 |
|
 |
|
|
|
 |
|
|
From the issue dated November 9, 2007 |
|
Short SubjectsPOSTAGE DUEGraduates of Yale University have a high likelihood of ending up on postage stamp, unless they're among the unlucky few. YOU'RE NOT FOOLING ANYONEAcademe is rife with imposters. You're probably one yourself. THE YAWN PATROL: At the Culinary Institute of America, 15 students make gourmet breakfasts for 150 people four times a week. AN ADORABLE PROBLEM: The University of Victoria has too many rabbits on its campus. A WORD'S WORTH: In some Capitol Hill committee room, a English professor from Vermont tries to inspire policy makers. The FacultySPEAKING IN CONTEXTForeign-language instruction is changing in the United States as departments emphasize everyday texts and take an interdisciplinary approach. YOU'RE NOT FOOLING ANYONEAcademe is rife with imposters. You're probably one yourself. A CLASS TRAITOR IN ACADEMETenured and solidly middle class, a professor seldom feels he is giving anything back to his working-class roots. SHOULD I MOVE ON?Maybe it's time you refused to wallow in the winter of your discontent, says Ms. Mentor. AS PREVIOUSLY STATED: The American Federation of Teachers has added its own entry to a recent flurry of academic-freedom statements. SYLLABUS: Vampires and their cultural significance attract students to a history course at Ohio University at Athens. PEER REVIEW: A professor of law and philosophy at the University of Texas at Austin who tracks the career moves of scholars is moving himself, to the University of Chicago. ... The new business school at the Johns Hopkins University hires a dean. ... The Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts chooses a president. ... The first dean of student life at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology is retiring. Research & BooksA 'BEAUTIFUL MONSTER'Two new books about the artist Francis Picabia showcase academe's enduring interest in Dadaism. REGRESSION ANALYSISEconomists and general readers have discovered each other in a match made in trade-publishing heaven. The cost is oversimplification, writes J. Bradford DeLong. ONLY THE LONELYEdward Hopper's subjects are looking for something that may have passed them by. Is that what we look for in Hopper? asks Michael Dirda. HOW TO READ A NOOSEWhat are we to make of an old racist symbol's recent resurgence? asks Troy Duster. BACK TO THEIR SOURCE: Princeton University has agreed to return contested antiquities to Italy. INCENTIVE TO COLLABORATE: The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation has awarded a grant for interdisciplinary research and publication to the University of Minnesota Press. NOTA BENE: A scholar at the University of Hawaii at Manoa interviews Asian musicians about their relationships to Western classical music. HOT TYPE: A health-care analyst at the University of Minnesota believes that a 1970s social-policy experiment has always been misinterpreted. Government & PoliticsSTILL OFFLINEWeb sites that would connect a student to the lender who offers the best rate on a college loan face political and competitive hurdles. 'A CAUTIONARY TALE'Iowa lawmakers challenge the state's student-loan agency and its universities over high levels of student debt. HIGH STANDARDSOnly a small number of students have met the academic requirements for two new federal grant programs, the Education Department says. WITNESS TO AN ERAMilton Greenberg, a member of the GI Bill generation, recalls the rise of the regional state university, the development of the urban, adult-centered campus, and the battles of the "prestige war." APPLYING PRINCIPLESRecent books on college admissions rightly point out the system's many flaws. But their conclusions shortchange institutions' and families' legitimate aspirations, writes Gary M. Lavergne. OPEN UP: A Pennsylvania college is campaigning for campus visits by political candidates to be open to the public, not just to hand-picked supporters. ON SECOND THOUGHT: Sen. John McCain, a candidate for the Republican nomination for president, has reversed himself on part of the immigration overhaul he helped write, and his new stand is more in line with the views of conservative voters. TAKING CHARGE: The Education Department has issued long-awaited regulations to govern student loans, including relationships between colleges and lenders. TAKING A LOOK: The Education Department has sent a second round of letters to colleges that have a high proportion of students borrowing from a single lender, as part of its investigation into possible illegal inducements. TAKING AN INTEREST: 'Rules for the road' governing privacy issues in the cases of troubled students have been released by the Education Department for educators and parents. TAKING A HIT: Citing a predicted shortage of 85,000 doctors by 2020, the American Medical Association has asked the Education Department to postpone its elimination of hardship deferments for medical-school loans. GOING PUBLIC: A group of 19 college systems in 16 states and Puerto Rico will make public previously unpublished data as part of a plan to close achievement gaps for minority and low-income students. 'ROLLING MEETINGS': The Iowa Board of Regents admitted that it violated the state's open-meetings laws last year during its search for a new president of the University of Iowa. AID PLAN WITHDRAWN: The University of Wisconsin at La Crosse will not proceed with a plan to expand need-based student aid with an increase in tuition. IN BRIEF: A roundup of higher-education news from around the country. Money & ManagementAN EPIDEMIC OF ILLUSIONSAmerica's public-health system is ailing. Universities can help revive it, writes Philip Alcabes. PAYOUTS IN PLAYA proposal to require at least 5-percent yearly endowment spending by wealthy universities is misguided. A conservative approach toward long-term fiscal planning is not only wise, it's essential, write Dana G. Mead and Jeremy M. Jacobs. BIG PROBLEMS IN THE SMALL HOURSMany institutions are outsourcing their help-desk services to make sure they are available when students may need them most: in the middle of the night. NO BRAND NAMES, PLEASE: A group of University of Wisconsin alumni gave $85-million to the School of Business so that it could retain its name for at least 20 years. A STRATEGIC GUARANTEE: