20
May

Plan B and Bob Dylan

Written by Blog Editor. Posted in Career Planning

Plan B and Bob Dylan
This dialogue was a reaction to a statement in the fall by the president of American Historical Association about removing the stigma of Plan B from a nonacademic career path. In the report, a assortment of opinions had been voiced about modifying the …
Read far more on Inside Higher Ed

 

The Radical New Humanities Ph.D.
The Stanford document proposes a situation where college students make a decision on a profession strategy — academic or nonacademic — they want to embark on by the end of their second-year of graduate research, file the strategy with their division, and then put together tasks and …
Read a lot more on Inside Greater Ed

 

Science Ph.D. students interest in faculty jobs decreases above time
This study suggests that science Ph.D. students need to have more info and resources about pursuing non-academic careers, the authors create. This research offers distinctive survey proof concerning students occupation preferences, supporting frequent issues …
Study much more on EurekAlert (press release)

 

Sufficient is sufficient. UE grads informed to leave residence, get a task
… deal with at Saturday commencement ceremonies in the Ford Center, but not before stealing some laughter and applause from the family members sections with a bit of nonacademic guidance. Move away from property and get task as soon as achievable, Kazee mentioned.
Study more on Evansville Courier & Press

 

04
May

How economists have misunderstood inequality: An interview with James Galbraith

Written by Blog Editor. Posted in Academic Life

How economists have misunderstood inequality: An interview with James Galbraith
Ahead of 1980, few academics in the United States gave much believed to the thought of economic inequality. It just wasn’t a glaring concern. But in the final 30 years, the incomes of the nation’s wealthiest one percent have surged, and a lot more and more economists …
Read a lot more on Washington Post (blog)

 

What Do Interviewers Discover Initial About You?
By Jada A. Graves Whoever originally mentioned You only get one possibility to make a very first impression&quot was either coming from a work interview or a blind date. The two situations do have certain commonalities. Each can be nerve-wracking social circumstances in …
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Sensible presents can aid out graduate
Their task hunt will also incur some expenditures, such as résumé paper, mailing costs, interview attire and gas for traveling to and from interviews. Present CARDS: If you choose to direct your new graduate’s investing, think about gift cards to restaurants, …
Study more on The Augusta Chronicle

 

26
Apr

Seven Concerns for Laura Schreibman, PhD

Written by Blog Editor. Posted in Academic News

Finding ready for the ice bar
should i get a phd

Image by Katy Lindemann
Virgin radio made the decision that instead of just taking us to lunch, we really should go for food and vodka in minus six degrees at the Absolut Ice Bar. Therefore the moon suits. I need to also point out that we had been possessing a heat wave so I was sporting a minor skirt, and then looked like a flasher with my bare legs poking out from beneath the huge silver cape.

Seven Queries for Laura Schreibman, PhD
Do I think we will ever get there? I like to feel so. But I and other people feel that ASD is not a single disorder and thus it is unlikely there is a single trigger. We are seeking at numerous precise disorders and these probable have distinct causes, …
Study a lot more on Newswise (press release)

 

Five Smart Techniques For Creating Technological innovation Perform On Your Side
Need to have to get some perform accomplished, but obtaining it tough to resist the lure of Facebook? So-called &quotproductivity tools&quot can halt you from surfing when you can’t cease your self. LeechBlock, a free add-on for Firefox, lets you block internet sites of your choosing throughout …
Read far more on Huffington Publish

 

17
Apr

11 Techniques Employing Managers Aren’t Telling You

Written by Blog Editor. Posted in Academic Life

eleven Secrets Employing Managers Aren&#39t Telling You
The first is: What you don&#39t know can harm your probabilities of landing a work and commanding a larger salary. Second: Nowadays, April 17th, is Equal Pay out Day. But armed with this insider understanding — straight from the mouths of those who retain the services of you — you can …
Study much more on Huffington Post (blog)

San Jose State athletics: Bowen&#39s departure and the aftermath
Allow&#39s get began: *** Bowen ran the division for seven many years and, in my viewpoint, did a first-class work. Unless you have seen the economic books and the Academic Progress Rate numbers from early in his tenure — and I have — it&#39s tough to …
Read a lot more on San Jose Mercury News (website)

Di Matteo interviewed for Chelsea work following major Blues to FA Cup last
By Sportsmail Reporter Roberto Di Matteo has already been interviewed for the complete-time Chelsea manager&#39s task as the club search to explore all their alternatives for a long term successor to Andre Villas-Boas. According to The Everyday Express Di Matteo has …
Read a lot more on Daily Mail

12
Apr

Funds Is not Every thing, Proper?

