I have read thousands of course evaluations.  Some of the open-ended comments are very useful ("The reading on X really helped me understand what was going on") while others, aside from being useless, can be downright mean spirited ("This class sucks!").

In today's podcast, Meggin and I discuss ways to obtain valuable and useful feedback about your teaching.

In last week's podcast, we asked listeners to send in their questions about toxic situations they are dealing with and in today's podcast we address the issue of faculty meetings and graduate students that are snarky towards each other.



Meggin's upcoming events:

Why Be Wiped Out at Work  March 4 (but will be recorded)

Slights, Insults, and Unnecessary Comments March 24

Julie-Ann's creating boundaries event:

Creating Effective Boundaries: Do You Have a Moat With a Dragon or a Ditch With a Trickle Around Your Castle?  April 2-30

Last week, Meggin McIntosh and I began a series on how to deal with a toxic academic work environment.  This week, we discuss the impact of a toxic environment and a few strategies to help you thrive instead of survive.

Resources:
Meggin's "Antioxidants for for Toxic Academic Work Environments" teleseminar.

My "Your Boss is Not Your Mother" eWorkshop

To ask a question or comment: Visit Around The Academy blog and click on the "comment" link for the appropriate podcast.

Bullying in the academy has been receiving a lot of attention lately from those of us who often have to teach professors how to "play well with others."  Just last week, the POD (Professional and Organizational Development in Higher Education) listserv was alive with conversation about how to handle students who bully professors.

Both Meggin and I have had to deal with toxic work environments and so we decided that we should address this issue.  Today's podcast is the first in a series of podcasts on surviving the toxic academic environment.

Resources:
Dr. Gina J. Hiatt's article: Toxic Environments - 7 Steps to Change

Dr. Brian DesRoches book: Your Boss is Not Your Mother: Breaking Free From Emotional Politics to Achieve Independence and Success at Work

Meggin's Teleseminar:  Antioxidants for Toxic Academic Work Environments

Julie-Ann's E-Workshop: Your Boss is Not Your Mother

Congratulations!  You have been offered a job at Perfect University!  Now what??  How do you know that you are getting everything you are entitled to receive?  Low-balling in the first offer is not unusual and you don't want to start the job with a giant "S" for SUCKER emblazoned on your forehead.

In today's podcast, Meggin McIntosh and I discuss some issues to consider when you've been offered a position.

Resources:

36 Negotiable Items in an Academic Position

Questions to Ask Yourself Before Accepting a Job

Negotiating an Academic Job Offer (videos)

Interview season is in full swing in higher education.  Despite the reduction in jobs that are available, people are still be interviewed and being offered tenure track positions. My co-host, Meggin McIntosh and I thought we would give some tips on what to do or not do when candidates are being interviewed (we throw in some advice for search committee members, too).  The springboard for our conversation is an On Hiring blog posting by Gene C. Fant, Jr., There Are Some Stupid Questions, After All (posted January 27, 2009).

We could have gone on and on forever on this topic but we were limited by time constraints.  What about you?  Do you have any suggestions for candidates, too?

Two weeks ago, Meggin McIntosh and I discussed how to prepare for a job search despite the reduction in opportunities for tenure-track positions.  We wanted to follow up on that conversation by discussing how important it is to make sure your values--those things that are important to you--are at the forefront of your search (or, if you are on a search committee, finding a candidate that matches your department's values).

Article links:
Tips on How to Do a Values-Based Job Search by Nancy Archer-Martin from the January, 2009, Women in Higher Education Newsletter.

Grad Students Think Twice About Jobs in Academe by Audrey Williams June in the January 23, 2009 issue of Chronicle of Higher Education

Meggin's Suggested Reading:

CEO of Me: Creating a Life that Works in the Flexible Job Age by Ellen Ernst Kossek and Brenda A. Lautsch

In today's podcast, Meggin and I don't talk about any article in particular but we share how we think Mr. Obama's presidency will have an impact on higher education (especially for the children in my neighborhood).

First, I want to apologize for the delay in getting this podcast edited and uploaded.  It kind of got crazy at the office as I was trying to close the office down for the spring semester (the program was suspended by the university to save money).

The Los Angeles Times' January 1st edition reported that the big job fair for professors known as The Modern Language Association meeting suffered from a sizable drop in the number of positions available:

In this podcast, Meggin and I discuss the job prospects and then discuss some ways that job seekers can increase their chances of being gainfully employed.

