Go Utes: Update to the Highly Scientific Poll

Scientists continue to study the Utes and their chance to beat 'Bama in the Sugar Bowl. More data have been collected and now Vermonters have joined Beehivers in acknowledging that Utah will beat Alabama. I always knew Vermont was a smart state! Here's the latest:

Go Utes!

Peace on Earth

In the spirit of the holidays I thought I'd share my favorite online video in case one of the four readers of this blog hasn't seen it.



The music is beautiful. The images are wonderful. And there is just something so hopeful about it. Simply great.

Happy Holidays (if you celebrate one). And Peace on Earth. We need it.

Go Utes?

I almost, almost, had plans to go see the Utes play in the Sugar Bowl in New Orleans. A ten-hour trip with a fellow Ute living here in the Palmetto State, but alas, it wasn't to be...

Others have asked me why I would want to go to all that effort just to see my team lose when I could see them lose for free at home. That rubbed me the wrong way, of course, until I came across some scientific proof that maybe there's not much hope. We ordered pizzas online from Domino's last weekend and after placing my order I was given the chance to indicate who I thought would win each of the BCS bowls. Then the magnificent InterTube showed me the results of this highly scientific poll (which I captured with a screen shot so I could further analyze the complex findings of the study):


So what kind of chance do the Utes have? A great scholar weighs in:



I hold out hope!

We've Got a First Amendment Too!

"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof..." So says the First Amendment of W.'s doormat, er, I mean the United States Constitution. We've recently had fun with the Second Amendment here in South Carolina. So, why not the First Amendment? What's next? Forced quartering of soldiers to see if we can find a way to mess with the Third Amendment too!

Whoever thunk up the idea of an independent judiciary branch deserves a prize. It was someone from that very branch that appears to have "saved" (ahem, sorry, couldn't resist) us Carolinians from having "I Believe" license plates available to drivers who really, really believe in driving. It's just a temporary injunction so stay tuned: we may get to believe while we drive after all.

Another Publius deserves a shout-out for the ideas he outlines in Federalist No. 10. That document seems to resonate more and more today as we battle over who has the right to do what. What does Madison say about factions?

The influence of factious leaders may kindle a flame within their particular States, but will be unable to spread a general conflagration through the other States. A religious sect may degenerate into a political faction in a part of the Confederacy; but the variety of sects dispersed over the entire face of it must secure the national councils against any danger from that source. A rage for paper money, for an abolition of debts, for an equal division of property, or for any other improper or wicked project, will be less apt to pervade the whole body of the Union than a particular member of it; in the same proportion as such a malady is more likely to taint a particular county or district, than an entire State.

I'm so, so, so tempted to pepper that quote with all kinds of snarky links (especially the words "improper or wicked project"). But it's almost too easy. Proverbial fish in a barrel. Perhaps a discussion for another day.

By the way, if I were to have music accompanying this blog post (which will never, ever happen), what would the song be? "Satan is my Motor" by Cake seems the most logical choice!

Comment Envy

I didn't start this blog thinking it would be the greatest blog ever or that it would revolutionize the InterTubes. I wasn't expecting a flood of comments on each and every post. Nonetheless, you can't help but be a bit envious of this kind of comment production: Roger Ebert's recent post on his blog about Ben Stein's "documentary" (yes, it seems the the scare quotes are necessary) has generated, to date, 824 comments.

Eight hundred and fourteen people were interested enough to say something about his snarky, silly, fun post. The post is very provocative, which surely helps generate more comments. I've tried to be provocative from time to time, often to no avail. But, then, I don't have a Pulitzer Prize, a dozen books to my name, international fame as a critic, or (formerly) my own TV show. Some academics have garnered a good deal of attention for their blogs, such as Michael Bérubé, but the interest seems to be mostly within academic circles.

The "blog" phenomenon is only about a decade old, and it continues to mature. It is interesting that newspapers have started imitating blogs by allowing comments on their online editions. Now, instead of a handful of letters to the editor about a story, often published days or weeks later, you have immediate feedback on the story. Of course, not all of it is worth reading so there is a trade-off between thoughtful, edited, vetted letters and immediate shoot-from-the-hip comments. For example, a recent op-ed by Bill Ayers in the Gray Old Lady generated 618 comments but only five letters to the editor were published.

Inside Higher Ed, a new, exclusively online, news source about higher education has allowed comments on its news stories from the very start. It was founded by some former Chronicle of Higher Education editors. The Chronicle created some blogs, which generally generate few comments, but still does not allow comments on stories, instead relying on pithy letters-to-the-editor, like this one.

The jury is still out, I think, on whether we've achieved something even remotely approaching a Utopian form of democratic communication. Is this free-for-all comment-fest the "public sphere" the influential German philosopher-sociologist Jürgen Habermas envisioned in his 1962 book, The Structural Transformation of the Public Sphere? Or are we, in the words of Harvard political scientist Robert Putnam, still "bowling alone," connected by electronically but not in any "real" way?

