Blogs

The U.S. Supreme Court will soon rule (again) on so-called affirmative action in higher education. The details vary case to case, but the underlying fear that a person of color stripped a paler would-be pupil of an opportunity remains constant. Programs to guarantee underrepresented minorities presence in the academy make tempers - including mine - flare whether in support or rejection of their aims. I feel particularly prone to pique at this time of year. Accomplished students from privileged families apply for awards to study overseas funded by governments or foundations. They can, and they should. However, they should also remember that the rules apply to them.

I have never been a huge fan of the iPad. Too expensive. Too heavy. Too limited. Maybe good for watching videos, but not great for reading. And don't get me started on the problems with typing on the thing.

It’s open access week, and this always is a week when I feel inadequate. I didn’t plan ahead. I didn’t get that project off the ground, or bring in a speaker. We coulda invited a contender! I tell myself it’s a busy time of year, and my cynical self says “yeah? When isn’t it?” and that shuts me right up. But because I believe in open access, I thought I’d think about the ways small institutions, ones that are understaffed and overworked and underfunded (does this sound familiar?) can make change on a small scale.

As noted in my last post, I wasn't overwhelmed by last week's AASHE conference. But that's not to say that there weren't high points, that there weren't positive notes. There were.

One of the most important aspects of graduate school is choosing a good mentor. Who you choose can dramatically impact your experience in both graduate school and your ensuing hunt for employment or postdoctoral positions. How do students new to a department find those faculty members who will be good mentors? What makes a good mentor in the first place? These are important questions to have in mind before choosing laboratories for research rotations and your eventual thesis.

Last year’s NASPA Technology Conference was a turning point in Student Affairs. In many ways, the event was an experiment. NASPA had never put on a conference that was dedicated to technology. We didn’t know who would attend. Would #NASPAtech be too techie? Would social media dominate most of our conversations? There were a lot of questions.

College Ready Writing (IHE Edition) is now one year old.

Some movies don’t impress me much in the moment I’m watching them, but age well in the recollection. (“Fargo” was like that.) They typically have more going on than meets the eye, and the first impression doesn’t do them justice. The CASE conference was like that for me. I enjoyed the conference, but one lesson from it has stubbornly stuck in my mind ever since. I don’t think I fully appreciated it in the moment.