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.