Archive for December, 2008

On Facebook beware of imitations

Published by
Dr Brady
December 19, 2008 in Admissions and Higher Ed. 0 Comments

This story was first forwarded to me by my brother and can be found at Squaredpeg.com which is a blog about higher ed recruitment. This afternoon the Chronicle of Higher Ed has picked up the story. Here is the gist of the story:

Company Created Official-Looking ‘Class of 2013’ Facebook Groups for Hundreds of Colleges

Anyone can create a Facebook group and make it appear to be something it’s not.

Brad J. Ward reminded admissions officials about that simple fact on Thursday after examining hundreds of “Class of 2013” groups that have popped up on the popular social-networking site. Typically, students who plan to enroll at a particular college create such groups to start communicating with their future classmates. Some colleges establish the groups or encourage admitted students to do so.

But Mr. Ward, coordinator for electronic communication in Butler University’s admissions office, found that dozens of the 2013 Facebook groups had been created — or were being maintained — by the same handful of people. Who were they?

On his blog, SquaredPeg.com, Mr. Ward wrote early this morning that, with the help of other admissions officials, he had traced several of the names to College Prowler, a Pittsburgh company that publishes student-written guidebooks about colleges and universities.

These folks are doing this so that they can eventually promote and advertise their own products and potentially others. Those in the group can still control the content, but it is a distasteful development. I usually prefer to allow students to create their own virtual community and I don’t believe that Prowler has yet created a group for the SHC Class of 2013, but I went ahead and created an “official” group.  Just search for “Schreyer Honors College, Penn State – Class of 2013″

This I Believe: In Honors

Published by
Dr Brady
December 17, 2008 in Honor and PSU. 0 Comments

Last week I recorded my essay for our local WPSU “This I Believe” program. It can be heard on Thursday 18 December 2008 at 5:45 pm OR right now online!

WPSU’s This I Believe

I Believe in Honor

Contributor: Christian Brady
Town: State College, PA
County: Centre County
Heard on NPR’s Weekend Edition on December 18, 2008

Listen to This I Believe

I can remember quite vividly a moment in the 5th grade when a classmate hit me, trying to start a fight. David P. was a good foot shorter than I was. He had to reach up to land a decent blow on my chin. My instinct was to hit back, but I remembered my father saying, “It takes a stronger man to take a punch than to give one.” I looked at David and said, “I’m not going to fight you,” and I walked away. The other boys standing around booed and hooted, but David didn’t follow me. In fact, from that day on, none of the boys ever bothered me again.

I was hardly Rosa Parks refusing to move to the back of the bus or Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. sitting at the lunch counter. Yet with this simple act, I learned a tremendous amount about myself and the true notion of honor: Know what is right and do it. Of course, I would not realize that lesson until much later in life. And many such moments go into building and developing our core convictions. It wasn’t until I became an academic and the dean of the Schreyer Honors College that I really thought about what “honor” means.

We hear the word honor so often and in so many contexts that it is easy to forget its meaning. “Honor” may mean acting in way our society considers noble by our society. It may mean, to be held in high esteem by others. In academia we speak of “honors” almost entirely in terms of the awards that a scholar acquires. Every year students graduate “with honors” in their chosen field. At Penn State Schreyer Honors College Scholars receive a medal that symbolizes their academic achievements. These honors are accolades, praise for exceptional work and prestigious awards.

I would be hypocritical if I said that I think this practice of recognition is wrong. I DO think that we in the academy are in danger of fostering the “win at all costs” environment we so often criticize. I remember, when I was a senior working on my undergraduate thesis, going to section of the library stacks. Two entire shelves of books–the very books I needed–were gone. It turns out a graduate student in our program had removed them, to make sure other students would not have access to them.

Honor can something a community considers worthy of esteem, or it may be awards for outstanding work. Honor is not success at any cost. In its simplest sense honor is knowing what is right and doing it. The challenge, of course, is knowing what is right. The very act of seeking out that knowledge is itself honorable. As I tell prospective honors students, we are not just looking for the “smartest guys in the room.” Instead, we are looking for the smartest people who want to use their intelligence to help other people in the room and especially those outside. This I believe.

 
icon for podpress  This I Believe: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

FERPA Fun! (What records can students and parents access?)

Published by
Dr Brady
December 10, 2008 in Higher Ed. 0 Comments

What can and cannot be released to people other than students (e.g., parents!) is detailed in a guideline referred to as “FERPA,” The Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act.  The short answer often given is that you can’t tell anyone but the student anything. The truth is there is more than can be disclosed but of course we want to err on the side of caution. In fact, “full access to their student’s academic record will be provided if the parent first provides proof of dependency.” Since most of our students’ parents submit a IRS Form 1040 for financial aid purposes those parents thus will have a right access their student’s records. You can find more information about Parents’ rights at the Registrar’s website.

More on the update to the FERPA guidelines can be found below:

Dec. 9, 2008  – InsideHigherEd.com

Rules Seek to Clarify FERPA

In an update of key federal privacy rules, http://edocket.access.gpo.gov/2008/E8-28864.htm the U.S. Education Department is trying to tell colleges what they can release about students, not just what they can’t release.

The rules — published in today’s Federal Register — update the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act, which generally bars the release of educational records by colleges without students’ permission.

…

But the law, known as FERPA, has taken on a life of its own. According to many experts, FERPA is cited regularly by colleges to avoid releasing information that’s not even covered by it. In the wake of the Virginia Tech killings, there has been renewed interest in clarifying what colleges and schools may release — and in many instances the new regulations appear to be reassuring colleges that FERPA only goes so far, and that they do have discretion to release certain kinds of records.

For example, the new regulations state explicitly that in the case of a health or safety emergency, a college can disclose information about students without their permission. While the rules require some justification for such release, they make clear that the protections on student privacy are not absolute.

Rather, the final rules say, the idea is to find “the right balance between student privacy and campus safety.” The rules specifically affirm the value of notification, noting with appreciation some responses to earlier drafts that thanked the department for seeing that notifying parents and others of certain situations may help protect the safety and health of all involved.

See full story at:  http://insidehighered.com/news/2008/12/09/ferpa

RSS SHC Stammtisch

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What I'm Doing...

  • It has been a great few days in New Orleans at the SBL conference. Met colleagues at Tulane to plan possible PLA trip in 2011 Home tomorrow 2 days ago
  • Just saw PSU's own Dr. Rubin at the conference. If you need a class take his Intro to Old Testamenr/ Hebrew Bible CAMS 110U 4 days ago
  • Visiting my old stomping grounds at Tulane. http://yfrog.com/3lottj 5 days ago
  • More updates...

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