The National Science Board has released a draft report for public comment titled “A National Action Plan for Addressing the Critical Needs of the U.S. Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics Education System.” You can dowload the PDF of the report from that page, and email any comments to: NSB_STEMaction@nsf.gov. I’ve only skimmed the report, so… Continue reading Report on Improving Science Education
Category: Academia
Those Wacky Liberal Academics
Via Inside Higher Ed, the Center for Responsive Politics has a new report on political contributions by academics So far in the ’08 election cycle, people who work for institutions of higher education have given more than $7 million to federal candidates, parties and committees, according to the nonpartisan Center for Responsive Politics. Nearly 60… Continue reading Those Wacky Liberal Academics
Who Sets Admission Standards?
South Carolina football coach Steve Spurrier is hopping mad over the decision to deny admission to two recruits who were above the NCAA minimum standard for eligibility, but did not meet the University’s requirements. Said Spurrier: “As long as I’m the coach here, we’re going to take guys that qualify. If not, then I’m going… Continue reading Who Sets Admission Standards?
Residential Academia
While I was out of town, there was a nice article in the New York Times Education section about the Minerva House system that Union has set up recently.in an attempt to (among other things) reduce the dominance of fraternities over the campus social scene: “You’d see that these were very prominent places, and a… Continue reading Residential Academia
Endowment Hoarding?
It’s been a few days since I linked to Inside Higher Ed, and the Internet itself was threatening to collapse. They’re got a provocative article today about university endowments, though, so disaster is averted. The author, Lynne Munson, compares colleges and universities to private foundations, and doesn’t like what she sees: A recent survey of… Continue reading Endowment Hoarding?
The Grand Contraption, by David Park
Some time back, I was offered a review copy of Why the Sky Is Blue by Götz Hoeppe by Princeton University Press. Looking at their web site, I noticed a forthcoming book by an emeritus professor at my alma mater, so I asked if they’d send me a copy of that, too. I’m all about… Continue reading The Grand Contraption, by David Park
Rejecting US News
There’s a quick mention in Inside Higher Ed today of the latest news on the college presidents opposed to the US News rankings. They’re up to 61 signatures on their letter committing college presidents to 1) refusing to provide information for the rankings, and 2) refusing to use the rankings in their publicity. 61 signatories… Continue reading Rejecting US News
Not Your Mother’s Title IX Argument
Because it seems to be a good day for psoting about totally non-controversial political topics that I will undoubtedly not have time to follow up on, here’s an article from Inside Higher Ed that takes a dim view of current arguments about Title IX: Right now, the situation is getting us nowhere. Ultimately, all we… Continue reading Not Your Mother’s Title IX Argument
Harry Potter and the Total Loss of Perspective
Everybody is all abuzz about Harry Potter these days, what with the release of the final book coming this weekend. Scott McLemee takes up the really important question, though: what do professional academics think about everybody’s favorite boy wizard? In the years since the author introduced her characters to the public, they have become beloved… Continue reading Harry Potter and the Total Loss of Perspective
Finishing the Ph.D.
Inside Higher Ed reports on a new study of Ph.D. completion rates by discipline. The original data are available as PowerPoint files that I haven’t looked at, but IHE provides a summary in tabular form. Because everything looks more scientific as a graph, I cranked them into Excel and after the requisite ten minutes spent… Continue reading Finishing the Ph.D.