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[belleoftheball]

I'm an alum of Cornell and would be happy to answer any questions that you have. In terms of academics, the OCAAT required adjusting as a student, and I've often thought how difficult it would be to adjust to the system as a faculty member. My courses were typically two hours per day unless they were science courses. However, because it was one course at a time, "field trips" were not uncommon. These ranged from day-long trips to the larger, much better stocked library at the University of Iowa (at a time when journals were not all readily available online) to week-long trips for some of the science courses. (Essentially, they were taught in the field.) As a student, it was great because you could thoroughly immerse yourself in the course. As a faculty member, I imagine you would need to have EVERYTHING prepped for the entire block before day 1, especially with the quick grading turn-around that is required.

In terms of social life, Mt. Vernon is a SMALL town. I cannot emphasize that enough. I think they may have developed enough to now have two stoplights instead of one.  Walk 10 minutes in any direction and you will be in cornfields. However, it is closely located to Cedar Rapids (where I lived for several years) and Iowa City. When I was there many faculty lived in town, and it was not uncommon to invite your students over for small parties. Students were also given faculty member's home phone numbers. This may have changed since I've been there, but there was definitely an expectation that faculty closely interacted with their students. As a faculty member today, some of this may sound terrifying (e.g., giving students home phone numbers!!!), but a) the enrollment is very small, and 2) because interacting outside of the classroom with faculty was the norm, students learned how to do it appropriately (e.g., don't call at midnight).

"They have a terrible football team."

We had a football team??? Huh. So that's what those oddly dressed men were doing out there on Homecoming.

[sugarmonkey]

It, like most of Iowa, is really, really, really white. If diversity matters to you, you won't find it there. But otherwise, it has a good reputation. And cost of living is pretty cheap.

[anthroid]

It, like most of Iowa, is really, really, really white. If diversity matters to you, you won't find it there. But otherwise, it has a good reputation. And cost of living is pretty cheap.

Iowa (sort of) also approved gay marriage IIRC, so you can get your diversity in ways other than ethnicity.

[locutus]

It, like most of Iowa, is really, really, really white. If diversity matters to you, you won't find it there. But otherwise, it has a good reputation. And cost of living is pretty cheap.

Iowa (sort of) also approved gay marriage IIRC, so you can get your diversity in ways other than ethnicity.

Just to quibble a bit.
How many gays are in Iowa? Diversity isn't the same as liberal politics.

[scampster]

It, like most of Iowa, is really, really, really white. If diversity matters to you, you won't find it there. But otherwise, it has a good reputation. And cost of living is pretty cheap.

Iowa (sort of) also approved gay marriage IIRC, so you can get your diversity in ways other than ethnicity.

Just to quibble a bit.
How many gays are in Iowa? Diversity isn't the same as liberal politics.

Just as many as in any other non-metropolitan area I would guess.

[anthroid]

It, like most of Iowa, is really, really, really white. If diversity matters to you, you won't find it there. But otherwise, it has a good reputation. And cost of living is pretty cheap.

Iowa (sort of) also approved gay marriage IIRC, so you can get your diversity in ways other than ethnicity.

Just to quibble a bit.
How many gays are in Iowa? Diversity isn't the same as liberal politics.

Probably as many as there are in every other state.  Iowa just affirmed their rights.  That's pretty liberal, in my book.

Look, my read of Iowa is the same as it is of Missouri, Illinois, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Michigan, and Ohio (or that area that I think of as the core of the Midwest):  there are serious pockets of right-wing wackiness but in large part there is a long tradition of live-and-let-live, and neighborliness and sociability are far more important than ideological correctness.

I speak as someone who has lived in rural and urban Illinois, Wisconsin, Minnesota, and Missouri.  Maybe I'm wrong about Michigan....

On preview:  yep, Scampster has it right (as usual!).

[aandsdean]

Cornell, btw, is pretty significantly GLBTQ-friendly.

And it was the Iowa Supreme Court that affirmed gay marriage, on equal-protection grounds, which are really hard to quibble with if you're not blinded by ideology.

In some parts of Iowa--and the CR-IC corridor would be one of these--there's actually a fair amount of diversity.  Seriously.

(And no, I don't just mean Lutherans of both the ELCA and the Missouri Synod.)

And the Iowa caucuses launched Obama.  One of Iowa's senators is Harkin.  It's not exactly Kansas, in other words.

[locutus]

It, like most of Iowa, is really, really, really white. If diversity matters to you, you won't find it there. But otherwise, it has a good reputation. And cost of living is pretty cheap.

