Buying Low

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Apparently , the proprietary colleges are in the midst of another of their periodic booms, swooping in and grabbing students just when the p...
Wednesday, December 10, 2008

A Mixed Marriage

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I'm increasingly convinced that there are two ways of watching television, and that The Wife and I are firmly planted in opposite camps....
Tuesday, December 09, 2008

Yet More Evidence That I Don't Understand the Press

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Isn't this story actually good news? It's being covered as if it's somehow a bad thing that fewer people are taking the GRE this...
Monday, December 08, 2008

Affordability and Sustainability

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One of my favorite aphorisms (I think it's Stein's law) states that anything unsustainable, won't be. Several alert readers sent...
Friday, December 05, 2008

Layoffs and Transparency

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Any thoughts on how to do the former while honoring the latter? The last time I went through a round of layoffs, during the previous recessi...
Thursday, December 04, 2008

Some Thoughts on the AFT Report

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The American Federation of Teachers has released a report ( here ) complete with an interactive excel tool designed to both motivate college...
Wednesday, December 03, 2008

Ask the Administrator: When the President is Tone-Deaf...

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A regular correspondent writes: Out here in California, my CC is in the same budget mess as everyone else.  But our Governing Board just gav...
Tuesday, December 02, 2008

The Dean's Court

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TB and I played basketball on the driveway/court this past weekend. He's involved in a local kids' instructional league, where they...
Sunday, November 30, 2008

A Book Waiting to be Written

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If not for my day job, I'd take a crack at writing a book with the following topic: How to Steer a College Through a Recession and Make ...
Wednesday, November 26, 2008

Thanksgiving

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Thanksgiving is coming at the right time. On campus, every few weeks we get a new bulletin from the state telling us to anticipate an even ...
Tuesday, November 25, 2008

Boards Gone Wild

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This story is both shocking, and not. At one level, it's absurd. The Board of Trustees at the College of DuPage has decided to arrogate...
Monday, November 24, 2008

Ask the Administrator: Institutional Research

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An occasional correspondent writes: Let's say you get a piece of paper with a report, pie chart, etc.on it that presents some pieces of ...