We are back in the podcast business again!  In this podcast, I introduce my new co-host Dr. Meggin McIntosh

In today's podcast, Meggin and I discuss a "Head's Up" column from the December 19, 2008 edition of The Chronicle of Higher Education.  In E-Mails are Forever, Dean Gary A. Olson from Illinois State University discusses common errors that professors make when sending e-mails.

Meggin also recommended two books that she thinks we should read:



The No Asshole Rule by Robert Sutton is about building a civilized workplace (and surviving one that isn't).

Bit Literacy by Mark Hurst explains how to be productive despite email overload.

"There's much to remember when aging comes to the professoriate."

Jason and I talk about "Where Did I Put My 'Foucault'?" a Chronicle Review essay that examines what older professors should remember about getting older.

Dear Ms. Mentor:

Question: "Lucky you, you get the summers off," my nonacademic friends often say, not really joking. I don't tell them how much I worry about time and money, and I don't admit that every summer I think I'm a total fraud. Do I need time management? Image management? New friends?

Read rest of article (May 28th Online Careers Section)

In today's podcast, Jason and I talk about our adventures with summer To Do lists (and we make a couple of confessions, too!).

Right there on the front page of the May 16th edition of the Chronicle of Higher Education, was the article, The Lectures Are Recorded, So Why Go to Class?

In this lively discussion (because we're both feeling better), we ponder that very question.  We wonder what the purpose is of recording an entire semester's worth of lectures.

Listen and then illuminate us, please!

I've been hit by a sinus infection.  No fun.  But, when Jason asked me if I wanted to postpone, I decided to go ahead and give it the ol' college try. Isn't it funny?  When Jason was under the weather, he took care of himself and rested.  I didn't.  Is it just a "woman thing" to forge ahead?

In today's podcast, Jason and I discuss Tuition Rises as Spending on Instruction Slows from the May 9, 2008, Chronicle of Higher Education.

The report that the article discusses can be obtained as a PDF here.  It is worth taking a look at it, I think.

We are back after being away for a week.  Jason was under the weather and my laptop was getting a new fan so that it wouldn't sound like an airplane engine anymore.

This week's podcast focuses on two items from the Information Technology section of the May 2, 2008 edition of the Chronicle of Higher Education.

The first one is a "Linked In With" interview with Eszter Hargittai, an assistant professor in Northwestern University's sociology department.  Dr. Hargittai studies the technological fluency of students.  Even though it is a one column article, it stopped me dead in my assumptions about our students' technological know-how.

We explore the second item, Free Textbooks, An Online Company Tries a Controversial Publishing Model, within the framework of the information we gleaned from Dr. Hargittai's short interview.

As if The Chronicle had heard our comments last week about the biases against teaching institutions, in the April 25, 2008, edition, there is a First Person essay in the Careers section entitled, A Research Career at a Liberal-Arts College by Kristen Ghodsee.  Naturally, Jason and I continue our campaign to eradicate the small college stigma by discussing this article.

This week, we deviate a little from our normal format and actually discuss a topic from the Chronicle Forums.  In the forums, in the Nontenure Track subforum, King Ghidorah asked for suggestions on how to handle a situation where his office mate was making inappropriate comments.  You can click here to read the thread.

I wasn't sure what to title this podcast...so I didn't even attempt it.  Jason and I discuss two essays from the Career section of the Chronicle of Higher Education.

The first essay, Divvying Up the Raise Pool, is from the "Heads Up" series and was written by James H.S. McGegor.  It was published in the April 11, 2008 edition. The essay was fine until these two paragraphs:

Teaching, for example, is productive, especially if it is the kind of teaching that a research institution is meant to foster. Like a book or refereed article, the classroom is a means of disseminating knowledge. At a nonresearch institution, instructors take what they have learned from their teachers and pass it on to their students. As instructors age, the information circulated in their classrooms may lose currency.

At a research institution, on the other hand, instructors pass on the results of their own research. They also pass on to students an understanding of how knowledge in the field is created and judged, and offer a continually changing synopsis of the state of knowledge in their fields. Teaching can, and should, be a form of research publication, and it should be rewarded from that point of view.

