Editor’s Note
For Whom the Red Carpet Rolls
Frank Shushok, Jr.
“If I ask you to call up a mental picture of the Academy Awards, chances are good you’ll envision dresses and speeches and personalities on the spectrum from dazzling to disappointing. Chances are even better the first thing your mind will see is the red carpet—the grand, celebrated, wildly watched and photographed entryway into Hollywood’s Dolby Theatre. Most of us never expect to attend the Academy Awards at all, much less walk down the red carpet. No, we all get that the red carpet is reserved for an exclusive few whom the rest of us watch from afar. What we don’t like to admit is that there are red carpets everywhere, including higher education…”
Featured Articles
Arizona State University’s President Michael Crow Shares Bold Ideas
Michael Crow & Frank Shushok, Jr.
In this discussion of his new book Designing the New American University (co-written with historian William B. Dabars), Michael M. Crow explains why we need a fifth wave of university design. It is clear that the current research model is failing to meet our current needs in terms of access and affordability.
The Most Excellent and Lamentable Tragedy of the Community College Shakespeare Club
Brian Goedde
Brian Goedde shares the alternately disappointing and inspiring story of trying to get a Shakespeare club off the ground at his community college. Student life, such as the Shakespeare club, is an important aspect of the college experience, including the community college experience.
My Unexpected Learning about Adult Learners: Engaging Adults Through Intentional Advocacy
Jason L. Meriwether
Meriwether reports that 36 percent of new students at his institution are over 25 years old at time of entry. His campus serves their unique needs– through the Adult Student Center, adult student centered first year seminar courses and orientations specifically for adult students–and formally recognizing their achievements–through the Pinnacle Honor Society.
The Cost of Not Being Out: Reflections on Efforts to Address LGBT Issues at a Large Southern Publc University
Steven Thurston Oliver
Steven Thurston Oliver describes how attempting to establish a LGBT center at a large southern public university forced him to negotiate his own identity as a gay black educator. Since Student Affairs work relies on effective relationship-building, Oliver shares his concerns about what effect his identity could have on his institutional effectiveness.
Starving for Knowledge: Why Campuses Need to Address Student Food Insecurity
Clare Cady
Our students experience food insecurity at alarming rates. It disrupts academic success and is an invisible cause of many other student behavior problems. In a powerful call to action, Clare Cady shares stories of campus food banks from the most limited– granola bars offered form a desk– to the most extensive that serve thousands of people and distribute tens of thousands of pounds of food.