Filter & Sort
Scary Monsters and Super Creeps
The Girl dressed as a Tootsie Roll, and The Boy as a Jawa from Star Wars. They were endearing, but not scary. I had front door duty.
Long Distance Mom: Adopting Mr. Pants
I’m not sure if this blog has ever acknowledged how close the emotions attached to raising a pet are to raising children, even though I would venture a guess that there are just as many academics with pets as kids. Universities do, in fact, offer insurance for animals (even before domestic partner benefits), and a $7.6 million donation was recently made in a cat’s name to UC Davis’s School of Veterinary Medicine, but it doesn’t seem politically correct for pet owners to insist that their animals are loved and return affection every bit as much as human dependents. As someone who has raised both, though, I think I can safely say that my cat seems to love me with more dependability than my teenagers.
Is Loyalty a Good Thing?
Or does it present a risk to making decisions in the long-term interest of the institution?
Jacques Barzun: Anti-Educationist?
Was a legendary humanist and professor opposed to higher ed? Scott McLemee looks at the record.
It's Talent That Matters
Colleges need to identify and prepare future administrative leaders, instead of waiting passively for the cycle of resignations and appointments, write Steve Riccio and Patrick Sanaghan.
Rogue Data
Like most colleges, mine was born before IT became a fact of life. IT had to be grafted onto a pre-existing culture, or, more accurately, set of micro-cultures. Different departments and support programs have their own ways of doing things; some have welcomed technology, some have grudgingly adapted, and some have shoved it over in a corner, hoping it would eventually go away.
Ghosts and Goblins of Grad School
Halloween on a college campus is a wonderful time of year. Free candy can be found in bowls on every secretary's desk, normal clothing can be eschewed for fun t-shirts and costumes, and we're all given a short break from reality. However, the tricks and treats of this day can be found throughout the year for grad students. Sometimes it can be hard to identify the goblins and ghouls that haunt you when they aren't dressed up, but they're still there.
Digital Writing Month
One month. 50,000 words. As long as they don't all have to be spelled properly, I'll be fine.