The Emerging Scholars Blog

Last Lecture Book Cover

When I purchased Randy Pausch’s The Last Lecture, I mentioned to the cashier how I played pick-up basketball with Randy while a campus minister at Carnegie Mellon University (CMU).  She responded by sharing excitedly about the CMU Computer Science Professor’s book and interview with Diane Sawyer.  I asked her if she watched The Last Lecture.  She responded, No.  I encouraged her to do so.  Why?

1.   Randy was a dynamic, creative, and refreshing personality at CMU well before he faced pancreatic cancer.  His optimism in the face of tragedy was inspirational to many people.  And his legacy will continue to be influential for years to come.  In Randy’s lecture, entitled Really Achieving Your Childhood Dreams, you find a hopeful Tigger instead of an cynical Eeyore pushing his technological habitat forward with his last breath while at the same time leaving a legacy for his wife and children! 

2.   Randy confronts head on the elephant in the room, i.e. his terminal cancer.  Passionate about honesty, he writes, If I could only give three words of advice, they would be “tell the truth.” If I got three more words, I’d add: “All the time.” My parents taught me that “you’re only as good as your word,” and there’s no better way to say it” (p. 163).  Note:  for Randy’s chronicling of his journey, check out his health update page.

3.  The Last Lecture stands out as a command performance, truly worthy of high regard in the genre, check out the various Last Lecture website media links (including his interview with Oprah).  

But as a follower of Christ who has faced his share of brick walls, including a personal struggle with intermediate grade mucoepidermoid carcinoma along with post-treatment health concerns and the death of my infant daughter Elise Faith; I find optimism alone to be lacking when facing life’s tragedies.  Although some hardships may, as Randy states, give us a chance to show us how much we want something because the brick walls are there to stop the people who don’t want it badly enough. They’re there to stop the other people, I find that brick walls remind me that the world is not about me, that I depend upon Another (beyond family, community, financial resources, contacts, and memories), and I have been given One More Day to be a blessing to those around me.  

I enjoyed my time on the basketball court with Randy, never-the-less I wish that I would have had One More Day to chat with him about facing brick walls not by one’s own will but through Christ Jesus.  If you have a moment as the new term begins, let me know your thougths on The Last Lecture.

In Books & Culture, Robert Whaples, professor of economics at Wake Forest, reviews the updated The Making of an Economist (Redux), an examination of the country’s best graduate programs in economics and the process by which they “turn a select group of bright students into the analytical economists that society has come to hate, yet revere.” Whaples notes that the first edition of this book “became must reading for those considering taking the plunge” into an economics graduate program.

Christian Colleges Increase Diversity

Inside Higher Ed, citing an analysis from the Journal of Blacks in Higher Education, notes that a number of colleges affiliated with ESN’s partner, the Council for Christian Colleges and Universities, have seen a dramatic increase in African American enrollment.

At Montreat College, in North Carolina, undergraduate black student enrollment increased from 3.7 percent in 1997 to 23 percent in 2007, according to the analysis. At Belhaven College, in Mississippi, black student enrollment climbed from 16.9 to 41 percent. At LeTourneau University, in Texas, the figure grew from 5.7 to 22 percent.

The editor of JBHE notes the ties of many historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs) to churches (indeed, almost all American private colleges were founded with a connection to a church).

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Graduate Junction

The Chronicle of Higher Education highlights Graduate Junction, a new website aimed that helping researchers connect with other researchers who share their same interests.

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Advocacy in Teaching

In Christianity Today’s Books & Culture, Abram Van Engen reviews Stanley Fish’s new book, Save the World on Your Own Time, which argues that political advocacy has no place in the college classroom.

Teaching Life, with Restraint

Two of our mentors, Joel Carpenter and Brian Howell, are contributors on The Immanent Frame, a blog about secularism, religion, and the public square published by the Social Science Research Council.  Here are a couple of their recent posts:

Joel Carpenter on “The evangelical complexion”

Brian Howell on “The global evangelical”

Welcome to the new Emerging Scholars Network blog!  We have created this blog as a supplement to the main ESN website, to direct you to useful resources for emerging Christian scholars around the web and to offer some “first thoughts” about issues affecting Christian scholars in the secular academy.

Some of the topics that we’ll cover will include:

• Advice for preparing for, flourishing in, and successfully leaving graduate school.
• Resources to connect you with like-minded scholars.
• New offerings (podcasts, books, web resources) from our ESN partners. (Note: I know that “partners” in web-speak too often means paid sponsors, but these partners are fellow Christian organizations that care about the life of the mind and the health of Christians in the academy.  If we link to something they offer, it will never be because they have paid us too.)
• Thoughts and discussions about topics that affect Christian scholars, such as the integration of faith, life, and learning, the role of Christianity in the secular academy, and such like.

I’ll be one of our main bloggers, and I’ll be joined at first by my colleague, Tom Grosh, who serves students and faculty in Pennsylvania. If you’d like to contribute to the discussion, please feel to comment or to take part in our discussion forums.  If you’re interested in contributing a guest post or suggesting we add your own blog to our blogroll, let me know.