Confessions of a Community College Dean

A new correspondent writes: "I wondered if I could crowdsource a request for advice from a colleague trying to find a full-time academic job. She finished her PhD a little while ago and has strong references from two prominent faculty members at her graduate institution. For 6 years, she has been doing part-time teaching work at another university that has only two full-time faculty in her discipline: one she doesn't get along with at all (through no fault of her own), but the other is great and has written reference letters for her in the past. However, my colleague just saw one of these letters and it was all of two paragraphs long with nothing of substance to say."

Why do people continue to apply to, and attend, nothing-special doctoral programs in the humanities and social sciences?

A new correspondent writes: "My boss, the director of [campus office], told me in February that I was going to be promoted. A month later, the vp told me I was getting a raise. A month later, my boss asked me what I thought about being assistant director and told me to name my price. The next week, he and the vp told me I was going to be re-classified. The president has called two private meetings with me to thank me for my hard work and tell me they are looking for a place for me. The paperwork for re-classification has been slow. I turned in my final portion last week and my boss still hasn't acknowledged it. It's been 7 months."

My state is starting to make noises about basing appropriations for public colleges on “performance” numbers. Since it’s fairly clear that we’re talking about reallocating existing money, rather than adding new money to the pot, some campuses stand to get more, and others stand to get less.

As a kid, I remember watching Star Trek at 7:00 on Saturday nights with my Mom. At the time, it struck me as the most amazing show ever made, even though I frequently only half-understood what was going on.

Just a few weeks after the City College of San Francisco was put on severe notice by its regional accreditor, and just a few days after an audit report found that the college is verging on insolvency, CCSF proudly announced ... its new 14 story, $138 million building!

Last week I had a lightbulb moment. Why are so many financial aid rules at odds with so many academic policies and goals?

Why do we insist on teaching developmental classes as if they carried credit?