Gannon still needs a provost

Good morning colleagues,

We begin this New Year by reopening the search for a new Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs for Gannon University.  As is sometimes the case, the "right fit" candidate did not surface, even after a full search process took place.   

As we reopen the recruitment portion of the process, I would ask you to consider the following about Gannon to help us identify candidates who might ultimately become the right fit. 

The University’s Vision 2020 includes a four-pronged plan:

·      Gannon’s student success and leadership will be encouraged through integration of the classroom and experiential education on- and off-campus, including expanded study abroad, internships and community-based projects. 

·    Faculty excellence and scholarship inform and enlighten an active learning environment that couples student enthusiasm with faculty knowledge and experience. 

·     Gannon’s partnership with downtown Erie neighborhoods, Erie County and the Diocese of Erie are strengthened and revitalized through the Erie-GAINS initiative, which strives to support our urban neighborhood. 

·       The University reflects on and facilitates a global perspective and embraces our responsibilities to a world community.

Along with these initiatives, Gannon seeks a leader in academia who embraces the Catholic tradition of educational delivery and fosters a comfortable and supportive service-learning environment for students and faculty.  Please view the position announcement and leadership statement at the following links:  

Leadership Statement:  http://rpainc.org/posts/Gannon%20Leadership%20Statement.pdf

Position Announcement:  http://rpainc.org/posts/GannonAd2012.pdf 

May we connect to discuss this opportunity in further detail during the month of February?  Our goal is to develop a pool of candidates for the Committee to begin to review by the end of the month.  Please let me know if you have additional questions or nominations.

Thank you kindly for your attention to this search.

Kate Nolde

Associate Vice President

RPA Inc.

800-992-9277

gannonprovost@rpainc.org

www.rpainc.org

Private colleges said to be "keen" on affordability goals but unclear how to achieve them

http://chronicle.com/article/Keen-on-College-Affordability/130593/?sid=at&utm_source=at&utm_medium=en

They are responding to Mr. Obama's speeches:

http://chronicle.com/article/President-Puts-College-Costs/130503/

http://chronicle.com/article/State-of-the-Union-Speech/130464/

Here are a few thoughts on a Tuesday morning in reply to their concerns:

1.  Require faculty to be on campus five days a week, like the rest of us working stiffs, and require them to teach more.

2.  Streamline educational programs, so that students can complete them more quickly.

3.  Enable community college students to transfer all their credits seamlessly into your four-year programs.

4.  Expand paid internships that bring credits and wages to students.

5.  Assess the gainful employment of your alumni and eliminate programs that aren't resulting in good jobs and fruitful careers.

AN "Unwashed Advocate" provides his LIst... I like it

http://legalblogwatch.typepad.com/legal_blog_watch/2012/01/the-list-by-unwashed-advocate-lessons-learned-and-shared.html

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6RexQLrcqwc

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6RexQLrcqwc

Mr. Kvaal, the rich just keep getting richer... did no one tell you?

James --

Right now, members of Congress can make personal investment decisions based on confidential information they get in the course of regulating industries and doing their work.

It's kind of unbelievable that this isn't already illegal. President Obama wants to make it illegal once and for all -- no one should profit from inside information about the very businesses they're supposed to be regulating.

Today, the Democratic leadership in the Senate voted to move forward on a bill to extend to Congress the same strict rules that apply to anyone else whose job gives them access to sensitive information about businesses. This legislation is expected to pass the Senate with bipartisan support later this week.

But Republicans in the House have yet to move on it.

There aren't a lot of good reasons to disagree with this bill. So the question here isn't how many people we have to persuade, but simply how loudly we can speak up to prevent the House Republicans from dodging this issue.

Say you support the President on banning insider trading in Congress:

http://my.barackobama.com/Ban-Insider-Trading-in-Congress

Thanks, and stay tuned,

James

James Kvaal
National Policy Director
Obama for America

Guest Article: The Effects of Longer School Days

Hi Jim,

My name is Kaitlyn, and I'm currently working with Onlineuniversities.com, and we recently published an article that I thought your readers would enjoy, entitled "10 Telling Studies Done on Longer School Days". You can review the article here: ( http://www.onlineuniversities.com/10-telling-studies-done-on-longer-school-days ) . If you find that this resource would be of interest to your audience, please feel free to share it with them at your discretion.

Either way, I'm glad to have come across your blog. It's very refreshing finding a site that explores Education in such an interesting way. Thanks again for your time!

Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions.

