Betabrand, an online clothing store, has an unusual approach for models for its spring collection for women. All of the women in the ads have Ph.D.s or are doctoral candidates. Shoppers looking at the Del Ray Perfect Dress will find it modeled by a Ph.D. candidate in nuclear engineering at the University of California at Berkeley, and those interested in the Gray Confetti Popover Shirt will find it modeled by a woman who earned her Ph.D. in cognitive psychology at Stanford University. Read more...

By Will Miller. I am not your friend, but I do want students to feel comfortable approaching me. And I am not “Mr.” That would be my father. Last week in this same space, Katrina Gulliver, made an argument regarding “an epidemic of familiarity among undergraduates” that directly implicated white male faculty for “resting safely in the comfort of assumed male authority.” I have witnessed this alleged epidemic in my very own classroom; and I have — much to the chagrin of Gulliver — done nothing to prevent it. Read more...

By Abraham Gutman. I recently went with a friend to an event at Columbia University, celebrating the 10th anniversary of the Ph.D. program in sustainable development. At the beginning of the event, the organizers screened a short clip with interviews of students and faculty in the program. One of the students said that one of the most amazing things about the program is that you read op-eds of great thinkers and practitioners, such as Jeffrey Sachs and Joseph Stiglitz, and then you see them in the halls and in class. I was completely in awe. Read more...

By Carrie Warick. The more expensive a purchase, the more important it is to be a smart consumer. Many Americans value labeling and rankings from food (nutrition labels) to appliances (energy ratings) to vehicles (gas mileage and crash safety) to health plans (Obamacare’s bronze, silver, gold, and platinum). Yet for one of the most expensive purchases a person will ever make – a college education – there is a dearth of reliable and meaningful comparable information. Read more...

By Lee Burdette Williams. I recently sat through another compelling defense of the liberal arts, although I hardly needed to be in the choir again. I sing loudly from the song sheet, being both the recipient of a liberal arts education and an employee of a college deeply committed to this work. I am surrounded every day by the very evidence that its defenders offer in support of the necessary existence of this uniquely American construct. Read more...

By Nancy L. Zimpher. We've got plenty of data to support the value of a college degree, but the value of higher education systems -- in contrast to single institutions both private and public -- more often lies in the eye of the beholder.  That is certainly the case in “Are Systems Bad for Flagships?” – a recent essay in this space arguing that state-operated systems are harmful to “the health of public flagship universities and to the states and regions they serve.” Read more...

By Colleen Flaherty. The worst they can say is no. That's the advice a new Ph.D. receives about negotiating with a department that has extended a job offer. Sure, you might not get everything you want, but there's no harm in trying. This may be your best shot at getting good pay or working conditions and, after all, they have offered you the job and won't take that away. Or maybe not, according to recent post on Philosophy Smoker. Read more...

By Doug Lederman. Public university students frustrated about burgeoning debt and steadily rising tuition prices often direct their anger at campus leaders, agitating about bloated administrative spending or salaries or misguided cuts in services. A new campaign by the organization known as Young Invincibles suggests that they're "complaining about the wrong people," says Tom Allison, the group's policy and research manager. With the release Thursday of report cards gauging each state's investment in higher education, Young Invincibles' Student Impact Project essentially asserts that for public institutions, at least, blame for rising tuitions falls overwhelmingly on legislators and governors, not presidents and trustees. Read more...

By Ry Rivard. Colleges are asking students for untold thousands of dollars in nonrefundable fees for dorm rooms they may never live in.
Some of the fees, which recently caught the eye of the college admissions officials, may fall in an ethical gray area. Read more...