The author believes her professional life can be divided into two parts--being a building-level school librarian and being retired, noting that few librarians she has met planned to enter the profession, and like them, she was an accidental librarian. Though trained to be a high school English teacher, she was offered a job after college as a…

Dr. Gloria Ladson-Billings is the former Kellner Family Distinguished Professor of Urban Education in the Department of Curriculum and Instruction at the University of Wisconsin, Madison. She served as president of the American Educational Research Association (AERA) in 2005-2006. Dr. Ladson-Billings has contributed widely to the development of…

The "New England Journal of Higher Education" ("NEJHE") Executive Editor John O. Harney had the chance to catch up with Lasell College President Michael Alexander about the small Newton, Massachusetts, college's plans to challenge the higher education business model. The interview is presented in this article.

Teachers, higher education administrators and financial planners are well acquainted with the work of TIAA-CREF. The insurance and investment company has been a central player in teacher retirement and financial planning for nearly a century. Twelve years ago, the organization spawned the TIAA-CREF Institute, a research-focused arm that brings…

This article is a revised and abbreviated version of a session that the authors presented at the 25th annual Lilly Conference on College Teaching, November 19, 2005, in Oxford, Ohio. It arose from their joint conviction that while teaching is the greatest job in the world, teachers do not need to stay in it until death do them part. Beidler and…

In 2002, during yet another budget crisis produced in large measure by the state's tax-cutting mania, Massachusetts proposed a massive cut in the university's budget. Through an early retirement incentive, the state wanted to reduce the faculty by 10 percent. No one was prepared to fight back. Despite UMass Amherst's long history of activism, and…

"Culture Currents" presents the books, essays, poetry, performances, music, websites, and other cultural media influencing educational leaders. "Culture Currents" is a snapshot, a peek behind the scenes. It reveals what people are reading or seeing that may not be normally mentioned or cited in their academic work. Two leaders…

Something is wrong with tenure, and one needs to make it right. Abolishing it is not feasible, but it doesn't mean that one shouldn't at least consider changing some of the ways that tenure works. In this article, the author proposes that a better way to change tenure is to offer an implied contract of about 30 years. A 30-year contract would…

The concern that doctoral programs in the arts and sciences do not adequately prepare students for careers as faculty members is hardly a new one, but it has become urgent. Colleges and universities in United States are facing the impending retirement of large numbers of faculty members and need to replace them with qualified professionals, on or…

This article presents an interview with Amy Lum Fern, Hawai'i Department of Education teacher from 1933 to 1972. Amy Lum Fern was born in Honolulu in 1909. She received her early education at Central Grammar School and later attended McKinley High School. After graduating from McKinley in 1928, she entered the University of Hawai'i, where she…

This article presents an interview with Marion Frances Kaleleonalani McGregor Lee Loy who served as a teacher in the Hawai'i Department of Education from 1935 to 1974. Marion McGregor Lee Loy was born in 1911 in Honolulu. She attended Central Grammar and Lincoln Grammar schools before entering Kamehameha School for Girls in the ninth grade. Lee…

This article examines (1) the elimination of mandatory retirement in American higher education, (2) research related to retirement decisions of university faculty, and (3) the author's thoughts and feelings before and following retirement from academia. An interior monologue, stream-of-consciousness method is used to reflect the author's movement…

Laurence J. Capellas, teacher, principal, and administrator in the Hawai'i Department of Education from 1935 to 1977. Laurence J. Capellas was born in 1913 in Hakalau to two Hawai'i island school-teachers. After attending Hakalau School, St. Mary's School in Hilo, and St. Louis College in Honolulu, he went on to the University of Hawai'i Teachers…

Participants in a Wabash Center consultation on vocation discussed the variety of expectations, opportunities, and challenges that create contexts for teaching as they move through careers. These essays emerge from the experiences and reflections of four participants about different stages of careers in diverse contexts. Tom Massaro writes from…