Precipice Or Crossroads

This book should be of great interest to faculty members and students, as well as those parents, legislators, policymakers, and other area stakeholders who have a vested interest in the well-being of America’s original public universities.

This volume explores the numerous and competing demands that face America’s public research universities and considers how institutions and their leaders can best navigate this challenge to ensure longevity, relevance, and success on the local, national, and global stage. Today’s public research universities have the unique challenge of responding to new societal pressures and policies, while remaining true to their core educational missions and values. Highlighting the multiple roles that universities must now fulfil – as institutions of higher learning, as research bodies, as institutions with global reputations, and as organizations that serve the public – the volume asks how they can best evolve in the rapidly changing education landscape. Tackling subjects such as faculty culture, the role of technology, financial sustainability, institutional identity, diversity, and organizational development, chapters identify innovative and transformative mechanisms for acclimatizing the public research university to current educational, academic, and societal needs. This text will benefit researchers, academics, and educators with an interest in higher education, educational reform and policy, and the sociology of education more broadly.

In Me and the Devil Blues, Walter Ellis brings us a ghost story, a passionate romance, and a unique look into our musical and historical past. This fast-paced novel, in the tradition of Larry McMurtry and Toni Morrison, combines comedy and pathos with just a touch of the supernatural. Robert Foster is down on his luck. He wants to be a Blues musician, and he wants the beautiful Beatrice White, the prettiest girl in Memphis. Both seem beyond his grasp. Robert is disowned by his supposed father and driven into the Depression-era Mississippi Delta. There he meets the talented, funny, and alcoholic Charlie Patton and the mysterious and evil Matthew Foster. Robert sells his soul to the Devil for Beatrice and for fame but finds neither to be what he expected. There is a surprising twist in the last chapter that will shock the reader into an entirely new dimension. Me and the Devil Blues is a blend of fact and fiction and features several real people as characters including Louis Armstrong, Chester Burnet, "The Howling Wolf," and the cranky and irascible Rice Miller, also known as Sonny Boy Williamson. What does it mean to sell your soul? In an episode, near the center of the novel, Robert dreams that he makes a deal with his real father, the evil Matthew Foster, for the woman that he loves and for the fame that he craves. Robert then achieves fame, makes some popular records, and returns home to Memphis a hero. Beatrice White, who is living with Todd Young, a bootlegger and dope pusher, drops Todd and comes to live with Robert. Only gradually does Robert come to undestand Beatrice's secret, a secret that will drive her to the brink of suicide and him to the brink of madness.

The Rise and Decline of Faculty Governance is the first history of shared governance in American higher education. Drawing on archival materials and extensive published sources, Larry G. Gerber shows how the professionalization of college teachers coincided with the rise of the modern university in the late nineteenth century and was the principal justification for granting teachers power in making educational decisions. In the twentieth century, the efforts of these governing faculties were directly responsible for molding American higher education into the finest academic system in the world. In recent decades, however, the growing complexity of “multiversities” and the application of business strategies to manage these institutions threatened the concept of faculty governance. Faculty shifted from being autonomous professionals to being “employees.” The casualization of the academic labor market, Gerber argues, threatens to erode the quality of universities. As more faculty become contingent employees, rather than tenured career professionals enjoying both job security and intellectual autonomy, universities become factories in the knowledge economy. In addition to tracing the evolution of faculty decision making, this historical narrative provides readers with an important perspective on contemporary debates about the best way to manage America’s colleges and universities. Gerber also reflects on whether American colleges and universities will be able to retain their position of global preeminence in an increasingly market-driven environment, given that the system of governance that helped make their success possible has been fundamentally altered.

American higher education is under unprecedented pressure, beginning with the public funding and student debt crises and extending to inadequate performance in student retention and growing global competition. Respected educator and scholar Peter N. Stearns breaks down the underlying problems, exploring the most contentious issues for university leaders and administrators today. Guiding the American University covers the major facets of university operation—administration, faculty, and students—and discusses what should be changed and what should be preserved. Covering major topics for debate and real problems facing American higher education today—including the tenure system, online learning, administrative bloat, and campus culture—this book is a critical resource for aspiring and current higher education administrators. Research-based and stemming from a range of case studies, this book’s insightful and fresh recommendations serve as an important contribution to the conversation on the future of American higher education.

Designing the New American University will ignite a national discussion about the future evolution of the American research university.

Comprehensive treatment of the challenges faced by America’s public research universities, and of what those challenges may mean for the nation.

In 1969, teenaged heiress Kimberly Martin enters a seedy Georgia bar, desperate to end her haunting dreams of alien abduction—but she instinctively knows they are more than just dreams. Aliens are preparing her womb for an implanted hybrid and she has a plan she hopes will stop them, but Kim has no idea that her act of defiance is about to unleash a stream of events that will catapult her and others to the precipice of a plot to take over the world. Kimberly's brother, Benny, learns that Kimberly is a candidate for insemination and he must shepherd Earth's people to a new dawn. Sarah Matheson is visited by what she thinks is an angel who performs a strange procedure on her. In Illinois, Chris Altenbrook walks away from a potentially lucrative athletic career to enter the priesthood without any idea of what lies ahead. Precipice is a fast-paced adventure of attempted murder, Vatican intrigue, world domination, and cosmic conspiracies as three families uncover the powerful truths that await this generation.

