Blogs

It was that time of the year again, one of my favorites: spring when I get to. I love raking, organizing, and generally cleaning up our relatively large lot, and this year was extra-special because we had a lot of large, dead branches littering the yard. Or, as my kids like to call them, Angry Bird launchers.

There is a concept in math in which we describe a “supporting line.” Such a line is a line that...

Last week’s article on Thinking Like an Administrator reminded me of my favorite metaphor to describe the difference between faculty life and administrative life: faculty are sprinters, and administrators are distance runners.

The other day I was reading to my children the book Ish by Peter Reynolds. It is the story of a boy who becomes frustrated with his artistic ability until he learns that his work does not need to be perfect, just good enough. My children love this book as well as another one like it called The OK Book by Amy Krouse Rosenthal, which is about a stick figure OK who informs its readers that it is fine to not be great at everything they do.

A savvy professor caught me in the hallway to discuss a presentation we had both seen on social media and its potential for local businesses. She had a great question that really threw me: what if colleges actually used social media well?

Last year, more than 1,000 stories, photos, videos or tweets were collected and curated during #UWRightNow. Framed as a "multimedia project designed to capture the breadth, depth and spirit of the University of Wisconsin-Madison during a 24-hour period," the 2012 version of #UWRightNow was a crowdsourced social media masterpiece. Combining "staff-produced and user-generated content," the day-long project provided a snapshot of what it meant to be a member of the University of Wisconsin-Madison community.

It's that time of the year again, where we wring our hands about another cohort of incoming PhD students.

A book review, of sorts, of Kio Stark's Don't Go Back to School, along with the larger "don't go to college" narratives.