Sep 27, 2021

Academic freedom and disciplinary authority

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Here is a case: Another unit at the University has invited someone to be a guest speaker at a public event. The speaker happened to be in on...
Sep 20, 2021

Cooler winds sweep through Central Valley

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Every summer, the Valley restarts its probation period. ‘Can you withstand the heat?,’ - it asks, and then again – ‘Are you sure? How about ...
Sep 9, 2021

When reasonable people disagree they don't get mad at each other

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Here is another interesting tidbit from our internal debate on COVID contact disclosure. Someone from the other side of the university prese...
Sep 7, 2021

The ethics of COVID disclosure and the unlikely events

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Let’s say a student in your class tells you he has tested positive for COVID-19. The first steps are obvious: please stop coming to class, i...
Aug 28, 2021

Nostalgia is a poor guide to the post-COVID future

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Some people want to get back to the happy times where students were buzzing around the campus, faculty had passionate debates in person, whe...
Aug 13, 2021

Modality and morality or Do not go back to normal if it was abnormal

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There we go again. I felt smug about figuring out a perfect solution, only to realize it does not work in real life. In ASL, facial expressi...
Aug 9, 2021

From the dictatorship of tests to a new educator preparation framework

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It took a global pandemic to start undoing the damage done by the regime of teacher preparation that can be describes as over-under-regulati...
Aug 3, 2021

Can a university stop planning?

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One of the most basic assumptions of all management is that one has to plan. One of the key functions of management is the ability to predic...
Jul 20, 2021

Life, dignity, and the vaccine

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Yearning for respect fuels irrational thinking. Someone propelling an “alternative” reality is simply telling us: “my opinion is just as val...
Jun 13, 2021

My so-called one-armed life

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On Wednesday, I was starting my short pathetic jog with the dog, tripped over nothing, cracked my arm, and sprained both wrists. “Happens a ...
Jun 8, 2021

Relation-Centered Education Network conference

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Last weekend and on Monday, I spent some 30 hours on Zoom, attending the first full conference of the relation-centered education network ( ...
May 31, 2021

Everyone has a trigger

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We all can be triggered into experience an involuntary emotion. This is not about particularly fragile or very traumatized people. If you d...
May 24, 2021

Imagining the end of the pandemic

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The ability to imagine is the most useful feature of human mind. It has limitations, too. For example, many of us are having hard time visua...
May 10, 2021

Do not judge a movement by its fringe

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Any social movement, progressive or conservative, national or liberatory, has its excesses. They all develop a fringe that takes things too ...
May 3, 2021

And here is what I’ve learned about life so far

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The highway called life is crowded, filled with small and smallish things, with accidents, happenings, talks, decisions, encounters - the me...
Apr 24, 2021

Does intent matter?

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At least three times in the recent weeks I heard something to the effect that your intent does not matter, and the effect of your words or a...
Apr 18, 2021

The cost of hygiene theater

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In at least two different meetings last week, we discussed campus reopening and safety measures. The question is: should we follow the best ...
Mar 29, 2021

We all are conservatives sometimes

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We have much to preserve. The California State University system is an enormously valuable public investment. Despite its faults, the system...
Mar 22, 2021

Perfectionists and slackers in academia

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Academia rewards perfectionism, until it does not. Grad school instills in us an internal auditor, an ethical control mechanism against slak...
Mar 15, 2021

Why some of the most useful technologies are not adopted

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There is a whole theory of innovation diffusion, first put forward by Everett Rogers in 1962. We know – more or less – how innovations are a...
Mar 8, 2021

Crisis is a harsh but effective teacher

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It does not please me to say this, but evidence is undeniable. The pandemic taught us many things quickly. Instead of 5-10 % of faculty who ...
Mar 1, 2021

Ignoraphobia

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In Academia, knowing is the currency of the realm. Because of this pressure, some people develop an interesting anxiety that prevents them f...
Feb 15, 2021

Administrator as a prophet

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Administrators both predict the future and strive to shape it. That’s where our similarity with real prophets end: we experience no divine r...
Feb 8, 2021

Too much to manage

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Any organization wages a never-ending war against chaos. It commands an army of rules, forms, processes, and procedures to force the natural...
Feb 1, 2021

Seven strategies of successful online teaching

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Build relations intentionally. Intuitive ways of relationship-building do not work online, therefore you need to apply specific effort. Educ...
Jan 19, 2021

Hybrid as default: Imagining a post-COVID university

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The year of forced distant learning is revealing two contradictory ideas: One is that meaningful instruction in the online environment is po...
Jan 9, 2021

Trump syndrome or the assimilation bias

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One may not think much of Donald Trump, but he seems to be sincere. Sincerity even that of an error is a major part of his appeal. His case ...
Jan 4, 2021

The Deep State does exist, and we are better off for it

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It is not what Trump thinks, not a conspiracy of bureaucrats against him. This country has a cadre of civil servants for whom maintaining th...
Dec 21, 2020

Martial law, official poisoners, and hope

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Can’t think of anything other than the crazy, evil things in the news. Trump has been discussing martial law on Friday, willing to throw awa...
Dec 14, 2020

What does my signature mean? Or Why are universities so clunky?

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We have moved away from paper, thanks to COVID. However, just like before, I often wonder, what does my signature mean on this and that pape...
Dec 5, 2020

December in the Central Valley

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This land makes you wait for it: December, fall, my favorite season. Stand under a big ginkgo tree, squinting at the autumnal yellow sun; le...
Nov 23, 2020

It is time to shrink

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In a conversation with one of my chairs, I suddenly realized that the best thing I can do for her right now would be to take less of her tim...
Nov 9, 2020

American Education: The party of choice and the party of resources

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Betsy DeVos has been a staunch advocate of the “party of choice” in American education. It believes that giving parents choice will lead to ...
Nov 2, 2020

Depolarization of America

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Tomorrow night, or a few days later, half of this country will be celebrating, while the other half will be fuming. In close elections, turn...