OK, I realize that's a heavy way to end this post. But I got stuff to—I've got some blogs to go comment on.

Utah and Boise State Play for National Title!

The powers-that-be have decided that only undefeated teams can play for the national title. Had Ball State not lost in its conference, Ball State and Boise State would have played in the "B.S. Bowl" to see who would advance to play Utah, the higher ranked team.

OK, that headline and accompanying story are not true.

But these headlines are true:

Oklahoma Loses to Texas but still Advances to National Title Game

Texas Tech Goes 11-1, Beats 3 Ranked Teams; Will Not Play in a BCS Bowl

[Insert here your own ridiculous but true BCS headline]

The Bowl Championship Series is a joke. This year screams for a playoff. The reasons the power-that-be at the BCS give for not having are ridiculous and everyone knows it (even them, I suspect). How great would an eight game playoff be this year? Just look at the top eight teams:

1. Oklahoma 12-1
2. Florida 12-1
3. Texas 11-1
4. Alabama 12-1
5. USC 11-1
6. Utah 12-0
7. Texas Tech 11-1
8. Penn State 11-1

Do all of these teams have a legitimate claim that they could contend for the title? Of course! You can't tell me that No. 8 Penn State has less of a legitimate shot of being national champions, having lost one heartbreaker in the final seconds, than Southern Cal. who lost one upset game to Oregon State (who Utah and Penn State trounced). Everyone in the top eight, except Utah (editorial comment: GO UTES!), has a loss. The differences between the teams, in a statistical sense, is very slight.

So, let's put it on the field! A playoff would look something like this:

Oklahoma v. Penn State
Florida v. Texas Tech
Texas v. Utah
Alabama v. USC

My prediction? The "final four" would be Penn State v. Florida and Texas (I know, heresy to vote against my team) v. Alabama. National Champions? Penn State, of course! Joe Paterno gets dowsed by Gatorade and dies on the field after winning his final national championship. (Poetic, I know.)

But it's a purely an academic exercise. We'll never know.

End the BCS! Let them play!

Today in History

On this date in 1933 Utah became the 36th state to ratify the 21st Amendment,* ending Prohibition. I just love that Utah, of all places, was the state that made scenes like this possible:



College students everywhere (except BYU, the most stone-cold sober campus for 11 years running) say, "Thank you, Utah."**

In other "Today in History" news related to higher education: the first scholastic fraternity, Phi Beta Kappa, was organized at the College of William and Mary in 1776 (a very good year, I understand).

*And you thought you were going to learn about the history of the Constitution at that link!

** OK, settle down. I'm not advocating "Animal House" style alcoholism (or any other kind of alcoholism). Just having a little fun with the fact that my former pretty, great state had the ultimate ironic honor of rescinding Prohibition.

Most Ridiculous Item of the Day

Cocky is in the Final Four. No, that is not a really bad title to a really bad porno film. The University of South Carolina mascot is in the Capital One Bowl Mascot Challenge semifinals to determine which university has the "best" mascot.

Yes, our mascot's name is Cocky. Before you vote, make sure you get to know the candidates and (and I quote), "Go Deep with the Mascots." I've been here nearly 18 months and I still can't say our mascot's name without smirking. But at least he does some good, like helping kids. Just think, one day your kid can come home and say, "I got to play with Cocky today!" And you can "Cook with Cocky"--not once, but twice. (The second time is always better.) And, while this USC's mascot is Cocky, is it worth mentioning that the other USC's mascot is Tommy Trojan?

If this isn't the most ridiculous news item of the day, I dread knowing what is.

Go Cocks! Go Cocky!

Gun Holiday

South Carolina today became the first state to have a "tax-free gun holiday" to celebrate the Second Amendment. One of the headlines in today's newspaper is "Gun bargains this weekend." Another headline reads, "Two injured in gunfire at SC Thanksgiving parade." There is no relation between headline No. 1 and No. 2. Move on, people. Nothing to see here.

At least we don't allow guns on campus here in South Carolina like they now must at my alma mater, the University of Utah. All I can say is "Yikes." (At least you have to be 21 to get a permit. That way if you get depressed and drunk and kill yourself, at least you were legally drunk. If you think I'm being snarky here, consider that more than 50% of suicides are committed with a gun. Also consider the emotional challenges that young college-age students experience. Add guns to that mix? Not a good idea.)

"A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed." I guess not infringing on the right to have a well regulated armed militia means we need to give tax breaks to those who buy guns.

Rivalries Gone Wild

Each year staffers at the University of Utah student newspaper "kidnap" and blindfold Cosmo the Cougar, the BYU mascot, and hide him somewhere on campus the week before the BYU/Utah football game, aka, the Holy War. They give clues each day as to his whereabouts until someone finds him.


In 1966 Sue Paterno, wife of Coach Joe Paterno (yes, he was coach way back then), and a girlfriend painted the Nittany Lion with orange paint to heat up the rivalry game with Syracuse University. The latex paint came off easily but the oil-based paint applied later by actual Orangemen had to be sandblasted off.

