April 11, 2008
new fall 2008 course
In the fall of 2008 I will be co-teaching a course for the first time: Digital Storytelling in and With Communities of Color. Should be fun!
March 18, 2008
movie about tenure
Insidehighered.com reports that a movie about the higher education tenure process will soon begin filming, with Luke Wilson as the junior faculty member up for the prize. Hhhmmmm....
March 12, 2008
Spring Break
I thought that I would be able to take my first ever Spring Break next week, but, alas, too much work has built up over the past few days to take more than a day or two off. Oh well; maybe next year!
January 24, 2008
Chairin' Ain't Easy
There's a new book out called Pimpin' Ain't Easy: Selling Black Entertainment Television. I'm gonna have to title my next book Chairin' Ain't Easy, especially if I ever have to stay in my office until midnight again, like I did last night....
January 18, 2008
Black men on campus
According to a recent study, most Negro men on many college campuses are athletes. Damn, I thought this was 2008, not 1908!
It's been a while since somebody thought I was an athlete; I think that was back in my second or third year as a professor (!). The White guy who did so thought I was a basketball player, of course. Maybe if I beef up another 10 pounds or so the next guy will think I'm a tight end on the football team. (I guess I could be a wide receiver, but my walk is not quite springy enough for that.)
December 21, 2007
first movie of the semester
Yesterday I went to the movies for the first time all semester (!). True, I still watch a bunch of movies via netflix, but wow, I can't believe that I had to wait until the last day of the semester to see a movie in the theaters (I saw The Golden Compass). Chairin' ain't easy....
November 07, 2007
today's fortune cookie message
My fortune cookie message from lunch today: "You are able to analyze objectively and express yourself clearly." That was definitely an auspicious sign at the end of a discussion with one of my mentors about being a department chair!
November 01, 2007
use of leftover candy
Last night I bought four bags of candy but only distributed a bag and a half to Halloween trick-or-treaters. Last year I bought three bags and gave nearly all of it away, so I don't quite know what happened this year. Today I'll take one bag to class to pass out to my students. Maybe I should hold on to the other one until the end of the term for use to raise my teaching evaluation scores :).
September 04, 2007
first day of classes
Today is the first day of classes, my favorite day of the year, as I've written in previous entries (2005, 2006). Today should be especially exciting since I'm in a new department and in a different part of campus. Happy first day of classes, everyone!
August 31, 2007
AA&AS website
Check out the newly redesigned African American and African Studies department website.
May 10, 2007
CEHD Commencement
Tonight the College of Education and Human Development will hold its 2007 Commencement. Bring on the Pomp and Circumstance!
March 22, 2007
The U as propaganda machine
Yesterday I got stopped by a cat in front of the student union, who asked me, "Yo, how come the people around here look like they've been brainwashed?" My response: "I don't know. Last week was spring break, so they don't really want to be here this week." He thanked me and walked away. A few minutes later I realized that I failed to read his query correctly. Essentially, I think, he wanted to comment on the university as a propaganda machine, a space where students get force-fed information that maintains the status quo rather than a place where they are provided the opportunity to really think and challenge common assumptions. I wish that I had grasped his point and then talked to him about it....
February 22, 2007
too much travel
Usually I go to one conference a year, but this year I'm attending many more. Tomorrow, for example, I'll be jetting off for the third time in a month! I've got to get back to a slower pace....
January 16, 2007
first day of class
I've discussed my love of the first day of fall classes in previous posts. The first day of the spring semester is also usually a good day. I'm not teaching this semester, so I attended the first day of a colleague's Child Literature class. Now I want to go home and read....
October 30, 2006
Driven to Answer
My colleague Heidi Barajas and I have an answer in The U's "Driven to Discover" branding campaign. I can't link directly to the question, but it's the 3rd one from the bottom, "Is a quality education a privilege, or does everyone have the right to be educated?"
October 17, 2006
new CEHD brand?
I just noticed that the College of Education and Human Development's website says that we are "Inspiring Minds." Hhhmmm, is this our new college brand, along lines of the all-university Driven to Discover campaign?
September 27, 2006
September 05, 2006
first day of classes
Today is one of my favorite days of the year, as I discussed in a post on this day last year. From 9-9:30 this morning I stood in the hallway here at Appleby Hall directing traffic for nervous, yet excited first year students. I can hardly believe that it's been 20 years since I also wandered around on the first day as a wide-eyed freshman (at Georgia Tech)....
August 16, 2006
free speech at GT
My undergraduate institution is in the news about its codes for student conduct: "Freer Speech at Georgia Tech."
July 01, 2006
hello PSTL
Effective today, the University of Minnesota's General College is now the Department of Postsecondary Teaching and Learning. A new era begins....
June 01, 2006
May 25, 2006
May 24, 2006
commencement trouble
There was a controversial speech made last week at St. Thomas university here in Minnesota. Check out the story, and/or an amateur video
April 13, 2006
November 02, 2005
activism on campus
Today is the National Student Walkout to protest the war in Iraq. During the march from The U's student union to a military recruitment station a very clean-cut White male undergrad took offense to the cheer of "Who is the terrorist? Bush is the terrorist!" The student's face looked like it would if somebody was calling his mama a ho or something. I was expecting a fight, but I guess that the presence of the Po-Po made him think twice and walk away....