While we applaud the assertion that teaching should be considered a form of research publication, we were both appalled by his statements made about professors at nonresearch institutions.

After the break, we talk about David D. Perlmutter's April 18th essay entitled Are You a Good Protege?  Since I am a professional mentor, we discuss our reaction to the essay and I point out important issues I believe were left out of the essay but need to be addressed.

I am back from my whirlwind speaking tour and getting back into my normal routine.  I had a great time seeing Jason in person (and his darling fiancee' Denise who is a perfect partner for him).  Jason, Denise, and our friend Diane were perfect hosts for my talk at Purdue North Central.  Thanks!

This week, Jason and I discuss an article from the New York Times' April 6, 2008, edition instead of the Chronicle.  In a New Generation of College Students, Many Opt for the Life Examined, Winnie Hu writes about how there is an upsurge in the number of students who decided to major in Philosophy. 

We loved one essay that we decided not to discuss: Trust Me, I'm a Doctor about the disparity between what people think we make as professors and the reality of what professors earn.  Read it.  You will laugh out loud in recognition.

The essay we decided to discuss is Goodbye to All That from the March 28, 2008 edition of the Chronicle of Higher Education (Careers Section).   The essay suggests that most dissertations really aren't book material.  Both Jason and I have been able to mine our dissertations for publishable stuff (well, actually, my pilot study was publishable), but we agree with Rachel Toor that the notion that all dissertations should be turned into books is really out of control and should be reconsidered.

Programming Note: I will be on a whirlwind campus speaking tour.  We may be late getting our next podcast out or may skip next week altogether.

On March 18th, The Chronicle sent a Daily Update that included the news that Philosophy Dept. Chair Howard M. Ducharme, Jr. was demoted because his dean wanted him to be in the office from 8:00 to 5:00.

In today's podcast, Jason and I discuss how much face time new professors should put in on campus and how important it is to "be seen."

Click here to read article

One of the most daunting tasks for any professor is creating the course syllabus.  In my work, I've seen syllabi that were scribbled on a sheet of paper  and photocopied on one of those grocery-store copiers (the ones that leave a grey background on every page) and syllabi that were almost as thick as the Vogue Magazine fall fashion issue. 

This is a topic that is near and dear to my heart because a great deal of my work in faculty development has been spent helping faculty with damage control issues that could have been prevented by policies outlined in the syllabus.

In today's podcast, Jason and I discuss two articles from the March 14th issue of The Chronicle of Higher Education:
The Syllabus Becomes a Repository of Legalese
and
Research Yields Tips on Crafting Better Syllabi

Remember when you were an undergraduate student and had a professor who was obviously burnt out?  Then, as a graduate student, you encountered the professor who was totally disengaged from the academy and everyone was just waiting for him to retire?

In this podcast conversation, Jason and I discuss Peter Seldin's Point of View essay, "'Tired' Professors Can Be Rejuvenated," from the March 7th issue of the Chronicle of Higher Education. 

We also give advise on how to make sure YOU don't become a "tired" professor, too!

A side note: After we finished recording the podcast, I realized that I didn't mention that one of the reasons mid-career and senior faculty members start to disengage from the academy is because they just plain old get tired of being told "Sorry, but that isn't possible because ______."  I know that I have disengaged from jobs when I feel like I kept running into a brick wall and wasn't allowed to pursue my goals!  Just something to keep in mind.

One of the questions I am asked most often is how do we prevent students from cheating.  Today, Jason and I discuss the use of Turn It In, the anti-plagiarizing giant.

The article, "Anti-Cheating Crusader Vexes Some Professors" is what sparked the conversation.

We also mentioned a companion article, Antiplagiarism Software Takes on the Honor Code.  I briefly mention article about scholarly journals' difficulties because scholars are also engaging in plagiarizing practices, History-Journal Editors Grapple With the Perils of Plagiarism.

This is not a topic that is going to go away any time soon!

On a much more uplifting note:
Women in Higher Education has published my article, "What If Cinderella Were a Professor?" in their March, 2008, edition.  You can currently find the article on the front page their website.

