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The future, for colleges and universities, will require that we re-establish the local ties that many of us have been moving away from for generations. Operating a campus sustainably -- simply administering, lighting, heating, and plumbing its buildings; feeding their occupants; providing necessary supplies and handling physical output streams -- will require that the institution adjust, adapt, and rethink very much in integration with moves made by the surrounding community.

Today a colleague and I were feeling discouraged about the library sessions we’d been having with first year students.

I will threaten financial, if not physical, punishment for the next student who sits opposite me and glibly announces that s/he desires, “time off.” These seniors then expect me to find them a fellowship for the self-proclaimed period of inaction.

Can an academic decide, mid-career, to reinvent herself? I'll find out since that's exactly what I'm going to try and do. Digital Humanities, here I come!

At dinner last night, TW saw a ladybug crawling on the wall. I was drafted to catch it and set it loose outside, but it fell to the floor and scurried under the rug.

I remember one occasion, in my first year of graduate school, when a classmate asked a question in class. I have no memory of what the question was, but I recall the professor’s answer vividly. He told her "that question cannot be asked."

I think I love running meetings because I love teaching. The skills to run a good meeting and run a good classroom are related. The experience of keeping a class full of students all together is great preparation for doing the same with colleagues in a meeting. Good teaching, even lecturing, is about conversation. So are good meetings.

A new correspondent writes with a seemingly simple question: What professional development do you recommend for a newly appointed community college Dean of Instruction?