Life

A judge ruled last week in Colorado that not only is tenure a good thing for the professors who enjoy it, it is valuable to the public. Further, the court ruled that the value (to the public) of tenure outweighed the value of giving colleges flexibility in hiring and dismissing. That is a principle that faculty members say is very important and makes this case about much more than the specific issues at play.

International survey finds that American faculty members don't feel that they have much influence over key aspects of higher education and most feel they haven't seen major improvements in working conditions during their careers.

Duke's Cathy Davidson, calling the current process "meaningless" and "superficial," decides to turn evaluations over to her students.

When professors publish their memoirs, what do their stories say about themselves, the state of academe, and their disciplines? These are some of the issues addressed in Academic Lives: Memoir, Cultural Theory and the University Today (University of Georgia Press). The author is Cynthia Franklin, professor of English at the University of Hawaii at Manoa. Franklin discussed her new book in an e-mail interview.

Q: What drew you to the topic of academic memoirs?



TIAA-CREF survey of academic employees nearing retirement age finds plenty of concern about finances, but relatively modest shifts in investment strategies.

U. of New Mexico introduces system aimed at spotting an H1N1 outbreak and helping administrators make decisions about illness-related closures. Some faculty skepticism ensues.

Want to know what faculty members really think about administrators these days? You may want to check out Wannabe U: Inside the Corporate University (University of Chicago Press).

American Council of Learned Societies and Mellon Foundation, worried about disappearance of posts, create fellowships that will give new Ph.D.'s two-year jobs at top colleges and universities, with health insurance and low teaching loads.

College health group urges members to ban the use of all tobacco products, outdoors and indoors, ending exemption for designated smoking areas.

Meet the meta-analytic tool designed to boil down a scholar's life's work to the size of a credit score.