In Defense of the Term “Professor”

Dr. Brian C. Mitchell is the retired president of Bucknell University and former president of Washington & Jefferson College. He is the president of Brian Mitchell Associates and director of the Edvance Foundation. He can be reached at: bmitchell@edvancefoundation.org A great number of us within the higher ed community are watching with interest the developments in…

Administrators ≠ Leaders

[Guest blogger Michael DeCesare teaches in the Department of Sociology & Criminology at Merrimack College, North Andover, MA.] I believe there are more instances of the abridgement of the freedom of the people by gradual and silent encroachments of those in power than by violent and sudden usurpations. James Madison Speech in the Virginia Convention June 16, 1788…

The Hard Sell and the Educator

Guest blogger Barbara Madeloni of the UMass Amherst School of Education  chose to boycott the Teacher Performance Assessment field test via Pearson.  As a result, her contract was not  renewed. There is a movement for her reinstatement through a petition that can be signed here. The incursion of for profit companies into higher education occurs with willing collaborators. Whether misguided,…

The Mistrustees

Joel Shatzky is Professor Emeritus at SUNY-Cortland, where he taught from 1968-2005. He presently teaches at Kingsborough Community College. The influence of big-time collegiate sports on the culture and priorities of universities has been a subject of considerable concern over the last few years. According to a recent Knight Foundation report: Presidents of universities with…