Sincerely,

Kaitlyn Cole

"Obama puts college costs front and center" ---So do we!

http://chronicle.com/article/Obama-Puts-College-Costs-Front/130503/?sid=at&utm_source=at&utm_medium=en

Image: jannoon028 / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

The Generation Gasp

By

Claire and Jim Castagnera

Column #14

Mommy Dearest

JIM:

         “Alma Mater” is Latin for “nourishing mother.”  The term is usually applied to some school or college from which we graduated.  In my case, it’s Franklin & Marshall College in Lancaster.  When I attended in the late 1960s, F&M was a men’s college.  We students joked that the letters stood for “Frustration & Masturbation.”  The fall semester after I graduated was the first time F&M admitted female students.  We frat boys joked that, once we were gone, it was safe enough to let them on the campus.

         No doubt, my Alma Mater did nourish my puny brain… that is, when it wasn’t thoroughly soaked in Iron City or Pabst or Old Reading or Rolling Rock beer.  (Mine was not a wealthy fraternity, you understand.  No imports or micro-brews for us.)  She also in her wisdom shut down my frat house sometime in the 1970s.  The building became the college’s Art House, a weird irony that you will understand if you’ve ever seen the movie “Animal House.”  Says Wikipedia of this 1978 classic, staring John Belushi, “The film, along with 1977's Kentucky Fried Movie, also directed by [John]Landis, was largely responsible for defining and launching the gross-out genre of films, which became one of Hollywood's staple genres.”  Yes, we were pretty gross.  Art House, indeed!

       Anyway, it wasn’t long before my Alma Mater began asking me to nourish her.

Yes, a college diploma is the only product you can buy, where the seller expects you to keep on paying decades after you’ve driven it out of the showroom.  On the other hand, every October, I and the thousands of my fellow (and now female) alums are welcome to return to the campus for Homecoming football, food, and nostalgic folderol.  My Toyota dealership welcomes me back for oil changes, but that’s not quite the same.

         I don’t go back every year anymore.  When I do, it’s with mixed emotions.  The Art House is back to being Phi Kappa Psi Fraternity again.  But I feel a bit like an intruder, among the latest generation of brothers.  The baby-faced guy who spent four years guzzling beer and shooting pool there 40 some years ago is as much a stranger to me now, as is the new crop of guys inhabiting the house.  Not long ago, the first of the 16 Phi Psi’s in my pledge class passed on to the great frat house in the sky.  Now, when I walk into the house, I hear the ticking of a clock, and I don’t much like it.

         I guess that even kids with the best of mothers must --- sooner or later --- leave home for good.

        

CLAIRE:

            While my parents are still attending college reunions with eagerness and delight, I find myself debating whether or not to go back at all.  I have mixed feelings about the college experience of my generation, as I’m sure many graduates do.  While I enjoyed my four years in college, and certainly learned a lot, it’s a little difficult to feel the same amount of nostalgia for an institution that leaves grads with an average of $22,000 in debt (though I have friends with triple that amount).  Not only that, but it then has the nerve to call and ask for more money before we even have a chance to secure a minimum wage job – let alone pay off our college debt.

                    I hate to sound pushy, but frankly, this is unacceptable.

            Of course, you can’t not go to college.  I read somewhere that whereas a high school diploma used to be something to brag about, now it’s more akin the smiley face sticker on a first grade spelling test.  College diplomas are the norm, and it’s hard to get very far without one.  But nowadays, far too many of those diplomas are coming at too great a price.

            As children, we’ve been taught to work hard to get into the best college we possibly can, regardless of the price.  However, only a few colleges hold the same amount of clout as they used to; while it might be worth it to pay close to full price to attend Harvard or MIT, it’s far less worthwhile – but still entirely possible – to spend upwards of $80,000 on a lesser-known school.  It might be a dream college experience, but the reality of having that much debt at the end of those four years is a nightmare.

            It seems doubtful that the system is going change soon enough, though.  (We’ll probably need a full-blown student loan crisis before anyone starts thinking seriously about changing the way we do things in the U.S.)  So what can we do?  Well, what we really need are more responsible parents, teachers, and counselors to educate high school students about loans.  An eighteen year old simply can’t be expected to understand the impact that student loan debt will have on them four years into the future – but parents and teachers should.  Meanwhile, we can only hope the government will catch up eventually and make some changes to a system that clearly no longer w

Guest article: Best cars for college kids

Hi Jim,

I work with Bestcollegesonline.com. We recently published an article that you may be interested in entitled, “The 12 Smartest Cars for College Students".
I thought perhaps you'd be interested in sharing this article with your readers? After having followed your blog for a while, I feel that this one article would align well with your blog's subject matter. If interested, here's the link for your convenience: (http://www.bestcollegesonline.com/blog/2012/01/29/the-12-smartest-cars-for-college-students/).

Either way, I hope you continue putting out great content through your blog. It has been a sincere pleasure to read. Thanks for your time! 

Regards,
Tim Handorf

Catholic bishops bummed out about birth control in Obama care

http://cw.ua.edu/2012/01/30/new-health-care-bill-covers-birth-control/

Are they afraid there will be a shortage of little boys?