After Jason and I finished recording our last podcast, we continued to talk about the media and people's reaction to the Northern Illinois University shootings. These are articles that we had considered discussing in the podcast but the conversation didn't go in that direction (All from The Chronicle of Higher Education):

At Northern Illinois U., All the Preparation in the World Couldn't Prevent a Tragedy

Northern Illinois U. Had No System for Sending Emergency Messages to Cellphones

Louisiana Shootings Underscore Vulnerability of Open Campuses

Allowing More Guns on Campuses Is a Bad Idea, Administrators Argue (note the poignant comment at the end of the article)

Note that this is just "raw audio" between two friends that we decided that we'd include as a bonus podcast right before we ended our phone conversation.

In today's podcast, recorded February 20, 2008, Jason and I reflect upon the recent shootings at Northern Illinois University and Louisiana Tech.  We share our thoughts on Thomas H. Benton's essay, "Fearing Our Students," which was published in the Careers section of the Chronicle of Higher Education on December 14, 2007.

I have a confession: I'd rather scrub floors than grade papers. And, when I first started teaching college, my house would be spotless before I would sit down to tackle the stack of papers taunting me on my desk.

Today, Jason and I talk about a commentary, The Unbearable Importance of Grading, by Jay Parini from the February 15, 2008 edition of the Chronicle of Higher Education. Mr. Parini advocates using grading papers as a teaching opportunity.

During the podcast, Jason and I discuss using rubrics. Many professors dismiss rubrics because they are so widely used in K-12. However, smart professors see the value in using them. Here are some links for further exploration. Although many use examples from K-12, they are easily translated to college level assignments. Also, check with instructors in your Writing Program for assistance in creating rubrics. It is my understanding that most instructors in Writing and Composition Programs use rubrics.

http://school.discoveryeducation.com/schrockguide/assess.html

http://web.archive.org/web/20050401085518/http:/www.aahe.org/assessment/web.htm#Rubrics

Would you want to be an internet superstar?  In this podcast, Jason and I discuss professors being showcased on services such as You Tube and iTuneU.

Here are the links:

YouTube Professors: Scholars as Online Video Stars
Chronicle of Higher Education
Information Technology Section
by Jeffrey R. Young
January 25, 2008 edition

You Tube

Big Think

FORA.tv

After taking an almost two-month long leave of absence for winter break, Jason Curtis and I are back to our weekly conversations about news in higher education.

In today's podcast, we talk about how graduate school doesn't teach us how to be faculty members and how easy it is to get in over our heads as new professors.  We then talk about how hard it is to say "no" as a seasoned faculty member and how easy it is to get in over our heads.

Does it get any easier?  Yes.  But you'll still be busy.

Articles discussed today are from the February 1, 2008 issue of The Chronicle of Higher Education

The 24/7 Professor
What to do when home is just another word for the office
"The Academic Life" Series
By PIPER FOGG

and

FIRST PERSON
On-the-Job Training
Three newcomers to the tenure track begin the process of becoming professors
By ANDREW KEMP, SAMARA MADRID, and JOSEPH FLYNN

Jason and I discuss the following article from The Chronicle and what the report "To Read or Not to Read" from the NEA means for professors.

HOT TYPE

Americans Are Closing the Book on Reading, Study Finds

By JENNIFER HOWARD

Americans aren't just reading fewer books, but are reading less and less of everything, in any medium. That's the doleful conclusion of "To Read or Not to Read," a report released last week by the National Endowment for the Arts.

Subtitled "A Question of National Consequence," the report piles on the bad news delivered by "Reading at Risk," the NEA's 2004 warning about the nation's rapidly declining literacy....

Click here to read the rest of the article from the Nov. 30th issue of The Chronicle of Higher Education

Programming Note: The podcast will return in January after taking December off for Winter Break.

Are you on the tenure track?  Or, are you considered a "contingent faculty" member?  The statistics are scary: In 2005, 68% of the professoriate were NOT on the tenure track.  In today's podcast, Jason and I discuss an AAUO Online letter he received on October 22, 2007 from the American Association of University Professors in addition to a related article from the NY Times about the decline of the tenure track.

AAUP Online Snippet:
This message celebrates an anniversary: a year ago the AAUP adopted its most detailed and specific set of recommended institutional regulations governing part-time faculty positions. That action followed upon an extensive series of AAUP reports about the changing state of faculty appointments. The reports themselves, the first appearing in 1980, were written in response to thirty years of gradually increasing use of contingent faculty throughout American higher education.

