Chicago is a big and complicated city. As a newcomer, I read widely to get a better understanding of my new home. The staff at the Unabridged Bookstore, an independent in the Lakeview neighborhood, has organized a section filled with Chicago books, ranging from the coffee table variety to academic monographs. On that shelf with a…
Author: David Potash
Performance Funding & Academic Incentives
Can a funding scheme based on for-profit world motivation make a positive difference in the not-for-profit world of higher education? I am optimistic – but not for the reasons that policymakers may suppose. Public higher education in the United States is increasingly supported through Performance Based Funding (PBF). A recent report by the Education Policy…
Round-Table with Secretary Duncan
Friday morning Secretary of Education Arne Duncan met with 15 college presidents of HSIs (Hispanic Serving Institutions) at the HACU national conference in Chicago. As president of Wilbur Wright College, I joined in the hour-long discussion. The Secretary’s aim was to ask for feedback about President Obama’s plan for college affordability. It was the first of many sessions Duncan expects to hold…
Humans and Imaginary Vulcans
Daniel Kahneman’s Thinking, Fast and Slow is an important book, well deserving of its Wikipedia page. Kahneman, along with his late partner Amos Tversky, won the Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences even though the pair are psychologists. They have a genius for creative experimentation. The book is a high-level summation of their research, along with…
Heroism One Tap at a Time
Retired Major General John L. Borling of the USAF gave an address at Wright College last night. A long-time resident of Chicago, General Borling talked about his extraordinary life with students, faculty, staff and members of the community through the lens of his book, Taps on the Wall: Poems from the Hanoi Hilton. It was…
More Advice for Presidents
Looking for an early stocking stuffer for a new community college president? Or maybe you are interested in building out your library of books for college presidents? As I prepared for my transition to a community college presidency I read widely, though not necessarily wisely. It is difficult to know in advance which advice might…
High Expectations for Higher Education
The opening night of the Time Summit on Higher Education featured a lively discussion, moderated by foreign policy expert Fareed Zakaria. Norman Augustine (former chair of Lockheed Martin), Mitch Daniels (former governor of Indiana and current president of Purdue University), John Holdren (Assistant to the President for Science and Technology), and Condoleeza Rice (former Secretary…