Despite the increasing diversity among America’s college students, business school professors remain overwhelmingly white. In U.S. business schools, Black and Hispanic individuals make up 23.2% of students, yet only 6.7% of the faculty. As a researcher with a long-standing interest in the reasons business schools lack diverse faculty, I – along with marketing professor Sonja Martin Poole – set out to examine how business schools select […] … learn more→
Why business school efforts to recruit more diverse faculties are failing
Sharpen up your application
Who are you writing for? One of the most basic pieces of advice for writers is ‘know your audience’. Unfortunately, I often find that people write their grant applications for a completely amorphous audience like ‘the government’ or ‘the Department of [Whoever is Funding the Grant]’. That’s just not true. Your grant application will be […] … learn more→
Revising – nine steps for making meaning
In 1973 the late Donald Murray published an essay in The Writer in which he argues that writing begins when the first draft is completed. From then on, he says, the writer revises, reads and changes their words, closing in on the meaning they are trying to make. Revision isnt a virtuous act, Murray states, it is simply an […] … learn more→
After a year of Zoom meetings, we’ll need to rebuild trust through eye contact
The pandemic has exacerbated an already troubling trust deficit across political, economic and demographic divides. Research shared just before the pandemic’s onset uncovered that millennials are reluctant to trust government, business leaders, corporations, social and mass media or even traditional social institutions. Meanwhile, a recent Canadian survey found that half of respondents believe business leaders are purposely […] … learn more→
Opening China’s PhD trapdoor should remain a last resort
China’s policy of downgrading struggling PhD candidates to a master’s degree has recently been the subject of renewed public debate after the Ministry of Education called on universities to implement it. Back in 2013, the ministry vowed to tighten postgraduate evaluation and transfer students to a master’s programme (or simply hand them a master’s degree) […] … learn more→
The fascinating history of the University: this is how culture began to be transmitted
The relationship between a mentor and his student goes much further than the simple training period of a few years. It is an intellectual union that connects with a tradition that goes back, at least in the West, to the first universities. It is truly a torch that has been passed from person to person for […] … learn more→
To preserve academic comfort zones, we must sometimes step out of them
I once served as an assistant to a professor whose approach to teaching consisted of bestowing a static set of knowledge on the ignorant. Each week, I would meet with my undergraduate discussion groups and, because they were too overwhelmed with seemingly random information to make any sense of it, we would review the lecture […] … learn more→
5 factors that contribute to students finishing high school
This past year, the COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted learning for more than 1.6 billion students in over 190 countries. With movement between bricks-and-mortar schools and online learning becoming the “new normal,” young people, families, educators and the public are seeking assurance that students are receiving the best education possible. They are also concerned about students disengaging from […] … learn more→
Popping toys, the latest fidget craze, might reduce stress for adults and children alike
The newest fidget craze is popping toys. Adults and kids all over the world have been buying up this endlessly reusable version of a longtime favorite fidget activity: popping bubble wrap. Made of silicone and coming in a range of colors, shapes and sizes, they are half-sphere “bubbles” that can be pushed in, making a satisfying soft popping sound. […] … learn more→
Faith universities are an anachronism
It is a little noticed fact that 15 universities in the UK are managed and governed by churches. To all intents and purposes these are faith universities. They began in the 19th century as training colleges founded by the major churches to supply teachers for their schools. Over the subsequent decades, they developed other kinds […] … learn more→