In 1958, British sociologist Michael Young wrote a dystopian satirical novel called The Rise of the Meritocracy. The book skewered standardized testing and credentialing, imagining how elites could employ them to secure corruptive power. Young’s book was popular but his arrows missed their mark. The novel helped to speed meritocracy’s presence in the zeitgeist, for…
Category: Deanspeak
Posts about the wide realm of higher education from a deanly perspective
Lessons and Inspiration from a Teacher, Educator & Leader
A resume is a fine way to document professional accomplishments, from academic degrees to job titles. A resume falls short, though, when it comes to issues of challenge, perseverance and accountability, the curve balls that life can throw at us. A resume can summarize a career, but it cannot tell much about a person’s character.…
Reasons Why
A little time off at the end of the year, some moments for looking back and forward, and all manner of thoughts will creep into my head. Inquisitive tendrils poke up and about, searching for sunlight and sustenance. They can be helpful, facilitating movement and growth. They can also corrode, pulling down structures. One of…
Investiture Address
My college’s system, SUNY, has a tradition. Approximately a year after a president is appointed, the institution holds an inauguration, capped with a formal investiture. It’s a celebration. Ours was held on October 23, 2024. It was a very good day for the college and I’m extraordinarily grateful on many fronts. My address follows (edited,…
Amping Up Civic Power
Some works of political philosophy and action belong on library shelves. Others have a home in the classroom and community. K. Sabeel Rahman and Hollie Russon Gilman’s Civic Power: Rebuilding American Democracy in an Era of Crisis belongs in the latter . The book examines current problems with American democracy (inequities, disengagement, lack of trust)…
Pruning The Ivies
For a recently written full-throated critique of elite private higher education in the United States – not a political action or lawsuit, but instead a book – check out Poison Ivy by Evan Mandery. In lively prose, mixing personal experience with scholarly research, Mandery argues that elite higher education harms students, communities, and the overall…
Shining Light on Community Colleges’ Impact
America’s Hidden Economic Engines: How Community Colleges Can Drive Shared Prosperity is a short book from Harvard Education Press. Edited by Rachel Lipson, co-founder of the Project on Workforce at Harvard, and Robert B. Schwartz, emeritus professor of education at Harvard, the volume is part of a larger series on Work and Learning. The workforce…