The pope

So, can someone tell me why Inside Higher Ed even wrote a blurb on the pope's comments on students' use of technology?!!! Or, maybe the question should be why should we care what the pope thinks about technology? Shouldn't he reserve his comments on religious matters?

Just trying to entice some debate!!! ha ha!! : )

Boards and Academic Bill of Rights

Wow - did you see what happened at the College of DuPage - a community college? Their Board of Trustees voted to basically take control of most decision-making at the school from curriculum, role of the student news paper and the selection of outside speakers. Apparently the College has been going through quite a bit of turmoil and this may be the icing on the cake. Have seen a couple of references to David Horowitz's "Academic Bill of Rights.." will have to google it to see what it's all about.

organizational problem/ organizational perspective

Nancy and I talked about this a little in class last week, but I was curious about other thoughts. We found it interesting that some problems fit better in different perspectives. For example, my undocumented immigrant problem fits better in the cultural, human resource or even the gender, class etc. perspective, at least in my opinion.

Professors and Blogs

So, here's an interesting issue - suppose a professor tells the class that if they are caught cheating, they will fail his/her class and they will be publicly "flogged..." Now, fast forward, some students are caught plagarizing and they are given F's and their names are published on the professor's blog. Should the professor be fired for this? Have the students been afforded due-process? What about academic freedom for the professor? A lot of overlapping issues here. Reminds of when I lived in Richmond, VA, the newspaper used to publish the names of individuals who were caught soliciting prostitutes. Somehow, the paper got away with it and it was available to a much broader community. Story is in today's Inside Higher Ed issue = front page.

R U a Freudian, Marxist, Darwinian, Herderite or Madisonian?!

This article hit home for me, especially in the realm of my situational "problem" I have been analyzing for class. Depending on the day and the cast of characters - I could be labeled any of these types!!! I never heard of Johann von Herder (sounds like a Monty Python character) but I related more to his philosophy.

themes

Did anyone else have trouble writing about the "themes" for this last paper? I could pick out a few themes, but wasn't sure how they were supposed to be written. How did you all do it?

Gender Assumptions

Sorry I didn't make it to class, but who could pass up being part of such an historic election! Anyway, I would appreciate any guidance anybody can give me regarding last nights discussion and the assumption we are to use putting together our next paper. My thanks in advance!

another technology article

This article "Clicker U." in the Nov. 3rd edition of Inside Education caught my attention because it was mentioned in an assessment class I took last semester. Basically it's about clickers (kind of like remote controls) used in classrooms. There are different uses, but the main one is to so the instructor can assess whether the students are understanding what is being taught. The instructor asks a questions and the students click their remote in answer to the question. The results are instantly available to the instructor. Then if students aren't understanding the lecture the instructor can go back and talk about it again. Talk about getting instant feedback from the environment that can be turned around and made into an output.

Taking Facebook Back to Campus

This article “Taking Facebook Back to Campus” in the Oct. 24th edition of Inside Education reminded me of the unclear technology assumption of the learning organization perspective. With all the technology out there it’s hard to keep track of it all. This article talks about universities using Facebook to attract new students and keep track of alumni. I think it is great to use all the new thing that are out there, but it sure adds to the chaos of a learning organization. Not only do students learn in different ways making different technology difficult for students to use, but also students have different levels of experience with the new technology. Older students, international students or low income students may not have access to the new technology.

This could also be seen from the human resource perspective as having a focus on people and making decisions to use the new technology to meet the needs of the students. Students are already using this new technology, so universities are adjusting to the times and using the technology to attract new students.

Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood article

Another article, "Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood" in Inside Higher Education on Oct. 16th is an example of the Structural perspective. Harvard University wanted to build a new student dorm and instead of having a design and hoping the surrounding neighborhood would approve they decided to ask the neighborhood first. The neighborhood actually came up with the design of what they wanted things to look like. Getting input from the environment- I think that is the structural perspective- unless I am mixing things up.

College Sports and Sybolism (cont.)

