Academe Today

10 Classroom Trailblazers

Meet some devoted faculty members who might spark your interest in taking risks and trying new things in class. 

Vicki Reitenauer Helps Students Find Their Voice — and Their Power

She requires students to identify their course goals for the semester, the grade they expect to earn, and their plan for achieving both.

Stan Yoshinobu Spreads the Word About Inquiry-Based Math

The professor emphasizes that intellectual growth is based “on error recovery, not mistake avoidance.”

Order Your Own Copy of ‘Innovators: 10 Classroom Trailblazers’

Copies of the full report on our teaching innovators are available here.

Fighting Campus Hate

In the Face of Racism, U. of Florida Chief Says All You Need Is Love

As Richard Spencer’s white supremacist event loomed, Kent Fuchs employed emotionally laden language seldom heard from a public-college president.

Leadership & Governance

Now in Her 70s, First Black Ivy-League President Finds a Third Act

Ruth J. Simmons, a former president of Brown University and Smith College, will become the president of Prairie View A&M University.

The Ticker

Ever Had a Weird Experience Grading Papers or Tests? Tell Us About It.

A viral exchange about a failing grade, though fake, made us curious about faculty members’ oddest or most exceptional stories about grading assignments.

Commentary

High Anxiety: How Can We Save Our Students From Themselves?

Colleges aren’t solely to blame for students’ mental-health problems, but we’re not doing all we can to relieve some of the pressures.

Commentary

Professors Are Complicit in Football Players’ Brain Damage

In granting football scholarships, colleges agree to cultivate student-athletes’ thinking on the condition that they risk serious cognitive harm.

Advice

So We Went to Prison …

What three faculty members learned about teaching from a course they offered to incarcerated students.

Lingua Franca

Don't Sanctify Us

John Kelly's "women were sacred and looked upon with great honor" surprised feminists. Lucy Ferriss explains.