March, 2014 // Posts published in March, 2014
Faculty and Staff Morale
I’ve been asked to present a conference paper in October at an educational leadership conference, on the subject of academic personnel morale. By then I’ll be back on the faculty, and it will be interesting to see what my morale is; but that’s another and less interesting topic. I want to venture some remarks now, […]
First Generation
Amid the various criticisms of higher education, some of them warranted, others off the mark, one development may not have received the attention it deserves: the expansion of the numbers of college students whose parents had not themselves attended college. At institutions such as George Mason, the changes are genuinely interesting, and arguably encouraging. I […]
Going More Global
This academic year should chart as a milestone in Mason’s continuing efforts to expand and diversify its programs in global education. The new Strategic Plan sets truly ambitious goals in the global arena – and we’re far from meeting all of them. I confess some concern that, given the sheer number of strategic targets, global […]
Mason Korea
I had the great pleasure of participating earlier this week in the official opening of Mason Korea, in Incheon. I have written about the project before, but it’s terrific to see it become reality – hence a special, off-cycle blog. The operation is part of the Songdo Global University campus. It sits in a truly […]
Honors College in an Accessible University
Here’s an issue I admit I hadn’t thought of but should have; and it’s quite interesting. How should we consider an Honors College in a University that proudly proclaims its desire to be as accessible as possible to qualified students, to seek to include rather than exclude? Our Honors College, which predates our new Strategic […]
Public Intellectuals and “Significant” Research
A recent (Feb. 15) New York Times op-ed on the increasing public irrelevance of much social science research, by Nicholas Kristof, has legitimately won wide attention. Kristof argues that academics themselves must bear much of the blame for the fact that so many really intelligent academic thinkers have little or no role in the crucial […]
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