21st Century Scholar

Next week, SummerTIME—our annual four-week intensive writing and college knowledge summer program for 90 transitioning college freshmen—starts. Besides helping out with the writing curriculum and the program logistics, I’ll be reviewing financial aid offers with students and troubleshooting any issues. As in previous years, I anticipate the usual breakdown … 75% of students will have [...]

  Gil Scott Heron once said: “The revolution that takes place in your head…nobody will ever see that.” As I approach the 4th year in my doctoral program, I find more conflict with this statement than resolution. The revolution taking place in my own mind is now evidenced in my writing, research, advocacy, and practice. But [...]

Recent days have been laden with all kinds of news items that challenge our notion of what college is. Take the news from the California legislature’s introduction of a bill that would require state-sponsored colleges and universities to accept credits from MOOCs and other alternative low-priced avenues of education. Burke Smith, the founder of Straighterline.com [...]

If our commitment is to understanding complex and diverse millennial identities….We have a lot of work to do.

Over 400,000 young people live in foster care in the United States. By the time a foster youth reaches high school, his likelihood of experiencing multiple residential placements is extremely high—most high school-aged foster youth have lived in over five placements. With each residential move, children are often required to change in schools as well. [...]

According to knowyourmeme.com: Hip is an American slang term vaguely meaning fashionably current. But since the term doesn’t refer to one specific quality (similar to ‘cool’), what is actually considered hip is ever-changing and therefore impossible to define. Thanks to Malcolm Gladwell’s book, the term “hipster” had gone the tragic route of other generational pejoratives such [...]

In keeping with my past two reflections of AERA 2013, I conclude my recap with important considerations and questions I hope do not go ignored for future conferences and also for our own work as educators, researchers, and scholars.  

Christopher Marlowe’s Doctor Faustus is one of my favorite plays. At the beginning of the story, Faustus, surrounded by countless dusty tomes, declares that he has read everything about everything. I’m not sure what it says about me (especially given Faustus’ fate), but I frequently think about that scene. I read a lot. I eagerly [...]

Only six days until 529 day! 5/29 is 529 day … and May is actually 529 month—so as someone who writes about financial aid, I shouldn’t end the month without at least mentioning them. What is a 529? It’s a college savings plan that can begin for kids from the day that they are born [...]

From the beginning, I was really thankful for the opportunity to represent my institution.   And then this happened:   And we can’t forget this:     “Tweet-ups” were wonderful:   Meeting with mentors was certainly illuminating:   Live tweeting was one of the biggest highlights, especially during the phenomenal presidential session given by my [...]