Journalist – Historian – Speaker
I had three essays published in the Chronicle of Higher Education this week, 2 planned (they normally won’t post on the same day) and one a reaction piece. I’m exceptionally proud of my university’s work on undocumented students, and in general of the way that many Catholic universities have responded to this issue. Making decisions about …
There are now hundreds of articles and blogs on the Facebook emotions experiment. Yesterday’s non-apology apology from COO Sandberg only intensifies the discussion. She said that she’s sorry we got upset about it. I suspect that she’s sorry we found out about it. She hasn’t said that she’s sorry they did the experiment. As for …
What would it look like if every decision at the university were made, explicitly, around the following question – How does this make the institution a better place for students to learn and develop? Implicitly, maybe that’s already built in to many discussions, but I think that the explicit language we use to define what we …
Here is a collection of resources for my latest piece. People who are arguing to move to dissertation away from the monograph model. The recent MLA report is the catalyst. It reads: Reimagine the dissertation. An extended research project should remain the defining feature of doctoral education. Departments should expand the spectrum of forms the …
Dear Adjuncts, Grad Students, Post-Ac, Alt-Ac, and other academics who are getting or have PhDs but who do NOT have a FT faculty position. UPDATE: Or people in TT jobs not doing much research due to teaching load! The MLA, via this report, has recommended reducing time to degree for people in MLA fields. Reduce time to …
On International May Day I wrote a little hymn. I wrote: Teaching is work. Programming is work. Scholarship is work. Science is work. Grading is work. Committee service is work. Today Chronicle Vitae published a column on academic work as labor, as work. It’s a linked column to this first piece on the language of adjunct …
In my Chronicle piece on being a father, I wrote: No one has ever questioned my work ethic to my face because I’m a father. In fact, one day I was so tired from caring for my two children—at the time a 2-year-old boy and a 3-month-old baby girl with colic—that I simply lost my ability …
I have a new piece up on CNN on Trigger Warnings in the Classroom. I make two arguments. 1. Psychological disability involving trauma is serious and should never be dismissed. However, we have a mandate through the ADA to provide reasonable accommodations for students with disabilities. Let’s increasingly support, fund, and use those services, make …
The issue of trigger warnings in the classroom, whether they are useful, attack academic freedom, are to protect our helicopter-parented elite students, or what, has become a fairly important topic in higher ed circles. I’m writing an essay on it now. Here is a list of resources. Please recommend additional materials. Start with Amanda Marcotte …
In the Chronicle of Higher Education, on my first piece about customer service, I made this comment: “Faculty members respond to the student-as-consumer by teaching defensively, fearing the management that we formerly referred to as administration. But administrators administrate on behalf of the faculty. Employees delivering customer service get managed.” It’s kind of a throwaway …