Recovering Executive Director

This summer, I am putting myself back in the classroom but not as a teacher, as a student.  It's been a few years since I've been on that side of the podium.  I have always wanted to have a better understanding of American higher education to improve my own teaching and connectedness to today's college students. Luckily for me, my first course is a special topics class called "Race and Ethnicity in the Formation of American Higher Education" being taught by Dr. Rodney Cohen. He is a visiting associate professor and President of the Association for Black Culture Centers (ABCC).  NIU became the national headquarters of ABCC in November 2015.  We are reading the book " The Education of Blacks in the South, 1860-1935 ". The course begins with a discussion of how African Americans were educated in the south.  I have never studied this before so I am soaking up all of this rich heritage but also questioning our current climate in higher education. Ear...

I want to connect with my own kids and my students, and I truly enjoy learning and using technology.  I also think that we need to manage our online brand as much as we spend our face to face identity. We pay attention to what we wear or how we speak, depending on the context.  We need to take the same care to develop and nurture our online brand, which is possibly the only brand we may be known for. So how do you do this?  At a basic level, Google yourself (really - right now!).  See what comes up. This is what people will do when you are applying for a job, joining a committee, volunteering in an organization etc.  What comes up when you Google yourself?  Is the content correct?  This is hard if you have a more common name because you will undoubtedly come up with information about people other than yourself.  But what content comes up that is actually about you and where does that information "live" online?  The media? Your employer's we...