I'm in the process of composing a letter of recommendation for a former master's student with whom I worked closely several years ago, both in courses and as a member of her thesis committee. She was -- and I'm sure will continue to be -- a splendid student, bright, a wonderful writer, a fine and clear thinker, and a pure pleasure to be around.

Although I am exceedingly wary of recommending students to Ph.D. programs in English due to the brutality of the job market, in this instance I know that my former student has a true calling that can sustain her throughout the challenges of completing a Ph.D., and then of facing a market that may or may not yield the outcome she desires. She tells me that this is what she needs to do, and I believe her and am therefore glad to support her pursuit.

Moreover, if she were coming to my current institution as an...

Some professors at Texas Tech University have signed a petition objecting to the hiring of former U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, The Public Record reports.

Carleton University, in Ottawa, has sacked Hassan Diab -- a sociology professor accused of participating in the bombing of a Paris synagogue almost 30 years ago -- a mere day after he was hired, citing concerns about a "stable, productive academic environment," the Canadian Press reports.

A law professor from Singapore has nixed plans to teach at New York University this fall after her statements against homosexuality sparked an uproar on the campus,

As if higher education needs another challenge, get ready for the next punch to the jaw: the swine flu.

Those of you who know your medieval history will remember the devastation suffered by universities during the various waves of the Black Death. Most institutions closed and many professors and students died; the contagion was particularly effective in the close quarters of their campuses.

Thankfully the swine flu has not been even remotely as deadly as the Black Death. We have better doctors, effective medicines, and, for goodness's sake, we wash our hands more frequently, but experts are watching for mutations that might make the current disease more threatening. Even without such mutations, we should get ready for lots of absences (including our own and our colleagues), lots of late assignments from students, lots of midterm withdrawals, and more than a few...

The president of the University of Hawaii, David McClain, and the soon-to-be system president, M.R.C. Greenwood, are planning to take a 10-percent pay cut in order to help offset $155-million in budget cuts over the next two years, the Honolulu Advertiser reports. Under the proposal, which President McClain will present to the Board of Regents on August 27, another 210 administrators throughout the 10-campus UH system would also take home 6 to 9 percent less, depending on their most recent performance evaluations, he told the newspaper. The announcement comes in the midst of discussions between the governor, the university, the state Department of Education, and several unions over proposed pay cuts and furloughs, the Advertiser notes. McClain, who is trimming his own salary by 10...

There is a university where you can teach for one hour, earn $1,000 or more, get paid to travel to some of the most interesting cities in the United States, engage with highly motivated students, and never have to sit through a boring department meeting or argue about budget cuts or grades.

One Day University is an all-day teaching event, held about 30 times a year since 2006, each involving about four professors. The next event will be at the Tanglewood music center in Lenox, Mass., on August 23, and will focus on music and art, featuring a lecture on Beethoven's Symphony No. 9 by the Harvard University professor Thomas Kelly, followed by an evening performance of the work by the Boston Symphony Orchestra.

Then, in addition to regular sessions this fall, the university will ramp up. In October, in New York City, it will offer students a choice of 17 courses...

An audio recording of a closed-door May meeting captured members of the Colorado State University system's Board of Governors discussing why the board's vice chairman, Joe Blake, should be named as soon as possible as the sole candidate for the post of system chancellor—a post to which he was subsequently appointed. According to the Fort Collins Coloradoan, the recording also caught Douglas L. Jones, then chairman of the board, urging members to act before the state legislature could force the board to name at least three finalists for top posts.

Mr. Jones was also recorded saying that the legislature's effort to make the process more open was the result of "un-Christian...

One of the most common complaints I see on faculty evaluations is that of office hours. Traditional students lament, "He's never there!" or "Her door is always closed!" I know for a fact that most of these faculty members are, in fact, there during mornings and early afternoons, it's just that these are the times when students are either in other classes or otherwise occupied. For faculty members, however, holding hours after three or four in the afternoon is neither practical nor realistic. Most faculty at my institution give out their home phone numbers or have started Facebook accounts or use our online platform to increase communication, but it's hard to accomplish some things in these media. I tell students with great frequency, "Make an appointment! Don't just pop in!" but they want spontaneity.

Do we all need to move into asynchronous online...

The On Hiring e-mail newsletter is on hiatus this week and will be back next week.

A recent First Person essay in The Chronicle, "How Tenure Decisions Are Made," by Michael Bugeja, my colleague down the road at Iowa State, and the subsequent discussion in the Chronicle's discussion Forums raise a number of important issues that should be of interest to academic job seekers.

The original essay caught my attention for several reasons, not least of which is Bugeja's interest in attracting and retaining faculty in Iowa, a challenge with which I have some familiarity. The Forum discussions, though, raise a number of concerns about the breadth of his rhetoric, even as he opens with a discussion about understanding an institution and its priorities as one considers possible employment there, and then one's...

Over the years I've been shocked at the demands that some applicants have inserted in their cover letters. I've seen people with little higher education experience demand senior faculty rank, I've grimaced at salary expectations that were completely unrealistic, I've flinched at presumptions about outlandish teaching loads, and I've chuckled aloud at demands for benefits that would make a corporate executive flinch.

What strikes me about such demands is not really the boldness of the assertions but rather the depth of professional ignorance that was demonstrated. I suppose that each of us has stories about our own ignorance in a previous job search, but most of us have learned the ropes, at least through trial and error.

Here's what I'm wondering, though: How can we better educate folks about the realities, the...