Wednesday, September 17, 2014
In comments to the previous post, references were made to the College of Education and its vote of no confidence in their dean. I have no idea what goes on in the College of Ed. However, what I do have is twenty-seven plus years of history here at UT. Please allow me a little story. Once Upon a Time there was a college of Arts and Sciences. and, if memory serves me correctly after two years of searching for a new dean, the search committee sent three names up to President Jacobs. He insisted a fourth name be added to the list. The Committee believed the fourth candidate was not suitable for the position. Of course you can guess who became the next dean of A & S. While a very nice person, he seemed in over his head. Then, similar to what Education has done, the Council of Arts and Sciences voted no confidence in the dean who was subsequently removed. An interim dean, from the outside, who had done little if any college teaching was named. In addition the President initiated the Arts and Sciences Roundtable led by an outside consultant, Robert Zemsky. There were over forty people involved from all walks of life. The summer and fall after the Roundtable, a report was written by a smaller group that discussed the future of Arts and Sciences. It took a long time and a lot of effort on the part of some faculty. The President recieved the report and then divided the College of Arts and Sciences into three separate entities (now four). That seems to have been his purpose all along and the rest of this was just for show. Given new leadership, I have no idea what path will be followed with the College of Education. It has long been my belief that if you have the right people almost any organizational structure will work; and, if you have the wrong people almost no orgranizational structure can save you. History has not been particularly kind to those faculty who have spoken out in the past. One other thing I do know is that faculty are good at talking but not so hot when it comes to taking action. Therefore, I conclude that things must be very difficult in the College of Ed. for them to have taken such an action.
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8 comments:
sounds of silence...DT may not be dead but his posts are
No, DT's posts are helpful and illuminating. They take time to digest and appreciate (sort of like a college education takes time to digest and appreciate). I believe he makes more sense than most any other blogger.
Low bar
But like all too many posters here he relies on opinion not based on fact or firsthand knowledge and experience, for example speculating on recent events in the College of Education when it would be more helpful to this blog to actually have someone from that college post. And frankly he posts information that can be easily found on UT News, AAUP updates or other public sources that anyone can access, and his posts are often incorrect and out of date. He often adds very little new information or insight -hence the dead posts
Posting attacks against individual posters who are actually trying to introduce topics or discuss a topic, while at the same time contributing nothing whatsoever to the blog except attacks, is more likely an attempt to kill the blog than anything else. It's always easy to wait for someone to write something on the blog and then jump all over them with your sarcasm and wit, and much harder to try and start or continue a productive discussion. Nothing destroys a blog faster than the feeding frenzy of trolls.
The Ed. College needs to deport the charlatan dean to the college where she holds tenure. Jake and mob generated ample damage, and their minions and toadies need to go away.
No, there are *many* posts here that spout unsubstantiated opinions and incorrect, out-of-date material. Seems what fluffs someone's dandruff about DT's posts are his observations on how many faculty are long on talk, short on action.
nothing destroys a blog faster then posts with no substance, interest or value to the reader
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