One of the most insightful books about higher education in the past few years is The Merit Myth: How Our Colleges Favor the Rich and Divide America, by Anthony P. Carnevale, Peter Schmidt, and Jeff Strohl. It received a good degree of notice and mostly positive reviews, and was mentioned as one of Forbes Magazine’s…
Category: Deanspeak
Posts about the wide realm of higher education from a deanly perspective
Communities of Practice – New Models for New Times
This summer, amid social distancing and the challenges of remote work, between zooms, more zooms and the occasional conference call, I joined Dr. Jabari Bodrick of the University of South Carolina as a co-facilitator in a Campus Compact’s Community of Practice. It was interesting, offering direct insights and a provocative lens for reflection, worthy of…
Good Grading, Good Grades
Several colleges and universities have changed spring semester grading processes in response to the pandemic and our collective shifts to distance learning. The debates and decisions about grading prompted me to return to one of my all-time favorite higher education books, Effective Grading: A Tool for Learning and Assessment, by Barbara Walvoord and Virginia Johnson…
Spaces and Schools
Educational work is now remote. As we social distance, protecting our students and each other, interaction is mediated by screens and phones. This is our new normal. The loss of face-to-face, of being at my college, has made me think – and rethink – the value and importance of being in a shared physical space…
Crisis As The New Normal
Goldie Blumenstyk is an editor and reporter at the Chronicle of Higher Education. She’s been writing about academia for decades and has rightly established herself as one of the most respected journalists covering the field. I read her regularly and trust her judgment, as do many others who work in higher ed. Five years ago…
An Immigrant’s Educational Journey
One of the most effective ways to look at rights of passage is by tracking a group of people. It’s a familiar model that can lend itself to different kinds of experiences, from war stories to expeditions to immigration to more. Chronology usually drives the narrative, with the beginning introducing us to a disparate group…
Reconceptualizing Service at HSIs – Decolonization and Innovation
One of the most interesting and useful books on higher education that I have read in quite some time is Gina Ann Garcia’s Becoming Hispanic-Serving Institutions: Opportunities for Colleges and Universities. It is relevant and provocative. Most importantly, it is also quite helpful to scholars, faculty, administrators and institutions as they think through how and…