Motherhood After Tenure: Step-parenting, part 2
By Aeron Haynie June 10, 2010 6:48 am
Yesterday was my daughter’s last day of kindergarten. As we sat in the tiny chairs and looked through her portfolio of bright-colored drawings, stapled-together stories and assorted projects, we noticed a distinct trend: most of her drawings and quite a few of her narratives feature her older sister, Ali, drawn as a smiling stick figure with wavy hair or mentioned with lots of hearts overhead. My step-daughter, Ali, is 17 and lives with her mother, my husband’s ex-wife, about two hours away. Now that Ali’s a teenager, she is often too busy with her friends and the demands of high school to visit. She’s a warm, intelligent young woman who is a pleasure to have around, but I understand why she’d rather stay at her real home with her friends. After all, I had divorced parents and I remember how difficult it was to move from
- In which an academic adviser and political theorist tries his hand at science.
- “Solar,” Part 2
- By Dermot O'Brien April 19, 2010 11:15 pm
There’s lots of science and mathematics in “Solar” and given Ian McEwan’s reputation as a very assiduous researcher and given whatever I’ve picked-up in “Energy & the Environment,” I think that most of it is not bullshit. But, of course, that assumption does not apply to physicist Michael Beard’s brand new process for solar power. The process involves reverse engineering ...
More
- In which a veteran of cultural studies seminars in the 1990’s moves into academic administration ...
- Lions in Winter
- By Dean Dad June 9, 2010 9:45 pm
This post by Tenured Radical is one of the best things I've read in a long time. It was occasioned by the semi-forced retirement of Helen Thomas, the journalist whose comments about Israel and Palestine ended her career, but the part that spoke to me was the part about the Venerable Tenured Icon who had gone badly off the rails. It's worth quoting at length: This is, of course, a common problem ...
More
- A group discussion on efforts to improve opportunities for college students.
- The Truman Commission Redux
- By Arthur Levine August 9, 2009 11:39 pm
In his previous post, Jamie Merisotis makes a compelling case for the importance of seeing American higher education in the context of higher education worldwide, and for treating our system of higher education as an imperiled competitive advantage.As Jamie notes, U.S. educational attainment “has remained flat for 40 years” -- a fact all the more worrisome in light of rising college ...
More
- An administrator pushes, on a shoestring budget, to move his university and the world toward a more ...
- Parts of the picture
- By G. Rendell June 8, 2010 9:25 pm
I was reading through the latest edition of Greenpeace's Energy [R]evolution scenario. It's the third such effort, and lays out a more aggressive (but still practicable) plan, reducing global GHG emissions by more than 80% by 2050. I say "still practicable", because the scenario depicted includes creation of millions of good new jobs and fuel savings which pretty much pay for any increases in ...
More
- A librarian writes about teaching and information.
- FUNQs: Won’t Ask, Won’t Tell
- By Mary W. George November 1, 2009 8:59 pm
Today I have the urge to address a perennial, insidious, and unnecessary condition that afflicts higher education in this country. It results from the most Frequently UNasked Question (by students) that is also the most Frequently UNanswered Question (by faculty): What is a primary source?The silence surrounding this question is deafening. Undergrads are oblivious to the issue, think they already ...
More
- Mothers attempting to balance parenthood and academics
- Motherhood After Tenure: Step-parenting, part 2
- By Aeron Haynie June 10, 2010 6:51 am
Yesterday was my daughter’s last day of kindergarten. As we sat in the tiny chairs and looked through her portfolio of bright-colored drawings, stapled-together stories and assorted projects, we noticed a distinct trend: most of her drawings and quite a few of her narratives feature her older sister, Ali, drawn as a smiling stick figure with wavy hair or mentioned with lots of hearts overhead. ...
More
