In 2008, Leonard A. Valverde and Associates published Latino Change Agents in Higher Education: Shaping a System that Works for All. An emeritus professor at Arizona State University, with more than 45 years of education under his belt – at all levels in a host of different kinds of institutions – Valverde is one of…
A Closer Look at Grit
Some ideas seem so accessible and “right” that we accept them without much question. They resonate with our assumptions and align with common sense, or at least our common thinking. I don’t know if higher education is more susceptible than other sectors to these kinds of group-think trends, but we know that it happens. Certain…
Democracy and Higher Education
Colleges and universities are products of and contributors to our broader civic culture. Higher education reflects the world and often can point to where things are headed. Occasionally it may even influence direction. Untangling what our collective responsibilities are, within academe, to the development of a healthy civic culture, particularly an engaged democracy, is a…
Whitehead’s Long Shadow
Alfred North Whitehead (1862-1947) was an influential philosopher who worked across disciplines. One of his more famous and influential arguments is that reality was best understood as a process. More than a few thinkers agreed with him, leading to schools of process theology and process philosophy. In the US, perhaps the most influential process thinker,…
Wise Pivots
Accenture, a global professional services company, is one of my college’s most active and generous business partners. We have learned so much from them through meetings, projects, collaboration, and day-to-day interaction. Consistently collegial and extraordinarily professional, the team at Accenture have helped to strengthen us and our students – and we’re not even their clients.…
Congratulations Graduates, And . . .
At the request of a neighborhood high school principal, I recently gave a short speech at their commencement. I was honored by the request, but to tell the truth, the invitation gave me pause. I’ve been to several high school graduations, including my own, and for the life of me I cannot remember who spoke…
The Essential Work of Learning and Assessing
What does a student know and how do we know that they know it? This fundamental question in higher education drives learning outcomes assessment, a critical component in providing a quality education. Those that are more removed from the classroom and assessment committees may not to give much consideration to the ongoing demanding work that…