In a recent visit to Baltimore, I ate lunch with a group of Johns Hopkins University (JHU) graduate students. Dwight Schwartz (InterVarsity's Graduate & Faculty Ministry Area Director for the MidAtlantic and Campus Staff Member at JHU) couldn't wait to introduce me to Lisa, whose labors align so well with the passions and vision of the Emerging Scholars Network (ESN). As a first year graduate student, Lisa organized a mentoring program in which graduate students serve as mentors for undergraduate students. What … [Read more...] about Resource for Grad Student mentoring of Undergraduates
undergraduates
Four Things I Learned about Students and Faculty from Academically Adrift
Earlier this year, Richard Arum and Josipa Roksa created quite a stir with their book Academically Adrift: Limited Learning on College Campuses. Their central claim: if the goal of college is to teach students how to think critically, then colleges are failing at their primary purpose. With a large sample of more than 2,300 students, we observe no statistically significant gains in critical thinking, complex reasoning, and writing skills for at least 45 percent of the students in the study. (36) Academically Adrift is … [Read more...] about Four Things I Learned about Students and Faculty from Academically Adrift
Freshmen, Stress, and Spirituality
The NY Times reports that the emotional health of college freshmen is at a 25-year low, based on the annual survey conducted by UCLA's Higher Education Research Institute. In the survey, “The American Freshman: National Norms Fall 2010,” involving more than 200,000 incoming full-time students at four-year colleges, the percentage of students rating themselves as “below average” in emotional health rose. Meanwhile, the percentage of students who said their emotional health was above average fell to 52 percent. It was 64 … [Read more...] about Freshmen, Stress, and Spirituality
ESN Gatherings at Berea and Ohio State
As I mentioned a couple of weeks ago, I had the opportunity to visit Berea College and (T)he Ohio State University recently. I thought I would let you know how the trips went and how ESN served the different audience. At Berea College, I spoke at the undergraduate InterVarsity "large group" meeting. (IV Jargon Alert! Most InterVarsity chapters have "large group" meetings which gather most of the chapter members for worship and a speaker or some other kind of program, as well as "small group" meetings like Bible … [Read more...] about ESN Gatherings at Berea and Ohio State
Comparing Research Universities and Liberal Arts Colleges
This week and next, I'm making a couple of short road trips to speak at two very different schools: small Berea College in Kentucky and huge (massive? gargantuan?) Ohio State University. Tonight, I'm speaking to the Berea InterVarsity chapter about the Emerging Scholars Network and serving Christ as a professor. Next Wednesday at Ohio State, ESN, along with the Christian Graduate Student Alliance, Student Christian Fellowship, and the Fellowship of Christian Faculty and Staff, is bringing together ESN members at OSU for … [Read more...] about Comparing Research Universities and Liberal Arts Colleges