Blogs

Sheryl Sandberg advises women to “lean in;” the dangling preposition in her book title tells me that Sandberg offers little substance. She offers process without a predicate. Yes, I just judged a book by its cover.

An important requirement for a country to successfully promote transnational education (TNE) and seek to become a knowledge hub is to have a strong, local higher education sector. This is the situation for countries such as Hong Kong (China), Malaysia and Singapore that have successfully developed knowledge hubs. But what about countries such as Botswana, Mauritius and Sri Lanka, aspiring to create knowledge hubs? Is their higher education sector robust enough to compete with TNE institutions? Will TNE in those countries help to strengthen the local sector, or weaken and marginalize it?

One of our leading faculty members announced last week that he would be retiring and relocating at the end of this academic year. The deciding factor seems most likely to be the impact of Hurricane Sandy on his house and on his life. I hoped he would change his mind. His retiring is certainly not in the best interests of his department and his school; it likely is in his best interest, given the circumstances.

Last week I took part in a musical improv scene in which my friends A and L were the protagonists. The premise of the scene was that they had murdered A's husband (played by J) to clear the way so they could get married. J's body was sprawled on the floor, and it was creeping A out, so L called offstage for the butler (played by me) to "get rid of this mess, will you?" I answered, "My pleasure, sir," and went to drag J offstage.

What impact has all the hype and interest in MOOCs had on open courseware initiatives, specifically those at MIT?

This year's ACPA Annual Convention was in Las Vegas. Let's not do that ever again. Smoke-filled casino floors were like unhealthy moats that had to be crossed in order to get to sessions. Fortunately, as with every ACPA Annual Convention, opportunities for learning and connecting with fellow student affairs abounded. A unique aspect of this year's convention was the addition of a partnership with the NIRSA Annual Conference. Sharing the opening extravaganza and exhibit hall space was a nice touch.

Get a Job or Your Tuition is Free! The App Academy, in San Francisco, offers a 9 week, 90 hour per week boot camp to train people as programmers. In return, the students pay 15 percent of the salaries they land for the first year. The contrast between the App Academy, which appears to be thriving, and the City College of San Francisco, which is fighting closure, is tempting, if unfair. The App Academy is narrowly focused and, by virtue of the 90 hour per week requirement, pretty selective. But the idea of the trainers having a stake in the success of the students has something to be said for it.

I have a friend who has been teaching and training for more than twenty years. He has a website where he’s a prolific writer on his area, is a frequent participant in online forums and debates, and is considered a valuable resource by his client list, which includes national organizations and various police/military personnel. We are both involved in the SlutWalk movement and he’s been instrumental in helping me understand social attitudes around rape culture, victim-blaming, self defence and the legal system. His influence has resulted in papers I’ve written, media interviews I’ve done around SlutWalk and my doctoral application research proposals.