Academe Today

Curriculum

Should Colleges Let Ailing Majors Die or Revamp Them?

The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign has combined liberal-arts majors with computer science, while Assumption College has cut shrinking majors as it gambles on new career-focused programs.

Commentary

It’s Time to End College Majors as We Know Them

The taxonomy of academic majors that broadened significantly over the past hundred years can no longer keep pace with the churn of knowledge needed to compete in nearly every profession.

Faculty

Academic Overhauls

Revamping a curriculum or academic program is never easy. To help college leaders make such big changes a success, we’ve pulled together a collection of articles and essays with lessons and tips. Buy it in the new Chronicle store.

Students

Inside Gay Students’ Fight to Be Heard at BYU

In March, the Mormon university sponsored a panel on LGBT issues — something it had never done before. How it got there is a story of mixed motivations and incremental progress.

Leadership & Governance

Amid Scandal of Campus Gynecologist, USC Faculty Members Call on President to Resign

In a letter they accused University of Southern California leaders of having “kept wrongdoing quiet.”

Government

A Federal Panel Tries to Regulate Accreditation. But Is Anyone Paying Attention?

The 18 members of the National Advisory Committee on Institutional Quality and Integrity are supposed to help guide federal policy and practice. But they’re wrestling with the question of their own relevance.

Idea Lab: Deans and Fund Raising

For current and would-be deans, raising money is a tough skill to master. And with colleges increasingly reliant on private donors, more administrators are expected to be good at it. This collection of articles from Idea Lab, our section on helping college leaders solve problems, offers insight for both new and experienced deans on how to ask for money and cultivate donors. Buy your copy in the Chronicle Store.

Advice

Leave Your Administrative Job and Find Out Who Your Friends Aren’t

Some colleagues will drop you before the ink dries on the announcement of your return to the faculty. But others will renew your faith in people.

Lingua Franca

Tom Wolfe, American Original — With Influences

Literary predecessors from Dickens to Joyce to Updike probably inspired his writing style, says Ben Yagoda.