Blogs

Did you read Andrew Rice's terrific article in the NYT's this Tuesday, Anatomy of a Campus Coup, about the failed attempt to ouster president Sullivan from the University of Virginia? This well-reported article places the nasty fight between UVa's board and what ended up being UVA's academic community (in which Sullivan is well respected) within the context of the larger economic pressures facing higher ed.

Quote from program accreditation visiting team leader yesterday: “Surprisingly, the faculty seem to respect the administration.” I think that’s what they call a left-handed compliment.

It can be quite exhilarating when you’ve been sitting on a problem a long time and, after allowing your mind to wander, the solution comes when you least expect it. Research has even shown that there is an upside to zoning out. But what happens when this great idea comes to you at 2 AM?

As I walked to work, doing that risky thing of reading on my phone while crossing streets, I discovered Friendfeed was down. Friendfeed is where I get all my information, inspiration, and hot news. It’s where I go to vent when I’m frustrated. It also has a nice widget that I’ve embedded in many of my websites, from my CV to my obsessive catalog of Scandinavian crime fiction translations. When Friendfeed goes down, my pages get messed up, and I can’t go to my usual watering hole to complain, because . . . well it’s down. Instead, I went to Twitter to see if anyone knew what was going on. Nope, just lots of consternation.

I was just finishing a proof we would be discussing in my Calculus III class this past Tuesday when I heard the bagpipes.

Lots of what sustainability administrators do is administrative/operational. Most of the rest is strategic (as noted previously). But what I've noticed is that what I'm working on -- or at least the level of abstraction that I'm working on -- affects how I communicate with folks. It's not absolutely determinative, but it's a major influence. My alleged mind requires time and effort to shift between the pragmatic and the abstract.

Colleges have an alarming number of moving parts. This week I discovered that some advisors on campus have been encouraging students to sign up for online sections of certain classes with the understanding that if they decide they don’t like the online format, they can switch to onsite versions during the add/drop period. It’s a way to stick a toe in the water.

Did you take 117 minutes out of your day to watch the latest Apple product announcement event?