Image: photostock / FreeDigitalPhotos.net


Meanwhile, Here's a sneak preview of my half of next Saturday's "Generation Gasp" column.  I think it speaks for itself:

The Generation Gasp

By Claire and Jim Castagnera

Column # 15

Get in Line

          The Philadelphia Museum of Art has a special Van Gogh exhibit running right now.  Don’t imagine that you can go to see this exhibition on the spur of the moment.  No, to the contrary, the museum’s website admonishes us, “Your tickets will be issued for the date and time you choose, based on availability, and include a complimentary exhibition audio tour and Museum general admission to both the main and Perelman Buildings. Select your dates carefully, as tickets are nonrefundable and subject to a $2.50/$3.50 exchange fee prior to the selected date.”  Adult admission is $25.

         Forty years ago, when I was in my early twenties, Joanne and I knocked around Europe one summer.  In Paris, we stopped at the Louvre, paid a modest entry fee, and in fifteen minutes were standing face to ace with Mona Lisa.  Only a velvet rope separated us from the great lady.  We visited many of the great art museums of Europe in just such a casual and cheap way.

        Today, almost every worthwhile entertainment requires that we stand in line and pay through the nose.  Why?  One reason might be that in 1968 --- the year I turned 21 --- the planet was home to just over three million folks.  A guy named Paul Ehrlich published a book that year, called The Population Bomb, in which he warned us that the world’s population was growing at an alarming rate.

       In 1990, Ehrlich (with an I-told-you-so attitude) published The Population Explosion.  World population stood at 5.3 billion.  Last October, we were told that each of us is now one of some seven billion souls on planet Earth.  No woder we feel crowded.

         Maybe that accounts for all the rudeness that Claire and I groused about in an earlier “Generation Gasp.”  My personal suspicion is that middle-class Americans feel threatened.  They behave badly as a way of reassuring themselves that they still count for something in the grand demographic equation.

         My best estimate is that most of the world’s people are headed for disaster.  Not only does the population continue to grow unabated, but computer technology is eliminating far more jobs than it is creating.  I see two opposing trends that are aggravating each other.

          So brace yourselves.  The lines, including the unemployment lines, will just keep getting longer.

       

Tracking our online impact... and assessing our alumni's success... two sides of the same coin

Image via WikipediaSays Jennifer Howard in the Chronicle of Higher Education, "Administrators and grant makers want proof that a researcher's work has life beyond the library or the lab.  But the current system of measuring scholarly influence doesn't reflect the way many researchers work in an environment driven more and more by the social Web."
http://chronicle.com/article/As-Scholarship-Goes-Digital/130482/

This concern goes hand in hand with one of my own hobby horses, i.e., what we assess:

Are accrediting organizations in tune with their times?

Jim Castagnera

The Middle States Commission on Higher Education is making the rounds with a series of regional meetings. I recently attended one conducted at the College of New Jersey (formerly known as Trenton State). The unabashed motive of this road show is to stave off efforts by higher education’s critics to shift accreditation standards into the clutches of a Washington bureaucracy.

Jim Castagnera

The 100-plus attendees from numerous regional institutions were told that standards will be grounded in “student learning outcomes” assessment.  The accreditors said that they seek to demonstrate the “value added” aspects of a college education,  but the also contended that measuring student achievement in terms of subsequent employment and earnings should be resisted as “too hard to prove.”

Does recently released data support the Middle States contention? On February 1st UCLA’s Higher Education Research Institute released the results of its 35th annual college student survey. (Greentree Gazette editor Tom Robinson discussed this survey in an e-Series recently.)

 

Fifty-two percent of the respondents listed “graduates get good jobs” as a top reason for choosing the college they are attending. This data point suggests two things. First, the information about where alumni are working must not be “too hard to prove.” Second, our industry’s undergraduate consumers care very much about this piece of intelligence. 

 

Proponents of measuring student learning outcomes in lieu of tracking subsequent student achievement may counter that 63 percent of the freshmen surveyed cited “a very good academic reputation” as a leading motive for choosing their respective schools. 

 

Meanwhile, the substitution of a school's financial viability as a proxy for academic quality is a questionable practice.  Senior Fellow Jon Fuller of the National Association of Independent Colleges and Universities points out that “both federal government and accreditation standards use financial stability as a place-holder for quality education, perhaps because the latter is difficult to measure.”  Directly addressing the tiny, religiously affiliated colleges that dot the Deep South, Fuller added, “Many of these schools have been around 100 or 150 years. I doubt that they were ever any less [financially] fragile than they are today. Yet they always have a hard time meeting such standards.” 

 

So student learning outcomes are a clear improvement over at least one other measure - financial stability.  But aren't they merely a halfway house between financial stability and subsequent student achievement?   

