Some time ago, I read The University, an Owner’s Manual (published in 1990), by Henry Rosovsky former Dean of Harvard’s Faculty of Arts and Sciences.  Rosovsky’s book focuses on his experiences as the undergraduate Dean and a faculty member at Harvard and provides commentary on managing academics at universities.  There is a dialogue in Rosovsky’s book that I think of often.  As Dean, he entertained a group of prospective students who had been admitted to Harvard through its Early Decision process.  One of the students asked for a special meeting and told Rosovsky that he was being pressured to select Harvard by his father (a Harvard alum) but that he had also been accepted into Haverford and Brown and was considering Haverford.  Rosovsky provides an explanation of the differences between liberal arts colleges (Haverford) and university colleges (Harvard).  He provides a definition of teaching versus research (approximately 50/50) and teaching undergrads versus graduates (approximately 50/50) at Harvard and other universities.  He contrasts that with the liberal arts colleges where most of the focus is on classroom teaching.

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I have to admit that I was curious how Powers of the Mind would play out based on the title.  I had read a brief review of the book in reference to general education courses, so I acquired it for that purpose.  The author, Donald N. Levine, is the former Dean of the University of Chicago.  His book provides the reader with an excellent history of the development of undergraduate curriculums in America.  Availing himself of the excellent archives at the University of Chicago, Levine states in his preface that his original intent was to write a rebuttal to Allan Bloom’s book, The Closing of the American Mind.  While Bloom’s book champions the University of Chicago’s “Great Books” curriculum, Levine believes that it misrepresents the evolution and accomplishments of the Chicago undergraduate curriculum.  While Levine’s book may be of little use to readers outside of academia, the thoroughness of Levine’s research and coverage of the historical changes in the “core curriculum” in colleges in the United States is a worth-while read for anyone charged with evaluating the general education curriculum.

Our programs and courses have been online since 1996.  There are several organizations that track the progress of online post-secondary enrollments including Eduventures and the Sloan Consortium.  There’s no doubt that the convenience of online post-secondary programs is a major reason that more and more adults are continuing or furthering their college education through online degree programs.

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America has been accused by many of being insensitive to the importance of cultures.  Eugene Burdick and William Lederer’s1958 book The Ugly American argued that America was losing the struggle against Communism in Southeast Asia in large part due to its inability and /or unwillingness to understand the local cultures there.  There clearly was a disconnect between Burdick’s and Lederer’s thesis at the time and U.S. foreign policy as evidenced by our involvement in Vietnam.  Pockets of the population remain today that reinforce the notion of the “ugly  American” but America’s colleges and universities have responded by increasing the number of study abroad programs available to students.  While culture is a topic that is broader than a blog post or two, I think it’s important to review how we’ve looked at understanding cultures at our institution.

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At the Chronicle’s Executive Leadership Forum, Jeffrey Zaslow spoke about Randy Pausch the Carnegie Mellon professor who was the subject of a Wall Street Journal column last fall.  Zaslow, a Carnegie Mellon alum and reporter for the WSJ, heard about Pausch’s lecture and received permission from his editor to cover it.  At the last minute, he decided to video some of the lecture and post it on the Journal’s website before the article was published.  In true Web 2.0 fashion, the video link was emailed, posted on YouTube and over 30 million people have seen it.

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Much has been written about the looming teacher shortage as the current generation of Baby Boomer Teachers nears retirement.  Teacher salaries versus the escalating cost of a college degree are an often-cited reason why many of today’s students do not choose a career in teaching.  USA Today estimated in February 2006 that the average college graduate would carry at least $19,000 in student debt upon graduation.  Exacerbating the trend is the statistic that 50 percent of all new teachers in urban areas leave the profession in the first three years.

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