Have you ever wondered about the quality of your life? Have you ever quested for the purpose of your life? Given the fact that you learn about your calling in life, and do you know how to get started or deal with your calling? Are you called to serve something bigger than yourself? If you have had these questions, you are not alone in the journey of this life. Do you feel your experiences are complicated and the problems you face are challenging? Life today is quite different, and recovering from setbacks is not always easy. The ability to find direction and purpose is equally difficult. You cant choose where and when you will be born and what kind of family you will have. However, you can choose your attitude and lifestyle to carry on with your life. We live in a time in which traditional beliefs have been attenuated, ridiculed, and mocked. Dealing with obstacles is stressful and overcoming diversity can be fearful, but not impossible. It is imperative that you are willing to move forward before you see how detrimental your life can become. Life would be better if you learn to listen to your inner voice and the Holy Spirit. When you follow your own heart, you can find passion and dream to redefine your purpose in life.

On the same day as his ill-fated attempt to win the pee-up-the-wall competition at primary school, Harry Cousin’s father failed to return home after a hectic train-spotting stint. Now, still feeling he’s losing everything that’s important to him, Harry’s fighting for the custody of his three children and struggling to come to terms with teaching at the local college. After being arrested for a case of mistaken intent, he tries to find some meaning in life, so he joins a Blues band. While playing the Blues in every sticky-floored venue around, Harry stumbles across a bizarre series of people and events as he discovers that life is like a rollercoaster ride ... exhilarating if you’ve got the stomach for it! The Blues... more than just a category in a music store ... it’s a lifestyle.

Based on the latest missions results and supported by commissioned artwork, this book explores the possible lessons we may learn from exoplanets. As the number of known Earth-like objects grows significantly, the author explores what is known about the growing roster of "pale blue dots" far afield. Aided by an increased sensitivity of the existing observatories, recent discoveries by Keck, the Hubble Space Telescope, and Kepler are examined. These findings, once thought to be closer to the realm of science fiction, have fired the imaginations of the general public as well as scientists. All of us are mesmerized by the possibility of other Earth-like worlds out there. Author Michael Carroll asks the tough questions of what the expected gain is from identifying these Earth analogs spread across the Universe and the reasons for studying them. Potentially, they could teach us about our own climate and Solar System. Also explored are the more remote options of communication between or even travel to these distant yet perhaps not so dissimilar worlds.

Multi-millionaire Anthony Spencer is trapped in a coma and finds himself in a surreal world that reflects the skewed priorities of the life he's lived on earth where he meets a stranger who turns out to be Jesus and a grandmother who is the Holy Spirit. Pleading for a second chance, he is sent back to earth to redeem himself. There he must fight to put right the mess he's created, experiencing events through others' eyes before deciding how to use the miraculous gift he's been given. Before his illness he had set events in motion that he now needs to undo - but will he have the courage to make the right choice? THE SHACK is an international phenomenon, surpassing 1 million copies sold before being picked up by a mainstream publisher: its combination of radical spirituality with a heart-wrenching story made it a word-of-mouth hit, and CROSS ROADS has all the ingredients to repeat its impact.

This book is a translation and celebration of Slovenian politician France Bučar’s seminal work. Divided into two parts, the book first contains several studies of Bučar’s arguments. As Bučar applied his system theory to a variety of issues, so too the conglomerate of scholars and issues critically assessed is interdisciplinary, ranging from political science and economics, to law and philosophy, as well as to natural sciences. The contributors and the questions of their essays in the edited volume are as follows. Peter Verovsek (University of Sheffield) examines different branches of Critical Theory and classifies Bučar within them. Mark Hamilton (Inter-American Defense College) discusses system dynamics of Bučar’s system theory. Urška Velikonja (Georgetown University) applies Bučar’s system theory to the question of the ethics, rules, and regulations in financial economics. Finally, Matej Drev (Georgia Institute of Technology) connects Bučar to the issue of artificial intelligence and inequality. The second part is the English translation of Bučar’s book At A New Crossroads, which addresses the role of ethics in society. Bučar normatively redefines national identity as the crux of his novel understanding of ethics. Using system theory, he addresses the problems of globalization and governance, presenting a post-modern synthesis of the logic of free flow of capital and global citizenship, with national and cultural identity. Speaking to contemporary society, he shows how society and ethical life are reproduced. Bučar provides the reader with new tools to think about national identity and global politics. Bringing an important work on ethics, government, and identity to an entirely new readership, this book will appeal to a broad academic audience, namely students and practitioners in the fields of economics, social sciences, and humanities.

The poetry of Northern California artist Marques Vickers explores the inspirations behind eros, aphrodesia and existence in his 300+ poem compilation recorded over thirty-five years. “I spend my life ripping the skin off of words, exploring and hoping…” Succinct expression capsules Northern California artist Marques Vickers’ poetic work “Unicorns and Dark Chocolate” Vickers sheds the mythological orientations behind his own formation into a cohesive exploration of inspiration and eroticism. As he the painter must lift his brush to express visually, he the poet must elevate language beyond the evident and obvious. By examining his own-mirrored reflections, Vickers navigates an elemental path amidst the chaos of existence. He attempts to pierce through our subconscious surface to reveal the wellspring behind our thoughts and actions. Art is romance, romance is art. His transparency of thought becomes his instrument for transfiguration. His language remains as concise and distinct as his tinted palette.