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I spent the day grading my midterms, never a fun task. Usually I get into a vague kind of automaton state; as I read for key phrases, look for definitions and the critical use of concepts, and references to key authors and guest speakers. Check, check, check, grade. But this time, I noticed a pattern that I’m sure I’ve seen before but just ignored. It is the gendered attribution that says so much about how students view “authority” (in the author sense) in academia.

Raise your (virtual) hand (maybe through DISQUS comments) if you are reading (or have read) Isaacson's Steve Jobs.

About a week ago one of my earliest students was appointed superintendent of a very important neighboring school district. He...

I have been to State College, PA, exactly once in my life, and then it was to visit friends in a Quaker retirement community there. I don't know anyone who currently attends Penn State.

UVenus Around the Web:

Somewhere, a provost is feeling a little naked.

Call a lawyer today! That is more or less why I have come to D.C. for the NACUA conference on compliance for the last couple of days. I wanted to hone in on what, precisely, the legal language would be in a vendor contract to address the need that higher education has to protect its institutional information and take advantage of selective cloud providers of transmission and storage services.

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.