The Emerging Scholars Blog

What are you reading, watching, thinking about this week? As usual, here’s a few which have been on our mind. Let us know your thoughts on any/all of them. If you have items you’d like us to consider for the top five, add them in the comments or send them to Tom or Mike.

1. Who pays for higher education, in the U.S. and around the world? Scott Jaschik interviews (by email) the authors of Financing Higher Education Worldwide (D. Bruce Johnstone & Pamela N. Marcucci. Johns Hopkins University Press, 2010) in Financing Higher Education Worldwide (Inside Higher Ed. 6/24/2010).

2. Who pays for continuing education in the medical community? The question being explored in this article extends beyond the medical community and various related research fields. What does it mean to be truly free from [industry] bias? How does someone in a field which involves the application of research in real world contexts avoid flirting with becoming a mouthpiece of industry? Do you agree with Dr. Francis S. Collins, N.I.H director,” who criticized the move as a “breathtaking sweep to squash something that is really important to us, which is the science that’s going on in the private sector.”

Dr. James O. Woolliscroft, dean of Michigan’s medical school, said leading faculty members “wanted education to be free from bias, to be based on the best evidence and a balanced view of the topic under discussion.”

While the financing in question amounts to as much as $1 million a year at Michigan, commercial payments for industry speakers and courses nationwide come to about $1 billion, nearly half the total expenditure for such courses.

The debate over whether the medical profession should develop an industry-free model of postgraduate education is a delicate one. A conference at Georgetown University on Friday, called “Prescription for Conflict,” will highlight the arguments on both sides through presentations by federal health officials, professors from leading medical schools, hospital executives and a Senate investigator. — Natasha Singer & Duff Wilson. Debate Over Industry Role in Educating Doctors. NY Times. 6/23/2010.

3. What is the cost of For-Profit Education? New Grilling of For-Profits Could Turn Up the Heat for All of Higher Education (Paul Basken. Chronicle of Higher Education. 6/22/2010). Interesting case. Worth following the discussion Washington, D.C. How do Emerging Scholars intersect with the changing field of higher education?

Click “Read more” to read about Wendell Berry, social media, and UK basketball.  Read the rest of this entry »

Sometimes, we all need help from the "hand of God."

What are you reading, watching, thinking about this week? As usual, here’s a few which have been on our mind. Let us know your thoughts on any/all of them. If you have items you’d like us to consider for the top five, add them in the comments or send them to Tom or Mike.

1. Faith and Freedom (Inside Higher Ed, June 9): Our brothers and sisters to the north are facing an interesting debate. The Canadian Association of University Teachers (the largest Canadian faculty association) has begun a campaign to “investigate” colleges and universities that require faculty to sign statements of faith, claiming that statements of faith are inherently inconsistent with academic freedom. Christian Higher Education Canada, an association of 33 Christian institutions (including Mike’s graduate alma mater) has responded with a call to discuss exactly what is meant by “academic freedom.”  CAUT’s position is clear:

“Nothing that calls itself a university should have a faith test. That’s just not acceptable.”

As we’ve seen in the CLS v. Martinez case, conflicts between secular and religious visions for education are here to stay for a while.

2.  Faculty Burnout Has Both External and Internal Sources, Scholar Says (Audrey Williams June, Chronicle, 6/9/2010).  Tom: I agree with the comment that more research is needed in this area.  I’d like to see a copy of Janie Crosmer’s paper. A short quote from her interview:

Q. What are the key things that contribute to faculty burnout?

A. Lack of time, poorly prepared students, cumbersome bureaucratic rules, high self expectations, unclear institutional expectations, and low salary. Research shows that the sources of stress have remained unchanged for 25 years. We know about the problem, but we’re not doing anything about it.

Any thoughts on whether academic burnout is unique?

Photo: Lego recreation of Diego Maradona’s infamous “Hand of God” goal from the 1986 World Cup. From a series of Lego versions of famous photos by Balakov on Flickr. HT: Alan Jacobs.

Read the rest of this entry »

What are you reading, watching, thinking about this week? As usual, here’s a few which have been on our mind. Let us know your thoughts on any/all of them. If you have items you’d like us to consider for the top five, add them in the comments or send them to Tom or Mike.

1. More on Waltke: Christianity Today has published a summary of the story of Bruce Waltke’s resignation and reactions to it. If you remember, ESN posted a long summary of the situation with many links.

2. Putting Abortion on the Curriculum: In the Chronicle, Teresa J. Hornsby (a Biblical studies professor at Drury U.) writes about her experience leading an interdisciplinary working group exploring ways to deal with abortion in the classroom – not just as part of a planned curriculum, but also when it might arise unexpectedly because of the personal lives of students. As you might expect, the “culture gap” between academia and conservative Christians enters the conversation:

We tried to discuss our project with representatives of local and national pro-life organizations, which proved difficult. I wanted to gather as much information as possible, to hear all points of view, and, perhaps, identify some local representatives who could come into the classroom. But they were, in general, reluctant to speak to us; I suspect they mistrusted academics.

