Students // Browsing posts in Students
Changing the World
This is an adaptation of some brief graduation remarks I recently offered, so meant to be in the spirit of the season. I watch a good bit of college basketball, and in the process see a lot of university ads. They’re mostly fairly awful, and it would be a service to have a good faith ...
Inclusiveness
As many of my readers know, we have a new strategic vision for the University that includes a number of interesting elements. One feature, which I’ve written about before, implies a commitment to growth which we’re now trying to translate into more specific strategic planning. A related feature involves inclusiveness. Our President notes publicly that ...
Multiplicity University
One of the odd aspects of many current discussions of American university futures involves a certain all-or-nothing quality—either everything is going to change, as the existing model is fully outmoded—or nothing much should. What’s often missing, though there are exceptions, is an understanding that our most likely near future, and possibly even long-term future, will ...
Caring for Students
The topic seems apt as we launch a new semester… I was intrigued by a report a few weeks back on what college students value most in their teachers. This was not just a Mason survey, but I certainly assume it applies to us too. The winner by a considerable margin: teachers who care about ...
Mason Students
Writing the first blog of the new year is a bit of a challenge. Obviously one wants to make it interesting. On the other hand, we emerge from a week where — professionally — not a lot has been happening (for which we are profoundly grateful). So let me talk a bit about aspects of ...
NSSE: How Our Students Are Doing
We’ve received National Survey of Student Engagement data for Mason for 2012, and while further reports will be issued by beginning of spring semester, from our peerless Office of Institutional Assessment, some preliminary results are worth attention. NSSE is a national survey that asks students to reflect on learning activities that relate to student success. ...
University Life
Recently, the President decided to shift the reporting status of University Life to the Provost. The move did not reflect a sense of huge problems to be solved. Rather it reflected a desire to improve further what is already a fairly constructive coordination of academic and co-curricular efforts in dealing with students. For my part ...
Mason’s Forum on Higher Education
The Forum has come and gone. This is not a formal or detailed review (though it will be a bit longer than my usual blog). The presentations and conversations were lively – it was even better than I’d expected in that regard. Attendance was terrific, over two days overlapping into weekend, which was in itself ...
Mason’s Higher Education Forum
On November 2-3, Mason will host a mix of outside and internal presenters on key topics concerning the future of higher education. The audience will be largely Mason faculty, staff, students and friends, but we’ll have some visitors here as well. The purpose is at once to further conversations about vital higher education issues in ...
Grade Early, Grade Often
This is the time of year when faculty in many types of courses need to be sure they have developed a basis for early assessment of students so that, where problems exist, they can be conveyed to students directly and to relevant advisors with enough time to do something to remedy. My own experience after ...
Recent Posts
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Changing the World
This is an adaptation of some brief graduation remarks I recently offered,...
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Good Things
Ends of semester are always a bit tense, particularly in the spring....
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When It's Time to Leave Academic Administration
What follows involves a delicate topic, probably insufficiently discussed because of its...
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