Higher Education in the Era of Swift Technological Evolution: A Response to the UW-System’s Dismantling of the Liberal Arts Curriculum

BY RENEE CALKINS, EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE, UWM AAUP, University of WIsconsin-Milwaukee National studies have underscored the value employers place on the analytical and communication skills that training in the humanities and social sciences, cornerstones of a liberal arts education, is focused on developing. And the national press has repeatedly highlighted liberal arts education as particularly suited…

Ghosting the Region II: Rural Students Deserve Better

POSTED BY THE AAUP We are sharing this anonymous blog post, the second in a series, from https://uwdismantle.wordpress.com with permission. In October 2017, UW Superior led the way in moving to withhold access to liberal arts major programs for northern and rural students, suspending majors and minors like journalism, sociology, history, geography, photography, art history, and an array…

Ghosting the Region: How UWSP’s Abandonment of the Liberal Arts Hurts Central Wisconsin

POSTED BY THE AAUP We are sharing this anonymous blog post from https://uwdismantle.wordpress.com with permission. Importantly, we remain committed to ensuring every student who graduates from UW-Stevens Point is thoroughly grounded in the liberal arts, as well as prepared for a successful career path,” Patterson said in the statement. “It is critical our students learn to communicate well,…

AAUP Urges CSU Chancellor to Suspend Executive Orders

BY JOERG TIEDE The national American Association of University Professors joins its California state conference in urging the suspension of two executive orders, EO 1100 (revised) and EO 1110, that make extensive changes to the general education requirements, placement testing, and remedial education policies applying to all of the California State University (CSU) campuses. The…

CA-AAUP Resolution on CSU Executive Orders

POSTED BY HANK REICHMAN The following is the text of a resolution adopted by the steering committee of the California Conference of the AAUP.  For more on this issue see the November 2017 resolution of the Academic Senate of the California State University (ASCSU), “On the Development and Implementation of Executive Orders 1100 (Revised) and…

Assessing Dual Enrollment

POSTED BY MARTIN KICH In an article for University Business magazine, Jodi Helmer addresses the question “Is early college working?” She provides the following broad statistics: In 2002, 1.2 million students were earning college credits while still in high school. A decade later, the number of those participating in dual enrollment courses had almost doubled,…

More on the Emphasis on STEM

POSTED BY MARTIN KICH The following excerpts are from Ben Tarnoff’s article, “Tech’s Push to Teach Coding Isn’t about Kid’s Success—It’s about Cutting Wages,” which has been published in The Guardian in September: Computer science courses for children have proliferated rapidly in the past few years. A 2016 Gallup report found that 40% of American…

Why Full-Time Faculty Don’t Teach More Low-Level Courses: Amy Thompson’s Testimony

POSTED BY MARTIN KICH Opponent Testimony for H.B. 66 Submitted By Dr. Amy Thompson, Professor of Public Health Chairman Duffy, Vice Chairman Antani, Ranking Member Sweeney, Members of the House Higher Education and Workforce Development Committee, my name is Dr. Amy Thompson. For identification purposes, I am a tenured Professor of Public Health and the…

To Hell in a Hand Basket: GE and Other Fiascos

BY HARRY HELLENBRAND Harry Hellenbrand served for many years as provost and interim president at California State University, Northridge (CSUN) following a distinguished career as a faculty member, academic senator, department chair and dean at CSU campuses.  The essay below addresses changes in curriculum imposed on the CSU’s 23 campuses and their faculty by the…