Archives for Reality Check

Reality Check — stewardship

John,

Thanks for this blog—certainly a timely piece for the academy. Earlier in my career I attempted “to screen” publications before circulating them to the CA campus. However, in the pre-digital age it was cumbersome and required considerable time for my office. I then resorted to annual surveys to determine if faculty were actually reading any of the materials. During the past few years I’ve resorted to regular emails with summaries of key articles (and even tag lines for Insidehighered that directly relate to our campus programs) as faculty struggle to find time to balance heavy loads. In the end, they’ve found the summaries and connections to their world welcome prompts, and I’m sure you will as well. I’m amazed at scholars like yourself that can productively sift the weighty from the wasteful amongst virtual tons of content. Your task reminds me of that of the indefatigable John Wilson, formerly of Salem Press and now Editor of Books & Culture—the best insight into that genre of books. It handles many dozens of books creatively and with punch. Thanks for charting a course to ease the load for many of us. JP

Jerry Pattengale, AVP for Scholarship at Indiana Wesleyan Univ., at 8:15 am EDT on May 3, 2007

the faith of Guggenheim

“Such open ended faith” is, of course, based on a careful assessment of the scholars’ records of achievement. Not at all blind, the faith of Guggenheim is the “substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” (Hebrews 11:1) Based an a knowledge of past productivity, Guggenheim faith is as good a predictor of future performance as any. When Margaret Spellings asks us whether we know if anybody is learning anything, the answer is “yes.” Evidence abounds.

Gary Davis, Board Solutions, at 11:40 am EDT on May 8, 2007

better market the liberal arts

We welcome the eloquent support of the liberal arts by JL, but hoping the academic defense will boost arts and sciences in the eyes of parents and prospective students is a long shot. Our firm regularly works with liberal arts institutions trying to help them build their images, reputations and brands. Where we have had great success is spotlighting successful alumni — the fortune 500 ceo or software developer — who came from an english, history or philosophy background. further, we strive to find top employers who treasure the liberal arts background, nothing these grads are tops in communications, team building and life long learning. so as we look to the academic defense, let’s also pragmatically market the liberal arts for the strenghts students have both in grad school acceptance rates and a wonderful preparation for careers. I am a former history major who, after a masters, went into journalism, politics and higher ed. the arts and sciences served me well, and i dare say i am not alone.

christopher simpson, ceo and partner at simpsonscarborough, at 10:25 am EDT on May 22, 2007

2001 version is a free e-book.

I was really interested to find this book but equally not interested to pay $25 for it. I did find a free version of it online. It looks to be the 2001 edition. Go here:

http://www.acenet.edu/bookstore/pdf/2001_brief_guide.pdf

Jake Glover, at 2:15 pm EDT on July 12, 2007

Thank you for pointing out that price differentiation exits, and works in one manner when prices are the same for everyone, and when they are differentiated they simply work in another manner.

Bell Weather, at 9:20 pm EDT on August 8, 2007

Bravo!

As someone who has worked on “both sides of the desk” (from athletic liaison to Dean of Admissions, and for 16 of the last 18 years as a college counselor), I applaud Mr. Lombardi’s thoughtful, succinct, balanced and appropriate approach to the college admissions process as it relates to candidates with special talents of all sorts. First and foremost, the college search and selection process should always be about helping young adults to find and make good enrollment choices that will provide them with the opportunity and support to grow as students, athletes, artists, musician, actors, writers, leaders, and citizens. Next, there must always be a level of respect (in both directions) between the admissions office and those who are “recruiting” students with special talents beyond the pure academic. Admissions professionals work tirelessly to help find and “shape” a class and to help to create a community that is reflective of an institution’s stated mission and goals. Coaches (particularly those at Division I level schools) work equally as hard to build successful teams. Unfortunately, success on both fronts is often defined by average SAT scores, acceptance and yield rates, US News rankings, won-loss record, and championships. Only by working together and by having a knowledge and appreciation for each other’s challenges can we successfully assure that we recruit, admit,and (most importantly) graduate the best possible students for our institutions.

Terry Giffen, Director of College Counseling at Montgomery Bell Academy, Nashville, TN, at 11:20 am EDT on August 10, 2007

Rankings

I think that when it comes to “ranking” colleges that one cannot define a school by certain criteria.

Who defines what criteria makes for a “good” college or university.

Students need different things to succeed in any degree program. It is not going to make a difference if that school is ranked number 1 or 1000 when it comes to the success of the individual student.

Ranking schools is irrelevant and meaningless.

KeyDegree, at 12:25 pm EDT on August 21, 2007

Confusing product quality and scrap rate

Actually graduation rates are more analogous to product yield rates in manufacturing than to product quality guarantees.

A high graduation rate for an institution says that they are not “scrapping” very many students.

Graduating “high quality” students is a different matter.

Manufacturing firms strive for both, of course, and so should we.

Faculty person, at 2:20 pm EDT on September 27, 2007