Longest-Serving Professor at Cornell Reflects on Journey Through Academia
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Re: Longest-Serving Professor at Cornell Reflects on Journey Through Academia
#2Interesting quote here:
> The university, although still of substantial size back then [50-60 years ago], operated in a bottom-up manner, Nerode told The Sun. "All the faculty in all departments met in the auditorium to decide the future of the university. It is now top-down, but that is also the case everywhere else," Nerode said.
I wonder, is this bottom-up (professor-led) vs top-down (administrator-led) shift a real thing felt by many old-time academics? It seems like this may be happening in a lot of different industries (e.g. medicine) and leading to "cost disease"[1].
[1]: https://slatestarcodex.com/2017/02/09/considerations-on-cost...
Re: Longest-Serving Professor at Cornell Reflects on Journey Through Academia
#3Interesting quote here: > The university, although still of substantial size back then [50-60 years ago], operated in a bottom-up manner, Nerode told The Sun. "All the faculty in all departments met in the auditorium to decide the future of the university. It is now top-down, but that is also the case everywhere else," Nerode said. I wonder, is this bottom-up (professor-led) vs top-down (administrator-led) shift a re…
When your university is pretty small, it looks more like a faculty and it is somewhat more common for the latter to be professor-led.
Re: Longest-Serving Professor at Cornell Reflects on Journey Through Academia
#4Interesting quote here: > The university, although still of substantial size back then [50-60 years ago], operated in a bottom-up manner, Nerode told The Sun. "All the faculty in all departments met in the auditorium to decide the future of the university. It is now top-down, but that is also the case everywhere else," Nerode said. I wonder, is this bottom-up (professor-led) vs top-down (administrator-led) shift a re…
I knew the former chief court reporter in our California county. He told me the judges used to run the court system, setting their own calendars, etc. The state changed this by creating positions for professional court administrators. I think sometime in the 1990's.
Re: Longest-Serving Professor at Cornell Reflects on Journey Through Academia
#5Interesting quote here: > The university, although still of substantial size back then [50-60 years ago], operated in a bottom-up manner, Nerode told The Sun. "All the faculty in all departments met in the auditorium to decide the future of the university. It is now top-down, but that is also the case everywhere else," Nerode said. I wonder, is this bottom-up (professor-led) vs top-down (administrator-led) shift a re…
When your university is pretty small, it looks more like a faculty and it is somewhat more common for the latter to be professor-led.
Can confirm. When I mentioned to my professor at a small university that the registrar's office made a mistake on my record, he just said let's talk a walk and we walked to the registrar's office. They were all polite to him (and he was to them). The issue that the registrar's office had told me could not be fixed right away because blah blah blah got fixed right away.
Re: Longest-Serving Professor at Cornell Reflects on Journey Through Academia
#6My academic grandfather.
Re: Longest-Serving Professor at Cornell Reflects on Journey Through Academia
#7Interesting quote here: > The university, although still of substantial size back then [50-60 years ago], operated in a bottom-up manner, Nerode told The Sun. "All the faculty in all departments met in the auditorium to decide the future of the university. It is now top-down, but that is also the case everywhere else," Nerode said. I wonder, is this bottom-up (professor-led) vs top-down (administrator-led) shift a re…
I've seen this play out in some heavily funded (mechanical engineering) organizations as well.
Some are incredibly top-heavy, with decisions being flipped from the experts to the administrative staff who have at most 3-5 years of experience at the company and industry, but often less.
The organizations that are self-funded from selling specialized products and not either government bids or wealthy backers are usually much more bottom-up organized.
Re: Longest-Serving Professor at Cornell Reflects on Journey Through Academia
#8Interesting quote here: > The university, although still of substantial size back then [50-60 years ago], operated in a bottom-up manner, Nerode told The Sun. "All the faculty in all departments met in the auditorium to decide the future of the university. It is now top-down, but that is also the case everywhere else," Nerode said. I wonder, is this bottom-up (professor-led) vs top-down (administrator-led) shift a re…
It would be smart for all professional people to not allow themselves to be managed by outsiders, top down or otherwise.
The current intellectual climate at today's US universities is one of near total ideological "purity"--the kind of purity Adolf Hitler and Stalin would be proud of, mind you.
I understand how academic people allowed it to happen. It has to do with being poor but proud. Collectivism is like a drug to these kinds of people because they just want to enjoy their research, live in a bubble, have no profit motive, and generally get along in life attempting to not offend others. They extrapolate that lifestyle like a template for all. After all, it works for them, why would anyone disagree? They crave consensus. Those who don't go along are cast out, but usually "gently" and with as little conflict as possible. Never mind that some of those cast out are destroyed by it, that isn't the concern of these elite minds. They judge who is unworthy.
Honestly, if you can't change a flat tire on your car yourself, how smart are you really?
Re: Longest-Serving Professor at Cornell Reflects on Journey Through Academia
#9"I learned how to acquire new subjects because I had to walk into class and pick up everything that the people had done before," Nerode told The Sun. ... Nerode remarked that "there was no such thing as an academic advisor for people going to college."
This is important. A fellow like Nerode could walk into any university and be fine, and his background is a major reason. Nowadays, universities are open to much wider swathes of the population, and these people need support services, or they'd fail out. Everyone who complains about the growth of the administrative hydrocephalus must consider this fact.
Re: Longest-Serving Professor at Cornell Reflects on Journey Through Academia
#10[deleted]