Bravo @EricKlinenberg!

Cultural-Studies Journal Gets Revamped for a ‘Different Intellectual Moment’ – Publishing – The Chronicle of Higher Education.

Yes, America, We Have Executed an Innocent Man – Andrew Cohen – National – The Atlantic

Convincing. Terrifying. Sad.

Yes, America, We Have Executed an Innocent Man – Andrew Cohen – National – The Atlantic.

One of my former students, Andrew Markquart, is among those telling the story. Click here for more.

 

Terra Nova, Part 2 | Paradise Relost? | Books and Culture

“Paradise Relost?” My review of Fox’s Terra Nova, for Books & Culture’s series, Science in Focus: Terra Nova, Part 2 | Books and Culture.

Liberal Arts Degrees: An Asset At Some Companies : NPR

“Technology training and know-how only get you so far in this economy. It turns out many employers now are looking for workers with a broader set of skills. Packaged food giant ConAgra’s IT internship program, for example, values a degree in journalism or biology as much as one in computer science. The trend is putting a crimp in the conventional theory that specialization in higher education pays.”

Not courses in spreadsheets. Not professional degrees. Even tech employers want liberal arts students:

ERIC FASSE: That initial interview that I had was just going over the skills. And so, you know, they’re trying to get a bead on what is your IT background. So they’re asking me do you know how to do JavaScript. Do you know how to – and I had to say no to everything. I thought I’m sunk, like there’s no way. I was like, I’m not going to get a call back.

MASTERS: Fasse didn’t just get a call back, he eventually got an IT job at ConAgra. So did Holly Barber, even though on paper her resume may have seemed a bit thin.

via Liberal Arts Degrees: An Asset At Some Companies : NPR.

From Graduate School to Welfare – The Chronicle of Higher Education

From Graduate School to Welfare – The Chronicle of Higher Education.

(Actually, if you consider the Chronicle’s “What Professors Make” article and data, there are some places paying full-time, permanent, tenure-track faculty so little that they would qualify for welfare. That should be its own special kind of embarrassment to higher education.)

The plight of adjunct faculty highlights the fact that “publish or perish” is now “publish and perish.” What makes the Chronicle article here most interesting is the fact that they highlight people who are qualified for full-time, permanent, tenure-track lines, but can’t get them.  In fact, it is often the case that candidates with the terminal degree, teaching experience, and peer-reviewed publications still can’t land a job. As everyone in higher ed knows, it’s often not for lack of merit on the part of the candidate, but simply for lack of jobs, that someone with a Ph.D. will end up depending upon a combination of state assistance and whatever adjunct opportunities they can string together.

I wonder if the profile of the average adjunct faculty member has changed over the past decades. That is, decades ago, was the average adjunct faculty member someone who didn’t want or need a full-time position in academia and may not have held the terminal degree in their field? In other words, was the average adjunct faculty member someone with a master’s degree looking to make a few extra bucks, or a practitioner who wanted some classroom experience, or someone who had the expertise but to whom the research requirements of academia never appealed, or something like that? And now, has that changed such that the average adjunct faculty member is someone with the terminal degree or at least pursuing the terminal degree? If that’s the case, perhaps it’s actually the glut of really super-qualified adjuncts that make administrations increasingly willing to staff a disproportionate number of classes with adjuncts.

(Disclaimer: Many adjunct faculty are absolutely excellent teachers. This includes my wife, a Spanish teacher extraordinaire. The excellence of our adjuncts does not negate the fact that structural underemployment in academia is a real challenge with programmatic implications.)

Alan Jacobs on Naomi Schaefer Riley’s blog post on Black Studies

“There is absolutely no reason why Naomi should read any of those dissertations. But if you don’t read them, you cannot make any comment about their value. Period.”

via more than 95 theses.

Heartland Institute compares belief in global warming to mass murder | Leo Hickman | Environment | guardian.co.uk

Heartland Institute compares belief in global warming to mass murder | Leo Hickman | Environment | guardian.co.uk.

A new low.

London’s Newest Export: The Poor? – Housing – The Atlantic Cities

Londons Newest Export: The Poor? – Housing – The Atlantic Cities.

My new presentation grading rubric

Here it is. Finally. Six years in the making. Just in time for sabbatical. Hopefully I’ll remember this is here when I’m back to teaching in the fall of 2013. Feel free to comment. I’m always interested in improving how I do this.

A Visual Guide to the Potential of Urban Agriculture – Design – The Atlantic Cities

A Visual Guide to the Potential of Urban Agriculture – Design – The Atlantic Cities.