In 1975, tenured and tenure-track faculty together constituted 57 percent of faculty nationwide. By 2005, the latest year for which figures are available, that combined group had been whittled down to merely 32 percent. Contingent faculty had meanwhile grown from 43 percent to 68 percent of the professoriate. You can help us raise awareness of these dramatic changes by printing out a bar graph recording them  and putting it on your office door. 

The term “contingent faculty� itself reflects our awareness that several groups of teachers—including part-timers, full-timers off the tenure-track, and graduate employees who teach well beyond the needs of their own training—endure overlapping forms of exploitation and present comparable risks to higher education. We have warned repeatedly that the excessive employment of faculty without job security would eventually undermine both academic freedom and shared governance. That time has arrived. When most faculty are at risk of summary dismissal, the freedom for faculty to speak forthrightly is diminished. And faculty control over the curriculum is also undercut.

AAUP Website: www.aaup.org

The New York Times article information:

Have you ever felt like an imposter?  Surprisingly, the majority of us have at one time or another in our professional career and is the primary theme of this episode.

Articles cited:

Your Not Fooling Anyone by John Gravois
The Faculty section, Chronicle of Higher Education, Nov. 9, 2007 issue

A Class Traitor in Academe by Thomas H. Benton
An Academic in America column, Careers Section, Chronicle of Higher Education, Nov. 9, 2007 issue

Should I Move On?
Ms. Mentor Column, Careers Section, Chronicle of Higher Education, Nov. 9, 2007 issue

This week's Fight Song

Until next time, we'll see you around the academy!

In this week's podcast, Jason and I discuss how much is too much when being revealing (of information).
"Between You and Me," by David D. Perlmutter
Chronicle Careers, Chronicle of Higher Education, November 2nd issue
http://chronicle.com/weekly/v54/i10/10c00201.htm

I then get worked up about the Point of View article by Daniel Grant and Jason calms me down and helps me see other perspectives.  See if you can hear, midway through this conversation, when my agitation suddenly disappeared.
"How Educated Must an Artist Be?" by Daniel Grant
Point of View, The Chronicle Review, Chronicle of Higher Education, November 2nd issue
http://chronicle.com/weekly/v54/i10/10b02401.htm

This week's fight song is courtesy of
http://fightmusic.com/

 In Podcast #14, Jason and I discuss two items--

"How am I doing?" From the Faculty section of the October 26, 2007 issue of The Chronicle of Higher Education.

http://chronicle.com/weekly/v54/i09/09a01001.htm

Animal-Rights Militants Vandalize UCLA Researcher's House

Chronicle Article: http://chronicle.com/daily/2007/10/548n.htm

UCLA information on vandalism: http://www.newsroom.ucla.edu/portal/ucla/targeted-ucla-scientist-speaks-40153.aspx

The Santa Ana winds (or Santana winds, depending upon your preference regarding the origination of the name) and the fires caused some excitement midway through this episode--I lost power for a few minutes.  But we regrouped and continued on with our discussion of Into the Unknown by Max Clio from the Careers section of The Chronicle's October 19th issue.

http://chronicle.com/weekly/v54/i08/08c00201.htm

For episode #12, Jason and I discuss the following articles:

From the New York Times:

"Student Editor Keeps His Job, But Is Warned About Ethics"
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/08/business/media/08college.html?ref=education

"On Education: Exploring Ways to Shorten the Ascent to a Ph.D."
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/03/education/03education.html?ex=1192593600&en=bc5e7f4acea94fcb&ei=5070


From the Chronicle of Higher Education:

Chronicle Careers-First Person: Too Many Bad Apples
http://chronicle.com/weekly/v54/i07/07c00101.htm

Chronicle Careers-Ms. Mentor: Don't Teach So Close to Me
http://chronicle.com/weekly/v54/i07/07c00301.htm

And the fight song of the week is courtesy of fightmusic.com
http://fightmusic.com/mp3/mwc/Colorado_State__CSU_Fight_Song.mp3

In today's show, I introduce my podcast co-host Jason Curtis, Associate Professor of Biology at Purdue, North Central.

