Weekly Links: The Highest Calling

• Totally interesting, you guys. Stanford is going to start gearing their humanities Ph.D.s toward teaching high school. It's also trying to get time-to-completion to five years. This kind of reform seems great for many reasons and for many students. But what if it becomes the next big thing?
• I've seen a lot of "how to be more productive" blog posts out there, and I think this is one of the good ones. 
• The University World News has been focusing a number of articles on the global flow of credentialed people. While China and Italy try to plug up years of brain drain, the Dutch are trying to get foreign grad students to stay and work. Germany wants to do the same, even though they've previously viewed catch and release as part of their aid mission. And others, like Russia, are trying to become education destinations.
• The plight of the overly-hyped public intellectual. We in America should be so lucky. 

Weekly Links!

• OMG you guys I hit the motherlode. Of dissertation resources, that is. The Online Ph.D. Program blog (which is actually about online Ph.D. programs) has put together a great list of their "Top 100 Thesis and Dissertation References on the Web." It's got everything from databases to workflow tools to writing communities. But please, as you delve in, make sure you don't end up meta-dissertating. 
• Need a little beach reading this summer? Here's a good list of newish books on the state of higher education.
• Worried about "administrative bloat" in the academy? Don't, says Matt Reed. (Or do, say some of the commenters).
• All the gloom and doom getting you down? This guy says the key to being a happy graduate student may be to stop complaining, think positive, and manage your expectations. What, you mean like people with real jobs?
• A new report finds that blacks and hispanics take out more loans for grad school than whites and Asians. This article should be read on two levels: first, as an important reminder that racialized class inequality persists through graduate school, and second, because the report apparently is baffled by why  this may be the case, and suggests it may have to do with differences in future salary expectations, while not even considering private access to resources. 

Summertime, and the living is eeeeeeeeasy.

Welp, we've pretty much reached the end of the semester, and I'm going to start easing into summer by easing up on the rate of Daily Links. I'm thinking Weekly Links. Not much happens in academia over the summer (or so its critics say) so you won't be missing much anyway. I hope you'll continue to come here for fascinating little tidbits from this strange, troubled, and lovely world of ours. 

Meanwhile, please enjoy today's Links.

• So, a 2009 Harvard dissertation has become an object of controversy lately. It claims that "Hispanics" may never get their IQ scores up, probably due to some genetic factors. All aspects of the affair, including the dissertation, the criticism, the press coverage, and the comment threads, are both disturbing and fascinating. 
• This is so meta. It's about how to be an academic blogger.
• Got any good ed tech ideas? Instructure (maker of our very own Canvas LMS), will pay you lots of money.  

To Market, to Market. Daily Links.

• Nice Morning Edition piece summarizing the market revolution in higher ed, as it's playing out in Texas.
• A new Florida U plans to do away with tenure altogether, replacing it with renewable contracts. (Obvi, not everyone's psyched. The comments section is pretty interesting). 
• A new U Penn report looks at the state and future of HBCUs, which have been attacked of late.
• A Brookings report tried to finally answer the "should everyone go to college" question once and for all. Judging from the response, they failed to convince everyone. 
• In other news, in the wake of the Boston Bombings, student visas have become the focus of Homeland Security  (even though neither suspect was on one). Unclear whether it'll make it harder to study here, but some worry that the issue might get dragged into larger immigration debates. 

Daily Links: International Edition

• Australia is (also) cutting dough for higher ed, and this writer worries about the health effects on the health of academics themselves.  
• From England, a young PhD student wonders why there aren't more black women in the humanities. She holds up UNC as a favorable example of diversity. Speaking of which, here's a spotlight on how CA is finding alternatives to affirmative action, as the practice seems threatened in the Supreme Court. 
• In Mali, scholars literally preserved knowledge by hiding away medieval manuscripts from those who would destroy them. 
• And is Virginia a foreign country? If you're trying to file a Freedom of Information Act request, it might as well be. A librarian's take on how a quietly important recent SCOTUS ruling might affect academic research. 

Daily Links: Sandel is a rock star; Support your local professor scene.