 

Is there not considerable overlap among the 63 percent of freshman respondents who cited “good academic reputation” and the 52 percent who ticked off “good jobs?”  

 

Is it not logical - and inevitable - that accrediting agencies will be measuring alumni employment and earnings data?   

**********************************************************************************************************************************

The future validation of higher education --- in my view --- depends upon demonstrating that our teaching and our service and our scholarly activities have real-world impacts.

The Generation Gasp #14: Mommy Dearest

The Generation Gasp

By

Claire and Jim Castagnera

Column #14

Mommy Dearest

JIM:

“Alma Mater” is Latin for “nourishing mother.”  The term is usually applied to some school or college from which we graduated.  In my case, it’s Franklin & Marshall College in Lancaster.  When I attended in the late 1960s, F&M was a men’s college.  We students joked that the letters stood for “Frustration & Masturbation.”  The fall semester after I graduated was the first time F&M admitted female students.  We frat boys joked that, once we were gone, it was safe enough to let them on the campus.

No doubt, my Alma Mater did nourish my puny brain… that is, when it wasn’t thoroughly soaked in Iron City or Pabst or Old Reading or Rolling Rock beer.  (Mine was not a wealthy fraternity, you understand.  No imports or micro-brews for us.)  She also in her wisdom shut down my frat house sometime in the 1970s.  The building became the college’s Art House, a weird irony that you will understand if you’ve ever seen the movie “Animal House.”  Says Wikipedia of this 1978 classic, staring John Belushi, “The film, along with 1977's Kentucky Fried Movie, also directed by [John] Landis, was largely responsible for defining and launching the gross-out genre of films, which became one of Hollywood's staple genres.”  Yes, we were pretty gross.  Art House, indeed!

Anyway, it wasn’t long before my Alma Mater began asking me to nourish her.

Yes, a college diploma is the only product you can buy where the seller expects you to keep on paying decades after you’ve driven it out of the showroom.  On the other hand, every October, I and the thousands of my fellow (and now female) alums are welcome to return to the campus for Homecoming football, food, and nostalgic folderol.  My Toyota dealership welcomes me back for oil changes, but that’s not quite the same.

I don’t go back every year anymore.  When I do, it’s with mixed emotions.  The Art House is back to being Phi Kappa Psi Fraternity again.  But I feel a bit like an intruder, among the latest generation of brothers.  The baby-faced guy who spent four years guzzling beer and shooting pool there 40 some years ago is as much a stranger to me now, as is the new crop of guys inhabiting the house.  Not long ago, the first of the 16 Phi Psi’s in my pledge class passed on to the great frat house in the sky.  Now, when I walk into the house, I hear the ticking of a clock, and I don’t much like it.

I guess that even kids with the best of mothers must --- sooner or later --- leave home for good.

CLAIRE:

            While my parents are still attending college reunions with eagerness and delight, I find myself debating whether or not to go back at all.  I have mixed feelings about the college experience of my generation, as I’m sure many graduates do.  While I enjoyed my four years in college, and certainly learned a lot, it’s a little difficult to feel the same amount of nostalgia for an institution that leaves grads with an average of $22,000 in debt (though I have friends with triple that amount).  Not only that, but it then has the nerve to call and ask for more money before we even have a chance to secure a minimum wage job – let alone pay off our college debt.

                    I hate to sound pushy, but frankly, this is unacceptable.

            Of course, you can’t not go to college.  I read somewhere that whereas a high school diploma used to be something to brag about, now it’s more akin the smiley face sticker on a first grade spelling test.  College diplomas are the norm, and it’s hard to get very far without one.  But nowadays, far too many of those diplomas are coming at too great a price.

            As children, we’ve been taught to work hard to get into the best college we possibly can, regardless of the price.  However, only a few colleges hold the same amount of clout as they used to; while it might be worth it to pay close to full price to attend Harvard or MIT, it’s far less worthwhile – but still entirely possible – to spend upwards of $80,000 on a lesser-known school.  It might be a dream college experience, but the reality of having that much debt at the end of those four years is a nightmare.

            It seems doubtful that the system is going change soon enough, though.  (We’ll probably need a full-blown student loan crisis before anyone starts thinking seriously about changing the way we do things in the U.S.)  So what can we do?  Well, what we really need are more responsible parents, teachers, and counselors to educate high school students about loans.  An eighteen year old simply can’t be expected to understand the impact that student loan debt will have on them four years into the future – but parents and teachers should.  Meanwhile, we can only hope the government will catch up eventually and make some changes to a system that clearly no longer works.

