In light of this recent Chronicle Vitae piece by Jonathan Rees, on the ethical dilemma posed by leaving a job, historian and blogger John Fea asks about the limits of faculty members' loyalty to their institutions. I started writing a response to his post, but one thought followed another until I'd written more than a "comment" should … Continue reading Loyalty
austerity
I, University
We are, like so many public institutions, in the midst of austerity. Some of it is up-front, such as the "voluntary departure" schemes encouraging staff and faculty to take themselves off the payroll for early retirement -- and leaving academic departments chronically understaffed. Much is coated with an icing of rhetoric about strategic planning or buried amid myriad … Continue reading I, University
Skills are not the answer: further thoughts on (not) selling history
[This continues an earlier post.] To pick up where I left off: Historians, history departments, and historical organizations are -- rightly -- worried about a decline in the study of history at the undergraduate level. There is no clear evidence for any one cause driving this decline, but a mixture of structural changes to the economy and … Continue reading Skills are not the answer: further thoughts on (not) selling history
memorious 