• First, go watch the amazing--I'm going to call it a trailer--for Harvard prof Michael Sandel's mooc version of his famous course on "Justice." (Part of me is so glad to see that ye olde pop lecture is still alive, and that edX hired some decent if somewhat dorky shooting and editing to make learning look cool. Another part of me is creeped out). Next, read this cogent yet passionate open letter to Sandel from the philosophy faculty of San Jose State, explaining why it would be unjust for them to submit their students to his online course. Third, read Sandel's response. It's not much, but I'm assuming his hands were somewhat tied. 
• This is really aimed at k-12 educators, but some compelling ideas here on using Pinterest for teaching, learning, and organizing projects.
• apropos of nothing, here's a good entry from Confessions of a Community College Dean, on how privilege means assuming your opinion matters. One of the things that makes Brown undergrads such a pleasure to work with is their precociousness, and this sheds light on where that may come from. 

Are We Not Apprentices?

• The Dissertation is just an apprenticeship in research, says one grad student. She offers a list of what seems like very sound advice. But I wonder: as the academic guild continues to give way to a 'creative industries' logic, are we still at liberty to consider our dissertations as merely embroidery samplers, or do we need to be thinking about their market value right off the bat?
• Amidst all the talk of alt-ac careers, someone finally took a poll. It reveals what we've been hearing around Brown: many grad students feel a lack of advisor support for non-faculty careers. 
• Meanwhile, here are three good arguments for pursuing a non-faculty career, especially in tech.
• Speaking of actual data, here's a rundown of the universities getting the most federal money.

Political Science and Technology, on today's Daily Links

Image totally ripped from Salon.com

• The Chronicle presents its annual roundup of higher ed technology innovators. (Don't worry, there's more than just moocs). 
• But if you really wanted to read more about moocs, how about this pretty infographic of the major players.
• The Politics of Political Science: The chairman of the U.S. House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology doesn't like the looks of some of those NSF projects.
• And oh yeah, the House of Representatives called, and they want your opinion on the Higher Education Act, which is up for renewal next year. You have until August to give them your best ideas. 

p.s. I've made a unilateral decision to write "mooc" in lowercase. It's such an ugly word to say, but it doesn't have to ugly up the page.

Thank Goodness It's the Future.

Here's to a pleasant and peaceful homestretch. A few cheerful links to bring you into the weekend.

• An absolutely lovely New Yorker piece on having become a graduate student. It's a refreshingly personal and contemplative response to the recent flurry of advice and opinions about the choice we all made.
• I've never had to say this before, but I've been having trouble sleeping lately. Apparently I'm not the only one. Grad Hacker has a slew of tips to get us zzzzzzing again.
• Or, if food cravings are your problem, there's a list for that too.
• U of Illinois is apparently hiring 500 new tenure track professors in the next few years. I guess I'll see you all at Urbana-Champaign!
• If you haven't checked it out already, 4Humanities is a wonderful coalition advocating for the humanities in public life. They've launched a big collaborative project to crowdsource public perceptions of the humanities and figure out a way forward. You can contribute here.

We're Kind of a Big Deal.

Image by Greg Jordan-Detamore / Herald

• They really love us. BDH poll finds "nearly half of faculty members would like to see the Graduate School as the University’s top-priority project in the coming years."
• In an alternate universe called Germany, they tried out tuition for a while, then decided it was a stupid idea.
• In the ongoing conversation about the value of graduate degrees, some "alt-ac" employees ("those of us in academic affairs, in student development and in offices of research and sponsored projects") add their perspective.
• The internet of things (kind of). Smithsonian signs deal to make digitized artifacts available to universities. No matter what your field is, the SI's probably got something for you. 
• Now GO OUTSIDE!!

It's the freakin week and I'm gonna have me some fun.

