More on Gee’s departure

Here’s the text of the Chancellor’s message to the Vanderbilt community:

July 11, 2007

Dear Colleagues,

Today, it is with mixed emotions that I have informed the Board of Trust and its Chairman, Mrs. Martha Ingram, of my intention to resign the Chancellorship of Vanderbilt on August 1 of this year. At that time, I will assume the Presidency of The Ohio State University. This was by far the most difficult professional decision that I have ever made. I want you to know that I am not leaving Vanderbilt. Rather, I am following my heart and returning to a place that I consider my home. My decision is that simple and that complex. Over the past several weeks, members of the University Board and the University family have done everything possible to make me feel valued and appreciated. I assure you that I do.

Vanderbilt is a magnificent university with a world-class faculty, remarkable students, devoted staff, and passionate alumni. It is blessed with an extraordinary group of senior leaders. Its future is boundless. It will continue its unprecedented trajectory to greatness. I assure you that I will give Vanderbilt my full measure of devotion until I assume my new duties. And, I will always take great pride in the achievements of the University and the friendships that I have made and will continue to cherish.

Gordon

Update (2:53 p.m.):

From The Cleveland Plain Dealer: Gordon Gee to return as OSU president

Update (3:08 p.m.):

Bloggers begin to weigh in: Richard Vedder, Gordon Gee: The Ultimate Presidential Vagabound [sic]

Music City Bloggers, Gee? Apparently it’s ‘haw’..Vandy’s Chancellor bolts for the Buckeyes

–Kurt Brobeck

Breaking news: Gee to leave Vanderbilt

From the Division of Public Affairs:

GEE TO STEP DOWN AS VANDERBILT CHANCELLOR

NASHVILLE, TN: Gordon Gee will leave after seven years as Vanderbilt University’s Chancellor to return to The Ohio State University as president, a position he held from 1990-1997. His resignation is effective August 1.

“This was by far the most difficult professional decision that I have ever made, said Gee in an e-mail message to the Vanderbilt community. “I want you to know that I am not leaving Vanderbilt. Rather, I am following my heart and returning to a place that I consider my home. My decision is that simple and that complex. Over the past several weeks, members of the Board of Trust and the University family have done everything possible to make me feel valued and appreciated. I assure you that I do.”

We are grateful to Chancellor Gee for his efforts over the past seven years and wish him well in his new endeavors,” said Martha R. Ingram, chairman of the Vanderbilt Board of Trust. “This is a remarkable University, with the most deeply committed and loyal students, faculty, staff and alumni. Their accomplishments, and the support of our many friends around the world, have made every member of the Vanderbilt family proud and excited for the future.”

Ingram added: “The Board looks forward to working with every part of the Vanderbilt community in planning a thorough and inclusive process to select our next Chancellor. In the meantime, we are blessed to have an extraordinarily talented senior management team in which we have complete confidence.”

The Executive Committee of the Board of Trust will meet later this week to begin the transition process.

Gee came to Vanderbilt in 2000 as the seventh chancellor in the University’s 134-year history. He previously served as president of Brown University, Ohio State, The University of Colorado and West Virginia University.

Update (2:37 p.m.):

From The Columbus Dispatch: E. Gordon Gee to return as OSU president

From The Tennessean: Gee to leave Vanderbilt for Ohio State

From the Nashville Scene: Gee Whiz, He’s Outta Here

From InsideVandy: Gee reportedly returning to Ohio State

Update (2:44 p.m.):

Here’s the full News Service press release, including a list of Gee’s accomplishments: Gee to step down as Vanderbilt chancellor

–Kurt Brobeck

Traditions

I am reading a book this summer with a group of women called Mudhouse Sabbath, by Lauren Winner.  The book is a very practical look at the differences between Christian practices and Jewish practices and is written by a young woman, Winner, who converted from Judaism to Christianity during her young adult life.

It’s fascinating.

First, because there is a lot I didn’t know about Jewish tradition.  For example, I had no idea about the year-long mourning process practiced by the Jews.  Or the kaddish prayer which can only be prayed in community with others.

But more importantly, I find the author’s desire for tradition a startling departure from the typical wants in a young adult’s life.  Winner discusses the disciplines of written prayer, eating foods only in season, and exercise all as practices she has adopted in her life which are in some way connected to a need for some of the kinds of structure prevalent in the Jewish culture.  Contrast that to a free-thinking, fast-food, sedentary or exercise obsessive culture in which we live, and there seem to be two different pictures painted.

Don’t get me wrong — I value spontaneity, yearn for McDonald’s fries and go to the Y, too!  But in reading this book, I am learning a bit more to value traditional practices of cultures with which I am hardly familiar, and it’s interesting to think about where it will take me.

~KH

How too much school can spoil a good sense of humor

Dr. David Cole, the professor who taught my Structural Equation Modeling class last Spring, wore a t-shirt to class one day with this quote on it:

Note: If you find it disturbing that anyone finds this quote hilarious, you may want to think twice before enrolling in a graduate research program -

- Peter Beddow

The internet: Education’s final frontier

eSchools is reporting that Baltimore County Public Schools has installed a system of on-demand videos on high-capacity computer servers that are accessible by all 169 of its schools.

Since my first days as a teacher in an urban middle school in Los Angeles County, I’ve seen so many changes in education as a result of technological advance. Then in about 2003, I began to see my creativity match the resources available to me; that is, if I could think it, I could do it with my students. This kind of immediate access to videos on nearly any topic imaginable is a prime example of this.

It is terrifically fun to release the limits of curricula and begin to play with technology. Some examples: When I designed a unit on owls for my little classroom of eight students, I procured sounds of various species of owls online and played them for the students on my computer. When Jason McElwain, a student with Autism, scored 20 points in 4 minutes in the final game of his Rochester, New York high school’s basketball season, I showed my students the video on YouTube.

For fun one evening, I photoshopped the movie poster for “The Incredibles” and posted it on my classroom door, like so:

In 2005, I ordered five Painted Lady butterfly larvae from an online nature store and as a classroom, we bred butterflies. At the same time, a rare massive Painted Lady Butterfly migration began to move through our area. In a perfect coincidence, my students released their fully-developed butterflies just prior to the arrival of the migration. For days afterward, my students ran around shouting, “I just saw one of our butterflies!” What began as a little science project became a sensational and memorable social studies lesson.

I could not have done this without the internet.

In case you haven’t seen it, prepare to be inspired. Here’s Jason’s phenomenal performance:

- Peter Beddow

Democratic Dispositions

In preparation for an upcoming summer class, I’ve been reading Jean Elshtain’s book, Democracy on Trial. This quote caught my attention:

“A major concern for all who care about democracy is the everyday actions and spirit of a people. Democracy requires laws, constitutions, and authoritative institutions, yes, but it also depends on what might be called democratic dispositions. These include a preparedness to work with others different from oneself toward shared ends; a combination of strong convictions with a readiness to compromise in the recognition that one can’t always get everything one wants; and a sense of individuality and commitment to civic goods that are not the possession of one person or of one group alone.”

- Rachel Bowers

NCLB: Creating a new gap?

David Keyes, a second-grade teacher in Washington, D.C., wrote an article posted on Washington Post Online called Classroom Caste System which blames No Child Left Behind for the creation of a “new gap between poor and minority students…and largely wealthy and white students…” From what I’ve read, his assessment of the law received both praise an admonition from both sides of the aisle. An excerpt of the article:

Students in largely wealthy and white schools are learning to ask larger questions; students in poor and minority schools are only being taught to answer smaller ones.

The No Child Left Behind Act is creating a caste-like system in which students’ future prospects are likely to be similar to those of their parents. This undemocratic development is at odds with a society that prides itself on being a meritocracy. As Congress debates the renewal of the law, members should consider not only whether the act is reducing the achievement gap but also the skills gap it is creating.

I think Mr. Keyes has gotten it wrong. My take: the only implicit solution in Keyes’ article is to go back to the way things were before NCLB. No accountability and no measurement of achievement to help us understand what is working and what is not. For Keyes, it sounds as if ignorance was bliss – particularly considering his only argument against NCLB relates to mandated testing.

A new Center for Education Policy report shows that state test scores have increased significantly since NCLB. Of course, there is currently no way to tell whether there is a causal relation between NCLB and these improvements, but NCLB is the reason we are even able to have a discussion based on evidence.

The kind of hyperbolic anti-discussion conceived by Mr. Keyes doesn’t serve to amplify essential points of contention about the bipartisan legislation that is NCLB. It only widens the gap between already intractable opinion-holders. It’s tremendously easy to write an article that aggrandizes a generations-old problem and ostentatiously places all of the blame on a single piece of legislation. Offering suggestions on how to improve the legislation – that is what is difficult. In short: Pontificating is easy. Problem-solving is hard.

- Peter Beddow

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NCLB: When in doubt, bake cookies