University Universe is for Students

Will Anyone be Interested in Reading my Blog?

Who would care about the University Universe from a Professor’s Perspective?

With some quick research on the web, I discover that, according to the U. S. Census Bureau that seriously researches such things about all of us, in October 2007, the most recently published set of data, 12, 656, 000 full-time and 5, 300, 000 part-time students attended various institutions of higher learning in the United States (http://www.census.gov/population/www/socdemo/school/cps2007.html).

I am further assuming that my blog will be more interesting to students in California.  Since I teach in this state, my examples will make more sense to Californians. After some more research, I discover that our Governor’s commission on “post-secondary” education [has anyone ever heard of them?], counted in 2007 [yes, data collection, organization, and publishing is not an instantaneous process, so we have to use a year and half old data, but they are at least reliable], about 2, 800, 000 college students in our great state of California (http://www.cpec.ca.gov/StudentData/StudentSnapshot.ASP?DataReport=2).  I am approximating because I do not want to take time to add all of the numbers, and the data collectors have not done that for me. I want to make my point:

If I am writing for students, even with the current year and a half of recession and severe budget cuts and fee increases that have made it difficult for many to continue their education after high school, I still have potentially a huge audience.  

Will Students Care about How a Professor Sees the University Universe? 

The answer to that question depends on how well I write and how well I publicize my blog.  It also depends on that unknown quality: Will I be able to tap into the “hearts and minds” of people who are in most cases decades younger than me?   

With quite a number of them I daily share the University Universe, but sometimes one could easily think that we live in different dimensions.  My colleagues in natural sciences, mathematicians and physicists, for example, call this phenomenon a “parallel universe.”

Why Should Students Read a Professor’s Blog?

Professors, the Faculty, are the crucial and by far the most influential framers of students’ college experiences. 

Professors teach classes; students go to college to take the classes, pass those classes, and get their degrees.  A professor’s perspective just might offer some great tips to students how to accomplish their goals at the university.  Go figure. 

Professors Know the University

While most students spend only a limited part of their lives at a university, albeit the one they remember fondly [otherwise, how would one explain the interest of former students at college reunion gatherings], the professors spend a large portion of their working lives on a campus.  They know the university setting and the institution of higher learning inside and out. 

An average professor has certainly taught thousands and thousands of students in his or her career, many of whom have faced challenges similar to today’s freshmen.  In other words, professors have the infamous virtue of experience on their side.  Students can learn much if they are willing to listen.

Professors are Willing to Help

Professors feel that they are overworked and underpaid. Nowadays in California, for example, they feel especially targeted because they are forced to shoulder unfairly the burden of past bad budgetary decisions by the Governor through an insulting system of pay-cuts thinly disguised as furloughs.  However, as educators, most of them strongly believe in students’ access to higher education and see themselves as students’ guides and helpers.  If students treat them respectfully, they are willing to go out of their way to figure out how to help out an interested student. 

Professors, however, do not see themselves, nor should they be seen, as service industry providers who are on call 24/7 satisfying every customer’s whim. Students are not customers; education is not for sale. 

Students should seek a Professor’s help and understand that they offer it as an extraordinary commitment to their profession and their community, not because they necessarily have to.  I, for example, do not have to write this blog, this is extra work for me. 

Professors are Interesting People

Generally and contrary to some popular beliefs, Professors are high-energy, interesting people.   We have to be in order to deal successfully with hundreds of young vibrant minds that pass through our hands every year. 

We are also non-conformist.  In our pursuit of our own research and ideas, we have to be both exceptionally critical and creative, and that means that we do not follow large crowds.  Those traits should be attractive to much of the student population.  

We are also disciplined. We ultimately believe in science and reasoned argument accomplished through hard work and research.  While most of us believe that all people are equal, we do not believe that all ideas are equal.  For ideas to impress us, they actually have to make sense, quite contrary to much of popular culture. What a novel thought!!! [yes, we love irony and sarcasm].

So if you want to catch glimpses of my quirky mind [I might tell what I learned about other professors, too], look for my other blogs.  Oh yes, did I mention? You actually might get some quite useful tips on how to survive in college and beyond.

See for example my simple tips on what all students should learn and do before the first day of classes.