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Should We Rank Ourselves?
Quick: Name the top five psychology departments in the world. Is that too hard? Well, what about North America? Is that any easier? What are five top departments in industrial/organizational psychology? In developmental psychology? In
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Why Are Textbooks So Expensive?
Newsletters and other missives that I receive seem filled with stories about textbooks and textbook prices, with many wringing their hands over why textbooks are so expensive now relative to the more distant past (usually
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Intellectual Genealogy
Two decades ago the idea of tracing one’s genealogy swept through American society, and many people began uncovering their pasts by tracking their ancestors. My mother took up the challenge within my own family and
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Are University Presidents Overpaid or Underappreciated?
Every November The Chronicle of Higher Education publishes a special section on executive compensation of the chief executives (generally the presidents or chancellors) of American universities. The latest special section appeared November 19, 2004, and
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Great Dissertations: Mark I
A year ago in the Observer, I wrote a column on “Dissertation Dilemmas” which focused on varying perspectives on the dissertation. In some scholars’ views, the dissertation should represent a grand intellectual achievement, whereas in
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Writing Textbooks: Why Doesn’t It Count?
In 1975 I was an assistant professor at Purdue University and in my third year on the faculty. One day my colleague Barry Kantowitz came to see me with a proposal: Would I be interested