Written by Blog Editor. Posted in Academic News

Blog site:&nbsp
University Ready Creating

At least, that&rsquos what I&rsquom attempting to keep telling myself.

Cash and salaries in academia are hot topics appropriate now, as the AAUP just released its annual salary report. My institution has a couple of issues they can be proud of: a higher percentage of each complete-time and tenure-track faculty (more than 75% total-time, rather than the other way close to) and over 90% salary parity amongst male and female salaries. But, as the chart exhibits, we are &ldquofar under median&rdquo when it comes to salaries at all ranges.

But I was mainly struck by how higher the instructor salaries look to be. Did that include rewards? If not, how was it that the regular salary was so substantial, or rather, so much increased than my salary? I was under the impression that there weren&rsquot raises for instructors for merit or promotion, nor have salaries risen over at least the most current past. Does that imply that the base or commencing salary stayed stagnant when raises have been awarded? Or that there is, in reality, a tiered technique, even at the instructor degree?

I know that salaries are a hot topic on our campus, even just before the AAUP numbers had been released. Faculty and the administration are making an attempt to figure out how to pay faculty at a degree that is on par with comparable institutions, regardless of the cuts in the money we are receiving from the state. But I wonder the place instructors fit into the discussion. How are we rewarded for the perform that we do?

Because I perform for a public institution, all salaries are public, but that doesn&rsquot suggest that they are straightforward to find. Fortunately (or probably not), a single of my husband&rsquos colleagues showed us the place we could simply search a database of salaries at our institution (as well as other state universities). Turns out, I&rsquom the third-lowest paid faculty member at the university. I say this due to the fact I know that the support staff make even much less. Look for yourselves.

On the 1 hand, I can recognize as I am 1 of the most up-to-date hires but on the other, I was led to feel that we didn&rsquot get raises based mostly on seniority. My issues aren&rsquot with my colleagues or even my institution it&rsquos the lack of transparency on problems of salary, above-all, in higher education for these of us who are off the tenure-track. The Adjunct Project exhibits that there is a need for this type of fundamental information, but there also wants to be data on how raises are awarded, base salaries are made a decision, and whether or not there is any space for negotiation. Has encounter been taken into consideration? Degrees earned?

Instructors are in a odd place: on the one particular hand, we&rsquore supposed to be grateful that we&rsquore not adjuncts, thankful for rewards, and so on, etc, etc. But we also remain silent on how much we make, practically as however we feel that any incremental boost we get might be found and taken away. Numerous people worry that talking about salaries will breed resentment, but that&rsquos used to preserve us in the dark about what&rsquos going on, salary-wise, at our institutions. &nbsp

Right now, I&rsquom genuinely coming to terms with the truth that I work too. Damn. Hard.

Inside Larger Ed | Blog site U

19
May

Why the Facebook IPO Matters to Ed Tech and Increased Ed

Written by Blog Editor. Posted in Academic News

Website:&nbsp
Technologies and Understanding

Why really should larger ed and ed tech individuals care about the valuation of Facebook? Does it genuinely matter if a bunch of young technologists and investment bankers get fabulously wealthy, and if a group of wealthy, visionary or gullible traders make or drop tons of income?

I believe that the Facebook valuation matters to anyone interested in the educational engineering and publishing sector. I&#39m not specifically certain why I think this, and I&#39m hoping that possibly together we can far better understand the meaning of the Facebook IPO.

Some inquiries about Facebook that I&#39ve been asking myself include:

  • If in two many years Facebook ends up getting really worth significantly less than what individuals are paying for shares these days will we see a chilling impact on investments in the educational technological innovation sector?&nbsp &nbsp
  • Would a a decline in Facebook&#39s valuation contact into question the organization models of other world wide web and mobile primarily based platforms that rely on marketing?
  • Will investors be unwilling to make lengthy phrase bets in education and technology associated organizations given the Facebook IPO and connected bargains (such as Facebook&#39s $ one billion obtain of Instagram?)
  • What will it indicate for smaller sized education and ed tech startups to attract traders and capital?

