Jason Waller: The Existence of God: A Simple Argument that Changed the Mind of a Long-time Atheist, with response by Dr. Richard Foley

https://thekeep.eiu.edu/humanitiescenter_transformations1213/1003/thumbnail.jp

An Examination of the Relationship of a Tenure System to Enrollment Growth, Affordability, Retention Rates, and Graduation Rates in Texas Public Two-Year Colleges

Austin (2006) and Chait (2002) indicate that most faculty prefer tenured to non-tenured positions. The presence of tenure track positions is often equated with institutional excellence and tenure designations are often associated with status. The promise of secure academic employment makes the tenured position the gold standard of the academy. This preference for tenure is not limited to university faculty. Jacoby (2005) found that most young, part-time community college faculty desire fulltime tenure track positions. Older faculty members were not as enthusiastic in regard to tenure. The academic culture at community colleges appears to be evolving an employment desirability hierarchy where the ultimate perceived academic level is the full-time tenured position. Kater and Levin (2005) concur with Jacoby’s findings and note that tenured community college faculty share traditional governance decisions, including tenure recommendations. While community college faculty members may desire tenure systems, the question arises as to the whether or not tenure systems are beneficial for community colleges

Jason Waller: The Existence of God: A Simple Argument that Changed the Mind of a Long-time Atheist, with response by Dr. Richard Foley

https://thekeep.eiu.edu/humanitiescenter_transformations1213/1003/thumbnail.jp

Experiences with Teaching Nuclear Security Professional Development Courses for Health Physicists

Health physicists are professionals that are experts in the recognition, evaluation, and control of health hazards to permit the safe use and application of radiation. They typically have broad knowledge in radiation (ionizing and non-ionizing), biology, ecology and safety. With this wealth expertise we believe the health physicists would be useful partners in an effective security culture. As such over three years, a total of seven professional enrichment courses have been offered by the authors to health physics and radiation protection professionals, both nationally and internationally. Five have been through the Health Physics Society meetings, one through the International Radiation Protection Association meeting, and one at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. This paper will briefly introduce these courses and will include learning objectives and descriptions of courses’ content. There was limited documented course participant feedback with only 1 of the 7 courses having documented course evaluations. Through both written and verbal feedback to the instructors it was clear the courses were well received

Urban versus Rural Community Colleges: A National Study of Student Gender and Ethnicity

Approximately half of the U.S. population currently lives in suburban locales, one-fourth in big cities, and another fourth in small towns and rural areas. Hodgkinson (2003) indicates that the U.S. population is undergoing an increasing migration into rural areas. This relocation holds many challenging and ominous implications for urban and rural higher education as colleges and universities struggle to meet the divergent needs of shifting demographics. Public community colleges are especially impacted by these changes in student populations

Factors Affecting Option Premium Values

4 pp.Many factors affect option premium values. This publication list these factors and gives brief explanations of them

Racist or Radical? The Strange Case of Robert Moses and the Building of New York City\u27s Aquatics Infrastructure

Who was Robert Moses? In this article, we want to cast a bright light on Robert Moses as a visionary urban planner, which included the comprehensive planning of the outdoor and indoor aquatic infrastructure for New York City. Second, we want to highlight some of his administration\u27s significant accomplishments and challenges in providing aquatics opportunities for diverse populations, including people of color. Finally, we aspire to illustrate what happens when officials with power and authority in local government are permitted to operate without scrutiny and are unbeholden to a meaningful series of checks and balances. Robert Moses’ tenure as a 40-year-plus appointed public official highlighted the need for accountability in public service. During his expansive career, Moses held more than 12 bureaucratic appointments, sometimes concurrently, allowing him to drive his infrastructure development agenda funded by the WPA mercurially. His herculean list of accomplishments included parks, highways, 11 large swimming pools, civic centers, sports stadiums, 13 bridges, 658 playgrounds, 416 miles of parkway, 150,000 units of public housing, and the 1964-65 World’s Fair, which cost in today\u27s economy approximately $150 billion (Adiv, 2015). One of the central jewels in the crown of his accomplishments was the planning, design, and construction of the outdoor and indoor swimming infrastructure of New York City. Unfortunately, many of Moses\u27 achievements were overshadowed by allegations of racial politics, a lack of accountability for his decisions and policy actions, and reports of his disdain for blacks, Puerto Ricans, and low-income people. He was also called dictatorial, power-hungry, and vindictive during his long tenure in public service. Moses was rebuked for his lack of inclusion in planning processes and making resource allocation decisions based on the racial composition of a community

Searching for a Public in Controversies over Carbon Dioxide Removal: An Issue Mapping Study on BECCS and Afforestation

The roles digital media-technologies play in raising public issues relating to emerging technologies and their potential for engaging publics with science and policy assessments is a lively field of inquiry in Science and Technology Studies (STS). This paper presents an analysis of controversies over proposals for the large-scale removal of atmospheric carbon dioxide (CDR). The study combines a digital method (web-querying) with document analysis to map debates about two CDR approaches: bioenergy with carbon capture and storage (BECCS) and afforestation. In the first step, we locate actors using the web to engage with BECCS and afforestation and map their alignments in relation to competing framings of CDR. In a second step, we examine the devices deployed by UK-based actors to evidence and contest the feasibility of BECCS and afforestation. Our analysis shows that policy distinctions between “natural” and “engineered” CDR are used flexibly in practice and do not map neatly onto actor engagement with BECCS and afforestation. We highlight the predominance of cross-cutting techno-economic expertise and argue that framings of CDR as a solution to governing climate change may contribute to public disengagement from climate policy processes. The paper reflects on methods for studying controversies, publics, and issues emerging around processes of technoscientific assessment