The academia and family life discussion continues on ScienceBlogs and elsewhere, and continues to be fascinating (at least if you’re fascinated by this stuff…). The Female Science Professor has two more posts on the topic since I last linked her, one on awkward interview questions (though nothing to compare to this anecdote), and another on… Continue reading Family, Academia, and Rock Stars
Category: Academia
Sunday Times Round-Up
Miscellaneous stories that caught my eye in today’s New York Times: First, on the science sdie of things, a long article about how people are living longer, not to mention bigger and healthier, than their ancestors. It compares medical records for Civil War veterans with people of similar age today, and finds amazing reductions in… Continue reading Sunday Times Round-Up
Having a Life is Hard
For those following the discussion about having a career and a life, referenced in this post, there have been some interesting additions in recent days. Janet Stemwedel added a post clarifying some terms, and Rob Knop offers his own thoughts, and points out that academics aren’t the only ones struggling to have a life and… Continue reading Having a Life is Hard
A Little Perspective, Please
I’ve linked to Inside Higher Ed almost every day this week, so why stop now? Today’s Views section features Terry Caesar being outraged over RateMyProfessors.com (which he refers to in BLOCK CAPS throughout). Among the many sins of the site, he includes this paragraph: In fact, students at RATE don’t even have to be students!… Continue reading A Little Perspective, Please
Why They’re Leaving
Inside Higher Ed had a piece yesterday about leaks in the science pipeline— that is, reasons why so few students end up majoring in science, math, or engineering these days. The hook for the article is some Congressional hearings on the subject, but the author lists some possible explanations related to the structure of academia… Continue reading Why They’re Leaving
Something New Under the School-Choice Sun
Harry Brighouse at Crooked Timber is enthusiastic about something that appears to be that rarest of rarities, a new idea in the education funding debate: instead of giving the best students money to move to different schools, let schools bid for the best students. Betts suggests this: first fund the schools equally on a per-student… Continue reading Something New Under the School-Choice Sun
Academic Anxiety Update
I’m beginning to put my tenure review materials together, which means lots of angst about academia generally. Happily, there’s the Internet, which can always make matters worse by providing more links: For example, a couple of my ScienceBlogs colleagues are blogging about family issues and academic careers: Janet Stemwedel has the first three posts (one… Continue reading Academic Anxiety Update
Diversity in Academia
I’m pretty sure the folks at Inside Higher Ed don’t know that it’s International Blog Against Racism Week, but they’ve provided some good material all the same. Today, Alan Contreras offers some provocative thoughts on diversity in academic hiring: Anyone interested in actual improvement of the presence of good nonwhite faculty in our universities needs… Continue reading Diversity in Academia
Clustering of Athletes
In the wake of academic scandals involving the Auburn football program, Inside Higher Ed reports on a study looking at the majors of athletes. The results will be shocking to, well basically no-one who has ever set foot on a college campus: While accusations of widespread abuse like that alleged at Auburn are unusual, “clustering”… Continue reading Clustering of Athletes
Excellent Teaching Advice
I’d be remiss in my academic-blogging duties if I failed to point out this Inside Higher Ed piece on teaching core courses. Like many articles published in academic magazines, it’s aimed directly at English composition, but the main points can be extended to intro classes in other disciplines. In particular: 10. Don’t compare students’ attitudes… Continue reading Excellent Teaching Advice