If a person managed to finish his work--whether it was research, teaching, or service--on time and in the correct format, he would have a huge competitive advantage over many of his peers. Procrastination is not always bad: Sometimes the work one puts off doing is better left undone. And sometimes the best ideas just come late. But perennially…

Everyone on the tenure track should get tenure. However, not everybody can get tenure everywhere. In fact, one of the main reasons why some educators fail to get tenure is that they are fighting the wrong war on the wrong battlefield, at an institution where they do not quite fit. One can only get tenure if only he or she is realistic in his or…

In every assistant professor there seems to lurk a Karate Kid seeking a Mr. Miyagi who will train his acolyte to be a skilled warrior in the art of research, teaching, and service and impart pithy life lessons along the way. Such singular folks exist. But it's far more likely that one will find several mentors who, while not well-versed in all…

University presses have largely abdicated the job of substantive editing to outside readers, who write reports evaluating the quality of the work and offering both major and minor editing suggestions. Editors develop a cadre of readers they know they can trust, who will be fair, rigorous, and prompt with their reports. The author particularly…

Back in the 1970s, when the author was an art professor at California State University at Northridge, he had a colleague who absolutely would not say anything about anybody that he would not say to that person's face. Marvin Harden, the African-American artist, originally came to Los Angeles in the late 1950s from segregated Austin, Texas, to play…

At North Dakota State University, only 10 of 156 full professors are female. This places the university near the bottom of the American Association of University Professors (AAUP)'s report ranking 1,445 institutions on the basis of what proportion of their tenured faculty members are female. At a time when recruiting women has become a top…

The University of Phoenix, once belittled as providing "McEducation" and branded a diploma mill, has garnered respect among higher education professionals. The school is attracting increasing numbers of adult students for its practical approach and 64 locations in 10 states and Puerto Rico, and is a financial success. The heavy use of…