Which brings us to the South Carolina/Clemson rivalry. Each year USC students construct a giant Clemson Tiger and do this to their mascot:



So, what is it with all this abuse to cat mascots?

Make My Day

Sometimes a single e-mail can make your whole day. A few months ago I got this one.

I 'm a second year ph.d student at School of Education from Beijing Normal University. I am extremely interested in your research. In fact, I want to conduct a comparative research on faculty senates between U.S. and China. After reading some chapters of your thesis on The creation of faculty senates in American higher education, you can't imagine how excited I was. Because it is one of the most in-depth studies I ever read.

Anyone who has written a dissertation knows that I don't need to explain why such an email would make your day. My dissertation didn't win any awards but it's nice to know that someone, anyone, read it! (And even enjoyed it, or said he did!)

The second "make my day" email came over the weekend:

...An important goal of our group [USC chapter of The Roosevelt Institution, a non-partisan nationwide student think tank] is to keep students politically informed and to allow them to begin participating in public policy-making. In order to reach this goal, we have created a class: Effecting Change Through Public Policy, which will be taught by Dr. Charles Finocchiaro. A preliminary copy of the syllabus is attached. …We plan to have 7 different faculty members speak on their area of expertise as it relates to current issues in public policy (Healthcare, Energy/Environment, National Security, etc.)….

We are contacting you in order to request that you participate as our visiting lecturer in the area of Education Policy… We simply ask that you attend a class (we are targeting Monday, March 16) and deliver a 45 minute to 1 hour lecture, followed by a brief Q&A, on your topic of interest. Furthermore, we ask that you provide at least 1 article related to your topic prior to your lecture. This article would provide students with the background necessary to better understand your topic and allow them to ask informed questions.

Part of being a professor is becoming some sort of "expert" on something. It's one thing to submit something and have it accepted. But it's another to be sought out to do something related to your work. I've been invited to give a couple of other talks this year and each time it's gratifying to think you actually know something that someone else might want to hear. (I put "expert" in scare quotes because I must admit I don't quite feel like an "expert.")

But in this case it is particularly gratifying to be sought out by students. It reminds me of the earliest Medieval universities, such as the University of Bologna (founded 1088), where students ran the show, electing the rector (who was a student!), picking the professors and creating the curriculum. Under their system the professor was beholden to the students for his pay, for permission to marry, or even to leave town for the weekend!

Did I become a professor just so I could wear the cool robes?

Today was the investiture of Harris Pastides as the 28th president of the University of South Carolina. Or, in other words, another excuse for me to don my academic regalia. The ceremony had all the pomp and circumstance you might expect. I've had a few opportunities to wear this in the past year. When I officially graduated with the Ph.D. degree from Penn State in August 2007, of course, but also for University of South Carolina graduations as well. (A special thanks to Mom and Dad for the robes.  What a graduation gift!)

At investitures or inaugurations other colleges are invited to send a representative. These representatives proceed into the room in the order of their founding. So, the representative from Harvard came first (1636), then William & Mary would have been next (1693) but they didn't have a representative, then Yale (1702), et cetera. Some colleges probably ask someone locally to represent them. The faculty, then the deans, the other administrative officers, the trustees, and then the president. There were speeches, including a great keynote from the dean of Yale School of Music (Pastides earned his Ph.D. at Yale), the official "charge" by the chairman of the trustees to the new president, the installation ceremony, a speech by Pastides himself, and so on.

But, to me, the ceremony is more than just the ceremony itself. Like the other times I've donned my regalia, I found that as much the event served me as a reminder of what it is that got me interested in pursuing this career. It renewed my energy for and commitment to what I hoped to accomplish as a professor. There's something wonderful about the collegiality of being amongst a group of people who have a similar passion. For example, I happened to get in line next to Walter Edgar, a prominent historian of the South and had a wonderful conversation as we waited to process into the Koger Center. Also, there's the "name that regalia" that faculty play as they see other professors' regalia.

For me, there's something about wearing the ancient robes, seeing the University Mace, the symbols, the pageantry, that makes you feel connected to the history and purposes of the university.

So, in the end, I still have to wonder if I became a professor just so I could put on the cool robes a few times a year...

Pastides Palooza, Pizza, and Peruvian Protesters

Now, say that five times fast. If you master that, try: "Pedro Pérez Pereira, pobre pintor portugués, pinta preciosos paisajes por poca plata para poder pasear por París" or "Tres tristes tigres trigaban en un trigal." But I digress.

Today is the official investiture of Harris Pastides as the 28th president of the University of South Carolina. Instead of a fancy dinner with donors and politicians on the eve of his inauguration, he choose to hold a get-together with students with pizza and live music. "Pastides Palooza." Good idea. He also choose to use student government funds to pay for the event at a time when student governments funds for student groups are frozen due to university budget cuts. Perhaps not such a good idea, at least from the perceptions of students.

The symbolic power of the first decision is diluted by the symbolic power of the second, at least from the perspective of students. If the administration had simply footed the bill no one would have said much about.

Speaking of "saying much about it" there was a lot of scuttlebutt around campus about how students were going to protest Pastides Palooza. My students have graduate assistantships in student government and residence life and other such student affairs offices and they told me of the "possible protests." This came up in my class on "comparative and international higher education" on Tuesday after we talked about the role of students in university governance in Latin America.

I gave the history of the student voice in Latin American higher education and showed how, while some note/lament that it is on the decline, it is still alive. For example, in México students shut down la Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (the largest university in the Americas) in 1999-2000 for nine months over tuition hikes. We watched two videos of protests by students in Perú. ("What was life like before YouTube, daddy?")

The first took place just before I went to Lima in May. The rector of la Universidad Nacional Mayor de San Marcos (founded in 1551, it is considered the "dean of the Americas") agreed to a land-swap with the city of Lima so the city could build a bypass next to the University. This necessitated the tearing down of the wall around the campus perimeter. How did the students feel about this?



And then in August students from various universities joined together to protest against the government's unwillingness to enforce the "medio pasaje" laws that guarantee students the right to half-price bus fare. (Why is the important? Dorms are practically unheard of in Latin American universities; students often live far from campus.)



It's not hard to understand why San Marcos suspended classes today in light of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation being held in Lima. If students protest land swaps and bus fare with such tenacity, what might they have to say about the visit of Presidente Bush?

And the protests at the University of South Carolina?

A handful of students showed up holding posters.

Professor Bueller's Day Off

They tell me that one of the biggest benefits of the professorial life is the "flexibility." A professor has a a great deal of latitude in organizing his or her work schedule. Other than showing up to class on time (or at least close to on time) and attending required meetings (e.g., departmental meetings, faculty senate meetings, the grand investiture of your new president, et cetera) you have a great deal of flexibility in organizing how you do your work. This is why we get the complaint of the "professor mowing his lawn at 3 o'clock on a Tuesday afternoon." (By the way, why is it always "3 on a Tuesday afternoon"?) That professor may have worked last Saturday, been part of a panel the night before for International Education Week, or been up late grading papers. Oh, wait...that was my week.

I say "they tell me" because I have my big to-do list and just try to make progress on it as many hours as I can stay awake per week. I need to take a break and get some perspective more often.

So I did just that yesterday. After dropping the kids off, I headed to Books-a-Million and bought a book I've been waiting for, Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell and sat and read it (excellent so far, more on it later), then caught a movie ("Role Models"—some good "mind candy"), read some more, got in a little workout at the gym, and then was going to take the kids to see the women's basketball rivalry game—USC vs. Clemson but that didn't work out (which is OK because apparently it didn't work out for the players either). If it had been warmer I probably would have taken in a game of golf instead, something I have done exactly once since moving here fifteen months ago.

So, the question is whether yesterday's breather will fuel today's work. We'll see...

College Costs too Much? Don't Blame Me

College is pricey. And the price will just keep going up. That much is for sure.

Unfortunately (for me anyway), professor salaries won't. Adjusted for inflation, college professors have, on average, received a .25% salary increase since 1986. In that same time period doctors have received a 34% raise, lawyers an 18% raise, and engineers a 5% raise. Again, professors have received a one fourth of one-percent raise, meaning they are not even keeping up with inflation.

In the public eye, faculty salaries seem to loom large as the reason tuition keeps going up, according to a recent story in the Chronicle of Higher Education. That may be due to the few high profile (e.g., certain "celebrity professor") cases that get reported in the media. However, for their long hours—professors work 55 hours per week on average—faculty generally don't make what you might expect.

The American Association of University Professors (AAUP) wonders why faculty salaries continue to lag. They ask, "Where are the priorities?" in their most recent report on the subject. But you might expect such a question from the group representing faculty interests.

As you might expect, faculty in certain disciplines make more than others. It's very simple: if that professor could ply his or her trade outside of academe and make more, he or she will make a higher salary as a professor than others. (These are disciplines you might expect: medicine, law, engineering, business. No, education is not one of them. Nor are most of the social sciences or humanities.) It also depends on where you teach: certain universities pay more than others. Again, no big surprise.

Please don't take this post as a "complaint." It's not. It's just fair warning that when you send your son or daughter off to college to not blame me for the bill! Of course, most professors didn't get into college teaching for the money. To us, we consider the price tag on our Ph.D.s to be "priceless."

Professor-in-Chief

I figured that if I'm going to post something about President-elect Obama on my blog about "being a professor" it should be relevant. (The photo is of him delivering the commencement address at Wesleyan University in May, stepping in for Sen. Ted Kennedy, who had diagnosed with a brain tumor.) Professor Obama did teach for a time at the University of Chicago Law School, after all.

