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Coaches make more money than the university president

Anyone who has worked at a college or university that plays high-level athletics knows the problems that come with athletics. One trend that has exploded in recent years is the dramatic growth in coaching salaries for head coaches and increasingly assistant coaches. The Chronicle of Higher Education recently released data on salaries derived from data submitted by institutional reporting to the internal revenue service. The Dallas Morning News wrote an nice article examining the issue and included my views on the problem.

Photo credit: Star-Telegram
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Post-tenure review: Latest Battlefront in Wisconsin

For several years now, Wisconsin has been the focal point in the fight between conservative politicians and higher education. Governor Scott Walker has systematically attacked higher education in Wisconsin resulting in increased accountability, decreased autonomy, and drastic cuts in state appropriations. Of particular note, Governor Walker and the state legislature passed legislation dramatically curtailing the long-held protection of tenure and academic freedom in the state. The flagship campus in Madison has been hit particularly hard by the controversies with other institutions trying to steal faculty and a significant decline in research expenditures. While many may have thought the policy changes were over in Wisconsin, a recent policy change by the Board of Regents will change post-tenure review renewing the concerns of faculty and higher education supporters.

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What are the types of academic publications?

Academic publishing represents one of the most significant aspects of the work of faculty members as well as graduate students. One’s success in academic publishing fundamentally determines one’s success in higher education. Publishing is vital for getting a faculty position and critical in the tenure decision. Unlike other aspects of faculty work such as teaching or service, the high stakes world of academic publishing is fraught with complications. What counts? How is one type of publication weighted compared to another? These questions are quite context-specific depending on your discipline, institution, and department. In today’s post, I want to help unpack academic publishing and research by exploring the question of what are the different types of academic publications.

Photo credit: Sam Churchill

Like the broader publishing world, academic publishing has changed dramatically in recent years. Universities have closed academic presses and the need to turn a profit, while always present, has grown exponentially more relevant to publishing decisions.

The ratcheting up of tenure expectations with institutional aspirations has led to journals and presses being inundated with mediocre manuscripts.

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Shopping ideas for the academic on your list

Tis the season for parties, eggnog, and Amazon deliveries. Black Friday has come and gone. Cyber Monday is dropping productivity across the country. In the season’s spirit, I want to share some great shopping ideas for the academic on your list. I’ve tried to include items from multiple price points and I think these are things that nearly any academic would like to find in their stocking.

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7 strategies to keep email from ruining your life

Few things can derail a day faster than email. One message with an urgent request can undo the best laid plans. It doesn’t take a big request to distract you for a day as email can be death by a thousand cuts. The distraction of email can slice your day up to such a degree that you barely get more than a few minutes to focus on one activity before an email interrupts you. However, there are steps you can take to keep email from ruining your life. In today’s post, I will share 7 steps that you can easily implement to get your email under control.

keep email from ruining your life

Photo credit: Sean MacEntee

Unfortunately, too often email runs our lives. We work out of our inbox and rarely close our email program during the day.

I want to suggest that there are ways to take control and keep email from ruining your life.  Many of these I frequently use and found it has dramatically helped me manage my email inbox.