I love to learn. Earlier this summer, I shared some of the best of what I’d been reading. Now that summer is wrapping up, I wanted to share what I’ve read since then that I keep coming back to, again and again. Here’s what I can’t let go of, related to higher education, learning and leading, and being human.
What 2 Years as an Administrator Taught Me About Being a Senate Chair
Felix N. Ngassa
This piece strikes a nice balance, looking at shared governance from both a faculty and an administrator’s perspective. I appreciated the honesty about what this leader missed from each side, along with practical tips and lessons learned. We need to break down the faculty-administrator divide and help all of us see these institutions more fully and holistically so we can lead them forward together.
No, the SAT Is Not a Beacon of Meritocracy
Julie J. Park
You’re going to hear a lot more about the SAT in the coming months and years, and there’s a lot of misinformation out there. Dr. Julie Park unpacks the history of the SAT and the real concerns with it. I found this a helpful primer for cutting through the noise on testing, admissions, and the SAT. If it resonates with you, check out her episode on our Student Affairs Now podcast too.
This one isn’t an article; it’s a resource: a catalog of tools and activities to help groups think together. If you facilitate group thinking, ideation, innovation, or creative problem solving, these liberating structures are great ways to open a workshop, build into a staff retreat, or unstick a team that’s gotten stuck. Fascinating stuff.
Why Does Allyship Matter?: Toward a Conceptual Framework of Liberatory Allyship
Daniel Tillapaugh, D. Chase J. Catalano, and Rachel Wagner
This academic article on allyship comes from three people whose thinking I know well and trust. Years ago, I wrote my own conceptual article on the Ally Identity Development Model, which the authors reference here. Their thinking resonates with, and expands on, my thinking. They merge conceptualizations of allyship and social justice with a leadership identity development model by Susan Komives, John Dugan, and colleagues.
How to Be More Alive: The Samurai Guide to Dying Every Day
Maria Popova, The Marginalian
Popova explores ideas and poignant passages from Hagakure: The Book of the Samurai by Yamamoto Tsunetomo. I’ve been thinking a lot about death lately, not from a morbid place, but about how embracing its inevitability can clarify our values and purpose, and help us let go of things that feel precious or important in the moment but ultimately won’t matter.
Please Use AI
Shawn Smucker
Don’t be fooled or turned off by the title. It’s part poem, part screed against AI, and a call for more humanity in our writing and in our lives.
Christopher Nolan Discusses the Philosophy of The Odyssey
I’ve watched this interview three times and shared it with several friends who’ve watched The Odyssey. It’s a genuinely in-depth conversation unpacking Eastern versus Western philosophy, theology and mythology, and the choices a storyteller makes to bring a 3,000-year-old story into today’s world without losing its original points, lessons, and insights. I love the back-and-forth of these two great thinkers engaging with each other: not arguing, not trying to win, just listening and exploring ideas together.
Phoebe Bridgers on The Tonight Show
We’ve been listening to a lot of Phoebe Bridgers in our house lately. One of my daughters is going to a concert in September, so there’s been plenty of prep over dinner and on car rides. My own tastes in this genre run more toward Olivia Rodrigo than Phoebe Bridgers, but I can’t get enough of this performance. Bridgers plays her new song “Lost Boys” with a band made up entirely of young kids, the perfect fit for the song. Things like this bring tears to my eyes. There’s no reason for her to do this; it’s simply generous, and the kids completely rise to the occasion. Stick with it, and you’ll also catch the acoustic version of the same song, which I love.
Your Turn
Those are the pieces I haven’t been able to shake this summer. I’d love to hear what’s been sticking with you, and whether this kind of roundup is useful to you. Thanks for reading.