A Call for Presentations: New Technologies for Online Learning

Emerging Technologies for Online Learning (Las Vegas) - Call for Presentations Open through March 5

5th Annual Emerging Technologies for Online Learning International Symposium
A joint symposium of the Sloan Consortium and MERLOT
July 25-27, 2012
The Venetian/Palazzo Hotel, Las Vegas, NV
http://sloanconsortium.org/et4onlineWe invite you to submit a proposal for the 5th Annual Sloan-C/MERLOT Emerging Technologies for Online Learning International Symposium in Las Vegas. The Call for Presentations ends Monday, March 5.

The Emerging Technologies for Online Learning International Symposium, a joint Symposium of Sloan Consortium and MERLOT, is designed to bring together individuals interested in the review and evaluation of online teaching and learning technologies.

Faculty, students, instructional designers, instructional The Emerging Technologies for Online Learning International Symposium, a joint Symposium of Sloan Consortium and MERLOT, is designed to bring together individuals interested in the review and evaluation of online teaching and learning technologies. technologists and academic administrators are encouraged to submit proposals which are engaging, informative and interactive. These sessions can be targeted to all attendees or beginners, intermediates, or experts. Symposium tracks highlight and demonstrate research, application and effective practices and noteworthy technological tools in the following areas:

• Digital Learning Environments & Communities
• Accessible Learning for All
• Evidence-based Learning and Reflection
• Learning and Data Analytics
• Faculty Development and Learning Support
• Innovation in Media and Tools

Proposals for presentations must be submitted by March 5, 2012 athttp://sloanconsortium.org/conference/2012/et4online/call-for-presentations.

Register now for Blended Learning Conference and Workshop (Milwaukee) - Early bird registration ends Feb. 23

9th Annual Sloan-C Blended Learning Conference and Workshop
"Perfecting the Blend"
April 23-24, 2012
Hyatt Regency Milwaukee – Milwaukee, WI
http://www.sloanconsortium.org/blended

Join your colleagues at the 9th Annual Sloan Consortium Blended Learning Conference and Workshop,Perfecting the Blend, as we problem-solve, exchange ideas, and explore effective strategies about blended learning. Attendees will be able to attend two days of sessions including interactive workshops, information sessions, poster sessions, a plenary session, and a keynote address, all focused on instructional practices, academic planning, faculty development, and assessment/evaluation.

• Register now for special early bird pricing of $445 for Sloan-C members, $495 for regular attendees. Early bird pricing ends February 23.
• Make your hotel reservations between now and April 8 to receive a special conference rate of $139/night plus tax at the Hyatt Regency Milwaukee. Attendees who register through our website will receive complimentary guest room internet service throughout the conference.
• Sign-up for updates on the Blended Learning Conference. You will be notified when the full program is posted (early February) and receive periodic updates on conference news.

Yes, let's stop rewarding the outsourcing of American jobs!

James --

Here's something that President Obama laid out in his State of the Union that I think deserves special attention:

Under current law, American companies can actually get a tax deduction for outsourcing jobs.

That's the opposite of how it should work. President Obama is proposing to end tax deductions for outsourcing, create a new tax credit for bringing jobs home, and lower tax rates for companies that manufacture and create jobs in the United States.

If you think this should be a priority during this campaign, it's up to you to speak out. Support the President and spread the word:

http://my.barackobama.com/Keep-Jobs-at-Home

Wish I could have been there...

... not least because that's where my granddaughter lives.

The Week in Germany

Jan 27, 2012

The Week in Germany

Dear TWIG Readers,

Joggers cross a bridge at the Alster river in Hamburg on January 10, 2012.

Imagine a progressive place full of fresh blasts of blustery marine air, all manner of mercantile and creative folk, lush parks, lovely promenades, and water, water, everywhere.

There is such an urban paradise in Germany, and its name is Hamburg. Like Amsterdam, it boasts canals and meandering waterways, as well as a lake in the heart of the city.

One of Germany's most glittering urban jewels, Hamburg seduces visitors and residents alike with its ample charms.

In Hamburg, you can party (safely) until 5 am near the raucous Reeperbahn entertainment district, where the Beatles used to perform before they were famous, and then have breakfast at a fish market as the sun rises along the Elbe River and the city's port, Germany's largest.

It was from Hamburg that millions of Germans once set out to sea on huge ships to forge new lives for themselves in the Americas. Hamburg, in turn, has attracted expatriate communities from all over the world. People from places as far-flung as Brazil, Iran, and Japan have come to call Hamburg home, often based on centuries of trading in products such as coffee, carpets and - more recently - electronic goods.

Hamburg's historic "Rathaus" (City Hall), as seen from across the Alster lake located in the heart of the city.

Hamburg's historic "Rathaus" (City Hall), as seen from across the Alster lake located in the heart of the city.

(©picture-alliance/Hinrich Bäsemann)

Hamburg is the scene of gritty urban dramas directed by acclaimed German-Turkish cinematic wunderkind Fatih Akin, a native son of the city, which is home to a significant segment of Germany's more than 3 million residents of Turkish origin.

