Blogs

As we segue toward September, UD offers three cautionary tales about recent efforts on the part of American universities to go corporate.

The Violinist's Thumb does for DNA what Sam Kean's first book, The Disappearing Spoon, did for the periodic table. He is able to transform what could be difficult and dry scientific concepts into compelling narratives driven by a series of larger than life personalities.

What do chocolate chip cookies have to do with higher ed strategy?

As I have noted before I am a car person and so last night I took advantage of an opportunity from a local dealer to take a preview firsthand look at the new 2013 Cadillac ATS. The ATS is aimed at the Mercedes C class and BMW 3 class competition, a competition that BMW has dominated for a number of years. The luxury entry level cars are key bread and butter cars for the upscale brands and Cadillac has been absent from this market for many years. I actually remember when Cadillac first entered this market — the vehicle was the Cadillac Cimarron, a mediocre leather trimmed version of the Chevrolet Cavalier.

Over the past few months, I've watched friends prepare to send their children off to college with a mixture of admiration and relief. I admire their ability to focus on the positive aspects of the situation—look at all the interesting new people she'll meet! An experience of another way of life, in another part of the country (or world)!—and am filled with relief that it isn't me, at least, not yet.

I’m at the American Sociological Association’s Annual Meeting in Denver through Monday and I’ll be writing up short dispatches and posting them here at UVenus.

People who write freehand have long had plenty of choices, but those of us who compose at the keyboard were long tied to wherever the computer (or typewriter) was. They were appliances, far too cumbersome (and fragile, and expensive) to carry around. In college, I wrote in the campus computer center; in grad school, I wrote in my bedroom. Even into the 2000’s, I wrote in the basement, because that was where the computer was.

I’ve spent the past two years researching and teaching social entrepreneurship, what works, what doesn’t, and how we can help the world’s poor. I’ve beat the drum against the abuses of neoliberalism, and tried to help my students see the links between their actions and the impact they have on the rest of the world, particularly the bottom billion. Own two or more cellphones? You’re increasing the global demand for Coltan and possibly contributing to human rights abuses. Eat meat that was raised on corn? You’re decreasing the world’s food supply and damaging the environment. Etc. Etc.