The last post generated lots of discussion, even if that's not reflected in the modest number of comments. I talked with friends and family members, from various political persuasions, about the election and the issues both in person and over e-mail. Good for us—all of us, that is. I hope others did too.

I haven't posted in more than a week but it's not for a lack of ideas, just a lack of time. If I could blog while driving that would have been great since I drove to Jacksonville (with a great stop to visit friends in Georgia, thanks Joel and Amelia!) for one conference, then to St. Petersburg for another, and then all the way back. Whew.

I had Al Gore to keep me company and I'd like to write about that (about his book specifically, not audio books generally, in case you were wondering). I'd like to write about the conferences I attended—that's kind of an interesting thing we professors do. I'd like to talk about taking my students to D.C. last month, especially in light of the recent election and the possible policy changes that may be in store for higher education (among many other areas). (Speaking of which, we met with Sen. Kennedy's aid for higher education policy.) And then there's the question about whether professors are liberal (again, in light of the election) and what that means for students. I could write about today's news that NASULGC (say that five times, fast) is changing its acronym to APLU, mostly so I could introduce the this little piece of historical trivia: the American Sociological Association used to be known as the American Sociological Society. (How many students would change their major to sociology just so they could go to the "ASS" conference?)

I could even write about the funny robes that Obama is wearing in the photos. There's just oh-so-many-things to write about...

Anyone out there interested in any of these topics? What about you, Professor-in-Chief?

A sensible (if not sexy) pre-Election Day idea

You know who you support for president and why. You also probably know who you support in your state legislative race, for Congress, for county commission, and town dog-catcher. But do you know why your friends and family support their candidate?

I think a major problem we have in our country is a lack of understanding of the "other side." You either know that Barack Obama will renew our country to greatness or that John McCain will be the courageous leader our nation needs. At night you either watch Keith Olbermann or Sean Hannity, comfortable in knowing that "your guy" has it right and the "other guy" is nuts.

We want a leader who works in a "bipartisan" way. But we use that term as a catchphrase without practicing it ourselves. How many of us really understand "the other side"? Why does our neighbor or friend or family member support "their" side?

Here's a great idea I couldn't resist passing along. It's not a "sexy" idea but it is certainly a sensible one. Phil Noble in an op-ed in The State newspaper last week suggested the following:

I am encouraging everyone — Obama and McCain supporters — to find someone who thinks differently and bet a barbecue dinner on the election. It will be good for the country. It will be good for our state.

Now, to be clear, Noble is an Obama supporter. He is president of the South Carolina New Democrats and was heavily involved in Obama's S.C. campaign. But regardless of your political persuasion, Noble's suggestion makes all kind of sense. He continues:

Back to the Palmetto state and that bar-b-que dinner. Tough elections about big issues are part of what makes us special as South Carolinians and Americans. So, no matter who you support today, find someone that supports the other guy and bet them a bar-b-que dinner on the race. And, when it's all over and the winner is clear, enjoy your dinner, settle your bet, and then talk to your friend about the future and how we can make it better.

He's talking to his fellow South Carolinians but his advice applies no matter where you live, no matter how blue, red, or yellow your state is. I hope you will take his challenge. You certainly know someone who disagrees with your choice for president (or dog-catcher). We are so taken with the scintillating and the scandalous (that is, the "sexy") from the day's news that we no longer sit down to talk about the "sensible."

The nation will only emerge victorious (regardless of which candidate wins) if citizens like us are willing to engage with each other in meaningful, purposeful dialogue. It's becoming a lost art in this country. Can we reclaim it?

Stud

If there were ever a writer to emulate, it would be Studs Terkel. The guy could write. Seriously write.

I say could write because I woke up to the sad news this morning that he died yesterday.

If you've never read a word by Studs—and there a lot of words to read—I would suggest starting with Working. Then take your pick. (He wrote his last book on death because he was "curious" about it.) Anyone who wishes to become a better writer could learn a lot from Studs and how he practiced his craft. More importantly, anyone who wishes to learn something about the "human condition" (something some professors aim to do), would do well to learn from him as well.

There are others who can tell you much more about him than I ever could. Like Roger Ebert, another great writer (and fellow Chicagoan). He's posted his own memories as well as an essay from last year, when Studs turned 95.

I remember a great interview that Mike Wallace on 60 Minutes a few years ago. I found a plethora of Studs Terkel clips but not the one I wanted. This short one gives you a sense of the man.



Thanks, Studs.

Happy Halloween on Campus

Spooky things happen on campus. And I'm not just talking about unkempt undergrads trouncing across campus to make to their 9 o'clock class.

No, your campus may be haunted. At Penn State, legend had it that Old Botany (the oldest standing building at Penn State, built in 1887) is haunted by George Atherton widow's ghost. It only makes sense since that building looks right onto Atherton's grave. Yes, George Atherton is buried on campus. He was a beloved president who revived the flailing college in the late 19th century and also had an enormous impact on American higher education as an advocate for land-grant universities. (Those truly interested in his legacy should read this excellent book.) Mrs. Atherton is said to have been seen looking out from Old Botany onto George's grave.

