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"Some college administrators seem so distracted with fund raising, academic infighting, and community initiatives that they set up their emergency communications departments very poorly. Training is poor to nonexistent, secretaries are pressed into service with tremendous responsibilities for running 'notification systems' 24/7 and on weekends because no one else knows how to do it and the administration won’t pay for additional staff. Procedures are seat-of-the-pants and dependent on HIPPO (highest paid person’s opinion), except when something like Virginia Tech happens and there is some sort of scramble to do something different." --Donna
Most Colleges Avoid Risk Management, Report Says
Jill Biden Shines a Global Spotlight on American Community Colleges
Speaking at a Unesco conference in Paris, the vice president’s wife stressed the importance of two-year institutions to the nation’s educational goals.
Connecticut Public Colleges Lose 200 Professors to Early Retirement
Administrators are scrambling to plug holes in their course schedules for fall, with most expecting to do so by hiring more adjuncts or increasing class sizes.
U. of Georgia Paid 2 Fraternities $2.4-Million to Relocate, Contracts Show
The two were among five with houses on property where the university plans to build new academic facilities.
New Allegations in Admissions Controversy at U. of Illinois Suggest Ex-Provost Played a Role
Linda P.B. Katehi, the incoming chancellor of the University of California at Davis, has insisted she knew nothing of the admission of politically connected applicants at Illinois.
Sonoma State U. Foundation May Lose $350,000 on Loan to Former Board Member
The foundation will be forced to issue fewer scholarships in the 2010-11 academic year because of a diminished endowment, a university official said.
College Suspends Student for Working in Gay Pornography | 58
President Obama's Visit to Notre Dame Carries Barely a Hint of Controversy That Preceded It | 58
Drug Sting Nabs 21 Students at U. of Illinois | 57
Faculty Members and Union Protest Staff Layoffs at Temple U. as 'Cruel' | 57
North Dakota Board's Vote Puts 'Fighting Sioux' Mascot on Thinner Ice | 57
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December 3, 2007
Berkeley Professor Wins Grawemeyer Award for Ideas Improving World Order
Philip E. Tetlock, a professor of business administration and political science at the University of California at Berkeley, has won the 2008 Grawemeyer Award for “ideas improving world order,” the University of Louisville has announced. Mr. Tetlock will receive the $200,000 prize for his research on the accuracy of high-profile advisers on issues of public policy.
Predictions on political issues are frequently wrong, says Mr. Tetlock, which is unfortunate because lawmakers frequently rely on such analyses to shape policy. In a 20-year study of 27,000 predictions made by 284 “experts” cited in the news media, he found that, very often, the professionals were no more accurate in their crystal-ball gazing than ordinary people.
“In this age of academic hyperspecialization, there is no reason for supposing that contributors to top journals—distinguished political scientists, area-study specialists, economists, and so on—are any better than journalists or attentive readers of The New York Times in ‘reading’ emerging situations,” writes Mr. Tetlock in his 2005 book about the study, Expert Political Judgment: How Good Is It? How Can We Know? (Princeton).
Experts need to receive more training and be held publicly accountable for their advice, he argues in the book.
The award for ideas improving world order is one of five Grawemeyer prizes that are presented each year in recognition of achievements in the arts, humanities, and social sciences. It is the second Grawemeyer prize to be announced this week. The prize for music composition was awarded on Monday to the composer Peter Lieberson for the song cycle “Neruda Songs.” Winners in the categories of psychology, education, and religion are scheduled to be announced later this week.
The awards were created in 1984 by H. Charles Grawemeyer, an industrialist and a University of Louisville alumnus. More information about the Grawemeyer Awards and the Grawemeyer Foundation at the University of Louisville is available on the organization’s Web site. —Jason Breslow
Posted on Monday December 3, 2007 | Permalink |Comments
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As with the weather, people who predict “tomorrow will be the same as today” are statistically more accurate than those who base their predictions on analytical data.
— marci Dec 4, 12:39 PM #
Intelligence is a matter of how many decision-weighting variables one can juggle simultaneously. Politics show that better than any other field. “Experts” almost by definition exclude all the variable they aren’t interested in, resulting in unintelligent predictions.
— David A. McCullough Dec 4, 01:57 PM #
Tetlock’s conclusions heartening to old political diletantes like me who have followed political events for twice as long as most media pundits. Accidentally I am correct once in a while, too.
— Paul R. Cooper Dec 4, 02:07 PM #
$200,000 is an off-the-wall sum for a specific and recent piece of work. That’s not Professor Tetlock’s fault of course, but he may want to do some survey research on whether academic administrators view the opinions of big cash prizewinners as more (or less) reliable on certain issues ;).
— Sam Dec 4, 04:35 PM #