Why Take a Detour...

...on the road from youth to career?

Another story about "alternatives" to college.  Those of us who toil in the fields of conventional academe don't much need to worry about direct competition here; our "product" and the one described here are not direct substitutes yet. But the ideologies, if you will, expressed and implied and strange-bed-fellowed here, should give us pause. Some snippets:

• "'It is like a university,' he told me, 'built by industry.'"
• "... many disadvantaged students are left at the mercy of unscrupulous degree mills"
• "Brookings Institution’s Hamilton Project, Harry J. Holzer of Georgetown University urges states to provide incentives to universities to steer students toward higher-wage occupations"
• "... the evidence so far suggests that online education may do better in giving low-income students a leg up if it is directly tied to work. And companies, rather than colleges, may be best suited to shape the curriculum."
• "It may not offer all the advantages of a liberal arts education, but it could offer a plausible path to young men and women who may not have the time, money or skill to make it through a four-year or even a two-year degree."
• "... an alternative approach to the 'four years and done' model of higher education, splitting it into chunks that students can take throughout their lives."

We need to do some hard thinking (and actual investigating) about what "all the advantages of a liberal arts education" really are. It is simply not sufficient to yabber on about "critical thinking" and to be complacently certain that producing graduates who are cultivated sort of like we are is the be all and end all.

And, too, it's not enough just to be against the "corporatization" or "vocation-alization" of higher education. We really do need to be rethinking curriculum in terms of the question "what kind of education will it turn out, say, 50 years from now to have been a good idea to get?" or "what education will really prepare a young person for the part of the 21st century that you and I won't be around for?" 

From the New York Times

ECONOMY
A Smart Way to Skip College in Pursuit of a Job
Udacity-AT&T ‘NanoDegree’ Offers an Entry-Level Approach to College

Could an online degree earned in six to 12 months bring a revolution to higher education?

This week, AT&T and Udacity, the online education company founded by the Stanford professor and former Google engineering whiz Sebastian Thrun, announced something meant to be very small: the “NanoDegree.”

At first blush, it doesn’t appear like much. For $200 a month, it is intended to teach anyone with a mastery of high school math the kind of basic programming skills needed to qualify for an entry-level position at AT&T as a data analyst, iOS applications designer or the like.

Yet this most basic of efforts may offer more than simply adding an online twist to vocational training. It may finally offer a reasonable shot at harnessing the web to provide effective schooling to the many young Americans for whom college has become a distant, unaffordable dream.

Intriguingly, it suggests that the best route to democratizing higher education may require taking it out of college.

“We are trying to widen the pipeline,” said Charlene Lake, an AT&T spokeswoman. “This is designed by business for the specific skills that are needed in business.”

Read more at NYT.com

A Model for "Career Preparation Across the Curriculum"

from AAC&U News...

Mapping a Path from Curriculum to Career: The Lynk Initiative at Mount Holyoke College

With the value of college increasingly being questioned as tuition continues to rise and the job market remains weak, how, asks Mount Holyoke College President Lynn Pasquerella, “do we articulate the value of a liberal education in a compelling way to those outside of the academy?” At Mount Holyoke, a liberal arts college for women in Massachusetts, the answer was to build a bridge between the liberal arts curriculum and students’ careers, and to create a comprehensive college-wide infrastructure to support that bridge.

The new initiative, known as Lynk, encourages students to start thinking early about connections between their academic work and career aspirations. It offers support—in the form of advising, mentorship, and funding—to help students complete internships, research projects, or other experiential learning opportunities that will allow them to demonstrate and reflect on the various applications of their studies in the liberal arts and sciences. “You are forced to ask questions of yourself,” says Tatum Lindsay, a recent graduate with a degree in gender studies. “How do I get where I want to go, who can mentor me, how do I identify the next step? When you have a community of people helping you with that and challenging you, [those steps] become much clearer, and it emerges what you’re passionate about.”

Involving the Whole Campus

The Lynk program comprises four stages: 

• goal setting, 
• professional development, 
• practical experience, and 
• “the launch”—a series of symposiums and presentations at which students showcase what they have learned and reflect on their next steps. 

During each stage, students work with teachers and mentors from across the entire college, including the faculty, the career development center, and the college’s three academic centers: the Miller Worley Center for the Environment, the Weissman Center for Leadership, and the McCulloch Center for Global Initiatives. Faculty and staff share advising roles and co-teach courses that prepare students to move out of the classroom into internships or other professional experiences. “We’ve created parallel structures so that Lynk is not any one department’s responsibility,” Pasquerella says.