The article has some interesting suggestions on how to discuss controversial topics in a civil manner: finding language that everyone is comfortable with, using stories of real people, starting with more “distant” examples from other cultures or time periods before moving to contemporary issues. As a counter-example of how not to discuss abortion in the classroom, consider this 2006 incident, in which a Northern Kentucky U. faculty member used a British Lit class to encourage vandalism against an on-campus anti-abortion display.

3.  What is your identity and how do you share who you are on-line?  Is on-line reputation a greater concern for those in a public vocation such as higher education?

Reputation management has now become a defining feature of online life for many internet users, especially the young. While some internet users are careful to project themselves online in a way that suits specific audiences, other internet users embrace an open approach to sharing information about themselves and do not take steps to restrict what they share. Search engines and social media sites play a central role in building one’s reputation online, and many users are learning and refining their approach as they go — changing privacy settings on profiles, customizing who can see certain updates and deleting unwanted information about them that appears online. — Managing Your Online Profile:  How People Monitor Their Internet Identity and Search for Others Online (Mary Madden, Senior Research Specialist and Aaron Smith, Research Specialist, Pew Internet & American Life Project, 5/26/2010).

4.  Transitions for tenure track professors.  What would you add to, clarify, or desire to learn about on these lists of recommendations (as a follower of Christ and/or academic)?

• Open Letter to 2010-11′s Newly-Tenured Professors (Nels P. Highberg, Chronicle of Higher Education, 5/27/2010)
  • In a nutshell, I’d like to offer this final thought from a ProfHacker reader: “Remember how lucky we are, and be nice to the department’s secretary.” Good advice, indeed.
• Open Letter to 2010-11′s First-Time Tenure-Track Professors (Billie Hara, Chronicle of Higher Education, 5/20/2010)
  • If you could offer one piece of advice to an incoming faculty member, what would it be?

Lamppost at dawn, Kings College, Cambridge (Photo: Nigel Cooke via Flickr)

5.  “What place is there for religion within the University? Is there a place for God on the Quad or should we have no God on the Quad? … What is the connection between religion, intellectual diversity, and scholarship?” — If you haven’t already done such, swing by God on the Quad? (RJS) – Jesus Creed for conversation on the typologies of interaction of faith and science from Elaine Ecklund’s new book Science vs Religion: What Scientists Really Think.  Note to faculty: InterVarsity Christian Fellowship’s quarterly faculty newsletter The Lamp Post provides articles of theological reflection audio downloads of speakers like Dallas Willard and Cal DeWitt, practical resources for faculty communities, updates on events (local, regional, and national), and much, much more.  You can download a sampler of The Lamp Post by clicking here.

What are you reading, watching, thinking about this week? As usual, here’s a few which have been on our mind. Let us know your thoughts on any/all of them. If you have items you’d like us to consider for the top five, add them in the comments or send them to Tom or Mike.

1. In the last Week in Review we kicked off with highlighting Seth Godin’s take on the coming melt-down in higher education. Since then, the Chronicle of Higher Education thought Godin’s piece was worth posting. That action, along with the material from the article, has created conversation worth consideration, visit here. I [Tom] think it is helpful to note that the meltdown is “as seen by a marketer” and the “facts” are told the way a marketer tells the “facts.” Bigger questions: What is the End of Education? How are followers of Christ salt and light in higher education, even advocating, developing, and maintaining structures (not just in the Council for Christian Colleges & Universities) which truly educate to the glory of God, making the small list of redemptive outliers instead of the mass of marketers selling their wares?

2. A School Pushing Back Against Facebook (Mark Bauerlein, Chronicle of Higher Education, 5/2010) brings to mind the question of How should educators interact with Social Media and teach students to handle Social Media? I [Tom] think that phenomena such as Soical Media, e.g., Facebook and Twitter, are too much of a larger cultural issue for educators to address alone. Educators should be finding ways to dialogue with children, parents, community leaders, and Social Media advocates/leaders to wisely discern it’s proper place, use, parameters. Those in the nonprofit and ministry sector have much to offer. Note: Jon Boyd has an excellent handout on Mistakes You Can Avoid on Facebook and Twitter for people in the nonprofit and ministry sector. Read the rest of this entry »

What are you reading, watching, thinking about this week? As usual, here’s a few which have been on our mind. Let us know your thoughts on any/all of them. If you have items you’d like us to consider for the top five, add them in the comments or send them to  Tom or Mike.

1. Friend Request: Confirm or Ignore? (Tom Bartlett, Chronicle of Higher Education, 4/5/2010). Are “we” (are you) becoming more friendly due to increased use of the internet tools such Facebook? Is there a positive feedback loop of increased number of friends with whom one communicates and friendship? How do you define friend in the context of social media such as Facebook?  Is there a threshold for the time/energy expended in virtual versus face-to-face friendships.  Maybe it’s time to read the research instead of the summary ;-)  HT:  Gordon.

