Cronyism and Conflicts of Interest—or, Maybe I’m Just too Damned Cynical
In my previous post, I remarked on the incongruities John Kasich’s appointment of Gordon Gee to lead a statewide study of how to increase affordability at Ohio’s public universities. I did not anticipate that I would then almost immediately come across an unsettling, related article at Cleveland.com. Written by Henry J. Gomes and Brent Larkin of…
Oxymoron or Farce: The Highest Paid Executive in Public Higher Education Leads a Statewide Study on Increasing Affordability in Ohio
On Monday, the Columbus Dispatch reported that Governor Kasich has appointed Gordon Gee, President Emeritus of Ohio State University, to “lead a study looking for ways to make college more affordable and relevant for Ohio students.” More specifically, Gee will “spend the next year working with other college presidents, K-12 education leaders, and the business…
The Best Novels Set in Every State: Part 2, Hawaii to Maryland
These are my alternatives to the list created by Melia Robinson and Melissa Stanger for Business Insider. I am excluding works of nonfiction and listing my top three choices for each state. Titles included in the list compiled by Robinson and Stanger are indicated in boldface. Hawaii From Here to Eternity James Jones Heads by…
The Deepening Caste System in Higher Ed: Admissions to Elite Institutions
In several previous posts under this title, I have focused on the rapidly widening gap between administrative compensation and faculty compensation, as well as on the compensation received by “celebrity” visiting faculty and adjunct faculty. In other posts, I have written about how things being packaged as “innovations,” such as MOOCs, will widen the gap…
An Analogy to the Iowa Straw Poll Involving Textbooks
Every four years, well ahead of even the Iowa Caucuses and the New Hampshire Primary, the Ames Straw Poll or Iowa Straw Poll is held. The atmosphere in Ames on that weekend is carnival-like, and, not surprisingly, there have been all sorts of irregularities in the voting: that is, each attempt to reduce those irregularities…
The Best Novels Set in Every State: Part 1, Alabama to Georgia
These are my alternatives to the list created by Melia Robinson and Melissa Stanger for Business Insider. I am excluding works of nonfiction and listing my top three choices for each state. Titles included in the list compiled by Robinson and Stanger are indicated in boldface. Alabama To Kill a Mockingbird Harper Lee Southern Discomfort…
Executive Summary of the Second Paper in the CFHE Series on Online Education and MOOCs
FutureofHigherEd.org • #futureofHE • facebook.com/FutureofHigherEd _________________________ The “Promises” of Online Higher Education: Profits With so much national focus on the “promises” of online higher education to expand access and to reduce costs, one truth about online higher education rarely mentioned is that it is big—Very Big—business. Understanding and assessing developments in online higher education require…
Letter to Pope Francis from Ana M. Fores Tamayo on Behalf of Adjunct Justice
Addendum to Aaron Barlow’s “To My Tenured Colleagues”: To My Adjunct Colleagues
I initially was going to post this as a comment to Aaron’s post, but it became too lengthy to seem a reasonable “comment.” Like Aaron, I myself and many others among us who now hold tenure-track positions have had some experience as adjunct faculty. I taught at four institutions for six years while finishing my…