Academe Today

Students

Georgia State U. Made Its Graduation Rate Jump. How?

A student-success expert shares seven principles that underlie the university’s high-tech, high-touch approach.

Special Reports

Colleges Need to Prepare for the Future of Learning. Here’s How to Give All Students a Shot at Success.

Campus leaders are under pressure to modernize the educational experience, using technology and learning science to improve results. Our new report on the future of learning can help you innovate. Buy a copy in the Chronicle Store.

International

This Admissions Officer Changed Her Recruiting Strategy in the Trump Era. It Worked.

Lehigh University’s Morgan Volkart focused on new countries in Latin America and Africa this year, and the resulting group of international freshmen will be more diverse than ever.

International

Trump Rolled Up the Welcome Mat. This Admissions Officer Is Trying to Get Students to Come Anyway.

The president and his policies are threatening international student numbers — and colleges’ bottom line. One admissions officer took to the road to try to stop the decline.

Sexual Misconduct

A Scholarly Group Had Avoided Talk of Harassment in Its Midst. Now It Seeks to ‘Start Anew.’

The Latin American Studies Association announced the creation of an anti-harassment task force at its annual meeting last week.

Faculty

Read the Bizarre Email That May Have Prompted a Provost to Step Down Mysteriously

A professor at San Diego State University was taken aback when a message from the provost warned him that he might be “showered with unending curse” and “visited by evil a million fold.”

Academic Freedom

Undeterred by Criticism, Koch Foundation Increases Spending in Higher Education

The Associated Press found that the conservative fund laid out 47 percent more in 2016.

Starter Kit: New to the Department Chair

In a few months the chair of your department will step down. You want the job. But are you ready? To help you prepare, we’ve collected lessons and advice from experienced department heads on how to make the transition from faculty member to chair, and how to succeed in that role. Buy a copy of “Starter Kit: New to the Department Chair” in the Chronicle Store, and check out the rest of our new Starter Kit series.

Commentary

Are You in a ‘BS Job’? Thank You for Your Work. No, Really.

Despite fashionable opinion to the contrary, 21st-century administrators are crucial to the smooth running of a college.

The Graduate Adviser

On the Dissertation: How to Write the Introduction

The goal of a good intro is to orient the audience and offer a confident sense of what’s to come.

Lingua Franca

Birth of a Neologism: Will ‘Biominorities’ Stick?

William Germano considers how language can reconfigure what we mean when we look at the world.