At my undergraduate alma mater, the University of Utah, the ghost is named "Clem" and roams Fort Douglas (a military installation from the 1860's, which is now mostly part of the University), guarding the military museum.

We have our own ghosts here at the University South Carolina. We also have a beloved president buried on campus. (Does anyone know of another university where a president is buried on campus?) But that's not the spooky part.

The second oldest building on campus (built in 1809), on the historic Horseshoe is DeSaussure College, which like most of the buildings on the Horseshoe is now home to an academic department and student residences. However, during the Civil War it was used as a Union hospital. (This is why the college wasn't burned by General Sherman like the rest of Columbia.)

The ghost that is said to inhabit DeSaussure is a Civil War nurse. A common story is that she was the daughter of Confederates and poisoned Union soldiers with tainted wine. Only Northerners are said to encounter the ghost and she offers them a glass of wine.

So, beware as you pass through the old buildings on your campus this Halloween. You just never know who may be around the corner...

What do they know?

A group of 76 scientists (mostly professors) have endorsed Barack Obama. Who cares! What the heck do a bunch of scientists know anyway?

Oh, did I mention those 76 individuals happen to be recipients of the Nobel Prize for chemistry, physics, or medicine?

Fall Break Revisited

In my last post I sardonically asked, "Why a fall break?" In my class on "comparative and international higher education" I posed the same question. My students looked at my like I was insane. And they weren't just looking for an excuse to take a break. They seemed genuinely tired, ready for a change of pace.

I was being glib, for sure, because I fully recognize that we need to take a break now and then. But I still wonder why we feel we need so many breaks at colleges and universities. I think it might be the intensity of the educational enterprise. To be a student—and professors are merely students that have a license to get paid to study (the Ph.D. or other terminal degree)—is intense. It requires long hours, so long that sometimes you lose track of time and have to stumble out of the library at 2 a.m. But even more so than the hours is that you can't really "turn off" as a professor—you're always thinking about the next project, the next problem, the next class, and, oh yeah, the stack of essays on your desk that need to be graded. And while I'm sure lawyers, business managers, and others who have intense jobs would like these built-in breaks, perhaps the trade-off is the pay. Impecunious professors get long hours, punctuated by the occasional break. The others get better toys to play with on the weekend.

And, in terms of my fall break, it was quite nice. I took my parents on a historical tour of the Horseshoe (oops, I guess that's still kind of work!), Grandma and Grandpa visited Jacob's and Lauren's schools to read to their classes (to rave reviews from their classmates), we took a day trip to Charleston, and generally just relaxed. I took a follow-up quasi-fall break the following weekend, tacking a few days on the front end of my trip to D.C. to drive back to Dear Old State to talk to my Ph.D. advisor (thus the "quasi"), work on a paper with a friend (see, more "quasi"), and hang out with the old gang. We saw "W." (I give it a Gentleman's C+), watched Penn State finally beat Michigan (what a year—both of my alma maters beat Michigan!), and enjoyed the Tina Palin Show.

Oh, and I got to revisit the glory of fall in the North. (See Exhibit A, the photo above that I took in State College.)

Fall Break

I think a common problem for professors is having more ideas than time. I've had good intentions to write more on this blog—and plenty of ideas of things to write about—but just haven't had/made the time. The University of South Carolina's Fall Break starts tomorrow so I'll use that as a valid excuse to again not post something for a bit.

Why a fall break? you ask. Good question. I guess for the symmetry of having spring break. And because having Thanksgiving off is surely not enough. (Not that I'm complaining. Nor are my students, for that matter.)

Fall Break means it's time for mid-terms (my U101 class gets theirs today), mini-vacations (my parents are coming in town to see the grandkids, oh, and us too), and catching up on work for some professors (but not this—see previous item). Tomorrow night we will attend a "Faculty Night" for "early career faculty" (those who are still new to the university), an event designed for new faculty to network and meet others on campus. Should be a nice way to kick off Fall Break...

The Freshman "Mindset"

Last week I happened to teach my U101 class on 9/11. These students were in the 6th grade when it happened and I was curious what they remembered of it or how they reflected on it. I also wanted to give them a chance to talk about it if it was on their minds.

They remembered it vividly. They remembered everything about that day--at some of their middle schools they didn't know anything about it until they got home while at others they moved from class to class as usual but just watched CNN in each new classroom. I have three out-of-state students in the class; two from the New York City area (one from Long Island and another from New Jersey). Their experiences, not surprisingly, were quite different since it directly affected many of their friends and friends' families.

This causes me to think of the "mindset" of each new class of students. When Jacob, technically born "pre-9/11" but only by a matter of months, goes to college he and his cohort will naturally have no sense of a world before 9/11. My students, much to my surprise, actually could articulate some of the differences of a pre- and post-9/11 world.

