Academics – Page 3 – Uncommon Ground

Letters from graduate school

I recently learned of a new website that is worth putting in your bookmark list or adding to the subscription list of your RSS reader: Letters from graduate school. Here’s what they say about themselves.

For every graduate student, graduate school is a different experience filled with ups, downs, failures, and successes. The goal of Letters from Graduate School is to build a collective of graduate school experiences—your experience, in your own voice! (http://lettersfromgradschool.org)

There are four essays in Issue 1 (August 2016)

Love and abuse in graduate school, by an anonymous contributor, which makes a plea for teaching graduate students “that their love for research doesn’t have to be siphoned out of a finite pool of respect they’re allowed to show towards themselves.”
Writing on an island, by Becky Vartabedian, which describes a physical practice that helped her find her way out of the isolation that is an inevitable part of doctoral study.
Post-PhD: the jobs didn’t get and the one that I did, by A. Seun Ajiboye, which talks about how he found what profession he wanted in (and how he got there) after realizing that he didn’t want to be in academia.
Don’t check your optimism at the door, by Renee Geck, which provides some excellent advice – “Grad school doesn’t have to be a year of ignorant bliss and then a dreary trudge to the end. If you find people whom you trust to help you through the worst patches, chances are you’ll come out the other side a lot better than the people who go it alone.”

If Issue 1 is any indication, Letters from Graduate School will be a valuable resource for graduate students and graduate advisors. I look forward to reading the essays in future issues.

kent August 29, 2016 Academicsgraduate school 0 Read more >

Beloit mindset list 2020

Every year Beloit College releases its Mindset List. Although the list has its critics (http://www.beloitmindlessness.com/must-be-destroyed/) and it’s been parodied by The Onion, I always get a kick out of looking it over. It reminds me just how old I am. Here are a few gems from this year’s list:

There has always been a digital swap meet called eBay.
There have always been Cadillac Escalades.
West Nile has always been a virus found in the US.
They have never had to watch or listen to programs at a scheduled time.
Vaccines have always erroneously been linked to autism.
They have no memory of Bob Dole promoting Viagra.
John Elway and Wayne Gretzky have always been retired.

kent August 26, 2016 Academics 0 Read more >

What counts? Evaluating public communication in tenure and promotion

Last Friday, the American Sociological Association released a subcommittee report entitled What counts? Evaluating public communication in tenure and promotion. It suggests that public communication of research can be assessed along three axes:

Type of content: explanatory journalism, opinion, application of research to a practical issue
Rigor and quality of the communication: peer-reviewed, edited, non-edited, effectiveness of communication for the intended audience
Public impact: number of readers, breadth of influence on policy or practice

Amy Schalet, Director of the Public Engagement Project at UMass Amherst, argues that public communication should be included in faculty evaluations, because when we include it, “we encourage [faculty] to share their knowledge with the members of society who could most benefit from it.”

I agree, but as always, the devil is in the details. Among the questions I wrestle with are:

To what extent is public communication of scholarly work an aspect of scholarly achievement?
Should public communication be regarded primarily as service in the tenure triad of teaching, research, and service?
Is public communication worthwhile only if it leads to changes in public policy or professional practice? Is it worthwhile if it leads “only” to greater aesthetic appreciation of the human or natural world?

The University of Connecticut has been recognized as a “Community Engaged” campus by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching since 2010 (ref). These are clearly among the questions that we need to answer.

kent August 24, 2016 Academics 1 Read more >