I see an enormous set possibilities at the intersection between education and technological innovation, possibilities that have practically absolutely nothing to do with the Facebook story.&nbsp The willingness of the investment community to worth Facebook at $ a hundred billion tends to make me critically query how these valuations are derived.&nbsp &nbsp

The lack of vital, in-depth, and questioning analysis of Facebook&#39s company fundamentals is a worrying sign about the capacity of the business and technological innovation press to adequately report on, and analyze, the likely of ed tech startups and much more established for-revenue education organizations.&nbsp

Some excellent factors may come out of the Facebook IPO. I hope that at least some of those young newly minted Facebook millionaires decided to invest in or begin their personal ed tech startups. Better nevertheless, I could think about a situation in which Facebook gets severe about education, and decides to make substantial investments in social mastering.&nbsp

But despite these hopes, I can&#39t shake the feeling that the Facebook valuation is much less about enterprise fundamentals and far more about hype, hope and magical pondering.

Can you help make clear why the Facebook IPO matters, or does not matter, to ed tech and larger ed?

Within Larger Ed | Website U

30
Apr

Class Dismissed

Written by Blog Editor. Posted in Academic News

Blog: 
Confessions of a Community College Dean

Half of new bachelor’s degree grads are either unemployed or underemployed, according to the Associated Press.  

The market isn’t ready to absorb them. Specifically,

According to government projections released last month, only three of the 30 occupations with the largest projected number of job openings by 2020 will require a bachelor's degree or higher to fill the position — teachers, college professors and accountants. Most job openings are in professions such as retail sales, fast food and truck driving, jobs which aren't easily replaced by computers.

I had to smile at “college professors” making the list. When I entered graduate school during the first Bush administration, we were told that a great wave of faculty retirements was on the horizon, and that we’d be in high demand be the time we got out. We all know how that played out. It’s entirely possible that college professor positions will open in great numbers, but only if you fail to differentiate between adjunct and full-time positions. And having adjunct positions available hardly gets around the “underemployment” issue.

At the associate’s level, similar dynamics are playing out. For students who don’t intend to transfer for the four year degree, the market isn’t what it used to be.  (The one partial exception is allied health, such as nursing. And even that isn’t a sure thing.)  Many of the skilled trades took a beating when the construction market collapsed in 2008, and they’re yet to recover.  (We’re pretty sure that’s why so many of the “green jobs” have yet to materialize: they’re based on construction.) Generic “business” degrees don’t do much, and generic liberal arts degrees don’t, either, unless you transfer.

In my darker moments, I sometimes wonder if the root of the problem with public higher education in America is that it was designed to create and support a massive middle class. And we’ve tacitly decided as a society that a massive middle class is not a priority.  We’re trying to fulfill a mission that the country has largely abandoned. When the goal of a prosperous middle class was tacitly dismissed, dominos started to fall.  

The meme making the rounds last week was the announcement that outstanding student loan debt in America reached a trillion dollars.  That’s not a function of community college tuition, obviously, but it indicates that what we’re preparing students for, and what the economy wants them for, don’t align.

Although that’s presented as a failing of colleges, it mostly isn’t. (One could argue about the wisdom of getting a terminal bachelor’s degree in English at Nothing Special Private College, but that’s ultimately marginal.)  It’s mostly a failing of the larger economy, of our politics, and of our priorities. The “starve the beast” strategy has been so effective that it’s easy to forget that as recently as 2000, we were actually paying down the national debt.  Austerity is a choice.

None of which is terribly helpful if you’re twenty-two and graduating with tens of thousands of dollars of debt and no immediate prospects for a job that will make enough to pay both rent and loan payments.  

The new economy is sometimes presented as an issue of intergenerational justice, with the outsize poverty of the young subsidizing the outsize wealth of the old.  That’s true as far as it goes, but it ignores a larger issue. As the boomers retire and X’ers and Y’s fill the workforce, they’ll either have the skills to grow the economy, or not. They won’t develop those skills sitting on the sidelines.  In the absence of growth, prospects for boomers’ retirements are grim, let alone the folks who come after them. According to the most recent report on social security, the system will go broke the year I turn 65.  Thanks, guys.  If we want to get things moving, we need to integrate the young into the productive workforce ASAP.

College still passes the “I’d send my kid” test. I fully intend to send mine. As insurance policies go, it’s weaker than it once was, but it still beats most of the alternatives. I just hope that as a society, we don’t make the mistake of blaming colleges for preparing students for jobs that aren’t there, when we made the choice to let those jobs dry up.

Inside Higher Ed | Blog U

21
Apr

MOOCs, Machines, and Music

Written by Blog Editor. Posted in Academic News

School Prepared Writing
by UrbanDigger.com under CC BY-ND

.

