The University of Illinois has been bruised by its aired clout list, but it will recover. In fact, it will be a stronger institution for the focus this incident places on excellence and personal achievement as the measure of…
Trade unionism is an old concept and unions exist for very good reasons. In work environments where the safety of workers is tenuous and the motivation for profit is high, coal mines or steel mills for example, unions create an…
Any organization, public or private, for profit or not-for-profit, large or small, new or old, and governmental or non governmental, lives and dies based on a long view. This does not mean the short-term view is unimportant. The difference is…
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…
When I was seventeen, like many young men I wanted a cool, fast car. Many of my generation will remember the significance of a ‘55, ‘56, or ‘57 Chevy. There were other cars, but all where second fiddle to…
All universities have histories. Some aspects of those collected histories are powerful while some are minor nuances of institutional life. Look at the impact of the shootings at the University of Texas on August 1, 1966, at Kent State on…
There is a cloister of monks that makes wooden bowls from green, uncured lumber. The bowls are very beautiful but they immediately begin to crack as the wood dries out and shrinks as wood is prone to do. This is…
I know I am trouble already with that title, but hear me out. For all the discourse about universities being like businesses, they are not run in a business-like fashion. Great businesses run on the nexus of merit, productivity and…
The concept of “the Ivory Tower” is used in a negative sense when referring to universities to indicate a separation from reality and the practical concerns of the world. “Ivory Tower” first appears in the Song of Solomon 7:4, but…
In the study of architecture at any university there are always a few courses on professional practice. They are required by accrediting agencies, but that burden is of little consequence. Practitioners want the discipline to flourish; therefore standards of behavior…
Reverse transfer is the growing phenomenon of students leaving a four-year institution, like our university, and going to community colleges. This is called reverse transfer because; when community colleges were initially established the purpose was for technical training, adult education,…
For all of the bad news about Illinois politicians and their appointees, pay for play, rigged bidding and contract decision making, favoritism, patronage, back room dealing, sinecure, influence peddling, and plain old back scratching, I have become very fond of…
Diversity is a catalyst for strength. There is a great deal of discussion at our university, as there is on other campuses, about diversity and its importance to the campus culture. This dialog is usually viewed through the lens of…
Distinctiveness is the strength of any organization. True at any time, in any place, its importance is magnified when the competitive climate intensifies. We own geographic distinctiveness. The location above, the front steps of the recently renovated Morris Library, is…
As the eternal optimist, I have pondered the lessons available from watching the national response to the economic challenges that we face, and how some instruction or, should providence smile on us, some wisdom might be valuable for our university. …
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…
I have previously commented on the various ways that families can reduce the cost of attending university. In my own case, I attended a community college and completed my AAS degree earning 70 hours… almost all of which transferred to…
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…
