U of Michigan

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Not a thumbs up moment for Janet in her new job

Byuclafaculty

The University of Michigan has raided UC San Diego, hiring a pair of young computer scientists who’ve been drawing attention for their efforts to help Google find better ways to operate online. Jason Mars, an assistant professor, and Lingjia Tang, a member of the research faculty, decided to leave UCSD’s Department of Computer Science and Engineering only a year after they arrived. Mars is the first African American in the department’s history to hold a tenure track position. “They’re both excellent researchers. This is the single biggest setback I’ve had as chair,” said Rajesh Gupta, who took over the fast…

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MOOC Efficiency

Byuclafaculty

Apparently, efficiency in the 21st century is not all that different from efficiency in the 20th century.  From Inside Higher Ed today: Some students taking free classes from Coursera may never know the right answers. A University of Michigan professor teaching one of the company’s massive open online courses, or MOOCs, told students this week he could not provide them with correct answers to questions they get wrong because doing so would reduce efficiency… Full story at http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2013/07/05/one-mooc-professor-wont-let-students-know-right-answers Yours truly is sure it’s just a temporary glitch that can be easily remedied with the right technology as demonstrated in the last…

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For whatever it means…

Byuclafaculty

Above are the world rankings of universities from the British Times Higher Education magazine based on “academic reputation.” [Click on the image to make it clearer.] The full list and info on the survey methodology is at:http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/world-university-rankings/2013/reputation-ranking

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UCLA Among Top 10 Universities in R&D Spending in Fiscal Year 2010

Byuclafaculty

Inside Higher Ed reports that UCLA is among the top ten universities in research and development spending.  It has been in that group for some time.  Basically, the key determinants are having a med school and getting a lot of federal research funding. The top ten are: Johns HopkinsU of Michigan (Ann Arbor)U of Wisconsin (Madison)U of Washington (Seattle)DukeUC-San DiegoUCLAUC-San FranciscoStanfordU of Pennsylvania Data from http://www.insidehighered.com/quicktakes/2012/04/02/hopkins-again-leads-rd-spending.  There is a link in this article to NSF data.  When you click on the link to the article, go to Table 5. It’s good to be among the tops:[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i6oGytt0Hiw&w=320&h=195]

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Don’t Look for Holiday Cheer from the Washington Post

Byuclafaculty

The Washington Post has looked west of late: UC-Berkeley and other ‘public Ivies’ in fiscal peril Daniel de Vise, Dec. 26, 2011, Washington Post Across the nation, a historic collapse in state funding for higher education threatens to diminish the stature of premier public universities and erode their mission as engines of upward social mobility.  At the University of Virginia, state support has dwindled in two decades from 26 percent of the operating budget to 7 percent. At the University of Michigan, it has declined from 48 percent to 17 percent.  Not even the nation’s finest public university is immune….

Long Road to Tenure at U of Michigan

Byuclafaculty

Inside Higher Ed is reporting today on a decision of the U of Michigan Regents to lengthen the period to tenure: 10 Years to Tenure at Michigan (excerpt): April 25, 2011, Dan Berrett Professors at the University of Michigan could face a possible wait of up to 10 years for tenure thanks to a new policy adopted Thursday by its Board of Regents — over the objections of faculty. The change to a university bylaw, as Michigan administrators are quick to point out, is not mandated. It gives schools and colleges at Michigan’s campuses the option to extend the maximum…