Volume 59, Issue 13: November 23, 2012

News

A Research University for All People

Michael Crow, Arizona State University's president and idea man, is pushing the institution to innovate and still fulfill its mission to be inclusive.
Big Science's Fuzzy Math

In the battle over the budget, the NIH and NSF look for new metrics to prove their worth.
New National Tally of College Completion Tries to Count All Students

A report by the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center takes account of nontraditional and transfer students, whom federal data miss.
The Controversial Contradictions of Thomas Jefferson

A new book on one of the founding fathers wins raves, but not from specialists in the field.
College, Reinvented: The Finalists

What kind of college would you create if you could start one from scratch? Chronicle readers submitted their ideas, and now it's time to vote.
Economy Affects Students' Academic Performance as Well as Spending Decisions

This year's National Survey of Student Engagement indicates that financial worries may be affecting classroom performance.
Grades and Tests May Miss What Matters Most in Learning

"Deep approaches" to learning figure prominently in the new edition of the National Survey of Student Engagement.
Professors of the Year Advise Their Peers: Keep Learning and Adapting

The four national winners of the coveted award share their ideas about effective teaching.
Tenure Decisions at Southern Cal Strongly Favor White Men, Data in Complaint Suggest

A rejected candidate and a colleague collected data on decisions in a dozen departments over 14 years. They found "stark" disparities by ethnicity and gender.
Court Strikes Down Michigan's Ban on Race-Conscious Admissions

A divided appellate court held that the state law unconstitutionally made it harder for minorities to seek preferences than for other groups.
Education Department Adopts Crucial Reform for Disabled Borrowers

After a ProPublica investigation published by The Chronicle spurred public pressure, the agency conducted a sweeping overhaul of its troubled disability-review program.
Storm Damage at NYU Library Offers Lessons for Disaster Planning in the Stacks

In an era of supersize disasters like Hurricane Sandy, academic libraries need to be ready for more than just burst-pipe scenarios.
Indian Students Crowd Private Campuses, Despite Concerns Over Quality

In a country without enough college seats, proprietary institutions like Lovely Professional University rush to fill the gap.
Old, Boring, White, and Mean: How Professors Appear on the Small Screen

They may be fictional characters, but TV shows' images of professors can have a big effect on real-life students, a researcher suggests.
Deans' Ideas About Hiring Adjuncts Differ From Reality, Survey Finds

Many would prefer having more faculty on the tenure track, but feel trapped by the need to keep costs down and ensure access.
MOOC's Take a Major Step Toward College Credit

In a pilot project, the council will consider five to 10 Coursera offerings and certify them if it finds them equivalent to courses taught by accredited colleges.
Wired Campus: 10 Highly Selective Colleges Form Consortium to Offer Online Courses

Students at the institutions can earn credit from any college in the group, while students who are not enrolled at those colleges can apply to take the courses.
Wired Campus: Ed-Tech Start-Ups Are Grilled by Venture Capitalists in Business Competition

Educause held its first contest pitting new businesses against one another, a move that brought a dose of American Idol to its annual conference this week.
U. of Cincinnati's New President Tweets the Word Out

Santa Jeremy Ono, a self-described "gregarious guy," isn't shy about trumpeting his university's strengths.
Met Veteran Leads a University's New Museum on the Irish Famine

Grace Brady is executive director of Ireland's Great Hunger Museum, started at Quinnipiac University because of the interest of the president and two donors.
Transitions: Head of White House Effort to Lead Morehouse; U. of Louisiana Gets New President

John S. Wilson Jr., who directs a White House program on historically black colleges, will be Morehouse College's next president. Read about that and other job-related news.

The Chronicle Review

Europe May Be Hurting, but E.U. Studies Is Going Strong

The booming field may be too enthusiastic about its subject, critics say.
The Evolutionary Mystery of Homosexuality

If reproduction is key to a trait’s endurance, why has this anti-reproductive trait endured?
Gender, Generations, and Faculty Conflict

Will academe's mothers and daughters repeat the errors of its fathers and sons?
My Communist Grandfather

A scholar wrestles with the legacy of her grandfather, onetime leader of America’s Communist Party.
A Feast of Jewish Culture, in 10 Volumes

More than a decade ago, Felix Posen had a big idea.

Commentary

Put Your Endowment Money Where Your Mission Is

Colleges should demand that the companies in which their endowments are invested disclose their political spending.
The Genius in the Classroom

One remarkable student with progressive ideas can elevate an entire class.
To Teach Evolution, You Have to Understand Creationists

Scientists' blundering hostility toward creationism actually encourages creationist belief. We need to add respect to our efforts at persuasion.
Adjuncts Earn Respect With Union's Help

"We negotiated a contract (just renewed) that gave us, for the first time, job security, benefits, a hike in the measly pre-unionization pay."