Opinion

At the end of September I attended and spoke at a conference at the United States Consulate General in Florence, Italy on "Piracy and Counterfeiting in a Digital Environment: U.S. and Italian Experience."

It must suck to be that guy in the commercial. The commercial which (until we're inevitably humbled by an even more extreme example) seems the ultimate expression of "you are what you buy" materialism. In fact, it goes beyond "you are what you buy", to attain previously unscaled heights of "you are how you buy", and "you are how much you buy".

Sometimes the best moments at conferences come in between the official presentations.

Two recent incidents have Terri E. Givens wondering whether faculty members are adequately trained to respond in emergencies.

Many of the hot ideas about technology and teaching reflect a century of research, writes Alexandra W. Logue.

This upcoming week is homecoming at Michigan State University. Undergraduates, faculty and alumni are pulling together to celebrate the legacy of their university. The entire town shuts down for a parade, everything is covered in green and white, and people flock in from out of town. There are going to be hayrides across campus where you can learn about the history of the university, free arts and crafts nights, trivia games, free MSU ice cream, an awards gala, and almost every school, department, and club is doing something special. It is focused around celebrating the heritage of this great school, and the beautiful future we are currently forging for it. Where will graduate students be? Probably at home studying to avoid the crowds.

We love print. Like, really, really love print, myself included. How can we change the culture that puts print above all other forms of publishing?

In 2008, when Hofstra hosted the third Presidential debate, I received an e-mail from a person I attended high school with, many years earlier. This person was not a close friend and there had been no contact for all the years between high school and early October 2008. In the e-mail, the person indicated that he had been thinking about me for the last 40 years and, by the way, did I have a spare ticket to the debate.