2.   Swing by the Mustard Seed Associates for their series 2010-2020, New Challenges-New Possibilities:  Technology & Social Networking, e.g.,  Rosie Perera‘s thoughts on The 10 Commandments of Computer Ethics.

3.  Christian Legal Society v. Martinez: Can Government Funds be Denied to Religious Groups on Campus? by David Masci, Senior Researcher, Pew Research Center’s Forum on Religion & Public Life, 4/6/2010.

On April 19, 2010, the U.S. Supreme Court will hear oral arguments in Christian Legal Society v. Martinez, a case that will determine whether a public institution can refuse official recognition to a religiously-based organization that prevents those who do not share its religious and moral values from becoming voting members. The case arose in 2004 when a chapter of the Christian Legal Society (CLS) expressed a desire to register as an official student group at the University of California’s Hastings College of Law.

4. Science, Advocacy, and the What It Means to Be Human: “Can Animals Be Gay?” (Jon Mooallem, New York Times, March 29) raises some fascinating questions. This would be an excellent article to read and discuss with a campus group. Questions that you might raise:

• What’s the connection between scholarship, advocacy, and application?
• How do we determine good models for being human?
• What do you do when your research is misinterpreted or misapplied?
• How should Christians interact with topics like “heterosexist bias”?

5. Are you missing chances for Christian community? From Mike: I’m at the Stone-Campbell Conference today at Cincinnati Christian University, an annual academic conference for faculty and students at universities affiliated with the Christian Church, Church of Christ, and Disciples of Christ (“Stone-Campbell” churches).  So far as I can tell, there isn’t anyone here from a secular university, yet here are some of the plenary and seminar topics:

• Scot McKnight (North Park U., author of Jesus Creed, Blue Parakeet, Embracing Grace) is the main speaker, addressing Spirituality in a Postmodern Age and Spiritual Disciplines for Today
• Tomorrow, David Fleer of Lipscomb University will speak on The Challenge of Spirituality for Academic Scholars.
• Seminars include:
  • The Relevance of the Philosophy of Science for Christian Faith
  • Finding God in the Midst of Crisis
  • Spiritual Direction in the Mentoring Relationship
  • 10 Things You Can Do Now to Get Published
  • Post Civil Rights Spirituality
  • Pursuing a PhD: Tips and Warnings

Wow! If you’re at a secular university, don’t those sound like great topics to discuss with your fellow Christian academics?

Books:

Tom’s almost finished with Brian Godawa’s Word Pictures: Knowing God Through Story & Imagination (InterVarsity Press, 2009) and it continues to be excellent!  Yesterday Tom couldn’t resist picking up The Comet and the Tornado: Reflections on the Legacy of Randy Pausch, The Last Lecture and the Creation of Our Carnegie Mellon Dream Fulfillment Factory by Donald Marinelli, Executive Producer of Carnegie Mellon University’s Entertainment Technology Center.  Anybody else reading it?  Note:  For Tom’s take on the last lecture, click here.

What tips/ideas do you have for InterVarsity’s National Graduate & Faculty Ministry Staff Team Members in Using Social Media Appropriately and Effectively to Grow Communities?  Now’s your opportunity to give input.  I’m leading a seminar on the topic at our April Team Meetings.  Here’s some material I’m seeking to address:

1. How do we use social media appropriately to
   1. build community?  Note:  How does social media influence our/your definition of community or the various forms of community in which we find ourselves?  The seminar will take the direction of building local, face-to-face campus communities, but I’m also interested in the other forms of community, such one finds in the Emerging Scholars Network.
   2. invite others to engage with our community?
   3. engage others with ideas we are discussing in our communities?
2. What are some do’s and don’ts for healthy, appropriate and effective use of technology?
3. What’s available? What’s changing? How do we make decisions?
4. How do we make decisions about the use of technology when engaging with audiences of different generations in our ministry?  Note:  Please don’t skip.  Due to the overall conference theme, it has particular relevance.  :-)  Feel free to also share How you make decisions about the use of technology when engaging with audiences of different generations in higher education?

Calling out to the community/network for input. …

As you begin a new term, what do you think about abstaining from social media? I had some friends who fasted from Facebook through Lent and according to Inside Higher Ed a professor offered a class extra credit if they stopped using social media during his course (see Extra Credit: Abstain from Facebook).

How many took him up on the offer? 12 out of 35. How many succeeded? 6 out of 12. I wonder how he tracked and/or verified what I assume to be self-reporting.

In what manner does social media help you get to know your colleagues? Is it awkward to use with those above or below you in the campus structure? Do all faculty need to have a Facebook page to relate to students or would students prefer not to have faculty know what they’re chatting about?

Note: HT to Ivy Jungle’s July Update for information regarding this article.