Image via Brown Daily Herald

• I thought about going to see the awesome Spring Weekend lineup, but then I just thought, naw, I'll just wait to read about it in the BDH.
• Remember when we used to talk about assessment? Well apparently faculty wring their hands about it all the time. Here's a useful guide to some of the challenges in assessing something as nebulous as academic quality.
• Everybody is trying to figure out how to keep tuition down and scholarships up. Here are three different strategies in the news today. High tuition/High aid at W+M, tuition freeze at Purdue, and per-course demand-based fees at CA community colleges.
• Higher ed in the postindustrial economy: A steel plant closes in Baltimore, and a community college tries to absorb the casualties, with mixed results. (Speaking of mixed, how'd ya like that metaphor?).
• Do you avoid using "I" in your academic writing? For this dissertator in Britain, the death of the author is greatly overrated. 
• And it just wouldn't be the Daily Links without something depressing from the job market front. In this issue, we see the problem with Government interference in health care and/or Government unwillingness to just cover everybody completely already.

What a long, strange trip it's been.

Hi everybody. The Secretary hopes everybody is safe and sound this mild Friday afternoon. I'm a little delayed in posting today's Daily Links because I slept till noon. I slept till noon because I didn't get to bed until 7 am. And I didn't get to bed until 7 am because I was caught swirling in a vortex of twitter, reddit, facebook, and news media websites, trying to figure out if missing Brown student Sunil Tripathi was one of the Boston bombers. HE IS NOT. But for a few hours last night, thanks to the strange echo chamber of scoop-hungry tech users that characterizes our modern-day "news event," even I was sure that he was. There was one reddit thread in particular that, even as an army of police continued to search for an armed and dangerous man on the loose, erupted in self-congratulations for putting together the pieces and solving the crime. But they were wrong.

Meanwhile, the manhunt continues, and large areas of Boston are either on lockdown. We know that many in the Brown grad student community either live in Boston or have close connections there. So, before getting on with the day, the Secretary and his elves just want to say we hope you and yours are okay, and that we see a speedy resolution to this whole mess.

• That said, all I could muster was another couple of links on MOOCs. Am I obsessed? Or could it be that everyone else is? Should we just start calling this feature the "Daily MOOC Report"? Today's developments: Amherst says "thanks but no thanks," bucking the trend. (The comments section is great on that one). And Brown launches its own MOOCS for high school students. NYT takes notice.
• Are you doing any teaching this summer? Grad Hacker's here to help you out.

Please, by all means, if you have any other interesting news pertinent to being a grad student, bring it on. Otherwise, just try to have a fun weekend. 

New Beginnings. On today's Daily Links.

• In NYC, a new model for a grad school is basically a startup incubator.
• This dude lives in a van so that he can afford grad school.
• NovoEd, the newest comer in the arMOOCgeddon says that unlike others, it will foster social interaction.
• Speaking of which, my students recently told me that they discuss class material on fb, and that I should accept their friend requests to join in on the conversation. I was hesitant, but now I'm excited to learn there's a way to do it without crossing all the lines. 
• And in case you hadn't heard, one of the Boston bombing victims was a graduate student. Meanwhile, colleges and universities contemplate heightening security for commencement. 

Another day, another Daily Links.

• All over the world, the Brown class of 2017 is getting the Big Envelope. Here they come!
• GET PUMPED! The National Digital Public Library is going live on April 18! 
• A math prof says STEMs should come to the defense of the embattled humanities because we're not so different after all. Seconded here, with an amendment: science is next.
• Several recent bits on politics in higher ed. In a much-publicized report, The Conservative National Association of Scholars slams Bowdoin for being unamerican. A somewhat less worried new book confirms faculty are left of center, but not that much, and it's okay. And a new scandal!: Liberal prof caught ranting on tape! (But he's not a prof, and that's what he's there to do). 

Rain, rain, go away . . .

 . . . come again another Daily Links!

• Oh no! It's raining Ph.D.s!* 
• Here's Obama's budget for higher ed, science, arts. Check out the winners and losers. 
• Ha ha ha ha sob sob sob
• BDH reports that RUE enrollment is down. Mostly it's about financial aid.
• Brown undergrad leadership contenders held their debate last night. Read all about it. 

