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Weather and Politics
Two weeks ago we traveled to Colorado for a family wedding. The wedding was beautiful and I also appreciated the fact that this was an academic love story in every way. The bride (my niece) who holds a Master’s in Math and the groom who has a Ph.D. in Math fell in love in graduate school and their love of math was an important catalyst. What a beautiful story and it all added up to a wedding to be followed now by an increasing number of anniversaries.
School's Out
On the eve of his high school graduation, Ben told me he had a recurring fear that his diploma would actually be the blank sheet that the principal hands students who have not completed graduation requirements, but wish to walk with their class. I assured him that if he was missing or failing something, I would know about it — but in the event, we both checked.
Digital Makeover in Your Future?
While it may go against the grain for faculty members who aren't digital natives, Paula Dagnon and Karen Hoelscher explain how to find out whether creating an electronic portfolio of your work is right for you.
Transparency, or Redundancy?
The Obama administration’s push to standardize financial aid packets will do little to address college affordability, writes R. Barbara Gitenstein.
The Declaration of Independence
Kieran Healy imagines the documents the UVa Board of Visitors intended to issue.
“Hear the students’ voices swelling. Strong and true and clear. . .”
In the spring of 2008 I stood on the lawn in front of the president’s house at the College of William and Mary with a group of undergraduates, fellow graduate students, and faculty singing the alma mater and wondering if anybody was hearing the students’ voices swell.
Learning Communities, Student Success, and Real Pizza
I spent Thursday at the “Strengthening Developmental Education” conference presented by the MDRC at Columbia University in a shockingly hot New York City. It was an odd cluster of presentations. On the one hand, the intellectual firepower present and the quality of evidence mustered was encouraging. There was an honesty about findings, and a humility in the face of facts, that’s all too rare at academic conferences. On the other, though, that meant that many of the findings suggested that much of the student success toolkit -- learning communities, summer bridge programs, and dual enrollment, to name a few -- just won’t live up to our hopes.
Year of Ulysses
The Digital Humanities and public scholarship and engagement come together in this fantastic initiative.