Read More at AAC&U News

Higher Ed Positions in the Bay Area

from

Dean: Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences

Chabot-Las Positas Community College District

The Dean is a management position designated by the Board of Trustees of the Chabot-Las Positas Community College District. The incumbent is responsible for the satisfactory completion and/or coordination of the listed duties and responsibilities either directly or through administrative review. The incumbent is charged by the Board of Trustees with the satisfactory implementation of Board policy, District and College procedure as applicable to the position. In addition, the incumbent is expected to participate in the formulation of District and College policies by making appropriate recommendations for improvements or additions in policy or procedure through his or her reporting authority and/or by serving on College- and District-wide committees. 

Under general direction of the Vice President of Academic Services and through the process of shared governance, the Dean will administer the College program in the assigned instructional division. The incumbent will develop, direct, manage, and evaluate the curriculum and instruction, including the faculty and other personnel, and the facilities comprising that division. The Dean also provides administrative oversight of the college's Art Gallery, and Little Theater.

Location: Chabot College, 25555 Hesperian Blvd, Hayward, CA 94545
Pay Rate: $112,870 - $134,090/annual
Posting Date: 04-24-2014
Closing Date: 05-22-2014

Dean of Student Services, Student Support Programs

Chabot-Las Positas Community College District

The Dean of Student Services, Student Support Programs is a management position designated by the Board of Trustees of the Chabot-Las Positas Community College District. The Dean is responsible for the satisfactory completion and/or coordination of the listed duties and responsibilities either directly or through administrative review. The Dean is charged by the Board of Trustees with the satisfactory implementation of Board policy and District procedure as applicable to the position. In addition, the Dean is expected to participate in the formulation of District policies by making appropriate recommendations for improvements or additions in policy or procedure through his or her reporting authority and/or by serving on District-wide management councils.

Location: Las Positas College, 3000 Campus Hill Drive, Livermore, CA 94551
Pay Rate: $112,870 - $134,090/annual
Posting Date: 04-24-2014
Closing Date: 05-22-2014

Director - UCB Retirement Center (7399U), #17638

UC Berkeley - Main Campus

The University of California, Berkeley, is one of the world’s most iconic teaching and research institutions. Since 1868, Berkeley has fueled a perpetual renaissance, generating unparalleled intellectual, economic and social value in California, the United States and the world. Berkeley’s culture of openness, freedom and acceptance—academic and artistic, political and cultural—make it a very special place for students, faculty and staff.

Berkeley is committed to hiring and developing staff who want to work in a high performing culture that supports the outstanding work of our faculty and students. In deciding whether to apply for a staff position at Berkeley, candidates are strongly encouraged to consider the alignment of the Berkeley Workplace Culture with their potential for success at http://jobs.berkeley.edu/why-berkeley.html.

Executive Director, Institutional Research and Planning

Foothill-De Anza Community College District

The Foothill-De Anza Community College District is currently accepting applications for the management position above.

Reporting to the Vice Chancellor of Technology, the Executive Director of Institutional Research and Planning is responsible for providing leadership for institutional research throughout the district including the development, implementation and updating of the Institutional Research Master Plan. Plan, organize, design, coordinate, supervise and implement comprehensive institutional research and planning projects to provide information about the District’s organization functioning, its students and programs. Support and coordinate the development and maintenance of an institutional strategic planning process; plan, design and conduct research to meet compliance with state, federal, district and college requirements and accreditation standards; insure accuracy of state and federal reports on student outcomes. Establish effective working liaison with all District departments and divisions, providing assistance, which will enable the District to improve its effectiveness in meeting the educational needs of its students.

Required Documents: Resume
Number of Working Months: 12 Months
Salary: $120,080.13-$132,382.42 annually
Close Date: 6/4/14

Director of Development

Golden Gate University 

SUMMARY: The Director of Development is responsible for meeting the fundraising goals by securing major and leadership gifts (including campaign) for the assigned schools within the university. The Director of Development reports to the Vice President of University Advancement, and works closely with the Deans of assigned schools to provide direction and assistance with development activities.

Deadline Open until filled
Date Posted March 14, 2014
Salary Commensurate with experience

NYT 9/13 "New Metric for Colleges: Graduates’ Salaries"

PayScale.com ranks over 1000 institutions in terms of what their graduates earn and what kinds of jobs they get.

COMMON SENSE
New Metric for Colleges: Graduates’ Salaries
By JAMES B. STEWART
Published: September 13, 2013 

U.S. News & World Report released its eagerly anticipated annual rankings of universities and colleges this week, and two of the usual suspects — Princeton University and Williams College — came out on top. Prospective students and their parents can evaluate these institutions on a variety of measures deemed important by U.S. News.

What they won’t find is any way to assess what some consider the most important issue in this still-tough economy: How much can graduates of these schools expect to earn?

READ MORE