English Chair Resigns (rumor) - USM Forum -- Message Board

Date: Aug 3, 2004

RE: RE: English Chair Resigns (rumor)

Date: Aug 3, 2004

quote:
Originally posted by: stinky cheese man
"i'm not sure it didn't deal with more than Pood. maybe Angela realized that once Hudson resigned the english department didn't have a lot of support at the provost's level. put bluntly, english is having a hard time dealing with a new dean after 20 years of the former dean. change is difficult. "

Within the next two weeks (give or take a week) SFT will name a interim provost. Given that that Angela "may" have resigned due to the reason(s) stinky cheese man mentioned,..... is this an indication that Pood will "not" be the next provost?

Date: Aug 3, 2004

quote:
Originally posted by: stinky cheese man
"to lights etc.-- why do some believe that some departments here are greater than USM (aka english) while others aren't? i'm not sure some know the other department's reputations well enough to make such a claim. "

stinky etc.,

You are right: perhaps some do not know the reputational ratings of USM disciplines outside of their own. But I do - at least I knew the reputational ratings of many of USM's doctoral-granting departments at the time I arrived. The U.S. News rankings are, of course, virtually worthless. But the National Research Council's data-collection method is impressive (not impressive for my particular department, but I came anyway). I found it odd that lots of people here viewed our department as one of the top dogs, locally and nationally. But I knew otherwise. At that time we were actually close to the bottom of the NRC's rankings. It really upset me when I heard students and prospective students say that they had been told we were number one. I asked where they heard that; but I'll not post that information here. In any case, I didn't think such a representation even approached truth-in-packaging. The NRC ratings are conducted every ten years. I would imagine that it is approaching time for a new NRC report. I look forward to seeing it. Then we will know what, if any, changes have occurred at USM. I would imagine most USM administrators have a copy of the old NRC report (a very thick document). At least they should have it.

Date: Aug 3, 2004

lights--a good post. the NRC report. yes, better than USNWR. the NRC assessment is going through a lot of changes, hopefully for the better. we'll see where depts stand, but we still have to deal with the limitations of the NRC ratings. how many people, however, when they point to english, are using the old rankings? i've got a hunch not many. there's a lot of halo effect that exists. i'll say for the last time (yawn--i'm getting sleepy and will probably go to bed) other departments have a reputation in their discipline greater than USM. if you don't know the discipline and how depts are viewed, then you really can't make such a judgment. i've always said, give english their due--just give other depts their due as well.

Date: Aug 3, 2004

I can tell you don't like the US news rankings, but I am going to ask about them anyways. Back when I started at USM, I seem to remember that they were listed in 5 graduate programs...I am going to attempt to remember them: English, Music, Nursing, Polymer...and something else, but it is escaping me. I looked through the mag yesterday and couldn't find USM anywhere, even polymer. Does anybody else remember this?

I know academics don't care much for this ranking, but I promise you, non-academics take these ranks as gospel truth and that spills into perspective students. I know many grad students to be that exclusively use these rankings (I'm am not saying that is a good idea, but people do use this ranking...I think mainly because it is the only easily available ranking...try to find the NRC rankings on the web).

Date: Aug 3, 2004

quote:

Originally posted by: asdf
"I can tell you don't like the US news rankings, but I am going to ask about them anyways."

Quite a few of the most outstanding departments in my discipline simply refuse to provide the data for the US news rankings. I haven't even viewed them recently. Maybe somebody else can respond to your specific questions.

Date: Aug 3, 2004

quote:
Originally posted by: online jock
"Maybe Ken Malone."

Look out, the job snowball

may soon become an avalanche Buried In Snow

.

Date: Aug 3, 2004

quote:
Originally posted by: stinky cheese man
"put bluntly, english is having a hard time dealing with a new dean after 20 years of the former dean. change is difficult. "

If English is having a hard time, then I can only imagine how History is coping. There was a longstanding perception that they were a favored child in the old CLA.

Date: Aug 4, 2004

If fame is measured in terms of recruiting the best students - undergrad and grad, then USM is famous in English, Drama, Music, History, Arts, and Oceanography. Probably some others I should be thinking about, but those at a minimum.

On the other topic, individual stars can absolutely put a department on the map, and that can lead to a famous department. A famous department usually has either a critical mass of talent in a general area, or a level of esprit d'corps that draws national attention. Example - a group attends a national meeting together; they enjoy each other's company and those of colleagues and present excellent papers. A couple of years of that and your reputation can rise very quickly.

Date: Aug 4, 2004

quote:

Originally posted by: View from a Distance
"If fame is measured in terms of recruiting the best students - undergrad and grad, then USM is famous in English, Drama, Music, History, Arts, and Oceanography."

I don't think this is a very good index of fame. But now that you bring it up, just what are the average GRE scores in each of the academic departments at USM? GRE scores are not a good index of "best students," perhaps, but it is at least a quantitative rather than judgmental index. Most universities I know of compute the average GRE scores by department, and those averages are made available to the faculty in one form or another. The professional associations in some disciplines actually compile and pubish those scores and make them available to prospective students. I have not seen the USM GRE scores recently, but I did see a complilation of USM's scores by discipline recently, but I did see them in the past. As I recall, the highest ones were not the disciplines you cite.

Date: Aug 4, 2004

Change is not difficult, but chaos is.

quote:
Originally posted by: stinky cheese man
"i'm not sure it didn't deal with more than Pood. maybe Angela realized that once Hudson resigned the english department didn't have a lot of support at the provost's level. put bluntly, english is having a hard time dealing with a new dean after 20 years of the former dean. change is difficult. "

Date: Aug 4, 2004

quote:
Originally posted by: noel polk
"Change is not difficult, but chaos is."

I hope Mr. Wonderful notes the quote.

I might add that some managers seem to think that chaos is synonymous with change and/or that chaos is the easiest way to make change happen.

Of course, a little chaos isn't necessarily a bad thing. But a lot of chaos is utterly counterproductive.