Confessions of a Community College Dean

In a fit of responsibility, our budget guy did some projections five years out. Simply put, the gap is growing quickly, and it’s not likely that the state will pony up anything close to enough to fill it..

My IHE blogger colleague Lee Bessette has tagged April 2 as a “day of higher ed,” complete with twitter hashtag #dayofhighered. The idea is to share with the general public just what it is, exactly, that those of us in higher ed do all day.

A few days ago I mentioned that the credit hour must die, and several readers asked for clarification. (In a Leslie Neilsen voice: “Death is the end of life. But that’s not important right now.”)

A new correspondent writes: "Is there any hope for getting my university to expand its commitment to my admittedly esoteric discipline? My classes are popular and pique students' curiosity, but they have to go to another institution to study it more. Is there an appropriate way to bring that popularity to the administration's attention?"

A new correspondent writes: "I work at a comprehensive community college. The president has announced his retirement and a search committee is being formed. Several of the faculty and staff have mentioned nominating a candidate who might be a great fit for the position, but he has no graduate degree and limited direct experience in higher education."

Several alert readers sent me links to this piece from the Hartford Courant. Apparently, the Nutmeg state is considering abolishing standalone remedial courses in community colleges altogether, starting in 2014. They’ll allow colleges to replace them with “as needed” remediation offered in the context of credit-bearing courses.

So the interwebs were abuzz this weekend with discussions of an editorial in the Washington Post arguing that professors are vastly overpaid relative to their work, and that their relative laziness is a primary driver of the higher ed cost spiral.

Note to software/hardware vendors: if you want to make the case that what you’re selling will overturn teaching and learning as we know them, don’t do so with a four-hour lecture.