And it is a favorite stomping ground of German high society, boasting beautiful villas that house historic Hanseatic trading families, not to mention the highest single concentration of German millionaires.

Hamburg is also a media hub and a hotbed of culture, from hip-hop to opera. And it is the northern epicenter of a certain kind of "Hanseatic" style, one that differs from the Italian-influenced flair of Munich's vibrant fashionistas. The classic "Hanseatic look" is tailored and boasts maritime influences (think hues of blue, green, khaki, and black), nordic (think tall Claudia Schiffer types in leather boots), classic (think Burberry, think English country, think plaid), and functional (think scarves, think wraps - think outerwear!).

Like all major German cities, Hamburg's public transit system is excellent - it is clean, it is safe, and it gets you pretty much everywhere (including "night buses" for young nocturnal revelers). Its city parks offer joggers, picnickers and lovers lots of wide open spaces and leafy nooks and crannies, with endless walls of pink, purple and white Rhododendron bushes in bloom come springtime, to while away lazy Sunday afternoons.

Even the city's often overcast, mercurial weather - it can go from rain to shine and back again several times in a single day - makes up part of its special charm. When the weather becomes damp and slick, the white lights adorning classical downtown structures take on a dreamlike quality, like blurred signposts of muted human hopes and desires smudged into the fading silvery light of early winter evenings.

Upscale and elegant German "suburbia": A view of the Sülberg slope in the posh Blankenese neighborhood just outside of Hamburg's city center.

Upscale and elegant German "suburbia": A view of the Sülberg slope in the posh Blankenese neighborhood just outside of Hamburg's city center.

(©picture-alliance/chromorange)

And this northern light offers plenty of opportunity for Hamburg to show off her most hospitable side, for it is on such evenings that gatherings around candlelit tables in bars, restaurants and cozy kitchens with friends and family get extra "gemütlich." (The German expression "Gemütlichkeit" literally means "coziness" or "comfort," but essentially has a wider connotation extending to "a comfortable ambience" or "a sociable atmosphere of comfort, peace and acceptance.")

But don't take my word for it - as a former resident of this magnificent metropolis, I may be more than a tad biased.

Just check out what The New York Times, that venerable Old Grey Lady, recently reported in its travel section about Hamburg, Germany's second-largest city and one of its most beautiful to boot, but one that is still all too often overlooked by tourists.

To read all about what the NYT has to say about Hamburg, just click on the "Readings" section at the end of this edition of The Week in Germany, where you will find a list of annotated links, with the first link leading you to the travel article about Hamburg.

Happy reading and happy travels!

Karen Carstens

Editor, The Week in Germany

Webteam Germany.info

ACJS seeks interviews for study of violence against women

ACJS 2012 New York City Annual Meeting - Interviewees Needed for Violence Against Women Research

The National Institute of Justice has devoted substantial efforts to promoting researcher-practitioner partnerships specific to Violence Against Women (VAW) research. As a result, there have been numerous partnerships specific to this topic whereby partners have acquired much knowledge, which can be used to inform future partnering efforts.

Tami Sullivan (Yale University School of Medicine) and Bonnie Fisher (University of Cincinnati) have been funded by the National Institute of Justice to document and synthesize lessons learned from VAW researcher-practitioner partnerships within the criminal justice system to promote building and enhancing future partnerships.

As a practitioner or researcher who is partnering or has partnered regarding VAW research, you have valuable information to share! We invite you to participate in a one-on-one interview to share your experiences and knowledge in an effort to document the development and sustainability of these types of partnerships within the criminal justice system. Your input is extremely valuable and we will compensate you for your time.

We anticipate that your involvement will require participation in a 60-minute personal interview that will be audio and video-taped. You will be remunerated for your time in accordance with NIJ guidelines.  We can compensate you for your preparation and interview time.

Interviews will be held onsite and individually scheduled. To be considered as an interviewee, please send an e-mail to preventsv@gmail.com by Monday, February 27st.  In this email, please provide a brief description of your partnering experiences.

THANK YOU for considering our invitation.

"The Faculty Project to Offer Online Courses"

A message to all members of FacultyRow

Top U.S. Professors Unite With The Faculty Project To Offer Online Courses

Unprecedented Move Will Bring College-Level Learning

To the Computers, Tablets, and Smartphones of People All Over the World

SAN FRANCISCO, CA — (January 26, 2012) — Udemy, a marketplace for online learning, today announced the debut of The Faculty Project (www.facultyproject.com), a remarkable initiative that brings together ....

To Read the rest of this article use this link:

http://www.facultyrow.com/profiles/blogs/breaking-news-top-u-s-professors-unite-with-the-faculty-project-t

Or 

Visit FacultyRow.com.

