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From the issue dated January 20, 2006 |
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Special Report: New Orleans HomecomingAFTER THE FLOODNew Orleans campuses welcome students back to temporary housing, smaller programs, and a new spirit of determination. DIAMOND IN THE ROUGHFloodwaters swamped the baseball field at a community college in New Orleans, but the coach was determined to save the season. Short SubjectsJUST ASKINGA Christian university official discusses his institution's marketing agreement with the Creator. STRATFORD-UPON-ADEN: An Adelphi University literature professor teaches Shakespeare to his fellow U.S. Marine reservists in Djibouti. A VERY GOOD BOOK: The University of Manitoba has learned that it owns a rare first-print copy of the King James Bible. The FacultyLESS JOB SECURITYThe proportion of part-timers in the American professoriate has leveled out, but the proportion of full-time faculty members working off the tenure track is climbing, says a report. AFTER THE FLOODNew Orleans campuses welcome students back to temporary housing, smaller programs, and a new spirit of determination. THE I-WORDWhat's post-postmodern? Why, interdisciplinarity, of course, writes Jeffrey N. Wasserstrom, director of the East Asian Studies Center at Indiana University. BLINDSIDEDNever mind her rare eye disease. What this professor sees is just a small fraction of what she gets. By Karla Jay, a professor of English and women's and gender studies at Pace University. DON'T CALL ME THOMASHow can I give a C to someone who is close enough to me to use my first name? WHAT IF I DON'T KNOW THE ROPES?Just because most academic rules are unwritten doesn't mean you're not supposed to learn them. THIS ACADEMIC LIFE: Three federal agencies are using a tool that transformed the gender composition of college athletics to investigate gender equity in academic science. ... Stanford University has unveiled what may be the country's most generous maternity-leave policy for graduate students in chemistry. ... The University of Michigan at Ann Arbor will put up $800,000 to continue a program begun by the National Science Foundation for recruiting female faculty members in the sciences and engineering. ... The University of Toronto has won places on two national lists for being a good place to work, and it was the only educational institution to make the grade. HEAL THYSELF: A new report says that academic physicians are suffering because of their institutions' insistence that they treat more patients to bring in more revenue. FEDERAL INDICTMENT: A Florida International University professor and his wife, a university employee, have been accused of spying for Cuba. PEER REVIEW: A house call from E. Gordon Gee brings a power couple in history to Vandy. ... A physicist takes a top-rank job at the University of Kentucky, with plans to push it into the top ranks of research institutions. ... California universities have hired two major names in stem-cell research. EVIDENCE LACKING: At a state hearing to investigate whether Pennsylvania colleges discriminate against conservative students, the activist David Horowitz admitted that he could not back up some of his allegations of bias. Research & BooksREALITY RESEARCHPsychologists are trying to find out the truth about people by listening in on everyday life with compact recording devices. FAITHFUL QUESTIONSSome orthodoxies to the contrary, independent-mindedness is next to godliness, writes Daniel C. Dennett, director of the Center for Cognitive Studies at Tufts University. VERBATIM: A scholar at California College of the Arts speaks about the dearth of voices in Filipina-American critical theory. SCIENCE OF DECEIT: An investigation has found that Woo Suk Hwang, a South Korean researcher, lied about creating stem-cell lines from cloned human embryos. PATRIOTS AND PRISONERS: Nationalism past and politics present were topics of discussion at the annual meeting of the American Historical Association. KEEPING NUMBERS UP: Economists assessed the health of their field at a recent meeting. COMPLETION RATES: Economists discussed ways to help doctoral students in the humanities finish their studies. NOTA BENE: Musicians can use recording techniques to create and manipulate an aural landscape, an Australian scholar writes. HOT TYPE: A scholar of African literature at the University of Nebraska at Lincoln has gathered many of the proverbs of the Yoruba people into a published collection. Government & PoliticsOUT ON BONDOnly five years after voters in North Carolina approved billions for campus repairs and construction, colleges say they need more money. TEACH THE WORLDAt an unprecedented summit meeting, top U.S. government officials invited 120 college leaders to talk about how to make American higher education more international. THE ELEPHANT IN THE ROOMAre conservative Republicans now America's permanent ruling class? asks John J. DiIulio Jr., a professor of political science at the University of Pennsylvania. $2.4 BILLION: Congressional earmarks for research for the 2006 fiscal year are up 13 percent from 2005, according to an estimate from the American Association for the Advancement of Science. EVIDENCE LACKING: At a state hearing to investigate whether Pennsylvania colleges discriminate against conservative students, the activist David Horowitz admitted that he could not back up some of his allegations of bias. IN BRIEF: A roundup of higher-education news Money & ManagementMORE TO LEARNA new leader has rejuvenated the adult-education program at Northeastern University with market research, faculty involvement, and a nontraditional approach. AFTER THE FLOODNew Orleans campuses welcome students back to temporary housing, smaller programs, and a new spirit of determination. THE PRESIDENT'S MOUTHYou'd better like to talk if you want to be a college president, because the job is like managing a sustained manic fit. MONEY MANAGERS: Four economics professors from Williams College have become college presidents, including Catharine B. Hill, the new president of Vassar College. FINANCIAL AID: Macon State College has changed its class schedule, in part so students can save on gas. RECORD DONATION: A billionaire alumnus has given Oklahoma State University at Stillwater $165-million for new athletics facilities. TO SUPPORT THE ARTS: The only granddaughter of Henry Ford, founder of the Ford Motor Company, has bequeathed $50-million to the College for Creative Studies. MORE IN 2004: The endowments of American educational institutions earned "respectable" returns in the 2005 fiscal year but less than they had the year before, according to a survey. 