Getting Tossed from the Ivory Tower: The Legal Implications of Evaluating Faculty Performance

This Article examines some of the legal issues that permeate the performance review process in higher education and offers some suggestions for improving faculty evaluations. As will be apparent, the courts have generally given institutions of higher education great latitude in devising and administering performance review programs. However, colleges and universities do not have carte blanche with their performance reviews and there are critical constraints on what institutions of higher education can do. These constraints are rooted in principles of fundamental fairness and due process, as well as constitutional and statutory requirements

Structure and Functional Responsibilities of Graduate Schools: An Organizational Analysis

The contemporary graduate ‘school’ is facing a number of significant challenges. In addition to the fundamental question of its role as a shared service provider, graduate education units are exploring ways that they can demonstrate a value-added component to the graduate school experience. These activities include offering graduate certificates about how to be a faculty member, how to best teach and mentor graduate students, and offering undergraduate courses on how to get into graduate school. The current study explored 84 graduate ‘school’ or equivalent unit organizational charts, noting major differences between those with research administration attached to them and those without such responsibilities. Findings also included the identification of small administrative staffs and growing innovation to serve graduate student needs, such as providing mental health services and food pantries

A Critical Examination of Contemporary Legal Issues Important to College Presidents

This discussion provides a highlight of the legal dimensions that college presidents must consider in providing oversight for college operations. Many of these issues are driven by the behaviors of campus constituents, but several key legal issues are also the result of federal legislation and involvement in higher education

Combinatorial Polymer Electrospun Matrices Promote Physiologically-Relevant Cardiomyogenic Stem Cell Differentiation

Myocardial infarction results in extensive cardiomyocyte death which can lead to fatal arrhythmias or congestive heart failure. Delivery of stem cells to repopulate damaged cardiac tissue may be an attractive and innovative solution for repairing the damaged heart. Instructive polymer scaffolds with a wide range of properties have been used extensively to direct the differentiation of stem cells. In this study, we have optimized the chemical and mechanical properties of an electrospun polymer mesh for directed differentiation of embryonic stem cells (ESCs) towards a cardiomyogenic lineage. A combinatorial polymer library was prepared by copolymerizing three distinct subunits at varying molar ratios to tune the physicochemical properties of the resulting polymer: hydrophilic polyethylene glycol (PEG), hydrophobic poly(ε-caprolactone) (PCL), and negatively-charged, carboxylated PCL (CPCL). Murine ESCs were cultured on electrospun polymeric scaffolds and their differentiation to cardiomyocytes was assessed through measurements of viability, intracellular reactive oxygen species (ROS), α-myosin heavy chain expression (α-MHC), and intracellular Ca2+ signaling dynamics. Interestingly, ESCs on the most compliant substrate, 4%PEG-86%PCL-10%CPCL, exhibited the highest α-MHC expression as well as the most mature Ca2+ signaling dynamics. To investigate the role of scaffold modulus in ESC differentiation, the scaffold fiber density was reduced by altering the electrospinning parameters. The reduced modulus was found to enhance α-MHC gene expression, and promote maturation of myocyte Ca2+ handling. These data indicate that ESC-derived cardiomyocyte differentiation and maturation can be promoted by tuning the mechanical and chemical properties of polymer scaffold via copolymerization and electrospinning techniques

Ab initio calculations on low-lying electronic states of SnCl2- and Franck-Condon simulation of its photodetachment spectrum

Geometry optimization and harmonic vibrational frequency calculations have been carried out on low-lying doublet and quartet electronic states of stannous (tin(II)) dichloride anion (SnCl2-) employing the CASSCF and RCCSD(T) methods. The small-core fully-relativistic effective core potential, ECP28MDF, was used for Sn in these calculations, together with valence basis sets of up to augmented correlation-consistent polarized-valence quintuple-zeta (aug-cc-pV5Z) quality. The ground electronic state of SnCl2- is determined to be the 2B1 state, with the Ã2B2 and ã4-g state, calculated to be ca. 1.50 and 2.72 eV higher in energy respectively. The electron affinities of the 1A1 and ã3B1 states of SnCl2 have been computed to be 1.568 ± 0.007 and 4.458 ± 0.002 eV respectively, including contributions of core correlation and extrapolation to the complete basis set limit. The SnCl2 (1A1) + e SnCl2- (2B1) and SnCl2 (ã3B1) + e SnCl2- (2B1) photodetachment bands have been simulated with computed Franck–Condon factors, which include an allowance for anharmonicity and Duschinsky rotation

História versus teoria? A historiografia de Hobbes na teoria das relacoes internacionais

Uma dificuldade crucial no estudo das relações internacionais é unir investigação teórica com investigação histórica. O objetivo deste artigo é analisar como Hobbes enfrentou este problema, bem como em que medida a solução que apresentou influenciou a teoria das relações internacionais e permite ainda hoje resolver dificuldades desta disciplina. A primeira parte examina como Hobbes justifica seu método de pensar histórica e teoricamente ao mesmo tempo. A segunda parte mostra como Hobbes é recuperado no pós-Segunda Guerra tanto pela revisão do programa idealista como pelo emergente realismo, em ambos os casos a fim de criticar o idealismo do entreguerras. A terceira parte, tendo em vista o debate contemporâneo em relações internacionais, mostra como o neo-realismo, concentrando-se em tecnologias de poder, perde o interesse pela investigação histórica presente no realismo clássico; e o normativismo que se fortalece a partir dos anos 90, formulando uma justificada crítica à ausência de reflexão ética no neorealismo, recai muitas vezes em variantes do idealismo utópico. Em ambos há um déficit de investigação histórica, o que não permite analisar a contingência das relações sociais. Se o caráter predominantemente antropológico da historiografia de Hobbes, bem como o caráter predominantemente institucionalista de sua teoria do Estado e do Direito não podem mais ser aceitos, é seu modo de pensar ao mesmo tempo teórica e historicamente o legado e o desafio que nos deixa