Regards,

FacultyRow Director

Visit FacultyRow at: http://www.facultyrow.com/?xg_source=msg_mes_network

Penn State pays through the nose to clean up its football act

http://content.usatoday.com/communities/campusrivalry/post/2012/01/penn-state-joe-paterno-assistants-severance-44-million/1?csp=obinsite 

IIE Commemorates Partnership for Education in Africa

Wednesday, February 1, 2012 3:30-5:30pm Institute of International Education (IIE) New York City

On February 1st, the Institute of International Education (IIE) will host an

event to commemorate the Partnership of Higher Education in Africa (PHEA)

and the launch of Weaving Success: Voices of Change in African Higher

Education, a new publication that tells of innovation and change across

campuses and national boundaries. To attend the event, please contact

lepplin@iie.org.

This event will take place on February 1, 2012, from 3:30-5:30pm at the IIE

headquarters in New York City. Vartan Gregorian, president of Carnegie

Corporation; Olugbemiro Jegede, Secretary General of the Association of

African Universities; Brian O’Connell, Vice-Chancellor of the University of

the Western Cape; Teboho Moja, Professor of Higher Education at New York

University; and Allan E. Goodman, president and CEO of IIE, have already

confirmed their participation at the launch event.  

The Partnership for Higher Education in Africa was an unprecedented

collaboration between seven major U.S. foundations to support African higher

education institutions in building capacity and training the next generation

of scholars, public servants, and entrepreneurs. The ten-year, $440 million

initiative was directly and indirectly responsible for improving conditions

for over four million students at 379 African colleges and universities. The

foundations are: Carnegie Corporation of New York, The Ford Foundation, The

John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, The Rockefeller Foundation,

The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation,

The Kresge Foundation. Weaving Success details how the support from the Partnership for Higher

Education in Africa (PHEA) helped to catalyze social and economic

development in African higher education. With inspiring tales of success

from African professors, university administrators, and students, Weaving

Success examines the exceptional steps that African universities have made

over the past decade to apply their innovations in ways that benefit their

respective societies, and highlights the transformative processes that are

shaping the future of African colleges and universities.

Weaving Success is available for download in a variety of electronic

formats. For more information and to download the book, please visit:

www.iie.org/weavingsuccess.

Higher Ed in a State of Turmoil?

http://chronicle.com/blogs/next/2012/01/26/a-disrupted-higher-ed-system/?sid=pm&utm_source=pm&utm_medium=en

http://chronicle.com/blogs/next/2011/07/11/how-will-colleges-innovate-as-the-market-is-disrupted/

http://www.josseybass.com/WileyCDA/WileyTitle/productCd-1118063481.html

http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2011/07/11/110711fa_fact_auletta

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204542404577157113178985408.html

New MLA Prez Vows to Help Adjuncts

Modern Language Association of America 

n 

 26 Broadway, 3rd floor 

n 

 New York, NY 

n 

 10004-1789 

n 

 646 576-5000 

n 

 www.mla.org 

In January 2013, the MLA convention will take place in Boston for the first time since 1952, and I 

would like to invite you to consider participating in the presidential theme, Avenues of Access. 

Choosing the convention theme, a tradition established by Marjorie Perloff in 2006, is the privilege 

and the responsibility of the president. Themes now give each convention a specific character, an array 

of topics and concerns, encouraging focused concentration on matters of great importance to the 

profession. I hope that Avenues of Access will build on the accomplishments of recent conventions. 

Sidonie Smith’s theme in 2011, Narrating Lives, built on her lifelong work in life writing—and 

allowed MLA members to record their own narratives for the MLA’s YouTube channel. And last year, 

Russell Berman’s Language, Literature, Learning offered a constellation of initiatives that ranged from 

the acquisition of literacy to the desideratum of what Berman called “universal bilingualism.” 

I hope Avenues of Access will prove to be as capacious and rewarding as the themes of my 

predecessors. The three topics I have in mind are bound by the multivalence of the term access— 

that is, by the multiple desires and aspirations we attach to it. 

The accessibility of higher education. More than half the high school graduates in the United States 

enroll in college, but only about half of those enrollees eventually graduate. The world’s first 

experiment in mass higher education is not over, but college is increasingly out of financial reach for 

too many of our students. Cutbacks in state support for public universities and in financial aid for 

students, combined with rising tuition, have created a monumental student debt crisis in the United 

States. Meanwhile, the academy has become far less accessible for aspiring college professors: in 1970, 

three-quarters of all the people teaching in American universities enjoyed the essential job protections 

of tenure, allowing them to pursue inquiry—in their research and in the classroom—wherever the 

pursuit of truth took them. Today, only one-quarter of college professors are tenured or on the tenure 

track, and the new faculty majority consists of adjunct, contingent labor. Over the last forty years, 

college has been redefined as a private investment rather than a public good, but rising tuition and 

mounting student debt have been accompanied by the casualization and marginalization of the 

faculty. What can we do and say to begin to undo this dynamic and make higher education more 

accessible both for entering students and for new PhDs? What can we do to advance the discussion 

of alternative career paths for PhDs and reach out as an association to the “alt-ac” constituency? 

