In \”The Forever Professors\”, Laurie Fendrich warns us (in no uncertain terms) that \”the inconvenient truth is that faculty who delay retirement harm students.\” She has a special animus for over-70 faculty members such as myself who ferociously cling to our full-time equivalents. We are, it seems, \”greedy, selfish, and bad\” for students. However, if […] … learn more→

Let me tell you a story about my PhD. I studied how architects and students gestured when they talked to each other. I was trying to find out what role gesture played in classroom communication and what implications this might have architectural education. Gesture is a visual medium, so I decided to use participant observation […] … learn more→

The UNC “paper courses” scandal ran for 18 years, despite years of complaints from faculty and whistleblowers about the fraud. UNC administration maintains the fraud they were committing was only due to a rogue faculty, and they had no idea anything was going on, despite the many previous investigations into the matter that were squelched […] … learn more→

As baby boomers flock toward retirement in ever-increasing numbers, industries are gearing up to capitalize on this historic demographic revolution. But for all the attention, one sector has been strangely absent from the conversation: higher education. This is especially troubling given that, perhaps more than any other sector, higher education will need to rethink itself […] … learn more→

Reading students’ comments on official end-of-term evaluations—or worse, online at sites like RateMyProfessors.com —can be depressing, often even demoralizing. So it’s understandable that some faculty look only at the quantitative ratings; others skim the written section; and many others have vowed to never again read the public online comments. It’s simply too painful. How else […] … learn more→

By the end of sophomore year, tradition suggests that most college students should think about how they can narrow their interests to a range of opportunities after graduation. It’s not that college is over for them, it’s just more a case of the need to plan ahead. While many began their college careers thinking that […] … learn more→

As usual, I get a massive spike of hits around this time of year, as students, failing in college, query the mighty Google what to do about it. Thus my post on failing in college is now my most popular post. Several of my posts have far more hits in a single day by a […] … learn more→

I was browsing through this year\’s Proceedings & Addresses of the APA this morning, and reading some of the addresses–particularly the ones by Sally Haslanger, Elizabeth Anderson, and Amelie Rorty–got me thinking about the sociology of philosophy: specifically, about whether people should start doing some kind of serious research on it. Let me explain why. […] … learn more→

One of the key questions about the coal seam gas (CSG) industry, which is now being developed at breakneck speed across Australia, is how much methane is released as “fugitive” emissions. Three weeks ago we published a paper containing the first detailed maps of atmospheric greenhouse gases in Queensland’s CSG heartland. Our study clearly exposes […] … learn more→

So I’m looking over a report detailing why accreditation is a joke. It has many things right, but I feel the need to clarify a few things, especially when the report tries to say that accreditation is a barrier to making improvements in higher education. “…the requirement that prospective colleges allow for on-site evaluations (meaning […] … learn more→