Texas A&M University is the latest in a long line of institutions trying to account for the "actual" value of a professor’s work. The past few years have seen a significant rise in this sort of formulation, even as academe has seen a decline in some forms of public support.

As an administrator, I see the value in trying to figure out the "actual" costs related to particular programs. I have a fiduciary responsibility to ensure that my academic programs operate efficiently so that they may be sustained. Indeed, some programs that might be termed "inefficient" by some critics are essential to a well-rounded set of offerings at a university, and they are worth the "cost" of their existence.

I also see, however, the immediate dangers of the overcommodification of academe that can arise from a bean counter's approach to such formulas. The danger of the former is that institutions can become...

When I was on the job market for the first time, back in the 1990s, most of my mentors told me to ignore applying for positions that were posted "pending final approval" or "pending funding." The logic was that most institutions viewed such advertisements as having a built-in escape valve, and that there was nothing more maddening for candidates than to go to the trouble of applying, interviewing, and expending the mental energy required to go that far into a search, only to have the position vanish with the final budget numbers in the spring. When I became an administrator, I heard the same arguments from my department chairs: "Pending funding" will eliminate the strongest candidates. For that reason, I've resisted using such a label except under very specific circumstances.

What I'm hearing now in administrative circles is that many institutions are requiring that almost all position ...

Recently I've noted an uptick in the number of students asking for opinions about interdisciplinary graduate degrees, the kinds with "and" in the middle of their titles. I think this reflects the breadth of interests (and abilities!) that these students have, as well as the proliferation of these kinds of degrees.

I encourage graduate students to be well-rounded and to understand the need to set themselves apart through their credentials. Certainly search committees may find additional areas of scholarly interest to be intriguing. The trick, though, is passing the "neither fish nor fowl" test: Is the candidate an English professor or a cultural-studies professor? Is she an artist or a philosopher of aesthetics? Is he a sociologist or a political scientist? The development of the CV and the research agenda are critical to answering these questions.

What advice might you offer to folks...

The past few weeks have been brutal for academic presses. The University of Scranton Press and Rice University Press have both announced closures, even as Southern Methodist University Press has moved into a period of study regarding its sustainability.

Everyone knows the pressure that university budgets are undergoing these days, squeezing academic presses in two directions: Operating budgets are shrinking even as revenues from library and consumer purchases are declining. The fact remains, however, that there is still an important role possible for academic presses. They are repositories of great scholarly traditions, even as they find ways to extend those great traditions and even build new ones. Most professors who publish find that their pedagogy is informed by their scholarly activities. The trick, of course, is figuring out a business model that is functional in the long run.

In...

One of the hardest parts of gearing up for a new semester is preparing course syllabi. This is particularly true early in one's career, before one has taught through the basic rotation of courses. When I started teaching, we were limited to a one-sheet syllabus: front side policies and philosophy of teaching, back side outline of assignments and due dates. I think, though, that some lawyers and certainly some administrators decided that syllabi should become masterpieces of minutiae. I've seen some that might come close to counting as publications on a faculty member's CV because they were so long and went into so much detail, including dozens of citations of secondary reading materials to support each topic in the course.
 
What changes have you noted in syllabus preparation? Which changes are good, and which ones strike you as a little ridiculous?

I used to troll the Dilbert Web site frequently and remember a comment a reader made about why employee-recognition awards don't always work. Evidently this person's place of employment gave out a monthly award for the best employee that included a name on a large plaque ("Jane Doe, June," etc.) and the use of a reserved parking space near the front door. The rules stated, however, that no one could receive the award more than once per year. Because of constant turnover it seemed that near the end of the year either the recipient was someone who had been hired only the previous month (or week!) or the award went unassigned, which meant that everyone had to walk past the empty parking space every morning for a month. The commenter said that just killed morale.

I talked about the comment with a faculty colleague who said with a chuckle, "The celebration of mere competence is the surest...

Junior faculty members often find themselves surprised by the amazing delays that can happen in publication. I suppose that most of us at one time thought that publications, whether essays, articles, or books, rolled along fairly effortlessly on the tracks that lead to the final product. The reality is, however, that even finished projects can take years to wind up in published form. Sometimes editors leave or are replaced, sometimes funding is rescinded and ultimately replaced, and sometimes, well, life just gets in the way of the folks who are involved in the project. This is one reason that I encourage new scholars to get their submissions rolling in as soon as they can; while tenure and promotion committees typically will consider letters of acceptance or contracts as sufficient documentation, this is not 100 percent the case, especially at more competitive institutions. There is not...

When I visit campus offices, I often have a hard time resisting the urge to walk around looking at the bookcases and other shelving to see what I can learn about the occupants. We can learn a great deal about faculty and staff from their offices, to be sure. The second thing, though, I like to look at are any diplomas that are displayed.

I love diplomas, especially older ones with seals, ribbons, and lots of Latin. Almost all of them contain the institution's seal, usually embossed in gold, and a few include other graphics. My all-time favorite one is my own undergraduate diploma from James Madison University: It has a delightfully muted etching of President Madison, a wonderfully italicized print font that approximates fluid calligraphy, and a soft, antiqued look about the paper itself. One of my other graduate diplomas often draws comments from visitors: It is huge, something like...

Summer graduations are finishing up this week, and I thought I'd note a fashion upswing that has developed over the past few years: flashy regalia. No longer is the black on black of the traditional cap and gown the default. At one time it was easy to see who had a doctorate from a European university, the dapper half-gowns and vests or flowing smocks standing out among the boring, basic American gowns. A few universities have been ahead of the fashion curve by selecting gowns in their school colors of burgundy, navy, or deep green, but I've started seeing other splashes of color showing up at graduations, convocations, and inaugurations. I've even seen at least one that is gold with black-velvet lapel panels. Some of the lapel panels even include ornate embroidery of landmark buildings, spires, or rooflines. 

One of the reasons for the shift away from the generic is that universities...

A professor at a midlevel university was sipping coffee with several colleagues from various departments when they began to talk about their forthcoming publications. At some point, the professor, who had published enough to land tenure about 10 years previously, began to feel rather left out because he had nothing new in the pipeline.

"There's a reason that they talk about 'teaching,' 'service,' and 'research.' Anyone can get published, but not everyone can perform quality research," he said. "I have been researching three books for several years now. They are wonderful books, and I think they will create a legacy for me as a scholar. I refuse, however, to send my work to just any publisher. I will aim for only the best. I aim for perfection. Yes, only the top publishers are trustworthy enough for the depth of research I've undertaken."

I have been amazed at how many of these kinds of...