For many years the same key issues – accessibility, accountability, and affordability – have been at the center of American higher education. A trend or crisis may distract us, and the media may tell us that this technology spells a sea change or paradigm shift. All true enough. But if you look closely, the driver of…
Football, Smarts, and Success – Victor Cruz
Victor Cruz is an outstanding football player for the New York Giants. An undrafted and undersized receiver, he fought his way on to the team through talent and hard work. A fan favorite, Cruz has intelligence, charm, and an entrepreneurial spirit. Life was not easy for Cruz. Born to a single mother in a gritty…
If You Can Read This Post –
Then you’re literate and fortunate. And it is good to remember just how fortunate we are. John Wood is an unusual man who did more than remember – he did something about it. An MBA and successful Microsoft executive, he left the company after a chance encounter while on a hiking holiday in the Himalayas.…
Rendering The Abstract Accessible – Economic Theories Made Clear
Appearing informed about contemporary affairs requires familiarity with economics. Being informed, especially understanding current political debates, demands real grounding in macroeconomic policy. Economics today is more than an influential discipline. Leading economists – Paul Krugman, Jeffrey Sachs, Amartya Sen, Joseph Stiglizt and Larry Summers – are public intellectuals and thought leaders. Many of the big political…
Awkward Hero
In 2005, Auburn University Professor W. David Lewis finished Eddie Rickenbacker: An American Hero in the Twentieth Century. A labor of love and personal obsession, the biography took Lewis decades of research. It is a magisterial tome, the definitive work on one of the major celebrities of early twentieth century America. Accomplished in multiple arenas…
Saxifrage – A Provocative Model
Will innovation in higher education come from technologically sophisticated low-cost disruptors? Can costs be contained without reliance on MOOCs? A different model is the Saxifrage School. Founded by a young visionary, Tim Cook, the school will offer students a career focus and liberal arts education at a low cost. Dependent upon charity and a catch-as-catch-can…
Function, Form and Student Learning
In 2005, the Regents for the University of Minnesota shuttered UM’s School of General Studies and moved its faculty and students to the University’s College of Education and Human Development. The School of General Studies, created in 1932, was something of an anomaly: a two-year developmental unit at a four-year flagship university. GS provided a…