cannyben

We live in a time when manipulated images, partisan reporting, and allegations of 'fake news' make it increasingly difficult to determine whether individuals and institutions are worthy of our trust. Trust is akin to a leap of faith that depends on a combination of experience, intuition, bravery and sheer hope. Interpersonal trust circumvents the uncertainties that may put relationships at risk and transforms these into the most wondrous of alliances as doubt turns to rapture. Trust allows young children to do things that scare them when a parent or guardian is near to provide protection. Trust inspires lovers to overcome the fear of rejection and the unknown other to embark on exhilarating journeys of mutual discoveries, carnal pleasures, and intimate liaisons. Trust also informs the way relate to those who are not directly related to us. We rely on the professionals with whom we interact to conduct themselves in accordance with the rules and standards that determine prope...

I recently taught a high school psychology class, and towards the end of the semester, we started a unit on the psychology of emotions. The students were surprised there are psychologists who spend their entire careers focusing on emotions – what they are, how they impact our behaviors and thoughts, and why we have them. I asked the students if they knew why we had emotions, and one kid in the back yelled out, “Because Jesus gave them to us.” It led to an interesting discussion about the complexity of human emotion and the benefits  and  disadvantages of feelings. We know that emotions can be a wonderful thing. They allow us to feel loved and connected to others. David danced and laughed for joy, Jesus told his disciples, “I have told you these things so that you will be filled with my joy. Yes, your joy will overflow!”   (John 15:14) and Paul wrote, “How we thank God for you! Because of you, we have great joy as we enter God’s presence”(1 Thess. 3:9). God created u...

Once one  becomes  an academic administrator, one of the most valuable skills one should cultivate is the ability to repeat oneself, and still sound fresh and sincere. Similar questions to a similar audience result in similar answers. For instance, when I meet a donor or an  alum who asks how the school is doing, I have a ready answer in my head — with key talking points, stats, and anecdotes. The content will vary over time as the data shift, but basically I’m echoing myself. The same is true of many internal conversations. There are very few critically urgent matters in the world of academia — besides obvious ones like "building on fire" or an imminent deadline for a large grant proposal. Most of the time — whether it is deciding on how to allocate funding, making a hiring decision, negotiating appointments, or revising curricula — you legitimately have weeks or months to deliberate. Be wary of agreeing to something, or refusing it, too quic...

I was 21 years old when I first stepped into a classroom as a teacher. I was so   nervous about how the students   would perceive me, and so uncertain about what I was doing that I had   precisely one goal for the first day: Get through it. I managed to achieve that modest goal. But over the course of the next couple of decades of full- time teaching, I have become much more aware of the extent to which the first day of class sets the tone for everything that follows. On that first day, your students are forming a lasting impression not just of you as a teacher but of your course, too. Their early, thin-slice judgments are powerful enough to condition their attitudes toward the entire course, the effort they are willing to put into it, and the relationship they will have with you and their peers throughout the course. So that first class meeting is a big deal. You want to give the students a taste of the engaging intellectual journey they will undertake in the c...

Question: I am going on my first-ever campus interview soon, and I see that there is an “interview with the search committee” on the itinerary. But I already did an interview with all of the committee members over Skype. Will this next “interview with the search committee” be much different? Are they going to ask me the same questions? Will it be the same people? That’s a logical question for a first-time candidate, as that sequence of events must seem redundant. But it really isn’t. Everyone knows that a campus interview is a coup that propels you into the next level of the academic-hiring game. A campus visit will involve many things that go well beyond the scope of those quickie, first-round interviews conducted long distance via technology or in person at a scholarly conference. In a campus visit, you won’t have to deal with the technical problems of a Skype interview or face a screen full committee members who have positioned themselves like a cheer leading pyramid so they c...