Each year Beloit College releases a "Mindset List," which outlines what kinds of things would be unknown to the current crop of students. So, this year's freshmen, otherwise known as the "Class of 2012" (although many will take 5 or 6 years to graduate and a certain percentage won't graduate at all), will have never known any other host of the "Tonight Show" other than Jay Leno. Most of them were born in 1989 or 90. For those keeping score at home, that was my freshman year of college. (Yes, it's just thick with irony that I'm teaching freshmen who were born during my freshman year.)

Here's an abbreviated version of the Beloit list and their pithy (ahem) observations with a few of my sage (ahem) observations and/or links:

1. They have always been looking for Carmen Sandiego. (I still remember this being one of our first video games on our home computer when I was in high school. See #14 and #22.)
2. Coke and Pepsi have always used recycled plastic bottles. ("Rock and roller cola wars...I can't take it anymore!")
3. Electronic filing of tax returns has always been an option. (So much quicker to blow that refund!)
4. Häagen-Dazs ice cream has always come in quarts. (Ah, that was the source of the "Freshman 15"!)
5. WWW has never stood for World Wide Wrestling.
6. Films have never been X rated, only NC-17.
7. The Warsaw Pact is as hazy for them as the League of Nations was for their parents. (Wrong league?)
8. Students have always been "Rocking the Vote.”
9. Clarence Thomas has always sat on the Supreme Court.
10. We have always known that “All I Ever Really Needed to Know I Learned in Kindergarten.” (Remember when this book was all the rage? I even saw Fulghum twice in person at speaking events. Once, he had such bad carpal tunnel that he was "signing" books with his thumb print.)
11. There have always been gay rabbis. (Oh, I thought that said gay "rabbits.")
12. Wayne Newton has never had a mustache. (Who cares?)
13. College grads have always been able to Teach for America.
14. IBM has never made typewriters. (My freshman year I bought a typewriter for use in my room and a stack of "floppies" for when I could get to the lab to use a Mac Plus.)
15. There has always been Pearl Jam. (No pithy comment here. Just a "thanks" to Eddie Vedder and crew.)
16. Authorities have always been building a wall across the Mexican border. (Good work, USA. It's worked great so far so I say, "Adelante! ¡Máz!")
17. Lenin’s name has never been on a major city in Russia. (Ah, memories of my trip to Leningrad in 1988...)
18. Caller ID has always been available on phones. (Apparently it was actually invented in Greece in 1969. Another great gift from Greece!)
19. The Green Bay Packers (almost) always had the same starting quarterback. (Oh, Brett, what were you thinking?)
20. Soft drink refills have always been free.
21. They have never known life without Seinfeld references from a show about “nothing.” (Actually, Seinfeld, went off the air when today's freshmen were about 8 years old.)
22. Windows 3.0 operating system made IBM PCs user-friendly the year they were born.
23. Muscovites have always been able to buy Big Macs. (I guess I missed a Muscovite Big Mac by about 18 months.)
24. Off-shore oil drilling in the United States has always been prohibited. (And you don't think this year's election matters?)
25. There have always been charter schools.

University 101

As I mentioned previously, I'm teaching a course called "University 101" designed to help freshmen transition to the University of South Carolina. USC was actually a pioneer in creating this type of course. They declare that the course,

is designed to help first-year students adjust to the university, develop a better understanding of the learning process, and acquire essential academic success skills. The course provides a general orientation to the functions and resources of the university and also provides a support group for students transitioning to college by examining problems common to the first-year experience. Attaining an appropriate balance between personal freedom and social responsibility underlies all University 101 activities.

I decided to teach the course as an "overload" course (above my normal teaching load of two per semester) for two reasons. First, so that I would have the opportunity to teach undergraduate students (my department only has graduate programs) and, second, as a means to get to know the university better since I have only been here for a year. Professors tend to get to know their own department and college well but the rest of the university? Not so much.

The course has already helped me learn more about my university specifically and to rethink certain aspects of higher education generally. In part, this is why I started this blog--as a means to "think out loud" about some of these issues.

What else do I teach? This is a list of courses I have taught or am teaching currently:

EDHE 730: Evolution [History] of Higher Education in America
EDHE 736: Financial Aspects of Higher Education
EDHE 830: Organization, Administration, and Governance of Higher Education
EDHE 831: Internship in Higher Education and Student Affairs
EDHE 832: Campus Fiction
EDHE 832: Comparative and International Higher Education
EDLP 805: Advanced Educational Policy Analysis

If this seems like it add up to more than two per semester, it is because I taught during the summer. (By way of explanation: "EDHE" simply means "Higher Education" and "EDLP" stands for "Educational Leadership and Policies." The "832" designation is for "special topics" courses. The "campus fiction" course was definitely a "special topics" course while the "comparative and international" course will probably get its own number as part of the curriculum.) I'll talk about these courses in the future.

