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From the issue dated June 13, 2008 |
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Special Report: Wave of Retirements in AcademeTHE GENTLE PUSHAs baby boomers reach retirement age and colleges face new financial pressures, they explore ways to ease older professors out. STEP BY STEPThe University of North Carolina's "phased-retirement" plan, which lets professors step down gradually, helps administrators plan and eases faculty members' anxiety about the transition. TIPS FOR MANAGING RETIREMENTS: Colleges should tread carefully when they encourage faculty members to stop working. WORK AND FAMILY: Putting off retirement would be selfish, says a University of Denver professor, when he could be helping his wife care for their mentally retarded son. BEST OF BOTH WORLDS: A speech professor at Johnson County Community College can't totally give up his courses, but travel and building a log home beckon. THE LONG VIEW: A rock scientist at the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities took a five-year plan for retirement. BACK TO THE BOOKS: A longtime administrator at Lafayette College rediscovers the draw of research while on sabbatical. Short SubjectsTHE PROFS WHO PLAYED WOODSTOCKEight of the original 12 members of Sha Na Na went on to get advanced degrees, and some are still in academe. A MONUMENTAL MISTAKE: A wealthy philanthropist threatens to withhold future gifts to the University of Oxford after the institution turned down his offer to lend it a large statue. FIGHTIN' WORDS: The U.S. Military Academy strikes the words "men" and "sons" from two of the institution's key hymns. ECHOES OF CHENEY: What he meant to say was, "Please sit down," but what Malaysia's deputy education minister actually said to a lawmaker was something we can't print. Notes From AcademeA VOICE FOR JEWS IN GERMANYAn outspoken rabbi and rector of one of only three rabbinical schools in the country nurtures a growing Jewish revival. The FacultyTHE GENTLE PUSHAs baby boomers reach retirement age and colleges face new financial pressures, they explore ways to ease older professors out. STEP BY STEPThe University of North Carolina's "phased-retirement" plan, which lets professors step down gradually, helps administrators plan and eases faculty members' anxiety about the transition. THE PROFS WHO PLAYED WOODSTOCKEight of the original 12 members of Sha Na Na went on to get advanced degrees, and some are still in academe. QUAKER, STATE REACH DEAL: California State University at Fullerton has rehired a lecturer after agreeing with her on changes in a state loyalty oath. SYLLABUS: A Spanish altarpiece from the 15th century forms the basis for an interdisciplinary class at Southern Methodist University. PEER REVIEW: Ma Thida is named International Writing Project Fellow at Brown University ... John Crossley takes over at a Canadian for-profit ... Yale's provost goes back to England as Oxford's vice chancellor. Research & BooksSTABLE TEXTS ON TEXT'S INSTABILITYKey works in postwar literary theory are coming back in anniversary reprints. But are scholars nostalgic for the deconstruction of meaning, or for the construction of viable careers in criticism? asks Jeffrey J. Williams. IMAGINATIONS SPARKEDFrench theory caught fire in America but was transformed in the process, writes Francois Cusset. RECEPTION THEORYAnd anyway, why did Americans embrace the French theorists who were rejected by their own countrymen? Maybe it's in our Constitution, writes Richard Wolin. THE PUBLIC'S RIGHT TO KNOWAn order permitting presidents and former presidents to withhold their records from the public is "a frontal assault on the principle of open government," two historians say. PRESENTING ABROADDespite ceaseless murmurings of a "global" age, most scholars remain bound to nation and discipline. Information TechnologyLAPTOPS MADE ILLEGALLaw professors are banning students' computers from their classrooms, with surprising success. LINKED IN WITH: Jimmy Wales, a founder of Wikipedia, who says his online encyclopedia could become more useful for academe in the future. Money & ManagementA COMMERCIAL COLLEGE CITES SUCCESSThe University of Phoenix has issued its first academic report card to show how it compares with other higher-education institutions. AN EDUCATION IN SAVINGSThree lessons in cost cutting that traditional colleges could learn from for-profit institutions. WHAT I'D TEACH MY SUCCESSORA former university president, Stephen Joel Trachtenberg, looks back on 19 years of lessons learned on the job. SYNTHESIS, NOT ANALYSISA president can do a better job and have more fun by focusing on the big picture, writes the former president of Rollins College. WHY PRESIDENTS FAILThe former president of Western State College of Colorado says presidents can avoid problems by moving carefully, communicating clearly, and elevating discussions. VIRTUAL DEVELOPMENTIsn't fund raising a job you could do just as easily from home as from a campus office? NEWS ANALYSIS: The narrative of campuses' efforts toward diversity is a fairy tale--and chief diversity officers are helping to hide the ugly truth, one scholar accuses. HOW CAN I PREPARE? Americans favor career and technical colleges over community colleges, a poll shows. DEFYING MARKET VOLATILITY: American foundations reported an average annual return on investments of 9.9 percent for 2007, despite the slowing economy. LOSING FAITH: Baby boomers give less to religious