Apparently not everybody see big-time college athletics as a way to enhance their identity. Rutgers is infusing new life into their football team, including a $102M upgrade to their stadium to hold the throngs they hope to entice with their revamped program. Meanwhile they are undergoing a fiscal crisis; facing budget cuts (10.8%), an economic downturn and rising financial costs, which have made a number of groups on and off the campus question the wisdom of the move.

Various constituencies of the university are choosing sides. A group called the “Rutgers 1000,” consisting of alumni, professors and students, has come out against the increase in the athletic program budget, calling it a misuse of funds that could be better spent on academics. Tuition continues to rise (6.5% in 2008), and other facilities are in need of attention, critics say. The balance between athletics and academics is being upended, they contend.

Others, including the administration, are not giving way, saying that the payoff will be in increased applications and prestige, if nothing else. Rutgers has always played in the Ivy League, where football is almost looked on as an afterthought. Their ambition is to become a football powerhouse along the lines of the Big Ten and other dominant conferences. According to the New York Times story, the president of Rutgers, Richard L. McCormick, while acknowledging that the university needs to reshape its oversight and ethics policies and that it faces a severe cash crunch that is likely to scale back the stadium project, says that turning back from big-time sports is not an option.

HR at a Global University

This article "HR at a Global University" in Inside Higher Education, Oct. 15th made me think of the Human Resources perspective. Basically the article was saying that Unviersities are good at applying a Human Resource perspective (focus on people) in the US, but when campus' are opened abroad they have trouble applying that perspective. The article said that instead of having policies, like in the US for faculty going abroad, they have a "non-policy" approach that has led to people not wanting to go abroad. This non-policy approach has led to problems of salaries and decision making.

ax murderer

Speaking of the political frame:

Interesting article in the chronicle about how people/parties will coalesce against politically wounded co-workers for little or no reason. It is written about faculty, but could easily be applied to any organization.

http://chronicle.com/jobs/news/2008/10/2008101501c.htm

I was thinking when we were discussing it, that the political frame was (not the HR frame ironically) the most human or maybe just the most animal-like: Anyone who has owned a pet cat may be familiar with how they will sometimes catch a mouse only to play with it then leave it for dead. I see similar behavior in co-workers. Some people seem to fuel a situation just for the sport of it, just to create gossip, entertainment, etc.

Political animal

Nothing like the current budget crunch to see excellent illustrations of a "political organization." I sat in a few meetings last week and enjoyed watching the the agendas and alliances reveal themselves! BUT - I did not look at them as cynically as I would have last year, especially since I am part of the wranglings myself!

Hegelian Thesis

Okay, so my vocabulary level was tested by the article written by Joanne Martin. I also enjoyed reading some of her sentences back to my husband so I could laugh at his confused expression, i.e. page14 - "Hegilian thesis-antithesis-synthesis is a more sophisticated variant of linear thinking." Anyone else challenged with this article?

Budget Cuts (continued)

"Goals and decisions emerge from bargaining, negotiation, and jockeying for postion among competing stake holders." (B&D, p. 186)

If this didn't hit so close to home, it would be fascinating to watch the struggles going on at NVCC. I'm sure the dealmaking has already started. Unfortunately, like most political decisions, everything will happen behind close doors. As observers, we will eventually find out who the "winners and losers" are, but we won't get to see HOW they won or lost. I once heard this refered to as the "a$$ kissin' and arm twistin' " part of the political process.

State Budget Cuts

FYI...I was just watching channel 4 news and they had a peice on Gov. Tim Kaine's state budget reduction plan. Today he annonced that all public educational instutions will have a 5-7% budget cut. 570 state employees will be laid off and 800 currently unfilled positions will remain that way. The 2% salary increase will also be postponed (booo!). He also noted that 2010 will be even worse!

Within the past 4 months my office has completly reorganized/restructured and there are 2 fulltime positions and 1 part-time position that will remain unfilled.

I was suprised to see that the statement about "international reputation" was at the bottom of the list of goals. I believe it used to be at the top, which emphasized its importance.

