Really interesting study of economic situation of students

The New York Times has an article along with an online interactive data set exploring the economic background and salary trend of students at a variety of schools. It buys hard into the fallacious connection that is all the rage these days that what you do in college is somehow the prime determinant of your …

University of Washington struggles with salary policy

Here’s an article about faculty at the University of Washington trying to work on a policy to address salary compression. We have salary compression at Guilford, to be sure, and we also have other issues, many of which are bigger and more pressing than theirs. One major parallel: I see writ large in UW’s proposed …

Trouble at the College of St. Rose

Here’s a Chronicle article: College of St. Rose Plans At Least a Dozen Layoffs And here’s the official message: Saint Rose Trustees Announce Changes in Academic Programs to Boost Enrollment and Reduce Deficit People may remember that Carolyn Stefanco was a finalist for the Guilford presidency. The College of St. Rose is about three times the …

Ayn Rand, BB&T, and Higher Education

Richie Zweigenhaft recommends this Inside Higher Ed article on an upcoming paper by Wake Forest business professor Douglas Beets studying BB&T’s grant program (which Guilford accepted) which requires the teaching of objectivist writer Ayn Rand’s work. Richie says: “I think some faculty and administrators might find this article, based on an article written by Douglas …

Alternate comparison groups for salaries

I’ve heard from several places on campus that we shouldn’t be comparing faculty salaries to AAUP IIB when we look at percentiles for faculty salaries. I think that’s a perfectly reasonable question to raise, although I’m not sure I agree. We want to compare ourselves to institutions like ours when we try to figure out where we are. …

Alternate administrative structures – Williams College

Anders Selhorst sent me the following as an e-mail, and I asked if I could post it here. He agreed. In light of the conversation yesterday, I think it might be helpful for faculty and College leadership to look at other models for our College administrative positions. There are other models that not only leverage …

Article on challenges faced by small colleges

Shared by Todd Clark to the cabinet, and I thought it would of interest to faculty. An article in the Chronicle about challenges faced by small colleges, and some of the strategies they’re using to adapt. Survival at Stake, by Lawrence Biemiller, March 2 2015 Chronicle of Higher Education If this link expires, I’ve got …