Iowa (sort of) also approved gay marriage IIRC, so you can get your diversity in ways other than ethnicity.

Just to quibble a bit.
How many gays are in Iowa? Diversity isn't the same as liberal politics.

Probably as many as there are in every other state.  Iowa just affirmed their rights.  That's pretty liberal, in my book.

First, do you mean the same number or same percentage?

I think you're both missing my point, I'm not saying Iowa isn't a wonderful liberal live-and-let-live, blah blah blah kind of place. I'm sure it's great. My issue is that people often conflate diversity with liberal politics. Iowa approving gay marriage has nothing to do with the relative diversity in Iowa. I'm not making any claims about either, but they are just two different things. Perhaps related, but different.

[anthroid]

It, like most of Iowa, is really, really, really white. If diversity matters to you, you won't find it there. But otherwise, it has a good reputation. And cost of living is pretty cheap.

Iowa (sort of) also approved gay marriage IIRC, so you can get your diversity in ways other than ethnicity.

Just to quibble a bit.
How many gays are in Iowa? Diversity isn't the same as liberal politics.

Probably as many as there are in every other state.  Iowa just affirmed their rights.  That's pretty liberal, in my book.

First, do you mean the same number or same percentage?

I think you're both missing my point, I'm not saying Iowa isn't a wonderful liberal live-and-let-live, blah blah blah kind of place. I'm sure it's great. My issue is that people often conflate diversity with liberal politics. Iowa approving gay marriage has nothing to do with the relative diversity in Iowa. I'm not making any claims about either, but they are just two different things. Perhaps related, but different.

What I'm saying is that Iowa will have the same number of gay people as any other part of the country.  Whether folks feel comfortable expressing it publicly is a different question.  But to assume that Iowa is somehow immune from homosexuality in ways that the rest of us are not is, frankly, wrong.  And given the Iowa Supreme Court's opinion, discussed above, Iowa is a bastion of liberality unmatched by most of the other states in the region.

We are not discussing ethnicity.  But ethnicity is not the only marker of of diversity.  It is not an unimportant part of diversity, and there are hidden pockets of undocumented workers, largely in agriculture and food processing plants, that are not being discussed here (as they are not discussed in most of the region).  There certainly are important issues of social justice in Iowa, as there are everywhere.

But Cornell is aware of them, and IMHO deals with them very well.

[sugarmonkey]

Yeah, one of Iowa's senators is Harkin...but the other is Grassley.

Cornell is a more liberal and diverse than most of the state but the state is very white and fairly conservative, though the gay marriage thing was a pleasant surprise.

There are pockets, of course, but you can go a long time in many parts of the state without seeing a non-white person.

[luckyduck]

On another tangential note, I met my husband at Cornell College.

And alerted a good friend to hu's current job there (are we still using hu here?)

[airball]

There are pockets, of course, but you can go a long time in many parts of the state without seeing a non-white person.

New Hampshire and Maine, too.

Here's a thread, including the perspective of one of the above-mentioned non-white persons: http://www.city-data.com/forum/iowa/182357-relocating-mt-vernon-ia-iowa-city-2.html

[sibyl]

One of the threads that Sibyl was kind enough to link for me said that the teaching works out to about 2 hours a day--that doesn't seem quite right to me, it seems too short somehow.  Does anyone have any experience teaching on a schedule like that?

I've taught on the block schedule before. 

At a college on the semester calendar, the semester is 13 weeks (exclusive of breaks) and most classes meet for 3 hours a week.  3 x 13 = 39.

On the block plan, classes meet 2 hours a day, five days a week, four weeks.  2 x 5 x 4 = 40.

(Lab classes have more meeting time, of course.)

The thing about the block plan is that it is absolutely relentless.  The next class meeting is the next day, so you don't have a lot of time to prep; and because the meeting is two hours long, it can be twice as draining as a one-hour meeting.  You cannot put off reading or grading, because it is always due immediately.  A friend of mine says, "It's a sprint, not a marathon.  There's no advantage to pacing yourself."

[higherandhigher]

One of the threads that Sibyl was kind enough to link for me said that the teaching works out to about 2 hours a day--that doesn't seem quite right to me, it seems too short somehow.  

It is too short. Most courses at Cornell College meet for four hours a day over eighteen class days (9AM-11AM and 1PM-3PM) [I think they don't all meet every day during that, but four hours each day is the norm].
http://www.cornellcollege.edu/academics/ocaat/block-schedule.shtml