| Academic Advising by a Bot
Recently, while doing some Internet research on the curriculum of programs that might compete with ours, I found myself on a Web site that refers prospective students to a variety of online degree programs. I won't use its real name here, and will instead call it COLLEGEFORNOTHING.COM, but you've probably seen the services of entities like this when you use search engines. Since this was not what I was looking for, I closed the browser window, only to be offered the chance to chat about my educational and professional goals with a “live agent:" “Wait! A live agent is here to assist you with any questions you might have about online universities." I couldn't pass up the opportunity for free advice. Here is the full transcript of that conversation with the purportedly live agent, the epicene-named Morgan: .
School, municipal elections today
In the town of Vance, incumbent Councilwoman Alma Mazyck and former council member Freddie Bozard were elected without opposition, after the third candidate, Councilwoman Neivory Reaves, was disqualified for failing to return a required statement of economic interest. Also, in the Bamberg County town of Ehrhardt, no election will be necessary after former council member Sara Caldwell withdrew her candidacy. Incumbents William Edinger and Amy Cohn Lee were reelected without opposition.Although candidates for several school board seats have no opposition, their names are still on the ballot, along with the potential for write-ins.Uncontested school board candidates are Alice M. Pinkney, seat 4 of OCSD 3; Minnie L. Skinner, seat 6 of OCSD 3; Peggy James Tyler, seat 2 of OCSD 4; Paul Bidwell, seat 4 of OCSD 4 and Mary F.
A ‘Perplexing’ Tenure Decision
She has two children, one in middle school and one who is college age. Stryker says has begun sending her C.V. to institutions nationwide and anticipates having to move from southern Michigan in the near future. Todd Estes, a professor of history at Oakland, said that in the three years he's sat on the university's Faculty Review and Reappointment Committee and in his 11 years on campus, he's never quite seen a case like that of Stryker. “If a provost — seemingly without a shred of negative evidence turned up in the preceding reviews — may summarily dismiss a candidate who has cleared three rigorous reviews with unanimous support, then no candidate for tenure no matter how strong a record they had would be safe," he said. Moudgil, who was the chair of the biology department when Stryker was hired, could not be reached for comment regarding the situation.
Revered, reviled: a nation divided
SOEHARTO, the military strongman who dominated Indonesia for 32 years, has died in a Jakarta hospital, leaving a nation torn between revering and reviling its former president. One of the region's most influential and controversial figures, he died after his organs failed at 1.10pm yesterday after 21 days on life support in
Pertamina Hospital. His body will be flown to Solo for burial today in a family mausoleum. During his three weeks in hospital, debate raged over whether Soeharto and his family should be pursued for decades of human rights abuses and graft that reaped billions of dollars. Soon after the former president's death, President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, with Vice-President Jusuf Kalla alongside both close to tears expressed their condolences "on behalf of this country and Government" in a live television broadcast from the Presidential Palace.
Your turn: Hey Minnesota, teachers want to be educated too
Minnesotas Teacher Recruitment & Retention Crises, we discovered that more than half of Minnesotas superintendents are reporting an extreme shortage of science and math teachers. Rural school districts, already strapped with shrinking budgets and limited resources, are being hit hardest. Meanwhile, more than half of all Minnesota teachers change schools in their first five years. More than 15 percent leave the profession all together after their first year. This revolving door lowers the opportunity for the quality education Minnesota students deserve and puts districts in permanent hiring mode. Its clear that the states approach to recruiting and retaining new teachers isnt working. In our research we discovered a solution, and it comes from outstate Minnesota.
|
