Our University – Work and Job
Warning – There is a three-letter word below that might be offensive – a slang word used to describe a persons rear end – but sometimes you just have to call it what it is. I reflected recently on the…
Year 2009
Our University – Allegiance
In political organizations, the first allegiance for all employees is to the elected official for whom they work. For better or worse the elected official’s allegiance may be to party, to country, to ideology, or unfortunately in many cases, to…
Our University – The Fourth and Tenure
Independence of thought for a collected group of people and independence of thought for an individual are so tightly wound together that you cannot have one without the other. First, the case of our nation. The coercion exercised upon the…
Our University – The Power of the Hire
I recently had the opportunity to attend a reception in Chicago at the Museum of Contemporary Arts. It was an alumni event to celebrate the life and work of R. Buckminster Fuller. Fuller was a remarkable man by any…
Our University – Teaching and Research
Job prospects for graduating students are as challenging as anyone has seen in decades. There is scarcely a bright light to be found. In a rush to address this complex socioeconomic and political issue some universities might be led to…
Our University – Struggle
The struggles of a university are not the subject of these thoughts. That would be too easy. The struggles are many, not unique, frequently self-inflicted, and reflective of the environment. Universities are members of a family of similar institutions. The…
Our University- Reach
Reach is the ability of an institution; a family, a university, a seat of commerce, a government to generate impact beyond its home or geographic boundaries. Reach comes from quality. Quality comes from knowledge and insight. Knowledge and insight are…
Our University – Stimulus
The most powerful stimulus ever invented, used for good and evil since the beginning of time, and producing both astoundingly positive results and the greatest tragedies in human history, creating vast wealth and pervasive poverty, leading to fulfillment or failure,…
Our University – Ideologues and Pragmatists
In the tension between ideology and pragmatism, that delicate balance, lives the genius of leadership. Ideologues are often associated with narrow-mindedness and a small view of the world. People who hold strong views related to their faith are…
Faculty at Work
Our university has an excellent architecture program. Architecture students have ACT scores that are over two points higher than the university average. We are oversubscribed and turn away applicants. Bringing in more students than can be properly…
Our University – Entitlement
Entitlement is the state of being owed that which you have not earned. We see workers of all kinds, at every level, from classroom teachers to state and national political leaders who suffer from the notion that they are…
