Putting Professors Back in the Classroom
Top Cities with Energy-Efficient Buildings
Reining in Local Government
Click of the Month: Economic Turning Point
News for the Futurist Community
What's Hot @WFS.ORG
The “publish-or-perish” pressure on professors to produce works of scholarship may be undermining education, warns the American Enterprise Institute. Scholarly publishing is growing (despite unimpressive sales trends at academic presses), while undergraduate performance is declining.
According to AEI’s report “Professors on the Production Line, Students On Their Own” by Mark Bauerlein of Emory University, tenure review requires that professors bulk up their CVs with publishing credentials but makes no demands on class time. As young scholars consider academic careers, their eyes turn toward research rather than teaching.
The report, which focuses on trends in literature and the humanities, recommends that donors and foundations earmark more of their funds for undergraduate teaching activities rather than research, and that universities make hiring decisions based on teaching proficiency rather than research expertise.
SOURCE: American Enterprise Institute, Education Policy Studies
www.aei.org/futureofeducation
SEE ALSO: "Professors on the Production Line, Students on Their Own" by Mark Bauerlein, AEI Future of Education Project working paper:
www.aei.org/docLib/20090317_Bauerlein.pdf
When we think of energy efficiency, we usually focus on building better cars or making transportation systems more efficient. But what about building better buildings?
“Energy use in commercial buildings and manufacturing plants accounts for nearly half of total U.S. greenhouse-gas emissions and nearly half of energy consumption nationwide,” reports the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
To shine a spotlight on cities that have improved the efficiency of their commercial and public buildings, the EPA has awarded “Energy Stars” to metro areas that have reduced greenhouse-gas emissions by 35% and use 35% less energy. The top 10 for 2008 are Los Angeles; San Francisco; Houston; Washington, D.C.; Dallas–Fort Worth; Chicago; Denver; Minneapolis–St. Paul; Atlanta; and Seattle.
SOURCE: Energy Star program, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
http://energystar.gov/labeledbuildings
SPECIAL PROFESSIONAL FACULTY
The Mendoza College of Business at the University of Notre Dame invites applications for a Special Professional Faculty position for the 2009-2010 academic year for its required junior-level course: Foresight in Business and Society. This futures course explores business and societal trends, foresight techniques, research methods for forecasting the future, and intervention strategies, especially those focused on sustainability. Additionally, the course requires students to complete a comprehensive research study and paper. More details on the course are available at: http://business.nd.edu/future/ .
Candidates for the Special Professional Faculty position may have backgrounds in a wide range of fields and disciplines. A master’s degree or higher is required, with a Ph.D. preferred. The ideal candidate will have some combination of educational, professional, and/or teaching experience in business, foresight and futuring techniques, and related research and/or teaching experience. The employment contract is renewable and the salary is competitive.
Applicants should submit a cover letter, vita, references and a teaching portfolio which provides evidence of quality teaching. Materials should be sent to:
Professor Tom Frecka
Special Professional Faculty—Futures Studies Course
204 Mendoza College of Businesss
University of Notre Dame, IN 46556-0399
Applications will be accepted until April 1, 2009.
The University of Notre Dame is an equal opportunity and affirmative action employer with a strong commitment to fostering a culturally diverse environment for faculty, staff, and students. Women, minorities, and those attracted to a university with a Catholic identity are encouraged to apply. Information about Notre Dame, including our mission statement is available at http://www.nd.edu .
In the United States, a new local government is born every day. More public institutions may not be a bad thing if people’s views are being represented and needs being served. However, Americans in certain jurisdictions may be overgoverned to the point that their economic and personal freedom is in peril, charges a new study from George Mason University’s Mercatus Center.
The study ranked the 50 U.S. states on fiscal and regulatory policy and on “paternalism,” covering such issues as gambling, alcohol, smoking in public areas, and doctor-assisted suicides. The freest states were Colorado, New Hampshire, Texas, South Dakota, and Idaho, while the least-free were New York, New Jersey, Rhode Island, Maryland, and California.
Even more governance thrives beyond the state level: There are now nearly 90,000 local governments in the United States, according to the Goldwater Institute’s Center for Constitutional Government.
The Center recommends that new local governments focus on ensuring freedom for citizens by providing protections from abusive regulations. The Center recommends that cities enact a Local Liberty Charter guaranteeing basic citizen rights, such as presumption of liberty, use and enjoyment of property, freedom from crime, fiscally responsible government, and freedom from favoritism.
SOURCES: Mercatus Center, George Mason University
www.mercatus.org
Goldwater Institute, Center for Constitutional Government
www.goldwaterinstitute.org
Web 2.0’s networking powers to the rescue? Economic Turning Point is a “nonpartisan global think tank” inviting everyone from homeowners to politicians to disseminate ideas and information and to participate in creating solutions to the global economic crisis.
“We are facing a dramatic restructuring of our economy,” says Edward Thompson, one of the site’s administrators. The goal of bringing all stakeholders together in a nonpartisan forum is to find ways to create a new economy that avoids the problems of the old.
Among the topics recently under discussion are peak oil, the housing crisis, and IT support for the health industry.
“ETP welcomes people from all political persuasions,” says Thompson. “Nonetheless, we will not tolerate stubborn ideology. All ideas are welcome on our Web site; partisan politicking and finger-pointing are not. We are, first and foremost, solution-oriented.”
THE OXFORD SCENARIOS PROGRAMME – Strategic options for success, May 2009
In today’s uncertain business climate, the Oxford Scenarios Programme identifies the critical drivers of changes that are shaping our wider context and, as a consequence, your strategic options for success. Within this all-inclusive four day programme you construct systems diagrams and story maps to describe and understand plausible alternative scenarios which will test your specific decisions, assess the robustness of your organisation and your future strategic plans.
See www.sbs.oxford.edu/scenarios or email mailto:scenarios@sbs.ox.ac.uk
£4,750 ex VAT, Saïd Business School, University of Oxford.
NEWS FOR THE FUTURIST COMMUNITY
* CONFRONTING UNTOUCHABILITY: The first “World Conference on Untouchability” will be held in London June 9-10, organized by the International Humanist and Ethical Union. Social exclusion based on the class into which a person is born persists in Bangladesh, Burma, India, Japan, Korea, Nepal, Nigeria, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Yemen, and elsewhere, according to the organization. The practice limits educational and economic opportunities. The conference aims to bring together social activists from around the world to share strategies for ending untouchability. DETAILS: www.humanism.org.uk/june2009
* CORRECTION: In the online version of the March Community News item “FUTURES STUDIES ON PERSIAN BBC,” we incorrectly identified the on-camera interviewer as futurist Vahid V. Motlagh. In fact, Motlagh’s interview with BBC Persian Television was conducted by telephone, and he did not appear on camera. We apologize for the misunderstanding.
“The diverse youth audience of the program,” Motlagh explains, “were interested to know what is the impact of futures studies in our personal life. The mere focus on times ahead of us will give us in itself ‘hope’ in spite of all disappointing facts that may surround us today, because through futures studies we find out that there will be a lot of alternative potentials on the horizon, which in turn help us become more patient.” For more information, visit Motlagh’s Web site. www.vahidthinktank.com.