 

School Prepared Writing

Remember how I said that we really should take “clapping for credit” classes a lot more seriously (and a lot more usually)? Coursera (which Audrey Watters alluded to here on IHE but examines far more fully here) is supplying a MOOC in Listening to World Music. And Science Fiction and Fantasy! There is a complete list of intriguing classes getting provided. I’m drawn to the humanities offerings (I admittedly require to brush up on my Greek mythology, and I am a sucker for SF), but if I am trying to enhance the digital side of my DH academic identity, the computer system science courses may well be the way to go.

Since, as Audrey says, I have so considerably cost-free time on my hands.

——–

Machine grading. There has been very a lot of discussion about this lately. I’ve been following the discussion on the WPA listserv, and added to the conversation by sending out Mark Bousquet’s piece outlining how robot grading is a logical conclusion to the drive to automate education. It’s a longer piece, but it’s really instructive and an important wake-up contact. I was astounded by the response I received, if only due to the fact a lot more and much more on the web/digital “services” for college students are fundamentally quote mining to make the investigation and writing process much more efficient.

As one response put it, we are the Ctrl (or Apple) +F generation. I wonder, though, how a lot (once yet again) the way larger education is set up truly can make us as complicit in this shift. In a publish or perish surroundings wherever quantity typically outweighs quality, how considerably do we really read, believe deeply, and genuinely realize all of these secondary sources we are necessary in numerous instances to include in any of our perform. I bear in mind for my qualifying examination in Globe Literature, we all received the comment, “superficial” on our solutions from one particular of the professors (who, notably, didn’t educate any classes in the program since of various program releases for investigation). My response was, what did you anticipate when you attempt to teach us ALL of world literature in two semesters, then ask us to research for 4 more months, then give us two hrs to hand-compose our solutions to two questions?

It’s remarkable to me that the two (politically) opposite Mark’s more than at the Brainstorm blog site (Bousquet and Bauerline) look to be coming down on the very same side of an issue. Bauerline talks about speed and how we publish also much, which fits in with the ideas Bousquet puts forward concerning the industrialization of education (and analysis). We are a Ctrl+F generation of academics simply because that’s what we have been told to become. Is it any wonder that we teach our students the exact same habits.

———-

This week’s chat talked about ecocomposition and sustainable composition. I wonder if college students don’t see deep thinking and analysis/near reading through as sustainable offered their chaotic lives and the speed at which the globe moves these days. Productivity is key. And I know that they are more interested in breadth, not depth. I’m not saying they’re appropriate. I’m just saying that it’s an uphill battle, not only simply because of our students’ attitudes, but also due to the fact of the messages that we ourselves and the institutions are sending the students. For numerous of my college students, between working to assist shell out for school, taking care of family members, and having a daily life, there isn’t significantly time for deep pondering and shut, slow reading through.

———–

Oh, by the way, the folks above at Coursera apparently are making an attempt to move AWAY from robot graders. Go figure. There’s more to creating and understanding than an algorythm? Radical notion.

———–

This is late since I took the children to see the Imagination Movers in concert in Cincinnati. There have been tons and lots of families with each mothers and fathers there at a four PM show, and I doubt really much they have been all academic couples taking benefit of the flexibility academia offers. Looks like folks get to consider afternoons off in the “real planet” as nicely.

I’m not positive who was a lot more excited about the display, me or the young children. We also got to go to an smaller sized immediately after-celebration with the band. I hugely advise checking these guys out if you have kids under about the age of eight. Their music is great (and not just tolerable) they use rock, ska, New Wave, and punk influences in their music, and the lyrics variety from goofy to downright poignant. I also value the truth that they never talk down to kids, nor do they try out to dumb-down their music. They are genuinely wonderful guys from New Orleans who started producing music for their youngsters and grew to become (fairly) renowned. They asked us to spread the word about them.

Contemplate it spread.

Inside Increased Ed | Weblog U

14
Apr

Your Leaving Academia Questions About Why Phd In Computer Science

Written by Blogger. Posted in Uncategorized

Laura

Laura asks…

Which is a better background for neuroscience? Math or Computer science?

I am an undergraduate student, majoring in behavioural neuroscience.
When I finish my BSc. I am planning to do an MD/PhD and get into neuroscience research.

Right now, I am also interested in doing a minor either in math OR computer science.
So which one would be better to combine with neuroscience? Math or Computer science and why?

Thanks in advance.

BLSSSMAPURVW cropped

Blogger answers:

Why not do both? I have a computer science degree with minors in math and philosophy, and in my opinion both minors contributed significantly to my understanding of computer science.

