Race and Displacement, co-edited by our own Prof. Simmons and Prof. Marouan (formerly of REL and now of Gender & Race Studies), has just been published. It is based on a conference held at UA several years ago. As the University of Alabama Press’s site describes it: “it captures a timely set of discussions about the roles of race in displacement, forced migrations, nation and nationhood, and the way continuous movements of people challenge fixed racial definitions. The multifaceted approach […]
Why the U.S. State Department Should Take Mike Altman’s Introduction to Religious Studies Course
Did you hear Sec. of State John Kerry’s comment (on Aug. 7, 2013) on the importance of understanding the role of religion in international affairs? […]
“The Stories of My Death Are Greatly Exaggerated…”
Seen this article from The Chronicle of Higher Education? Give it a read and ask yourself why — if this is what the public actually thinks — we all seem to assume that there’s a crisis in the liberal arts? That is, if the skills taught all across the liberal arts are so essential (read the results [PDF] of the study for yourself) then why do we all seem to agree so easily that they are so non-essential — i.e., […]
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What’s of Value to You?
Did you see this article in the New York Times‘ “Common Sense” column? A lot of people now seem to be measuring the worth of their investment in higher education in terms of the possibility of future earnings — their “return on investment.” But what would happen if the return that concerned you was something else that’s empirically measurable and that’s likely pretty relevant to people too, something like, say, life expectancy? After all, earning potential is a speculative generalization […]
Lucrative, But Defined How…?
Ladies (ok, gents too, I guess): how do you define “lucrative”? Give the story a listen. […]
“The Same…, But Different”
[This post is reblogged from Culture on the Edge] In 2008 I took a small group of undergraduate students from our Department at the University of Alabama to Thessaloniki, Greece (that’s us above, with a famous philosopher, who has a shiny toe, likely from tourists rubbing it), where I had been for a conference a couple years before, and at which I first met my Culture on the Edge colleague, Vaia Touna. I’ve returned several times since that first trip, […]
Jonathan Z. Smith on the Craft of Teaching
A presentation by Jonathan Z. Smith, (2003-4 Aronov lecturer) as part of the University of Chicago’s “Craft of Teaching Seminar,” from February 2013. […]
Test-Taking Skills Do Not = An Education
Did you hear President Obama’s speech at the University of Buffalo the other day, on how to address increasing costs in higher education? Here’s the final paragraph from the response of the American Association of University Professors (AAUP): Read the AAUP’s whole statement here. […]
The Hunger Games
Did you see this article by UVA’s Mark Edmundson, a — you guessed it — Professor of English, published at The Chronicle of Higher Education? It’s a pretty good example of how some play the zero sum game called “getting majors”: we cannibalize other Departments by positioning ourselves as the best place to prep for, say, law school or, in Edmundson’s rather ambitious argument, to become a better human being. […]
The Humanities Aren’t in Crisis
Did you read the recent piece online at The Atlantic? Building on an earlier online piece from The Chronicle of Higher Education (and using its graphs, like me) it makes the point that, when judged by the percentage of all degrees earned, the anomaly in the Humanities isn’t now but a few decades ago, when the influx of baby boomer freshmen found college majors. The drop that followed their departure is therefore better understood as a normalization. […]