New GMU Mission Statement

The Board of Visitors just approved a new GMU mission statement:

George Mason University is innovative and entrepreneurial in spirit and utilizes its multi-campus organization and location near our nation's capital to attract outstanding scholars, faculty and programs. George Mason will:

• Educate the new generation of leaders for the 21st century - men and women capable of shaping a new economy in a global community with vision, justice and clarity.
  
  
• Encourage freedom of thought, speech and inquiry in a tolerant, respectful academic setting.
  
  
• Provide undergraduate, graduate and professional courses of study that enable students to exercise analytical and imaginative thinking and make well-founded ethical decisions.
  
  
• Nurture and support a highly qualified and entrepreneurial faculty that is excellent at teaching, active in pure and applied research, capable of providing a broad range of intellectual and cultural insights and is responsive to the needs of students and their communities.
  
  
• Maintain an international reputation for superior education that affirms its role as the intellectual and cultural nexus among Northern Virginia, the nation and the world.

What do you think?

class role play sparked discussion

This morning I was telling my boss about the role play activity we did in class and since I work in the Finance Dept of CVPA budget cuts are always on our minds. Anyway it sparked a discussion of costs involved with faculty and staff and another discussion on how decisions are made. Just thought I would share.

article about adjunct professors

The Chronicle (Oct. 3, 2008) had an article article regarding adjunct professors getting fired for something they said in class or wrote. It made me think of Tim's organization problem of cap's on how many classes to teach. The article is called "Adjuncts Fight Back Over Academic Freedom". Another example of the lack of support for adjuncts.

I was trying to figure out which organizational framework this might fit into. I don't think it is a Human Resource framework because the focus definitely is not on the people. Maybe a political framework because of the power the university has over adjuncts?

Hard time summarizing the organism lens

Did anyone else have a hard time summarizing the lens? I just felt that there was a lot aspects of a system to mention, that my summary part was much longer then in the past. Was anyone able to summarize it in 5-7 sentences and if so what did you write? Maybe it will help me in the future if we have another lens that is complex.

Organizations as Human and Collegial paper

For those interested here is my paper that we got back yesterday. As you can tell I changed my organizational problem. Sorry it's kind of long and lost some of the formatting when I cut and pasted it.

Organizations as Human and Collegial
Organizations in the human resources perspective focus on people and their relationship to organizations. The first assumption of this structure is that organizations exist for the people. In this framework an environment is created that benefits both people and the organization. The people are exploited for their talents and the organizations are exploited for the human needs they provide, for example salary and career opportunities. In a human resource organization if the fit between the people and the organization is good it creates an environment of flexibility, autonomy and teamwork. When the fit is poor it causes a breakdown with one or both entities. The challenge of this structure is that it works better in smaller organizations and it includes a strong reliance on a good fit between people and the organization. As stated above, a poor fit will result in a breakdown in one or both components. Similarly, a collegial organization is a type of human resource organization. A collegial organization includes a culture of norms that is not written down but shared by all and relies heavily on creating an environment that is a good fit between the people and the organization. This framework works better for smaller organizations and the fit between the people and the organization determines how well each responds to new ideas and challenges.
Applying the Human Resource perspective to a law allowing illegal immigrants to pay in-state tuition in the state of California has numerous effects. In the following paragraphs the immigration law will be analyzed through the human resource perspective.
According to the human resources perspective organizations exist to serve human needs. In the case of this particular immigration law the organization sets a policy to help undocumented immigrants get an education and provides opportunities for affordable education. This law serves a human need for education and increased career possibilities.
The human resources framework includes the premise that people and organizations need each other. In this situation, the immigration law provides people with an education and organizations get more money and students. This law would also empower illegal immigrants to seek an education which is also a benefit to the organization because it invests in the people, exploits their talents and promotes diversity
The next human resource assumption deals with the fit between and organization and its people. When the fit is poor, one or both suffer from that breakdown. An influx of students into an overburdened public school system, an increase in illegal immigrant families trying to find jobs and possibly an increased need for social services is an example of the poor fit between the organization and the people that this law has caused. There are several other examples of a poor fit from a human resource perspective. This law would have an effect on the universities because students would need more academic support services, especially for students that are the first in their family to go to college. Finally, the real breakdown would occur when these students graduate from college and they cannot get a job because they are undocumented.
On the other hand when the fit between people and the organization is good, from a human resource perspective, this immigration law would provides new opportunities for a whole new population of people.

