Then and Now
Brown University began its life as the College of Rhode Island. In 1804, Nicholas Brown gave the college $5000 in order to endow two professorships, and in gratitude the Corporation renamed the college in his honor. This is, of course, all … [Continue reading] about The Naming of Brown University
A couple of months ago I published a letter in the New York Times sketching a different way forward for academic publishing. I have now published a more robust version of that argument in The Chronicle: Academic Publishing: Toward a New Model … [Continue reading] about Toward a New Model of Academic Publishing
How should we evaluate teaching in institutions of higher education? Despite the deep relevance of this question today, the truth is that we are only beginning to have that discussion and in many places, fitfully at best. A couple of years ago I … [Continue reading] about How to Evaluate University Teaching
...in 1793. For a research project (to be revealed in time) I have been looking at The Laws of Rhode-Island College (later renamed Brown University). It begins: No person shall be admitted into this College, unless upon examination by the … [Continue reading] about How to Get Into Brown University…
I recently published a short piece on the Sadducees in Bible Odyssey. It was fun to do, if for no other reason than it gave me an opportunity to stake out my (controversial) position on the origin of the Sadducees and Pharisees. One thing about … [Continue reading] about Pope Francis on the Sadducees