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Colorado College
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President’s Blog Flow of IdeasThis page features periodic postings from President Dick Celeste. Run, Don't WalkDecember 15, 2006 – 9:33 am
I usually am not moved to blog about something that is time constrained, but I cannot help myself in this instance. Yesterday I finally took the time to visit Coburn Gallery (in our student center) to look at an exhibit entitled “Book as Object,” which has been there for over a month. I was out of town when the exhibit opened, partially explaining my tardiness. What a mistake on my part. Spellings Commission Report Fails to Recognize Distinctive Contributions of Colleges and UniversitiesDecember 6, 2006 – 10:07 am
Two months ago, the Commission on the Future of Higher Education issued its final report. The Commission, appointed last year by President Bush and working closely with Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings, was comprised of 19 members ranging from present or retired college and university presidents to corporate CEO types. It was chaired by a Texas businessman who was deeply involved in the system of higher education in that state. The Commission was charged with the development of a national strategy for postsecondary education that meets the country’s needs for an appropriate 21st century workforce. Pondering prescient brain cellsSeptember 5, 2006 – 9:48 am
I am curious about a certain part of my brain. I need to talk to Bob Jacobs and Lori Driscoll, our neuroscientists, or maybe to one of our psychology professors. Here is what I have in mind, so to speak. It is that set of brain cells that tells me exactly what is going to happen when I do something. But then is incapable of helping me avert that very consequence. Engaging face to face as well as in bits and bytesSeptember 4, 2006 – 8:33 am
I have been out of the blogging business for quite a while. First it was the rush of the end of the academic year and a wicked travel schedule. Then it was summer and a reluctance to take on anything new. (Actually summer was both relaxing and busy: a welcome change of pace.) But as the arrival of new students approached, I found myself energized by the prospect of new faces and new enthusiasm. On Saturday morning I turned up at Slocum Hall with my very own dolly to help parents unload the mountain of clothes, books, electronics, and quality of life stuff their sons and daughters were bringing to campus. A heavy downpour did little to dampen the excitement that was palpable to all of us. …continue reading “Engaging face to face as well as in bits and bytes” »»» The lure of the roadApril 3, 2006 – 9:02 am
Listening to my iTunes here at the computer, I was drawn to the deep urge of all of us to explore, to travel, to reach for the horizon and beyond. Alison Krauss got me started, singing about the lure of the road in “Gravity.” What a beautiful melody. And what telling lyrics: “all of the answers that I started with turned out questions in the end…” Somehow the podcast of CC’s Professor Eric Popkin and recent graduate Hector Suarez interrupted the next song on the album. I found myself listening to their talk recently at the college, discussing the current passion-arousing debate about immigration, the forces behind the recent apparent surge, and how we might respond. My mind turned to my paternal grandmother, not yet twenty taking her nine-month-old son on a brave and lonely trip from the hills of southern Italy across a vast ocean to a strange land and an uncertain future where she rejoined a young husband she barely knew. What drove that young couple? What gave them the courage? Thoughts on U.S./India partnershipMarch 20, 2006 – 12:39 pm
Several friends have asked my opinion about the President Bush visit to India, and especially about his decision to allow India and the U.S. to collaborate on civilian nuclear energy despite India’s refusal to sign the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty (NPT). So here are my thoughts. First, President Bush has been determined to build on the improved relations between the United States and India that reached a new level under the impetus of Bill Clinton and his five-day trip there in March 2000 (the first presidential visit to India in 22 years). A year later I had the opportunity to listen as President Bush outlined for then-Indian Foreign Minister Jaswant Singh why our bilateral relationship was so important. The president was articulate and forceful in stating his personal commitment. Career or calling?March 6, 2006 – 3:30 pm
On Saturday afternoon, as I prepared a speech for the Delta Sigma Rho-Tau Kappa Alpha dinner, I found myself pondering this question. Students about to graduate and move on from CC ask me often about how I plotted my career in public life. Parents of prospective students ask me at least as often how our liberal arts education will prepare their children for a career in medicine, or law, or business, or fill in the blank. My conclusion is that the notion of career is becoming archaic in this 21st century of ours. Yes, one can still pursue a career in the professoriate, and even in certain professions like medicine I suppose. But the fact is that the notion of career as a lifetime commitment working from some imagined entry point toward a long-anticipated pinnacle has been overtaken by events. Facebook friendsFebruary 17, 2006 – 10:21 am
Eighteen months ago I read an account of the fuss at Pomona about something called the Facebook, an online meeting place for college students that apparently had become so compelling that students were skipping class, missing homework assignments, and obsessing over communicating with their Facebook friends. I was curious as to the response on this campus. Since anyone with an .edu e-mail address can become a member I decided to sign up and see what the fuss was about. I created my profile�the real me, not a fictional version. Just to make sure that my presence wasn�t misconstrued I made a point of posting a picture with Jacqueline and Sam. This happened early enough in Facebook evolution that only a few hundred of our almost 2,000 students had become Facebook members. |
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