new topic/ organizations as organisms

I have changed my topic. My new topic is the law that allows illegal immigrants to pay in-state tuition in California. When I applied the organization as organisms assumptions to my new problem there are a lot of possible applications or perspectives. Specifically, the assumption of interacting components can be seen on multiple levels from the community, state government, universities, departments, students etc. The assumption dealing with boundaries, for example, involves a clear division between state government and universities. Finally if I understand the last assumption correctly (Systems receive inputs from the environment, transform them in some way and then return them to the environment) that would mean that the state government received inputs regarding the illegal immigrant student population and then the government transformed the input and introduced the in-state tuition law. I know we are going to talk more about organizations as organisms in class. I guess I am just thinking out loud, but I welcome any thoughts on this topic.

Organizational problem as an organism

After reading the organism chapter I have started to think more about the outside environmental influences that might have an impact on the current graduation ceremony policy. Many students at George Mason are communters so maybe the university felt as thought only offering one graduation ceremony per year would be fine considering many of the students live in the area and could return to the university in the furture to participate in the ceremony. However, the university now has a lot of international students and communter students. I don't think the status quo of only one ceremony is working for a large number of the students who attend.

I attended Radford University which only had about 10,000 students. Hardly any of which were communters. We had two graduation ceremonies per year. Mason has almost 30,000 students and only offer one ceremony. The communter student is a whole new player that I hadn't considered befor reading this chapter.

Nevermind

Okay - disregard my blog (duh) - I found the place to search for articles. We had a pipe break in our house so I had to drive with Mike to Front Royal to get a part - replaced the part while we watched the debate, ate too much butter pecan ice cream, went to bed at 2am and am now doing my homework. Two cups of coffee later - I can see and comprehend!!! Have a restful weekend.

The mechanics of our problem statements and archives...

Looking forward to the class discussion on how to approach our "problems" from an organism perspective.

By the way, does anyone know how to search the archives of Inside Education? Maybe it's too early in the morning, but I am not seeing it. Also, has anyone had problems subscribing to Higher Education? The site wants my $$ but if I can get it for free - that's the way I want to go!

Organism v. Structure

I'm only a few pages in to ready Birnbaum, chapter 2, but is it just me or is "organizations as organism" similar to "organizations as structure" - only maybe a little more intense. Anyway it's not what I was expecting.

Another side to the international students posts

There is an interesting article in the Chronicle (Emirates Look to the West for Prestige, Sept 22, 2008). The article is about the United Arab Emirates trying to boost their status as Universities. They are hiring a lot of people from US institutions and making large scale changes to their universities. A lot of money is being poured into the programs over there.

It would be interesting to look at all the changes they are making from some of the organizational frameworks we are looking at in class.

Also as another note. If these universities are spending so much money on faculty and administration over there it could have two outcomes- a drain on top staff here in the US and also fewer international students coming to the US for school. Why would international students come to the US if they can get the equivalent of a US education in the United Arab Emirates?

fine arts college from a human resource perspective

In looking at my problem (integrating the community into other sectors of a fine arts college) through the human resources perspective. I came to a realization. I focused on a definition from the Bolman book that said that the HR framework focuses on "how characteristics of organizations and people shape what they do for one another". I realized that the college has many of the characteristics of a HR framework. For example, one of the assumptions of the HR framework is creating an environment that the organization exploits the talents of its employees and vice versa. The college benefits from the talents of the employees by attracting donors, patrons from the community and students. The employees benefit by having an outlet to further their career and share their talents.