*(By the way, I have an idea for what to do with all those extra Ph.D.s: Why don't we build a building, nay, a whole campus, where Ph.D.s can just kind of roam freely and talk to each other and do research, and to make money we can get people to pay them to teach their kids. Maybe we can even convince the government it's a public good, and they'll want in on the job creation. Brilliant! I'll call it: Phd Pharm). 

The numbers are in.

Here are your Daily Links, tidbits from around the web on issues pertinent to graduate students.

• The big news today seems to be that rates of international applications for U.S. grad schools are down. Way down in some cases.
• Have you been hearing a lot about "social entrepreneurship" at Brown recently? The Chronicle is on the case.
• Following up on that automated essay grading item from the other day, Inside Higher Ed's Jane Robbins has an interesting take.
• I feel like I shouldn't even honor this with a link, as I believe rankings to be way overrated (see what I did there?), but here they are, the newly released U.S. News and World Report's 2014 rankings for Social Sciences and Humanities graduate programs. Go ahead, you can look.  

And I'll finish things off with two quick event reminders:

• The Ivy Film Festival is back this week. Take advantage of it! 
• And, of course, hope to see you at GSC happy hour, this Thursday 7-9 at the English Cellar. Show up early for free drinks and apps, and then head over later to the RISD grad open studios. 

In the future, robots will grade papers.

In honor of TGIF, here's a tGIF. Check out today's super-interesting Daily Links, and then have a great weekend! 

• There's an interesting conversation going on about academic blogging (you know, verus just sticking to peer review journal articles).
• Two very different directions in how computing may aid teaching: Individualized, "adaptive learning," and automated paper grading. Very snazzy. What does this mean for the grad student labor market?
• Michigan enacts Right-to-work, and college instructors start getting paid on "merit." In the future, I guess we'll all have to actually start working hard.
• Did you ever wonder what public humanities was, and why it's important? Rhode Island's own Paula Krebs weighs in.
• The BDH continues to document, in so many ways, the way the wind blows. (And it blows in the direction of brains and business. Neurons and numbers. Grey matter and green matter). 

Daily Links for your mind and body.

Happy Wednesday everybody. 

• Congratulations to King and Clements, our two Brown/Wheaton Faculty Fellows!
• Rising number of science concentrators putting pressure on Brown's intro classes. What will this mean for graduate students? (That's not a rhetorical question. Lemme know in the comments).
• Elsewhere, a couple of Philosophy departments are actually growing. Totally interesting in light of this BDH op-ed.
• Woah. Did you guys know former Indiana governor Mitch Daniels is now president of Purdue? And according to this article, "skepticism has evolved into guarded optimism."
• Just a reminder that the U can read your email. 

Did you miss us?

Well, we decided to come back from Spring Break, after all. How about you? Lots to catch up on.

(NOT BROWN GRADUATE STUDENTS)

• Is Brown's Technology Ventures Office poised to make Providence the new Deoxyribonucleic Valley? (ProJo)
•  The U is also doing something for the community. This TRI-lab sounds great, and you can go to the launch on Wednesday.
• Here's a subject that seems to come up a lot. Breaking it to your advisor that you're potentially, I mean like maybe, perhaps, depending on how it shakes out, interested in potentially considering a job outside of the academy. (IHE)
• The Chronicle spotlights Brown's program to support minorities in the life sciences. (Sorry, it's subscription only, but why don't you have a CHE subscription yet? What? Groceries? Oh yeah).
• It's full, but get on the waiting list for President Paxson's Acedemy in Context appearance, just for us!

Links a la Humanities

Please find below your Daily Links:

• You guys, if you need anything from the Hay Library anytime in the next year, you need to tell them by April 5.
• Top colleges are failing to lure low-income students (NYT)
• Some tips on managing your online identity (even though you assumed you wouldn't have to do that kind of thing in academia) (GradHacker)
• In big decision, Supreme Court demonstrates they kind of get how knowledge works. And there was much rejoicing. (CHE, IHE)
• The humanities continues to try to justify its existence. Paxson seems to be on board. (Brown Alumni Mag)