Category Archives: EMUtalk.org News

Just wanted to give a shout-out to long time friend of the site, “Aging Hippie,” who I ran into today for the first time in what seems like months.  He reached into his pocket and handed me $20 toward the EMUTalk.org effort and I had it in my hand before I could even really say “that isn’t necessary.”

But hey, I decided a long time ago that if people want to give me money without me asking, who am I to say no?

In any event, thanks again for the support– I appreciate it, and I’m sure that all the folks reading this now appreciate it too.  And if anyone else wants to simply hand me money in support of EMUTalk.org, feel free!

Regular EMUTalk.org readers will notice that there’s been some changes around here in terms of layout and such.  A lot of this is technical and is based on my long belated update in the wordpress software that supports this site.  I will spare you the details because the details are technical, but I wanted to share with you some exciting (I hope) ways in which this layout and the newest version of wordpress will enhance the user experience here.  More details after the break and more changes are likely to be coming soon, but in brief:

• Some new and nifty sidebar features, like most popular posts in the last year (literally within the last 365 days)
• A map of where people are visiting the site from (and soon I’ll probably have some other user stats)
• A place for people to sponsor EMUTalk.org (more on that below)
• And, most exciting of all, an opportunity for the site to once again have multiple authors in the form of “contributors.”

Continue reading →

… I came across many things I thought about posting about here.  I don’t have the time nor the desire to make these all individual posts, but here’s just some of what I thought was pretty interesting EMUTalk-wise during the holiday break (in no particular order):

• Judge Mathis spoke at EMU graduation. Based on the AnnArbor.com story, it sounds like Greg Mathis had quite the risky youth….
• From Inside Higher Ed, “Second Opinion.” This article about auditing the books at the University of Main, sent to me by a loyal EMUTalk.org reader, has an interesting EMU connection, as this paragraph makes clear:

Administrators say we’re broke? That’s not what our accountant tells us. Such is the sentiment at the University of Maine, where a recently completed audit challenges the notion that the university is in dire straits and will have to cut positions. Drawing primarily upon audited financial statements, an Eastern Michigan University accounting professor issued a student- and faculty-commissioned report last week that found the Maine system’s unrestricted net assets grew to $84 million in 2009, up from about $50 million in 2005. The findings contradict administrators’ gloomy public statements about the fiscal situation at the system, according to Howard Bunsis, who wrote the report. The University of Southern Maine campus, which was given its own analysis in Bunsis’s audit, sustained a $2.7 million budget reduction last year, prompting controversial plans to cut German studies, among other measures.

• “Engaging Students with Engaging Tools” from EDCAUSE Quarterly is about using social media to teach– maybe more something I’m interested than EMU as a whole, but I’m trying to spread the word a bit….
• Alas, Mittenfest has come and gone.
• I’ve come across a new news/publishing outlet in the area, The Bohemian.
• Also from Inside Higher Ed and maybe something I’m more interested in than the EMU community is interested in:  “Hybrid Education 2.0,” which begins with the provocative sentence “What if you could teach a college course without a classroom or a professor, and lose nothing?”
• Go figure– Ypsilanti has a film office!

Okay, you’re all caught up.  Almost.

I’m installing a long overdue upgrade to the software around here, so there might be a few changes here and there.  Remain patient and calm….

I just posted something kind of like this on my own blog, so I thought I’d do the same here, a sort of “greatest hits” of posts from 2009– at least the most popular based on the number of comments and/or posts I liked and/or thought were important:

• “Faculty council wants info on athletics and Jan 2.”
• “WCC might buy WCC.”
• “Is the Pray-Harrold project turning into a train wreck?”
• “A Sign of the Times?”
• “Woman reports rape at EMU frat house.”
• “Ann Arbor News will close in July/going digital and bi-weekly.”
• “University to student: Endorse being ‘gay’ or leave.”
• “After-party stick-ups near and on campus”
• “Dear woman who rudely cut me off in the student center parking lot because “I have to go to work:””
• “Freeze my tuition– please!”
• “What about graduation rates and entrance standards at EMU?”
• “Voluntary Furlough” program announced
• The strange case of the BOR denying tenure
• “Why don’t colleges cut costs?”
• annarbor.com is “a pile of illiterate crap”
• Office Hours, TBA and by appointment
• Oakland U professors OK strike
• “Colleges Are Failing in Graduation Rates”
• “An Inside Look at College Costs”
• EMU Enrollment up 4.26 percent
• “Fix your danged stadium already No. 1: Eastern Michigan University”
• “An Open Letter Regarding the EMU Chief Government Relations Search”
• my.emich creates a “fail blog” worthy submission
• McKanders Leaving EMU in February

The post that received the most comments this year was the one about the student who was supposedly forced to endorse gayness, but I think the biggest news of the year was actually about the government relations search, which is a “developing story,” as the saying goes.

Anyway, Happy New Year!

After school today, sitedad and family will be off to an undisclosed location to visit family for Thanksgiving. My assumption is that we won’t be deep-frying a turkey. I have to say that I’ve always been kind of fascinated and tempted by the possibility, but watching videos like this one makes me think twice. Anyway, Happy Thanksgiving!