Blog Archives

$50K per year for a degree in a low-wage industry − is culinary school worth it?

$50K per year for a degree in a low-wage industry − is culinary school worth it?

America’s culinary schools are feeling the heat. When chef Gordon Ramsay appeared on an episode of the YouTube series “Last Meal” in January 2024, he described U.S. culinary schools as “depressing” places that “sandbag” students with tens of thousands of dollars in student loan debt before releasing them into a low-wage industry. He added that graduates […] … learn more→

A brief word on academic mobility

A brief word on academic mobility

My apologies dear Reader. This post is later than expected. I am drowning under boxes of stuff, all part of moving countries – again. i shouldn’t moan. Academic mobility is a privilege. You get to see another institution, another country, another culture. You see how the agenda you have been working on stays the same […] … learn more→

The hostility Black women face in higher education carries dire consequences

The hostility Black women face in higher education carries dire consequences

Isolated. Abused. Overworked. These are the themes that emerged when I invited nine Black women to chronicle their professional experiences and relationships with colleagues as they earned their Ph.D.s at a public university in the Midwest. I featured their writings in the dissertation I wrote to get my Ph.D. in curriculum and instruction. The women spoke of being […] … learn more→

Key word – claim

Key word – claim

Claim is a difficult word. Dictionaries offer Meaning One –  claims are assertions that something is true, that something is a fact, but there is no proof or evidence. We just have to take the claim at face value and as being ‘right’, or not. Dictionaries also offer Meaning Two. A claim is a statement or action […] … learn more→

How age-friendly universities can improve the second half of life

How age-friendly universities can improve the second half of life

By 2030, more than 1.4 billion people across the globe will be at least 60 years old. This number will shoot up to 2.1 billion by 2050. At this point, there will be more people age 60 or older than people between 10 and 24. These dramatic demographic shifts prompted the United Nations and World Health Organization […] … learn more→

Key words – contribution

Key words – contribution

The dictionary definitions of contribution are: A gift or payment The part played by a person or thing in bringing about a result or helping something to advance and A piece of writing submitted for publication in a journal or book When scholars talk about contribution it might be 3. A contribution might be a […] … learn more→

What do neurodivergent PhD students need?

What do neurodivergent PhD students need?

My role as an Academic Development Advisor focuses on support of PhD students in Durham in a variety of academic areas, from ethnography to the philosophy of record keeping. During this work, I’d worked with neurodivergent PhD students and helped to put together a panel presentation at our annual PhD students’ conference to discuss the […] … learn more→

Writing is a technology that restructures thought — and in an AI age, universities need to teach it more

Writing is a technology that restructures thought — and in an AI age, universities need to teach it more

In an age of AI-assisted writing, is it important for university students to learn how to write? We believe it is now more than ever. In the writing classroom, students get the time and help they need to understand writing as not only a skill, but what the language scholar Walter J. Ong called a “technology […] … learn more→

Does a university undergraduate degree lead to a ‘good job?’ It depends what you mean

Does a university undergraduate degree lead to a ‘good job?’ It depends what you mean

Universities are central to Canada’s economic growth. As a result, governments (which partially fund them), employers (who hire graduates) and students (who pay tuition fees) have come to view universities as a tool to achieve their own goals: economic growth, a productive workforce and good jobs after graduation. Yet, the increasing focus on training undergraduates for specific jobs or […] … learn more→

Colleges are using AI to prepare hospitality workers of the future

Colleges are using AI to prepare hospitality workers of the future

If you’re planning to go into the hospitality industry, the pathway is increasingly going to involve some sort of familiarity with AI. That’s one of the key messages in “Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, and Robot Applications in Hospitality Businesses,” a new book by hospitality professor Rachel J.C. Fu. In the following Q&A, Fu discusses how the […] … learn more→