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How Non-Tenure-Track Faculty and Student Activists Can Support and Protect Each Other

Jan 29, 2021
Jordan
Harper

Student activists and non-tenure-track faculty (also referred to as adjunct or contingent faculty) offer much to the transformation and functionality of their colleges and universities. However, both groups are often unprotected and disregarded on their campuses. In the current context of uncertainty and rapid change caused by the COVID-19 pandemic and its economic fallout—which continue to disproportionately affect minoritized and marginalized populations—these two groups have a unique and urgent opportunity to join together and support, advocate, and shield each other as they demand attention and action from their institutions and higher education more broadly.

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The Dangers of Teaching Whitewashed American History

Jan 21, 2021
Michael
R.
Wenger

The announcements last fall that several colleges and universities had begun to cancel diversity, equity, and inclusion programs represented a dangerous capitulation to efforts to further embed “whitewashed” American history into our public school curricula. If colleges and universities are to advance to the “more perfect Union” envisioned in the Preamble to the US Constitution, a truly patriotic education must include all aspects of our history—the parts that make us proud to be Americans, and the parts that may be difficult to acknowledge.

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An Accreditor’s View of Assessment from the Accrediting Commission for Community and Junior Colleges

Jan 21, 2021

This discussion with Stephanie Droker from the Accrediting Commission for Community and Junior Colleges is the last in a series of brief video interviews with leaders of the seven regional accrediting bodies in US higher education. To get an accreditor’s view of assessment, we asked each leader what they have been hearing and thinking about during the pandemic related to two critical areas: the campus climate toward assessment at their member institutions and what expectations the accreditors have for useful evidence of student learning.

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Recognizing and Supporting Diverse International Students

Jan 15, 2021
Anne
Campbell
Emelye
Neff

International students often have fewer opportunities to find a community of peers at their college or university and may face unique expectations and pressures from their families or home communities, from their institutions or scholarship funders, or from themselves. We urge faculty and advisors to conduct regular and individualized outreach to support these students.

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An Accreditor’s View of Assessment from the WASC Senior College and University Commission

Jan 8, 2021

This discussion with Jamienne S. Studley from the WASC Senior College and University Commission is the sixth in a series of brief video interviews with leaders of the seven regional accrediting bodies in US higher education. To get an accreditor’s view of assessment, we asked each leader what they have been hearing and thinking about during the pandemic related to two critical areas: the campus climate toward assessment at their member institutions and what expectations the accreditors have for useful evidence of student learning.

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Twelve Online Educators Share Advice and Encouragement

Jan 7, 2021
Matthea
Marquart
Krystal
Folk

Over the last year, educators across the country have been adjusting to teaching online or in hybrid form due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Before last spring, most college faculty had never taught online, and they are learning the skills the new learning format requires. Below, our colleagues in the Columbia University Schools of Social Work, Professional Studies, and Public Health, who have each worked on at least twenty online courses, share their thoughts, advice, and encouragement as we look forward to the spring semester.

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