Blogs

I was in college when I was first exposed to Economics being applied to nontraditional topics. One of my professors at the time was researching the topic of “envy.” It was many years before the book “Freakonomics” became popular, but that small exposure helped me to look at economics in a broader way. When it came time for me to write a dissertation, I drew from the knowledge that economics can be used to explain many things besides the workings of business firms to begin my research on nonprofit organizations and on volunteer labor. I thought of that professor’s research recently when I realized that, while we do not live in the most expensive part of town, there are aspects of our neighborhood that I would not trade for anything.

I don’t do book clubs. The “why” seemed obvious to me: as a literature professor, I spend much of my...

Many of the productive comments to last week’s post advanced the conversation in the way that is the big benefit of “discursive ethics,” so thank you all. Before moving on to “part two” of the question of faculty-authored textbooks, I’ll briefly mention a few things that the comments made me think about further, and comment on a further question that was raised.

After watching the debate last night, it made me think that colleges and universities should be more actively engaged in encouraging – including making it easier – for students to vote.

The University of Phoenix, the largest for-profit higher education provider in the country, is closing over a hundred sites. That’s over half of its physical locations. Part of the move is driven by enrollment decline, and part by an increased emphasis on online course delivery. Although many in traditional higher ed may feel a certain schadenfreude, I was actually saddened by the news. This is hardly an unalloyed good.

What do you think of Pearson's purchase of EmbanetCommpass?

The best thing that ever happened to me was the day the graduate program of my dreams, the one I thought for sure I had the best shot at, the one that represented all of my aspirations, THE PROGRAM, rejected me for admission.

On the national policy front, or "Big 'P' Policy, both privacy and security issues are rising to the fore. Do not track mechanisms are, to quote a New York Times recent article on this subject, "features on browsers — like Mozilla’s Firefox — that give consumers the option of sending out digital signals asking companies to stop collecting information about their online activities for purposes of targeted advertising." The market sector is not happy. Microsoft is releasing version 10 of its web browser, Internet Explorer, with a default do not track setting; to allow cookies or other tracking requires the user to change the setting. Business interests have reacted angrily, with the Association of National Advertisers sending Microsoft's CEO, Steve Ballmer, an open letter objecting to that decision.