'A BIG PROBLEM': Thousands of TIAA-CREF's customers have been locked out of their accounts during the past two months because of a computer glitch. PEER REVIEW: A house call from E. Gordon Gee brings a power couple in history to Vandy. ... A physicist takes a top-rank job at the University of Kentucky, with plans to push it into the top ranks of research institutions. ... California universities have hired two major names in stem-cell research. Information TechnologyTOO MUCH INFORMATIONStudents are discovering that sharing personal details on social-networking Web sites can have unintended consequences. STILL TALKING: The University of Idaho discovered that putting a public-speaking course partially online saved it money and was more convenient for students. COPYRIGHT CASE CLOSED: A graduate student has settled her lawsuit against the operator of three term-paper Web sites that used her essay without her permission. SPURNED AGAIN: The U.S. Supreme Court has refused to consider a commercial dating service's challenge to a University of Texas policy that blocks unsolicited e-mail messages. StudentsAFTER THE FLOODNew Orleans campuses welcome students back to temporary housing, smaller programs, and a new spirit of determination. TOO MUCH INFORMATIONStudents are discovering that sharing personal details on social-networking Web sites can have unintended consequences. INFORMATION, PLEASECollege freshmen should be introduced to unfamiliar cultures — the library, for instance, writes Betsy Barefoot, co-director of the Policy Center on the First Year of College. THE LATINO LACUNAAmerica has a population of 41.3 million Latinos. Why do so few of them attend elite colleges? asks Ilan Stavans, a professor of Latin American and Latino culture at Amherst College. AthleticsTHE MICE THAT ROAREDSmall Division I colleges banded together at the NCAA's annual convention to overturn a rule that they feared would have benefited their larger, wealthier rivals. SACKED HOKIE: Virginia Tech has finally kicked its star quarterback, Marcus Vick, off the team after the latest in a serious of infractions. InternationalTEACH THE WORLDAt an unprecedented summit meeting, top U.S. government officials invited 120 college leaders to talk about how to make American higher education more international. KIWI QUANDARIESProponents of deregulating American higher education can learn from New Zealand's missteps, writes Gordon Davies, director of the National Collaborative for Postsecondary Education Policy. DIGITAL WELCOME MAT: The U.S. State Department has posted a new online guidebook that explains America's higher-education system to foreign students. TSUNAMI 101: The School for International Training, in Vermont, has established one of the first academic programs specifically tailored to aid the Asian tsunami-relief efforts. Notes From AcademeDIAMOND IN THE ROUGHFloodwaters swamped the baseball field at a community college in New Orleans, but the coach was determined to save the season. The Chronicle ReviewTHE I-WORDWhat's post-postmodern? Why, interdisciplinarity, of course, writes Jeffrey N. Wasserstrom, director of the East Asian Studies Center at Indiana University. FAITHFUL QUESTIONSSome orthodoxies to the contrary, independent-mindedness is next to godliness, writes Daniel C. Dennett, director of the Center for Cognitive Studies at Tufts University. THE ELEPHANT IN THE ROOMAre conservative Republicans now America's permanent ruling class? asks John J. DiIulio Jr., a professor of political science at the University of Pennsylvania. BLINDSIDEDNever mind her rare eye disease. What this professor sees is just a small fraction of what she gets. By Karla Jay, a professor of English and women's and gender studies at Pace University. KIWI QUANDARIESProponents of deregulating American higher education can learn from New Zealand's missteps, writes Gordon Davies, director of the National Collaborative for Postsecondary Education Policy. INFORMATION, PLEASECollege freshmen should be introduced to unfamiliar cultures — the library, for instance, writes Betsy Barefoot, co-director of the Policy Center on the First Year of College. ABSTRACT FRONTIERRoy Lichtenstein's little-known "Amerindian" series pops a set of mass-media clichés. THE LATINO LACUNAAmerica has a population of 41.3 million Latinos. Why do so few of them attend elite colleges? asks Ilan Stavans, a professor of Latin American and Latino culture at Amherst College. MELANGE: Excerpts from books of interest to academe Letters to the EditorChronicle CareersDON'T CALL ME THOMASHow can I give a C to someone who is close enough to me to use my first name? THE PRESIDENT'S MOUTHYou'd better like to talk if you want to be a college president, because the job is like managing a sustained manic fit. WHAT IF I DON'T KNOW THE ROPES?Just because most academic rules are unwritten doesn't mean you're not supposed to learn them. DETAILS OF AVAILABLE POSTS, including teaching and research positions in higher education, administrative and executive jobs, and openings outside academe Gazette |