teaching
NCAA on Boxill: “Cannot conclude she committed unethical conduct”
The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) has released its “Public Infractions Decision” regarding academic fraud at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. Over an 18-year period, some student athletes were steered towards phony “paper classes” that never met and were assigned work that was graded—if at all—by the department’s office manager, o..
Mini-Heap
Here’s the latest Mini-Heap: 10 recent items from the frequently updated Heap of Links, collected and numbered for your convenience. Feel free to discuss. (more…)
University of Hawai‘i Receives $1.35m Grant For Philosophy In Schools Program
The Uehiro Foundation on Ethics and Education, a Japanese non-profit educational organization, has awarded a $1.35 million grant to the University of Hawai‘i to further develop its Uehiro Academy for Philosophy and Ethics in Education (which was established with a 2012 grant from the foundation). (more…)
Converting One-Time Philosophy Students Into Repeat Enrollees
A philosophy professor writes:
Our department is thinking about ways we can convert students who take one class for accidental reasons (it fulfills a requirement or it fits a time slot) into students who take a few more classes. We’ve talked about a few strategies here, and I’ve looked around online a tiny bit for resources, but I thought this might be the sort o..
Originality and Failure in Philosophy
To what extent do philosophers’ quite understandable social needs and fears of failure compromise their capacity for originality? A lot, according to Costica Bradatan (Texas Tech), in his epistle to academic philosophers in the Los Angeles Review of Books, “Why We Fail and How.” (more…)
University of Central Missouri Loses Philosophy Program
Students at the University of Central Missouri will no longer be able to major in philosophy, according to the school’s news site, Muleskinner.
Philosophy in Schools: Continuing the Conversation (guest post by Myfanwy J. Williams)
The following is a guest post* by Myfanwy J. Williams, responding to last week’s post about claims made regarding the benefits of pre-college philosophy instruction. Dr. Williams is co-director of what she calls “a very small not-for-profit company,” which she is in the process of establishing with two fellow philosophers, John Foster and Faye Tucker (Second Though..
The Benefits of Pre-College Exposure to Philosophy: Data Needed
Occasionally philosophers make claims about the benefits of teaching elementary and high school students philosophy. (more…)
Mini-Heap
Here’s the latest Mini-Heap: 10 recent items from the frequently updated Heap of Links, collected and numbered for your convenience. (more…)
Mini-Heap
Here’s the latest Mini-Heap: 10 recent items from the frequently updated Heap of Links, collected and numbered for your convenience.
How To Use Recitation/Discussion Sections
Many college course have meetings of recitation or discussion sections in addition to the course lectures which are sometimes run by the professor, sometimes by teaching assistants. What goes on in the recitation is usually supposed to be different than the kind of thing that happens in the lecture; the small size of each recitation group, relative to the course’s w..
Hiring and Firing for the Sake of Rankings
To what lengths do departments and universities go to improve their rankings? In one case, a school is being accused of firing a number of its philosophy lecturers and using the funds to give contracts to professors elsewhere so they can have honorary appointments at the school to improve its research profile. (more…)
Philosophy PhD Program Ratings by Former Students, Placement Data, and Diversity Profiles
Academic Placement Data and Analysis (APDA), a project aimed at gathering placement and other data about graduate programs in philosophy, has created some tables presenting some of the information they’ve obtained. (more…)
Advice to Young Scholars from Anita Allen
Work on problems that really interest you. Cross train. Be competent in multiple disciplines and methods. Don’t be afraid to start draft/writing before you know all that there is to know. Publish well. Use social media cautiously. Don’t think you will be an exception to standard rules because of your race or color. A woman does not get tenure because she been a hard..
Mini-Heap
Here’s the latest Mini-Heap: 10 recent items from the frequently updated Heap of Links, collected and numbered for your convenience. (more…)
Mini-Heap
Here’s the latest Mini-Heap: 10 recent items from the frequently updated Heap of Links, collected and numbered for your convenience. (more…)
Revisiting “Grad Students: What Would You Tell Your Prof(s), But Can’t?”
About a year ago I asked, “Graduate students, what would you like to tell your professor(s) right now, but can’t?” (more…)
White Supremacists, Charlottesville, and the Philosophy Classroom
Racist violence has been a defining feature of the United States since its creation. One risk of focusing on highly visible instances of racist violence, such as the “Unite the Right” rally by white supremacists and neo-Nazis in Charlottesville, Virginia this past weekend, is to make it seem more exceptional and more recognizable—and more alien to ordinary America..
Mini-Heap
Once again, here’s the latest Mini-Heap: 10 recent items from the frequently updated Heap of Links, collected and numbered for your convenience. (more…)
Timothy Hall (1969-2017)
Timothy Hall, associate professor of philosophy at Oberlin College, unexpectedly died this past Sunday at the age of 48. (more…)
A Case For Co-Authorship In Philosophy (guest post by Joshua A. Miller and Eric Schliesser)
The following is a guest post* co-authored by Joshua A. Miller (Georgetown) and Eric Schliesser (Amsterdam). A version of it was previously published at both of their blogs: Miller’s Another Panacea and Schliesser’s Digressions & Impressions. It includes information about the frequency of co-authorship in different disciplines, discusses varieties of co-authorship a..
APA Releases Draft of “Good Practices Guide” for Comment (reposting)
The American Philosophical Association (APA) has published a 77-page document, the “Good Practices Guide.” While some parts of the guide overlap with the recently issued APA Code of Conduct, it is “not intended to play the same role in regulating the conduct of academic life.” Rather, the guide is
a set of recommendations based upon the accumulated experi..
Sierra Nevada Fires Philosopher In Apparent Retaliation – UPDATED
The administration at Sierra Nevada College (SNC), a private liberal arts college in Nevada, has fired an associate professor of philosophy in what appears to be retaliation for her public criticism of the administration’s handling of the school’s financial problems. (more…)
Should Philosophers Teach the Meaning of Life (and other Possibly Depressing Subjects)?
If there’s a question that comes to mind when people see the word “philosophy” it’s this: “what’s the meaning of life?” (more…)
Skepticism About Philosophy’s Capacity To Improve Thinking
Philosophy departments often include in their pitch to undergraduates the claim that studying philosophy can improve one’s thinking skills. But does it? (more…)
180 Seconds To Save Their Jobs
On June 6th, the Mills College administration and Board of Trustees announced plans to eliminate philosophy at Mills College and fire its two tenured philosophy professors, Marc Joseph and Jay Gupta. On Friday, the Board of Trustees offered each of them three minutes to provide testimony in defense of philosophy and their jobs. (more…)
Israeli Philosophy Community Calls For Rejection Of Proposed Ethics Code
Over 80 Israeli philosophers—the vast majority of the Israeli philosophical community—have issued a statement urging their government’s Council for Higher Education to reject a proposed academic ethics code. (more…)
Mini-Heap
Mini-Heap: recent items from the frequently updated Heap of Links, collected in groups of 10, here for your perusal and discussion. (more…)