My point of all this is that since the college has many of the basic assumptions of the HR framework, why do they have trouble integrating the community into all aspects of the college? I am starting to think that maybe the college needs to use a blend of a few different organizational frameworks to solve the problem.

Speaking of international students...

There is an article today on The Chronicle of Higher Education website about how Saudi Arabia just brought home over 500 of their students who where on scholorship studying abroad because of poor academic preformance. Its true that international students are very important to universities. Are we doing enough at GMU to provide these students with the academic and social support they need while they are away from home?

Economy

More bank problems, stock market lows. How does this relate to Higher Educational Institutions? I read or heard somewhere that a lot of Universities have been able to shield themselves from some economic troubles by appealing to an international market. But I feel that will only go so far and is only true for certain institutions. Thoughts?

The Symbolism of Athletics

How do you get alumni to reconnect to a college? Start a football program. At least that seems to be the message in a 15 September New York Times article. Lincoln University, an historically black college whose alumni include Thurgood Marshall and Langston Hughes, disbanded their football program in 1960. Now, in an effort to reinvigorate the campus and reconnect the school to its historic roots, the school has decided to bring the program back.

“In the increasingly competitive environment of higher education, sports can forge impressions and draw unparalleled attention,” according to the NYT. We saw this when GMU’s basketball team went to the NCAA final four. The symbolism of sports, especially football, appears to create bonds between a school and its current and former students like no other.

Historic Note: Lincoln University played its first game against a club team from George Mason on August 30th.

As the community college turns...

Did anyone read the article "A Community College Divided" (Inside Higher Ed, Sept. 8th)? Wow - that is a loaded story with so many issues - Charles Taylor, the president of Thomas Nelson Community College in Hampton, VA just announced that he is taking 9 months of leave. Apparently, he is quite controversial and has been accused of being divisive.

According to the article, he went through the school's interview process but the Faculty Senate "deemed him unacceptable." Despite this, he was hired by the chancellor of the VA community college system. Two years into his presidency, he has been accused of negatively impacting morale amongst faculty and staff, he tried to influence pre-requisites for certain courses, creating a "racially charged" environment. The Faculty Senate held a "no confidence" vote in April 2008. 58 against 18 voted NO Confidence in Taylor.

Now, Pres. Taylor is leaving for 9 months to head up a research project - it should be interesting to see what happens. By the way, Taylor declined to be intereviewed, so the article is very one-sided.

"Pretending" Not To Work

I want to share something Dr. Lester shared with me from InsideHigherEd (link below). I think this highlights my organizational problem very succinctly. A community college in Texas, struggling to find adjuncts to teach classes (but not wanting to go over their cap on adjunct hours), now allows adjuncts to teach more, but only if they sign a statement saying that they are not teaching more hours. How crazy is that?

Reading this article from a human resources perspective, this solution to the adjunct cap seems to be creating a real nightmare for the college. The problem itself is an HR problem, or at least would appear to be to those who have not taken CTCH 622.

I would enjoy hearing any feedback on this!

InsideHigherEd => http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2008/09/11/adjunct

First Vision Series Lecture of the 2008-09 Season

This is the speaker that is presenting today, that we talked about a little bit on Tuesday. Sorry about the late post..it was Sorority Recruitment..very busy time!

Faculty, staff and students are encouraged to attend the first lecture
of the season in the Vision Series on Monday, September 15, 2008, at
7p.m., at the Center for the Arts. PLEASE NOTE THE NEW TIME THIS YEAR!!!!

Michelle Marks, Associate Professor of Management, will present "The
Young and the Restless: How Generation Y is Changing our Workforce." A
reception with light refreshments will follow the lecture. Admission is
free and open to the public.

For more information and to reserve tickets, visit
http://www.gmu.edu/cfa/vision.

Do some college's fit better with different perspectives? For example, I have heard that the School of Management is a very structured environment with well-defined roles. Which would go more with the structural perspective. On the other hand I thought the fine arts college is more focused on creativity and talents of the people that would lean more towards the human resource perspective. Since I have not read future assignments I am not sure if my thoughts will hold true. What do you all think?

