Hello to All That

An academic career never seemed a possibility for me until I was in my fifties. Unlike most who end up teaching in colleges and universities, I was never a star student. Nor did I show signs of creative genius. I had little direction in my life, drifting in and out of jobs over the years…

What We (or Others) Put on Our Office Doors

In an article titled “Beware of the Professor” published in Times Higher Education [24 Sep. 2015], Matthew Reisz has detailed the “eccentric things” that academics “pin on their office doors.” I know that the topic of the article is fast becoming anachronistic because many institutions now strictly control what can be put on doors and…

The Real Significance of a Poll

The following item was posted on the blog of the UCLA Faculty Association: A poll was released by the Bay Area Council showing strong support of Californians for funding higher ed and possibly a ballot initiative to do so.  When you read the poll question, it is clearly a push-poll, i.e., designed to suggest both…

Gender Bias and Student Evaluations of Teaching

Last month I posted an item about two studies demonstrating that student evaluations may not be the best way to measure either student learning or instructor effectiveness.  One of those studies was co-authored by Philip Stark, chair of the statistics department at the University of California, Berkeley.  He has now co-authored with Anne Boring and…

H.A.W. Responds to A.H.A. Pro-Palestine Academic Freedom Resolution Defeat: New York Times Coverage

The New York Times covered the Historians Against the War resolution to protect academic freedom in Gaza and the West Bank that have been under Israeli control since the 1967 war. It stated in part: More than a half-dozen American scholarly groups have passed resolutions condemning Israel, including the American Anthropological Association, which endorsed a boycott…