The purpose of "University 101" is to introduce students to university life and this blog is to discuss the same kinds of issues, particularly as they relate to being a professor. What curiosities or thoughts do you have about universities, university life, and what professors do? Let me know. I certainly don't have all the answers but your ideas will certainly lead to some interesting conversations in the future.

First-Year Reading Experience

Many institutions across the country hold some kind event for freshmen where the students read a book over the summer and then have a chance to discuss it when they get on campus.  Here at the University of South Carolina we have the First-Year Reading Experience, where students come together--all 4,000 or so of them--to hear a speaker and then break off into small groups to discuss the novel assigned for the summer. The purpose is to kick off the year with an "academic" experience, which sounds odd since it is a university after all but at most schools the first week or so is all about the "fun" aspects of college--and then the academic reality hits you in the face when you start going to class.

This year the book was Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro.  It is about an "academy" where students are actually clones that are "cared for" so they can donate their organs, not entirely unlike the movie "The Island."

It's not an easy read, especially at first when you're not really sure what's going on.  In fact, when I received the book clear back in May I made it through about 40 pages before putting it down, saying I would try again later.  Unfortunately I didn't get to "trying again later" until the week before the First-Year Reading Experience event was to take place!  See, even (or should I say especially?) professors procrastinate!

On Monday morning all 4,000 freshmen and 200+ discussion leaders gathered in the Coliseum on campus to hear a talk by Jeffrey Kahn, a bioethicist from the University of Minnesota. (Ishiguro declined an invitation to speak.) Kahn related the novel to current ethical concerns in science, including the use of stem cells.  He used the example of Molly Nash, a girl with a rare disease who could be helped only with the cells of a sibling. So her parents had another baby (but tested the embryonic cells first to make sure they would match) who could help her. 

Kahn's fascinating talk made the discussion with my group of 17 students much easier since many of them admitted to not finishing the book (something I empathized with greatly).  His comments made it clear that some of the issues in the book, while a bit far-fetched (we don't have any organ harvesting academies that I'm aware of), are still not as much "science fiction" as they might seem at first.  I asked them if they had read similar books and we related the book to other novels such as Fahrenheit 451, Anthem, Animal Farm, Brave New World, and some films as well.  There were also some direct relationships of the themes of the book to the freshman experience--the sense of discovery and the nature friendship, to name a couple.

The idea of the First-Year Reading Experience is a good one, I think, and the issues raised in the book are excellent for discussion (especially with the expert insights of someone like Professor Kahn).  However, the book was perhaps a bit too much for unguided summer reading for students with other things on their minds at the time.

Move-in Day

Last weekend students started moving into the dorms.  Does that bring back memories? Faculty and staff had been invited to volunteer to help with move-in day on Saturday, especially for freshmen. So, I showed up for my two-hour shift and helped new college students.  (I even got a nifty yellow "Move In Crew" t-shirt.)

I heard the same two questions with every student I helped move, mostly from the parents:

1. You're a professor and you're helping students move in?  (Getting that question is probably part of why they want faculty to volunteer; it shows how caring we all are!)

2. How is she going to fit all this into this tiny room?  (It is amazing how the magic works on fitting everything under the sun into such a teeny-tiny space!)

A few of the students I helped were the first in the their family to attend college.  You could see the pride/fear/excitement/concern in mom and dad's face.  Or maybe that look of concern on dad's face was just for realizing that he brought a not-so-mini-fridge that he now had to haul to the third floor of a building with no elevator.

And with all of the students you could see, even in the few minutes I was with them, that push and pull as the student tried to exert her independence while mom (mostly mom!) tried to hold on just a little longer--trying to organize where things should go, cleaning out drawers and under the bed.

Helping students move in was also a reminder of what dorm-life is like.  I haven't been inside a traditional college dorm in many years and was instantly reminded of dorm rules (they were posted everywhere), the life of RAs and fun roommate problems.  I remember moving in myself after my dad and I had driven across the country from New Hampshire to Utah, meeting my roommate for the first time, meeting my RA (what's an RA? I asked) and starting to negotiate life on my own.

The experiences of this professor...

I've been in the professor business for a year now.  In fact, it was one year ago today that I officially received my Ph.D. at Penn State, right at the same time that I was starting as a new gig as an assistant professor at the University of South Carolina.  (Actually, I defended my dissertation in June, which signals the end of the Ph.D.-quest; but that's the kind of thing I can talk about here.)

I thought I might use this space to think out loud about what it is I do.  Professors are supposed to teach, do research, and provide service.  What does "Teaching, Research, and Service" really mean? 

I happen to be teaching a course called "University 101" this fall; a course designed to help new students make the transition to university life.  There are, of course, some parallels to becoming a new professor and even though I am in my "sophomore" year as a professor I think teaching this course might spur me to think about some interesting (at least to me) issues to talk about.

Maybe after trying out this blogging approach for a while people can stop asking, "What is it that you do?" (probably to be replaced with, "Seriously, that is what you do?").  

So, let's see how this goes...