Confessions of a Community College Dean

What if college got cheaper as you went along?

I have a close, longtime friend who has lived the mixed blessing of getting what she has wanted, when she has wanted it. Luckily for her, she generally has good taste, but she has boxed herself into corners a few times when circumstances refused to conspire to save her from herself. I’m thinking that the last couple of years are conspiring to save for-profit higher ed from itself.

A returning correspondent writes: Our FT faculty are exploring the creating of a Faculty Senate and allowing adjuncts to participate.

At dinner last night, TW saw a ladybug crawling on the wall. I was drafted to catch it and set it loose outside, but it fell to the floor and scurried under the rug.

A new correspondent writes with a seemingly simple question: What professional development do you recommend for a newly appointed community college Dean of Instruction?

Quick, what’s the most vexing aspect of academic advising at a community college?

What does it mean to “support” a program?

You know that feeling when you’ve suspected something for a long time but couldn’t prove it, and then someone proves it for you? This article had that effect. It’s about how student attrition in STEM majors is actually higher in more selective institutions than in less selective ones. It brought back vivid memories of my days at Snooty Liberal Arts College, and even of late high school.