Kansas University Medical Center professor censured for unprofessional behavior

I don't suppose we could get a copy of that Power Point presentation? It sounds great actually, and much less dull than many I have sat through.

June 14, 2012 at 6:02 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )

Kansas Board of Regents needs new structure

For "best technical professionals," substitute "terrific faculty."
http://search.dilbert.com/comic/Brigh...

April 28, 2012 at 8:47 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )

Heard on the Hill: Professor who was denied tenure still attracting attention; search for KU medical school dean continuing; former philosophy prof to take over University of Maine system

Somewhere around here I've got my copy of the memo to all assistant professors of science and engineering that says: "$125,000 a year in annual direct costs or hit the road." What did Professor Romkes think he was getting himself into?

February 21, 2012 at 10:13 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )

Bill would allow guns on campus

Do I need a concealed firearm to be safe on the KU campus? Or would my money be better spent on a personal lightning rod? From what I remember, the number of KU students struck by lightning in the last 30 years is greater than the number who have been shot.

January 26, 2012 at 9:21 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )

Audit criticizes Kansas Bioscience Authority, leader

So Tom Thornton may be an operator. This is a job for an operator. The standard for success is how well the operator operates on your behalf.

January 24, 2012 at 2:43 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )

Taxpayers deserve better performance from higher ed system

So the management of a private business (perhaps a newspaper) decides they need to go in a different direction. They eliminate a number of jobs, and redistribute tasks among the remaining staff. Probably the laid off people think they should have kept their jobs, and somebody who was retained should have been laid off instead. The people who still have jobs may think that the new division of responsibilities isn't fair to them. But those are decisions the management can make.

A dean at A. University wishes some departments would go in a different direction. When a department chair retires, the dean chooses to bring in a person from outside as the new chair, to shake things up. But none of the existing tenured faculty can be dismissed. They liked things just the way they were, and push back against the new chair. Eventually, the dean folds over their constant complaints and ousts the new chair. But the chair is tenured too, and can stay indefinitely. The dean hires another chair externally, as well as an associate dean whose job it is to push people to increase their research funding. The same tenured professors who didn't like the chair now don't like the associate dean, and push back on everything he tries to change.

Should the regents of A. University look into and take sides on this? If so, should they listen to the dean's plans for the future, or to the grumpy old men who are the senior faculty? Or would that be not particularly helpful micromanagement in a system where tenure guarantees a situation with chronic friction because people don't agree on what the priorities should be, but nobody can lose their job for ignoring or undermining the goals of management?

Should one side or the other in this situation bring it to the attention of the local newspaper? It's the end of the world as we know it, for about five people, and for everybody else it's just business as usual in academia.

January 21, 2012 at 11:01 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )

Jayhawks must embrace ugliness

Well on the plus side:
The seats at the Galen Center are, it must be said, a lot more comfortable than the benches in Allen Fieldhouse.
The USC pep band was great.
USC charged the same price for tickets as they did for the rest of their home games, unlike UCLA's predatory pricing last year.
The PA announcer seemed to be having fun.
The forecast for Christmas is 77 and sunny.

December 23, 2011 at 10:01 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )

Leadership issues coming to light at KU Medical Center

As Sayre's Law has it, "Academic politics is the most vicious and bitter form of politics, because the stakes are so low." Demonizing the opposition is pivotal to winning, of course.

October 29, 2011 at 4:40 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )

KU publicly censures two faculty members in connection with plagiarism

I am plagiarizing these five well known stages of a project:

1. Euphoria and Excitement

2. Disenchantment

3. Search for the Guilty

4. Punishment of the Innocent

5. Reward for the Uninvolved

It sounds to me like in this case we have passed stage 4, and are only awaiting stage 5, when we see who gets promoted.

October 7, 2011 at 9:56 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )

Sprint says 'network capacity' issues from the return of KU students are the cause of delayed text messages, lost hours

It could be lots worse! You could find out that your cell phone doesn't float: http://www.latimes.com/features/home/...

August 24, 2011 at 7 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )