Tuition Hikes and Federal Oversight

I'm pretty much against all federal interference with colleges. I'd hate to see some kind of 'no child left behind policy' forced onto institutions of higher education. However, I do like the idea of access to information about colleges - especially tuition hikes - being made easily accessible.

Prospective students and their parents should know the average rate that college tuition increases each year and they should also know whether or not the tuition increases at their college is above average. Let's face it the only thing that makes colleges behave tuition-wise is if it hits their enrollment/retention numbers and there is a better chance of that happening if there is easily accessible information about this online.

Less affordable colleges may get 'F,' land on Wall of Shame - USATODAY.com

Famous History Majors

Add Chelsea Clinton to your list of famous history majors.

Apparently, she started out at Stanford as a Chemistry Major and then switched to history. Ah... if I had a dollar for every failed science major at my school who ended up switching to history I'd probably be able to buy a really nice pair of sneakers.

Funniest Onion Article of All Time??

Cheney Waits Until Last Minute Again To Buy Sept. 11 Gifts

My favorite line in the article is: "Although Cheney himself has never received any Sept. 11 gifts, with the exception of a pair of silk pajamas from his wife and a second term in office..."

Obama falls into the history trap

I enjoyed Obama's speech last night up until he fell into the trap so common for politicians -- that of personifying 'history' and suggesting that it has the ability to teach or judge.

Obama said in his acceptance speech: "You have shown what history teaches us, that at defining moments like this one, the change we need doesn't come from Washington. Change comes to Washington."

No, no, no! Historians teach us. History just is.

Who did Harding endorse?

Can't wait to see how often the "history card" get played in this presidential election.

To Apply or Not To Apply

So my undergraduate university is hiring a historian. It is a position I could apply for. In fact I did apply for it 3 years ago and got a phone interview - but the position ended up getting cancelled. But I'm in a slightly different place in my life now.

1. Have gotten tenure.
2. Bought a house.
3. Divorce is finalized (and I've realized I can do all the parenting-type things alone without having my parents nearby).
4. Took on a small administrative role, which has lowered my teaching load a bit.
5. The job description does not EXACTLY fit what I've been doing/teaching for the 9 years. About 1/2 the job is teaching in my minor area, which I've done before but it was a LONG time ago.

I guess this is all reasons for NOT applying.

On the pro-applying side. I'm a bit worried about where my current institution is headed. Some of the decisions they've made lately were ill-advised and I haven't seen much effort to fix it. I would be in the same town as my extended family - and although I don't NEED to be that close, it would be nice for the kids to be around their cousins and grandparents. And well, who hasn't dreamed about teaching at the ol' alma mater?

Any advice?

2008 History AP Exams

I graded history ap exams last month and the document question was on the war in Vietnam. Some of the amusing answers that I read include:

• The men sent to Vietnam had no intention of succeeding or returning home. This was a major strategy problem for the U.S. military.
• Before the Gulf of Tonkin resolution there was an incident known as the sinking of the Lusitania.
• The Vietnam War followed great foreign policy traditions such as Manifest Destiny, the Monroe Doctrine, and Eisenhower's Annex to the Monroe Doctrine.

Fun stuff!

Professors Who Assign Their Own Books

The University of Utah has just come up with a policy passed by both the faculty and the administration that prohibits its faculty from collecting royalties if they assign their own books to the classes they are teaching. This policy is supposed to help assure students that s professor has assigned a book because it is the best in the field or covers a topic in a particularly important way, rather than because the prof. can make money from it. Utah Policy Would Restrict Profs' Royalties From Books - The Paper Trail (usnews.com)

During all my time in graduate school, only one professor ever assigned his own books to the class. I never suspected he was doing it for the royalties, but at the same time I never thought the books were particularly ground-breaking. One of my other graduate school professors argued against profs assigning their own books stating that you should be getting the professor's view on subject of the book from lectures/discussion and reading the books written by that same instructor did not expose students enough to varying viewpoints of a topic.

I probably lean toward the profs shouldn't assign their own books camp, but I don't think it is that much of an issues. I do, however, believe that the University of Utah's policy overlooks the fact that profs can make $$ off of their classes without assigning their own books. I remember several years ago a publisher offered some history faculty members around $1500 if they would 'review' a textbook and assign it to their classes so they could get student input as well. So even though the Utah policy cuts down the ability of profs to earn a little more money, at the same time it leaves untouched an entirely different method for profs to each cash off the backs of their students.

I'd Like to Exchange My Liberal Arts Degree for Something Useful

Just read a letter (probably fake - but still funny) from an Arizona State University alumni with a B.A. in English, who wanted either a refund for his defective product - which has failed to get him respect or a job - or wanted to exchange his B.A. for a useful degree like a B.S. in science or an MBA.

I quite often get asked what our history majors do with their degrees. Old stand-bys like: go into public history, teach h.s., go to graduate school or law school, work in media/journalism are easy enough to discuss. However, most of our graduates probably end up in the business world and they soon discover that they aren't so unique because many of their colleagues also have B.A. degrees.

In fact, my department chair just did a survey of Fortune 500 Companies and discovered that at least six of the Top 100 CEOs of had been a history major as an undergraduate. This far surpassed the number of humanities/social science majors represented in the study. So while I don't know exactly how useful a B.A. is in English, I think that the B.A. in history can provide a firm foundation for a career in many different areas of employment.

Here are the six Top CEOs with history majors:

Samuel Palmisano, IBM
John Mack, Morgan Stanley
Alan Lafley, Procter & Gamble
Richard Parsons, Time Warner
Kenneth Chenault, American Express
John Faraci, International Paper

Chris Rock and American History

So I'm watching the Chris Rock comedy special (apparently first out in 2004) and he is telling jokes about the lasting consequences of slavery, but all I can think about is how many questions I'm going to get in my survey class next semester about whether or not slaves who could read got killed.

Watch the Chris Rock history lesson on youtube.com.

Is it good or bad when popular actors/comedians, etc. talk about American history?

Funny Student Mistake

Ugh... I've been so busy this semester I haven't had time to blog at all. However, while grading papers I ran across this student mistake that made me chuckle so I had to share.

Here is the line: "Even after the truth is known, she is still used as the escape goat."

Historical Sports Movies

One of my colleagues teaches a class on movies and history. He has an entire list of genres - good war movie, bad war movie, biography, etc. The one category he leaves out, however, are movies based on real-life sporting events. I personally get a big kick out of historical sporting movies, but perhaps that is because I like sports.

I also do have a favorite historical sporting film - Hoosiers. I mean how much better can a film be? A small rural team overcomes tremendous odds to become state champions. It also helps that the film focuses on the best sport EVER invented - basketball. But in the interest of fairness, I provide the list below of other historically based sporting films.

Remember the Titans
Cool Runnings
Seabiscuit
Rudy
Miracle
Cinderella Man
Friday Night Lights
The Rookie
A League of their Own
Chariots of Fire
Eight Men Out
Hoosiers
Offside

Did I miss any? Anyone want to argue about the vast superiority of Hoosiers over these other films?

Rain in DC

So it is raining in DC today, no big deal except that this guy in the subway was selling umbrellas for $5. I was like $5?! That is cheap! You can't even get an umbrella at a Wal-mart for less than $7. Who is this guy's wholesaler?

The Buzz in DC

I'm in Washington, DC this week to do some research at the Library of Congress and to go to a conference. What is everyone talking about? On the subway? In the Library? Coming out of the House office building?

Harry Potter

The congressional interns were bitching cuz the staffer in their office took an hour and a half lunch break to read Potter. At the LOC, the staff was abuzz with how long they had waited in line for the book and how late they stayed up reading it. On the subway, it was about what had happened in the book, whether or not they were surprised, and how it did or didn't live up to expectations.

I've always thought of DC as a city apart. It's kind of the graduate school of the nation - they worry about different things than everyone else, get caught up in things the rest of the citizens don't think is all that important, but today proved me wrong. DC really is like the rest of country - at least for a weekend.

The Berks

Well, I got my rejection email from the Berkshire Conference of Women's Historians yesterday. This was the third time I had submitted a panel and the third time it has been rejected. It is a good thing that I don't evaluate my entire career on whether or not I am accepted by women's historians - because I am quite certain I would have given up and become computer programmer if I did.

I am sure there are some historians out there who are thinking 'buck up- maybe your proposals are just not that good.' Okay, MAYBE, but similar proposals were good enough for me to present at other national conferences. I've been to the AHA three times, they love me at SHAFR, at PHS conferences there is standing-room only available at my sessions (this last one is a lie - about the standing room only - but my proposals have been accepted at PHS conferences regularly since 2000).

So what is the problem with me and the Berks? As far as I can tell, it is that I'm not 'edgy' enough. I write traditional history about women, women who are involved in politics and foreign policy. I can just imagine how my proposals have been viewed by the program committee.

Committee member 1: Oh, another proposal for a session on the historical importance of the clitoris.

Committee member 2: Haven't we already accepted proposals about 'The History of the Vagina' and 'The Origins of Foreplay?'

Committee member 3: Yes, but a scholarly discussion of the clitoris is so much different than those other panels.

Committee member 1: Very true. Are we all agreed it is in? (general nodding ensues) Good. Next?

Committee member 2: I have a proposal about women's involvement in U.S. diplomacy prior to the 1960s.

Committee member 3: Political history? How very 1970s! (everyone laughs and then my proposal gets thrown in the trash can without further discussion.)

This must be how military historians feel.

Of course to add insult to injury, the form rejection letter the Berkshire Program Committee sent was from 2005 - first line reads: Thank you for your submission to the 2005 Berkshire Conference of Women Historians.

I think I'll write back and let them know that luckily I didn't apply for the 2005 Conference, but to let me know when they get around to rejecting my 2008 proposal.