causes than their parents did. $10-MILLION DONATION: A Philadelphia entrepreneur made a big gift to the business school at the U. of St. Thomas to help promote corporate ethics. PEER REVIEW: Ma Thida is named International Writing Project Fellow at Brown University ... John Crossley takes over at a Canadian for-profit ... Yale's provost goes back to England as Oxford's vice chancellor. Government & PoliticsREDEFINING DISABILITYLegislation that would broaden coverage under the Americans With Disabilities Act worries some college officials, who fear a flood of students seeking accommodations from campus disability offices. COLLEGES LEND A HANDMost institutions say problems in the private-lending market haven't affected their students yet, but administrators are still preparing to help out. FOREIGN POLICYInternational-relations scholars size up the candidates and their worldviews. SENATOR KENNEDY'S SUB: Sen. Barbara A. Mikulski will lead negotiations of the Higher Education Act while the Massachusetts lawmaker undergoes treatment for a brain tumor. MORE ACCOUNTABILITY: The Council for Higher Education Accreditation has warned its member agencies that more of them need to require colleges to show proof of student achievement. 'CALL ME': James E. Rogers, chancellor of the Nevada System of Higher Education, has publicly bashed the state's tax policy and said the governor was not returning his calls. LAWSUIT DENIED: A federal judge has refused to order the University of Texas at Austin to re-evaluate, without consideration of race or ethnicity, the applications of two white students who sued the institution. StudentsCOLLEGES LEND A HANDMost institutions say problems in the private-lending market haven't affected their students yet, but administrators are still preparing to help out. FEDERAL LOANS FIRSTLegislation in Congress seeks to rein in private student lending, which critics say saddles students with unnecessary debt. BONFIRE DECISION: A Texas court has allowed a negligence lawsuit to proceed against 12 former administrators of Texas A&M University in connection with the fatal collapse. InternationalINDIA'S AILING MEDICAL EDUCATIONGovernment regulations and low salaries have made medicine an unappealing profession for many ambitious students. A VOICE FOR JEWS IN GERMANYAn outspoken rabbi and rector of one of only three rabbinical schools in the country nurtures a growing Jewish revival. LET THE STUDENTS GO: Israel's Supreme Court has asked the government to reconsider an army policy of banning Palestinian students from leaving Gaza to study abroad. IN BRIEF: A roundup of international higher-education news. ECHOES OF CHENEY: What he meant to say was, "Please sit down," but what Malaysia's deputy education minister actually said to a lawmaker was something we can't print. CommentaryWHAT I'D TEACH MY SUCCESSORA former university president, Stephen Joel Trachtenberg, looks back on 19 years of lessons learned on the job. SYNTHESIS, NOT ANALYSISA president can do a better job and have more fun by focusing on the big picture, writes the former president of Rollins College. THE PUBLIC'S RIGHT TO KNOWAn order permitting presidents and former presidents to withhold their records from the public is "a frontal assault on the principle of open government," two historians say. WHY PRESIDENTS FAILThe former president of Western State College of Colorado says presidents can avoid problems by moving carefully, communicating clearly, and elevating discussions. The Chronicle ReviewSTABLE TEXTS ON TEXT'S INSTABILITYKey works in postwar literary theory are coming back in anniversary reprints. But are scholars nostalgic for the deconstruction of meaning, or for the construction of viable careers in criticism? asks Jeffrey J. Williams. IMAGINATIONS SPARKEDFrench theory caught fire in America but was transformed in the process, writes Francois Cusset. RECEPTION THEORYAnd anyway, why did Americans embrace the French theorists who were rejected by their own countrymen? Maybe it's in our Constitution, writes Richard Wolin. FOREIGN POLICYInternational-relations scholars size up the candidates and their worldviews. STANLEY STEAMERWhat can make a controversial plan for an endowed conservative professorship even more controversial? Why, a fellow named Fish, of course! THE OUTSIDERPaul Piccone burned career bridges in academe -- and built intellectual ones with the journal Telos, writes Russell Jacoby. THE HEIGHT OF INSECURITYAlfred Hitchcock's Vertigo is 50, but timeless in its moody semiotic complexity, writes David Sterritt. PEN PALGeorge Garrett understood both the art and the commerce of fiction, and shared that knowledge generously, writes Madison Smartt Bell. FLUID COMPOSITIONSThe photographer Bruce Mozert submerged himself in the now-vanished era of Florida's underwater attractions. NOTA BENE: New books frame the crime photographer Weegee and take aim at the economics of military decisions. Letters to the EditorChronicle CareersPRESENTING ABROADDespite ceaseless murmurings of a "global" age, most scholars remain bound to nation and discipline. 'TEACHING LIFE'A new book tells the story of an excellent teacher but sometimes offers strangely specific advice as gospel truth. VIRTUAL DEVELOPMENTIsn't fund raising a job you could do just as easily from home as from a campus office? DETAILS OF AVAILABLE POSTS, including teaching and research positions in higher education, administrative and executive jobs, and openings outside academe |