Opinion

If you’re a U.S. academic, you are likely about halfway through the summer break by now. Many are technically not on break, as you may (like me) have a 12-month appointment or be teaching in the summer. Nonetheless, for the majority the pace of everyday life in academia slows down with fewer students and faculty around in the summer. This slower pace means more time for research or other summer projects -- but can also contribute to a lack of motivation (for example, as an extrovert, I find it difficult to keep myself motivated in the summer since I have much less contact with people).

A recent series of three blog posts by Kathleen Fitzpatrick chimed nicely with two things I am thinking about these days: how scholars can best share their ideas in a digital age (and what the decisions scholars make will mean for libraries as we rejigger positions and allocate resources) and how I’m going to pull off a conference we’re holding this October on Nordic women crime writers. Event planning is not in my skill set (hey, my idea of a perfect wedding is eloping), but I’m really excited about putting readers, writers, and scholars together to see what happens.

I'm 100% certain that half of the things that I think and write about Blackboard are wrong, I'm just not sure which half. Blackboard is a hard company to "get" because education is such a diverse business, technology moves so quickly, and Blackboard contains so many people, products and services.

When the unusual heat gripped my part of the U.S. in the last few weeks, I did the only logical thing to do - I packed up each evening and took my daughter, and often a neighborhood friend or two, to the public pool. It was a great relief from the heat, and provided a wonderful end to the day. We often play together, splashing in the water that looks like a tortoise shell in the fading sunlight. However, she also likes to go off to swim with her friends, leaving me to either swim laps, to observe what is going on at the pool or to chat with fellow parents, many of whom are also left alone while their children play. As I sat back and took a breath, I found myself noticing several things.

It was the first “moon shot” for U.S. higher education.

For a long time the higher education community has debated the role of trustees, how they should participate in academic governance, and whether trusteeship even matters. There is a good deal of consensus about the latter — yes, trusteeship matters and I argue that it matters more at MSIs.

Education is one of the few enterprises that guarantee a positive return -- and as such, argues Mehdi Maghsoodnia, should be the top priority for government spending.