Test Your Structural Frame Skils

Take a look at the short excerpt from a Chronicle article on the funding issues currently impacting California Community College students. Use your knowledge of the structural frame to analyze this situation. Just note your ideas in the comments section

As California lawmakers fight over a long-overdue budget, thousands of community-college students are caught in the crossfire. Many of the neediest students are left waiting for state Cal Grants that could make the difference between their paying their bills or dropping out.

Remember that blogging is a part of your participation grade.

Just want to give a shout out to my alma mater Radford University. They started enrolling students this fall in their very first Doctoral program! I believe Radford's overall mission has started to shift recently. The new president, who started when I was a senior there in 2005-2006, is pushing for Radford to be more competative with their graduate studies programs. They recently ranked 14th amoung public master's university in the south by U.S. News and World Report 2009. Go Highlanders!

Vicious Cycle

It is kind of a catch 22 - In addition to the research piece, I've heard criticism toward universities for providing a spectrum of amenities and services that do not seem directly related to academics so they can stay competitive and attract people/money.  Some might justify it by saying that it will bring in more money that can be put toward the mission??

Distorting the University Mission

Today's (Sunday, Sept. 7) New York Times has an excellent article on how the mission of many unversities has been distorted by their focus on "tech transfer", i.e. their quest for patents and licenses resulting from federally financed research. NYT writes that "In the past, discovery for its own sake provided academic motivation, but today’s universities function more like corporate research laboratories."

The article continues to say that "In trying to power the innovation economy, we have turned America’s universities into cutthroat business competitors, zealously guarding the very innovations we so desperately want behind a hopelessly tangled web of patents and royalty licenses."

I have often wondered if GMUs quest to become a top research university has led it to channeled resources away from other academic departments. While institutions of higher education may not be structured like a business, it appears that their goals are the same: making money.

Here is a link to the Times article: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/07/technology/07unbox.html

We spent time in class looking at the differences between businesses organizations and higher education organizations. I kept thinking of a statistic that I read in one of the textbooks (How Colleges Work) that said 40% of all board members are businesspeople. I thought this was ironic. Business principles can't be applied to a higher education setting, but we have business people in positions of power.

Higher Education as an Organization

Last night, we ran out of time before we had a chance to talk about the different external and internal pressures and characteristics that impact other types of higher education institutions. I briefly mentioned, for example, that community colleges have within their mission a commitment to workforce development. Here are a few other community college mission statements:

Tidewater Community College provides collegiate education and training to adults of all ages and backgrounds, helping them achieve their individual goals and contribute as citizens and workers to the vitality of an increasingly global community.

COMMITMENTS THAT INFORM THE MISSION:

Open access to high-quality, affordable education to prepare students for transfer to a four-year baccalaureate institution, as well as for entry or advancement in the workforce. Cultural diversity as a critically important strength for students to meet the changing needs of a pluralistic, democratic society. Lifelong learning to heighten the awareness of students to multiple paths for achievement while helping them pursue the choices most conducive to their individual needs. Partnerships and proactive responsiveness to develop cutting-edge programs that meet the changing needs of students and industry, while contributing to the economic, civic, and cultural vitality of the region, the Commonwealth, the nation, and the international community. A comprehensive range of programs and services recognized for excellence by leaders of business, industry, and government, and by educators in K-12 education and four-year colleges and universities.

NVCC Mission Statement
The mission of Northern Virginia Community College is to respond to the educational needs of its dynamic and diverse constituencies through an array of comprehensive programs and services that facilitate learning and workforce development in an environment of open access and through lifelong educational opportunities.


What are some other characteristics that make community colleges unique? What is evident from reading these mission statements? What about for-profits (or proprietary institutions)? Let's continue the conversation on the blog!

Thinking too much?

Did anyone else find themselves going a little batty trying to narrowly define their "problem?" The more I thought on mine, the more problems/issues I came up with.

Organization Problem

Hello!

