Author Archives: Julie Dodd
Why aren’t reasonable compromises allowed? That is the main theme of Bron Taylor’s column in The Gainesville Sun, and I say “Amen.” In the last several months, I’ve attended numerous meetings regarding the College’s budget cuts — departmental meetings, Senate meetings, faculty meetings and meetings of the Senate Task Force on the Budget. At every meeting with the Dean, he talks about the possibility of a 10 percent budget cut for our College. For the College, that’s $909,000. He talks about the need to make cuts in personnel. He talks about how difficult it is for him to make these decisions. And at every meeting, somone asks about alternative approaches to cutting lines (jobs). Can we have unpaid leave? Can we have temporary salary reductions? Can UF develop an early retirement program? Can we have a hiring freeze? Businesses and other universities have developed such programs when they are facing downsizing of personnel. But what the Dean and UF President Machen have said is “No.” I applaude Bron Taylor’s column in The Gainesville Sun raising the range of compromises and asking why those aren’t on the table of discussion. His column makes that a more public question, and he presents the case for compromise in crisis in a clear manner. UF’s reputation is being damaged even now as the word spreads around the country and world about the university’s approach to budget problems. Many who may have considered applying for faculty positions at UF won’t — not just now but for years to come. Each cut may have a rationale from the dean making the cut, but that doesn’t mean the cuts are well reasoned for the overall department or college. The cuts may be the most expendient. Of course, some cuts are political. President Machen talks abour “reshaping” the University. This is a time that each dean can reshape his/her college. (UF does have two women deans.) Alternatives to laying off faculty and staff do exist. Why aren’t those alternatives in the discussion? Bron Taylor does more reasons than most to be informed about and concerned about the proposed budget cuts. He is a professor in the Department of Religion. The budget cuts proposal from the dean in the College Liberal Arts and Sciences is to cut that department by approximately 65 percent.
Why aren’t reasonable compromises allowed? That is the main theme of Bron Taylor’s column in The Gainesville Sun, and I say “Amen.” In the last several months, I’ve attended numerous meetings regarding the College’s budget cuts — departmental meetings, Senate meetings, faculty meetings and meetings of the Senate Task Force on the Budget. At every […]
UF budget cuts — impact on individuals, colleges and UF
The Gainesville Sun headline reads: A worst-case budget for UF cuts 140 jobs. The story in its 20 inches of space tries to capture some of the magnitude, personal loss and often arbitrary nature of the budget cuts. Faculty and staff cut. Some programs closed. Learning diminished. Lives changed.
Ada Lovelace Day: Celebrating women’s accomplishments in technology
Celebrating women’s accomplishments in technology I’m joining hundreds of bloggers today in celebrating Ada Lovelace Day, which recognizes the accomplishments of women in technology. I’ve included a screen capture from today’s blog from Ian Douglas in The Telegraph, which included a photo of Ada Lovelace and a brief bio. When I heard that today was the […]
222,000 reasons to make changes to Florida’s Bright Futures program
222,000 reasons to make changes to the Bright Futures program The Florida legislature is talking about an issue that UF professors have been concerned about for years — the impact of students dropping classes. For this semester at the University of Florida, the drop date is April 10. That’s the date that students can use […]
Blogging insights as an editor
Rebecca Lieb is the editor-in-chief of the ClickZ Network provides an interesting perspective as being both an editor and a blogger. As an editor, she encourages the site’s bloggers to have something to say. That would seem obvious, but she notes that sometimes you as a writer can get caught in the trap of thinking […]
Blogging Heroes offers info and inspiration
I’ve been reading books about blogging both to help me in my own blogging and to help me in including up-to-date trends and strategies about blogging in my teaching. As I hope to encourage a group I work with to join me in a group blog, I’m going to highlight a few points about blogging […]
Loss of NIE programs cuts kids’ exposure to newspaper/news value
When I first started teaching high school English and journalism, I discovered the benefit of using newspapers in teaching. I purchased the class set myself to use with the newspaper staff but used the paper In other classes, too. Their biggest success – from my perspective as the new teacher – was in my 10th […]
Proposal unveiled to hire 50 laid-off journalists to teach "news literacy" to non-journalism college majors | Media Giraffe
What’s going to happen to all the journalists who are losing their jobs due to downsizing in the media? This initiatve, funded by the Knight Foundation, is one answer Working with Stony Brook University, Knight will pay to train 50 former journalists to teach news literacy on university campuses around the country. On a separate […]
The Wizard of Oz and educational assessment
The FCAT editorial cartoon leaves out a key player in Dorothy’s FCAT quest — the Wizard of Oz. You’ll remember that he was behind the curtain in a little room turning the dials and knobs to create the illusions and sounds of Oz. Lots of groups and individuals are behind the curtain making FCAT (and […]
Florida’s FCAT testing creates anxiety
Of course, the public schools have more than their share of challenges. This week starts the FCAT testing, which determines promotion for some grade levels and school rankings. No wonder many schools have FCAT pep rallies.
Julie Dodd 