Juniata College makes students an offer: Graduate in four years or get a year free. PUTTING HIS MONEY WHERE HIS MOUTH IS: The president of Furman University contributed $1-million to the institution's $400-million campaign. GOING, GOING, GONE: Touro College completed the sale of its separately accredited online division last week, for the previously undisclosed price of $190-million. ON 'PROFESSIONAL DISPOSITIONS': The board of the nation's largest accreditor of teacher-education programs has voted to drop language about social justice from its standards. THE PHILANTHROPY 400: Donations to the country's largest charities grew 4.3 percent in 2006, according to a Chronicle of Philanthropy report. CHANGE IN ADMINISTRATION: The Council of Independent Colleges will take over the Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship Foundation's visiting-fellows program. PEER REVIEW: A professor of law and philosophy at the University of Texas at Austin who tracks the career moves of scholars is moving himself, to the University of Chicago. ... The new business school at the Johns Hopkins University hires a dean. ... The Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts chooses a president. ... The first dean of student life at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology is retiring. THE CHRONICLE INDEX OF FOR-PROFIT HIGHER EDUCATION: Recent developments in the industry. Information TechnologyBIG PROBLEMS IN THE SMALL HOURSMany institutions are outsourcing their help-desk services to make sure they are available when students may need them most: in the middle of the night. STRUGGLING TO KEEP UPWhen it comes to many digital archives, scholars at small institutions are the have-nots. LINKED IN WITH: Diane G. Oblinger, the incoming president of Educause. THE WIRED CAMPUS: Technology news in higher education. StudentsAFTER FOSTER CARECalifornia community colleges have a new program that provides advocates for former wards of the state. HOW STUDENTS LEARNSpecial experiences like study abroad and undergraduate research make a real difference, this year's National Survey on Student Engagement shows. STILL OFFLINEWeb sites that would connect a student to the lender who offers the best rate on a college loan face political and competitive hurdles. 'A CAUTIONARY TALE'Iowa lawmakers challenge the state's student-loan agency and its universities over high levels of student debt. HIGH STANDARDSOnly a small number of students have met the academic requirements for two new federal grant programs, the Education Department says. HE'S SORRY NOW: The student who was Tasered at the University of Florida has apologized for his actions and will serve 18 months of probation. KEEPING STUDENTS: An enrollment administrator stresses that retention is the responsibility of officials, faculty members, and even parents. STEREOTYPES NOTWITHSTANDING: Researchers challenged the popular conception of Millennial students at the recent annual meeting of the College Board. AthleticsSHAPE UPThe University of Michigan at Ann Arbor must make its stadium accessible to disabled people or risk losing millions in federal funds. HOME RUN: The NCAA reports that Division I scholarship athletes are graduating at a rate higher than the general student population. POOR FLEXIBILITYA new NCAA formula is a flawed measure of student-athletes' academic fitness, writes Michael J. Cusack. International'WE HAVE TO DO BETTER'Women are greatly underrepresented in Japanese higher education, and some of them are taking steps to change that. A SWITCH TO BONDS: Canadian universities are turning with greater frequency to bonds as a way to finance projects. JUDICIAL REVERSAL: Germany's highest court has overturned the terrorism-related arrest warrant of a Humboldt University academic. SHUTDOWN CAMPAIGN: Russian higher-education regulators have begun revoking the operating licenses of universities based on allegations of fire and safety violations. NO, THANKS: International students in Canada are not impressed by the nation's after-graduation job program, a report says. Notes From AcademeA WORLD'S FAIR REVISITEDA scholar of architecture plumbs the legacy of the 1933 Century of Progress International Exposition, in Chicago. The Chronicle ReviewAN EPIDEMIC OF ILLUSIONSAmerica's public-health system is ailing. Universities can help revive it, writes Philip Alcabes. POOR FLEXIBILITYA new NCAA formula is a flawed measure of student-athletes' academic fitness, writes Michael J. Cusack. WITNESS TO AN ERAMilton Greenberg, a member of the GI Bill generation, recalls the rise of the regional state university, the development of the urban, adult-centered campus, and the battles of the "prestige war." APPLYING PRINCIPLESRecent books on college admissions rightly point out the system's many flaws. But their conclusions shortchange institutions' and families' legitimate aspirations, writes Gary M. Lavergne. REGRESSION ANALYSISEconomists and general readers have discovered each other in a match made in trade-publishing heaven. The cost is oversimplification, writes J. Bradford DeLong. ONLY THE LONELYEdward Hopper's subjects are looking for something that may have passed them by. Is that what we look for in Hopper? asks Michael Dirda. PAYOUTS IN PLAYA proposal to require at least 5-percent yearly endowment spending by wealthy universities is misguided. A conservative approach toward long-term fiscal planning is not only wise, it's essential, write Dana G. Mead and Jeremy M. Jacobs. HIGH PLAINS DRIFTERThe photographer Jim Dow finds that although North Dakota is vast, every square inch is accounted for. HOW TO READ A NOOSEWhat are we to make of an old racist symbol's recent resurgence? asks Troy Duster. CRITICAL MASS: The partisan battle over academic freedom. Letters to the EditorChronicle CareersA CLASS TRAITOR IN ACADEMETenured and solidly middle class, a professor seldom feels he is giving anything back to his working-class roots. SHOULD I MOVE ON?Maybe it's time you refused to wallow in the winter of your discontent, says Ms. Mentor. STRUGGLING TO KEEP UPWhen it comes to many digital archives, scholars at small institutions are the have-nots. DETAILS OF AVAILABLE POSTS, including teaching and research positions in higher education, administrative and executive jobs, and openings outside academe |