21st Century Scholar

Too often we get consumed by our own situations and forget the plight of others. As I’ve written blogs over the years I have despaired at budget cuts and administrative excesses. I have pointed out the importance of clear standards for promotion and tenure and called for greater faculty voice in shared governance. I mean [...]

The lack of academic coaching highlights how little regard the academy has for mentoring scholars. Assume you’re an assistant professor in your second year and you’re worried. You only have published one paper, another you have resubmitted, and three others have just been rejected. You also submitted a proposal for funding and they didn’t even [...]

I have written about the changing nature of tenure and what gets expected of someone who is going from assistant to associate. I also have been thinking a great deal about promotion to full professor. During the summer I am asked to review a lot of dossiers for tenure-track candidates, and candidates who are up [...]

by Bill Tierney Summers are a time of opportunity, but often they end up being lost opportunity. Years ago a psychologist, Bob Boice, did a ton of research about how to increase productivity of early-career faculty. One of his findings was that individuals tended to put off until the summer to write something “big” —the [...]

Part 5:  The Retirement Era of the Academic Life In this blog I examine the retirement years for academics and conclude the Academic Life series.  Today, I expand upon what awaits professors in the “academic afterlife”. My comments are based on deep conversations with several emeritus faculty.  I confess that the more I learned from [...]

This week 21st Century Scholar is delighted to host Linda Serra Hagedorn as our guest blogger.  Linda Serra Hagedorn is Associate Dean of Undergraduate Programs, and professor at Iowa State University.  Dr. Hagedorn’s research focuses on college student success.  She is especially interested in issues pertaining to underrepresented student groups, and equity.  Prior to joining [...]

by Bill Tierney “Inside Job” is a well-done documentary about the collapse of the financial industry.  The movie is akin to Al Gore’s “Inconvenient Truth” in tone and style.  The movie is very serious and has little of the fun of a Michael Moore flick.  But the director and writers make a very difficult topic [...]

by Yvonna S. Lincoln Distinguished Professor of Higher Education Department of Educational Administration and Human Resource Development Texas A&M University By and large, one of the few responsibilities that has been left to faculty has been the shape and structure of the curriculum.  Departments and faculties, having slowly lost ground in the stalwart fight for [...]

by Bill Tierney I have two regrettable worries here, both signs of the current times, and both likely to decrease the quality of academic life.  Both stories revolve around academic appointments. Case #1: Who appoints professors? Ultimately, the Board and President do, just as they are responsible for everything else at the institution.  But it [...]

by Bill Tierney Over the last year or two I have gotten more involved in discussions about academe in the public square. I’ve always talked with reporters about a topic, but now I’m doing various radio interviews, op-eds, and even an on-camera piece. I’m learning the tricks of the trade as I go along, and [...]