I have gone back and forth on deciding my organizational problem and finally selected one!!

The problem that I have selected is regarding George Mason Universities position of upgrading our club football program to a NCAA Division 1 program. The topic has been brought up probably since the university was founded and the Board of Visitors recently voted against the decision.

Does this sound like an organizational problem? If so, does it need to be more specific to a recent event or recent decision?

Any thoughts? Thanks!!

Meghan

Happy Labor Day

Refreshing myself on the readings and finalizing ideas for organizational problem:

I'm thinking about addressing issues with how the spaces and services within the Student Center's buildings (JC, SUBI and SUBII) are identified, organized, marketed, etc. I've heard a lot of confusion around why one office or organization is located in one building vs. another. Seems worth getting some feedback.

Bolman and Deal’s discussion of short-term thinking versus long-term consequences (pp. 27 – 30) is on the money. How many of us have been awed by the stupidity of a policy decision in the workplace? Many seem arbitrary and appear to have been made with no thought given to the downstream repercussions, but what about decisions over which the organization has no control?

I am thinking of examining the effects of recent state budget cuts on the Virginia Community College System. Specifically, I want to look at contingency planning by the Humanities and Social Sciences department at the Alexandria Campus of NVCC.

Sometimes an organization is at the mercy of forces over which it has no control. All the reframing and restructuring in the world cannot mitigate the harsh fact that there is no money forthcoming. It appears that there is nothing an organization can do but put the best face on a bad situation.

Looking forward to classes

I will look forward to working on our class assignment, especially since it is pertinent to our work universe. I keep thinking about my proposed theme: The Dean's vision of "creating a problem-based learning and research community. By targeting the "learning community" aspect, I came up with a looooong laundry list of potential focuses/impacts (infrastructure, organizational, pedagogy, technology, student life, etc. etc.). I need to decide on what to focus and enjoy dissecting...knowing that I will be hating it by semester's end!

re-posted

I think I posted this in the wrong spot, so I am posting it again. Sorry for the double posting.

I was wondering if I need to narrow my topic or "organizational problem" for the paper. Here is what I was thinking: The Dean of the College has this philosophy or vision. That philosophy/vision is that the college would have three components 1. Academic, 2. Professional (this includes faculty that are also professionals in the field of fine arts) and 3. Community (this involves integrating the college with the community). The problem being how to get the people in the college to embrace this concept of not just concentrating on the area that they are directly involved in, but to think about the other areas too. Not sure if that makes sense. My questions is- Is the above topic too large or should I try to narrow it to a specific problem? If anyone has any feedback I would appreciate it. Thanks. Kathy

My first blog!

Hello All,

It was very nice meeting everyone yesterday. I was struggling to come up with a "problem" in class but it came to me on the drive home. I think it is unfair that Mason has three conferral dates but only one ceremony. What about the students who graduate at the end of the Fall term, especially the international students who's student visas expire. Shouldn't they be able to walk after they complete their degrees instead of waiting six months till the ceremony in May? Mason is one of the largest universities in VA but one of the few that still only have one commencement ceremony. What do you all think?

CTCH 622 Organization/Administration Blog

Welcome to CTCH 622 Organization/Administration at GMU! We are embarking on the exciting world of organizational theory as it applies to higher education. You may be saying, "hmmm, how is organizational theory exciting?". Well, much of the experiences that you have and the work that you do as staff, faculty, and/or as a student in higher education can be viewed from one of the many theoretical perspectives that we will cover in this class. Each lens will help you see your workplace in a different way and help you to solve problem more systematically and more effectively.

I aim to create a collaborative environment in class where we bring together all of our expertise and experience in a learning community. This blog exists to help you continue the learning community conversations online and out of the class. So, jump in a write!

A few notes on the blog, please do not worry about grammar and/or the content of your posts. You are not graded on the actual post, just the fact that that you are contributing. I will be monitoring the blog, but only as a equal contributor. My only requirement is that you keep your posts relevant to this class.

Welcome again and let's get started.