October 19, 2005
fortune cookie affirmation
Today a colleague and I discussed the possibility of linking two of our courses to form a learning community on "Performing Popular Culture." While we generated interesting ideas, I was skeptical about whether or not I really wanted to develop a new teaching project...'till I went to lunch and got this fortune cookie message: "A good time to start something new." OK then. Unfortunately, the fortune did not also have "lucky numbers" I could use to win tonight's $340M Powerball jackpot....
September 26, 2005
homecoming networking
Last week a few General College professors received an email: "I would like to invite you and your guest with other Faculty members to join [the U of M president] as the Golden Gopher football team celebrates its Homecoming game against Purdue on Saturday, September 24th, at the Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome. The game begins at 11:00 a.m. Your tickets to a pre-game reception in the President's/Athletic Director's tent, and your game ticket will be available at the entrance to the tent, which is located at Gate D, underneath the picnic shelter." We thought we'd get to talk to the Prez and then sit with him in his private box. Silly us! There were at least 500 people in the tent, and the only time we saw the Prez was on the podium making a speech to send the crowd into the stadium. Inside the dome our seats were scattered all over the place. Oh well, at least my seat was in a great location, and the game was a thrilling one....
September 06, 2005
first day of classes
The first day of fall semester classes -- TODAY! -- is my favorite day of the year. Why? There's just so much energy in the air as students stream in and out of freshly scrubbed campus buildings. More specifically, the mixture of excitement and fear of first year students reminds me of the endless possibilities of academia....
August 29, 2005
academic milestones
Today is significant in two ways: (1) it's my first official day as an associate professor (with tenure), and (2) it is the 10th anniversary of my first time teaching. Wow, it's hard to believe that 10 years have gone by since 4:00 on August 29, 1995, when I entered Ballantine Hall 330 to teach Indiana University's sociology s335 -- "race and ethnic relations" -- as a graduate student. At 4:00 today (in about 45 minutes!) I'll go sit in my first U of MN classroom (Appleby 219) and re-read my Fall 1995 teaching journal....
July 29, 2005
are you an academic?
How can one tell if s/he is cut out to be a college professor? Easy: you always remember the publisher and year of a book, but forget either the title or the author.
July 15, 2005
bloggers and academic jobs
A recent article in the Chronicle of Higher Education argues that professors who blog have a few disadvantages (compared to non-bloggers) while searching for jobs. It's a good thing, then, that I'm not on the market.
June 10, 2005
D-Day for GC
This morning the U of M regents approved the plan to downsize the General College from a college to a department. This afternoon the GC dean posted a response on the GC website: "Although we remain concerned about the long-term feasibility of what President Bruininks has proposed with respect to General College, we are committed to assisting him in exploring an organizational model for the college that fits his framework and conforms to his timetable for transformation." Let's hope that we can come up with something that effectively serves the interests of students....
May 17, 2005
public art silent rally
Yesterday I was a first-time participant in a public art display, where supporters of General College held signs of "the faces of GC." It was supposed to be a silent rally outside of a public hearing about The U's strategic positioning plans, but several people stopped to chat with us. Then at the end of the rally one supporter started yelling at departing administrators, which was not so cool. Aside from that, though, it was a very positive atmosphere!
May 12, 2005
teaching as extortion
Sarah Shun-Lien Bynum's short story "Accomplice" contains an interesting argument:
Teaching...[is] a form of extortion; you [are] forever trying to extract from your students something they [don't] want to part with: their attention, their labor, their trust.
The main character -- Ms. Hempel -- is a 7th grade teacher, but her thoughts are also applicable to students throughout the educational spectrum...even in higher ed. One of the nice things about receiving tenure is gaining more freedom to experiment with ways to work with student resistance. Hopefully after the strategic positioning battles end GCers will have a positive space in which to do that.
May 07, 2005
strategic positioning
The president of the University of Minnesota has released his strategic positioning recommendations to advance a goal of becoming a leading public university (top 3 in the world). He pretty much followed the recommendations released in March by two strategic positioning task forces. The only new idea was a proposal to establish a vice president for diversity. Of course, this person will probably not have any real power, but it'll look good on paper....
May 05, 2005
save GC sit-in
Efforts to save the General College reached a new level when 9 students were arrested after staging a sit-in at the President's office yesterday. For more 411, see a Minnesota Daily account of the events, and the "Take a Left" blog for pictures and commentary. The student organizers of the protest also have a web page that's starting to take shape.
April 23, 2005
tale of two letters
Yesterday I received big academic news in two letters. One was from a research foundation, saying that I got turned down for a grant. No biggie with that, though, as it was totally insignificant next to the other letter I opened a few hours earlier, one that every academic wants to get: I will receive tenure. Now I can go join the Dead Wood Club :).
April 21, 2005
Save GC rally
Yesterday hundreds of people held a rally in support of The U's General College, which is facing closure. For stories (including video!), go to the Minnesota Daily (Quicktime video) or KARE 11 (video for the media player from The Evil Empire).
April 12, 2005
GC blogs
As I noted last week, The U wants to downsize the General College from a college to a department. GC is fighting the change, and has altered its website to reflect this. You can also find blogs about the campaign to save GC, both official and "underground." Check 'em out!
March 30, 2005
Strategic Positioning
Today the University of Minnesota announced strategic recommendations to further a goal of becoming one of the top three public research universities in the world. Among the recommendations: a proposal to transform General College (my academic unit) into a department in a revamped College of Education and Human Development. The last five weeks of the spring semester should be very interesting....