The implications of disability studies for the humanities. Since its creation of the Committee for 

Disability Issues in the Profession in the mid-1990s, the MLA has been at the forefront of disability 

studies in the humanities. What have the past fifteen years of disability studies done—or not done— 

to the practice and knowledge of the humanities? What do we now understand, and what questions 

do we need to ask, about the range of human embodiment and mindedness? Does disability change 

what we know about narrative, about textuality, about aesthetics? We might also think in terms 

of our students, some of whom may have mild to moderate intellectual disabilities ranging from 

dyslexia to autism. Congress’s 2008 reauthorization of the Higher Education Act makes federal 

funding available—for the first time in United States history—to qualified students with intellectual 

disabilities. How can, how should, our classroom practices accommodate such students? 

Open access and the future of scholarly communication. Just as the MLA was the first major humanities 

organization to address the subject of disability, so too is it the first such association to reorganize 

itself to meet the challenges of the digital age. Similarly, the MLA is undertaking an innovative 

multiyear inquiry into the possibility of rethinking the dissertation, as part of its comprehensive task 

force on the future of graduate programs in the modern languages. The association thus seems well 

positioned to ask or encourage questions about the future of peer review, of monographs and print 

journals, of intellectual property and what Siva Vaidhyanathan calls “the Googlization of everything.”  

But how—and in what media—can we proceed from here? 

I hope Avenues of Access will provoke a wide range of responses, elaborations, and exchanges. If you 

want to propose sessions for the convention, please use forms that will be available on the MLA Web 

site at www.mla.org/convention. On those forms, you can indicate whether you wish your session 

to be considered for inclusion on the brochure that will announce the Presidential Forum. Although 

space constraints will prevent me from accepting all proposals, I would be most grateful for your 

help in identifying potential contributions to Avenues of Access. I would also welcome proposals that 

include alternative session formats, including (but certainly not limited to) workshops, seminars, and 

electronic roundtables. 

The 2013 convention will be exciting—and fascinating for all the right reasons. I hope that you will 

attend, and I look forward to meeting you in Boston. 

Regards, 

Michael Bérubé 

2012–13 MLA President

Dean of Ed sought at Augusta State University

invites applications and nominations for 

 

Dean of the College of Education

 

 

Augusta State University seeks an energetic, visionary academic leader to serve as Dean of the College of Education. Reporting to the Vice President for Academic Affairs, the Dean will have a collegial, collaborative administrative style and a commitment to lead the college to its fullest potential.

 

A comprehensive institution offering undergraduate and graduate degrees, Augusta State University is a unit of the University System of Georgia. In January 2012, the Board of Regents for the University System of Georgia approved the consolidation of Augusta State University with Georgia Health Sciences University. The initial target date for consolidation of these two universities is September 2013.

 

As an advocate for the College of Education and for all the fields of study within the college, the Dean will provide leadership for the consolidation as the chief academic and administrative officer of the College of Education and its three departments: Educational Leadership, Counseling, and Special Education; Kinesiology and Health Science; and Teacher Education.   

 

Committed to academic excellence and student success, the Dean will have a distinguished record of teaching, scholarship, and leadership to provide visionary direction for the college within the parameters of the university’s mission and strategic plan. Broad responsibilities for the Dean include the planning, development, and administration of the college’s academic units while advocating on their behalf in the university community.

 

Qualifications, Qualities, and Experiences:

Qualified candidates must have an earned doctorate from an accredited university in a discipline represented in the college. Also required are credentials commensurate with an appointment at the rank of Professor.

 

Other requirements include progressive experience in academic administration, a demonstrated commitment to shared academic governance, strong skills in management of financial and human resources, the ability to make strategic budgetary and operational decisions that maximize resources, and outstanding verbal and written communication skills.

 

Want more information? 

A profile PDF with more information on the position,

the college, the university, and the community

is available by clicking here.

 

Augusta State University is an Affirmative Action / Equal Opportunity Institution.

 

Application Process:

Applications and nominations for the position of Dean of the College of Education at Augusta State University are now being accepted. Nominations, inquiries, and applications, including cover letter and curriculum vitae, must be submitted to:

 

AugustaState@myersmcrae.com

 

Applications should include a personal phone number, email, and home address.

 

The review of applications will begin immediately. Deadline for accepting applications is March 20, 2012.

 

Myers McRae Executive Search & Consulting is assisting Augusta State University with this national search. The lead consultant is:

 

Emily Myers

President and CEO

Myers McRae Executive Search & Consulting