We talk about the following articles from The Chronicle of Higher Education:

Our experiences and views of strategic planning as it relates to Vision for Excellence http://chronicle.com/subscribe/login?url=/weekly/v54/i06/06a02601.htm

and the related article Blue Sky
http://chronicle.com/weekly/v54/i06/06a02701.htm

We also talk about the perception people outside of the academy have of professor's work habits and 5 Reasons Politicians Hate Us
http://chronicle.com/weekly/v54/i06/06c00301.htm

And we talk a little bit about emergency notification in relation to After Virgina Tech, Campus Rush to Add Alert Systems
http://chronicle.com/weekly/v54/i06/06a00103.htm

The fight song of the week was obtained at
http://www.purdue.edu/Bands/news/scrapbook/aamb/HailPurdue.mp3

As often happens in Los Angeles, the show is on a short hiatus for retooling.  When we come back, I should have a co-host.

Today's podcast features two articles. 

The first article, University Fences in a Berkeley Protest and a New One Arises is from the New York Times September 13th edition.
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/13/education/13trees.html?_r=1&ref=education&oref=slogin

The second article is Second Thoughts About Second Life from the Careers  section of the September 14th edition of the Chronicle of Higher Education.
http://chronicle.com/jobs/news/2007/09/2007091401c/careers.html

The music played was The Big C and Hail to Cal Fan-Lights Out from the Berkeley Band website: http://www.calband.berkeley.edu/calband/media/calsongs/fight.html

and
Sons of Westwood (the UCLA version of The Big C) from College Fight Song Music: http://www.fightmusic.com/big10.html

And just for fun because I could hear the UCLA band practicing in the afternoons from my office:
<object width="425" height="350"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/hs23Vg-Od00"></param><param name="wmode" value="transparent"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/hs23Vg-Od00" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" width="425" height="350"></embed></object>

Today's Around The Academy Podcast focuses on the University of Southern California's Trojans Alert mass notification system.

Websites cited include:
Trojans Alert homepage: https://trojansalert.usc.edu

USC's Trojans Alert news release: http://www.usc.edu/uscnews/stories/14138.html

Los Angeles Times article College checklist: laptop, backpack, security plan http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-secure4sep04,1,5720052.story?ctrack=2&cset=true

E2Campus homepage: http://www.e2campus.com/

In Podcast #8, I highlight information about faculty from the recently published Chronicle of Higher Education Almanac (including, of course, full-time faculty salaries!).

http://chronicle.com/free/almanac/2007/

This week's podcast focuses on two articles from the August 17th edition of the Chronicle of Higher Education.

The first article is the Right to Romance
http://chronicle.com/weekly/v53/i50/50a00801.htm

The second article is an essay by Fred L. Pincus entitled "On the Other Side of the Podium"
http://chronicle.com/weekly/v53/i50/50b00701.htm

Today's podcast highlights three articles:

The first one is Ready for Our Close-Up by Jeffrey J. Williams from the July 27th issue of The Chronicle of Higher Education.
http://chronicle.com/weekly/v53/i47/47b00901.htm

The second and third articles are combined in one segment.  The second article is Why Millions Are Living Virtual Lives Online from Newsweek/MSNBC.com.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/19876812/site/newsweek/

The third article is The Death of a Virtual Campus from the July 13th issue of The Chronicle of Higher Education.
http://chronicle.com/weekly/v53/i45/45a02202.htm

This episode focuses on only one item: Gary Olson's article in the Head's Up Column of the July 13th edition of The Chronicle entitled "Let's Just Do Our Jobs."

http://chronicle.com/temp/email2.php?id=q4ByJswnqKrxzzcrYyncFM5HZMyh9DVq

Please see the shownotes at http://www.newprofessormentor.com/aroundtheacademy

Episode #2

In this episode, I discuss the UC Riverside cancellation of the commencement exercises due to threats.

I then talk about Murray Sperber's First Person essay in The Chronicle.  http://chronicle.com/weekly/v53/i42/42c00101.htm

Credential Creep is next http://chronicle.com/weekly/v53/i42/42a01001.htm

and finally
How Much is the Doggie in the Classroom
http://chronicle.com/weekly/v53/i39/39b00501.htm

Welcome to the first episode of Around the Academy! 

Today's episode features three topics:
Community Colleges
http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F20C16FE345B0C718EDDAD0894DF404482



How to Cut Cost of College Texts from the Christian Science Monitor
http://www.csmonitor.com/2007/0604/p15s01-legn.html

and

You Will Be Tested on This from the Chronicle of Higher Education
http://chronicle.com/weekly/v53/i40/40a01401.htm