In your case, it seems to me that a math minor would be useful primarily for the statistical aspects, as a significant part of the work in any behavioral science (and any other science for that matter) is the analysis and correlation of data. However, computer science expertise would give you a better understanding of how to model accurate simulations and what-if scenarios for the purpose of forming hypotheses that you could then verify or refute by experiment.

If you only have time in your schedule to get one or the other, I’m not sure which I would choose if I were you. If you already have a thorough understanding of statistics, then probably computer science.

Maria

Maria asks…

Why do I see inventors with a phd or masters degree progressing in other fields other than their own?

Why do I see people that have a degree in a specific field such as computer science developing cars, radios and other stuff complete outside their field of endeavour. I know that some stuff intracorrelates with each other, but some inventions and ideas are just remarkable for those individuals.

BLSSSMAPURVW cropped

Blogger answers:

Let us remember the origin of the Ph.D. It was created in the German university system in the 19th century from a realization that scientific knowledge was progressing very quickly. So quickly that just teaching students what was known was inadequate as that knowledge would be obsolete by the time it was learned. So instead, students would be taught an exact methodology of discovery, how to do research, how to find out new things. That is never obsolete. Thus, people trained that way are good at making discoveries.

That help?

Jenny

Jenny asks…

Which of these PhD’s offers the most job opportunity and why?

Ph.D in Engineering, Computer Science, Software, Mathematics, Physics or relevant technical field.

I placed relevant technical field if you want to suggest some other path.

My bachelor is computer science, but I am considering physics and working with energy.

BLSSSMAPURVW cropped

Blogger answers:

Of those, physics or math – useful in industry and government. Engineering and computer science bachelors degrees pay more than a PhD in most fields, including most jobs in physics and math, but not a lot more with a PhD. PhDs in those fields are pretty useless unless you want to teach college, and that pays less than government or industry.

William

William asks…

Why don’t people buy Macs?

I’ve never understood why people insist on buying PCs. I’ve been using those for many years and I’ve just got my first Mac a year ago and have had no problems. No setup problems, no freezing, it was so easy. I can understand why some people like Windows because they might be computer nerds and like tinkering with all that stuff but most people don’t. They want to sit down and start doing stuff without having a PHD in computer science. That is what I get with my Mac. An easy to use computer that gives me no headaches.

BLSSSMAPURVW cropped

Blogger answers:

I don’t know about the stores in your area, but in mine Mac’s are pricy as compared to a PC.

I wanted Macs for my business, but I couldn’t jusify the extra cost. If they would drop their price just a wee bit they’d get more business, at least from customers with requirements like mine.

Mary

Mary asks…

Why does Obama waste taxpayer money with phony investigations of Toyota electronics?

So Obama government did a multi-mullion dollar investigation of Toyota electronics for over 10 months. Lot of engineers, NASA workers, mathematicians, computer science phd‘s, systems engineers etc etc were used for the investigation. These group of engineers and scientists then charged the rate of $60 an hour for 40 hours a week, for 10 straight months only to conclude NOTHING is wrong in Toyota electronics. Instead of fixing Toyota, doesn’t Obama have other things to do? Toyota is private sector anyway. Why should government sector interfere in private sector?
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110208/ap_on_re_us/us_toyota_recalls
toyota engineers and scientists are more sophisticated, advanced and expert than government engineers. Its like high school kid investigating a math major in university.

BLSSSMAPURVW cropped

Blogger answers:

Because the government owns GM and is trying to knock off the competition.

Why did LBJ, Nixon, Carter, Reagan and Clinton give no bid contract to Haliburton?

Powered by Yahoo! Answers

09
Apr

New deans lobbying chops could come in useful at Brooklyn Law

Written by Blog Editor. Posted in Academic News

New dean&#39s lobbying chops could come in handy at Brooklyn Law
Allard mentioned in an interview that he was attracted to the job in part since of the school&#39s curriculum, which emphasizes experiential studying and hand-on coaching. The college has struck the suitable balance among legal scholarship and professional …
Study more on The Nationwide Law Journal

In Individual: Profession GPS
At one point, I seriously regarded as leaving academia and even went so far as to apply and interview for a non-academic task. The group forced me to question why I was thinking about leaving academia in the very first position. In the finish, I gave academia a single …
Read far more on ScienceCareers.org

Employers view a degree as granted when recruiting but appear for considerably much more
Employers now spot private attributes over the relevance of a degree among potential work candidates, a study of 2000 recruiters has shown. Aldi, which plans to recruit one hundred graduates throughout this year, carried out the study and found company …
Go through a lot more on HRmagazine.co.united kingdom