The Best of Our Knowledge
(2009-02-16)
Listen Now:
ALBANY, NY
(WAMC) -
PRESIDENT'S DAY WEEK - - COLLEGE PRESIDENTS, THAT IS
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"THE INTENTIONAL LEADER, 2009 SUPPLEMENT" -
This week, we recognize the President's Day national holiday by putting a little twist on it. Instead of heads of state, we'll talk with presidents of colleges and universities.
Kenneth "Buzz Shaw served has a campus or system president for 27-years. First, at Southern Illinois University, then the University of Wisconsin System, finishing up at Syracuse University where he's spent the past 17-years.
Since 2004, Shaw has been Chancellor Emeritus and University Professor, teaching courses in leadership at Syracuse. Kenneth Shaw has received eight honorary degrees, and been recognized as one of this nation's top entrepreneurial presidents.
"Buzz" Shaw, as he's known by most people, is the 2008 Laureate of the Lincoln Academy of Illinois, that state's highest honor.
His first book, "The Successful President: Buzzwords on Leadership," was published in 1999. His second, "The Intentional Leader," was published in 2005, but "The Intentional Leader, 2009 Supplement," is in print this spring from Syracuse University Press.
TBOOK's conversation covers a wide range of current issues including affirmative action, women in leadership roles, conflict resolution, and ethics on campus.
Glenn Busby reports. (11:00)
EDUCATION HEADLINES AND UPDATES/NEW EDUCATION SECRETARY -
TBOOK takes this opportunity to congratulate Arne Duncan on his nomination and confirmation as our new U.S. Secretary of Education. Secretary Duncan coasted through his confirmation hearings with bipartisan support from the Senate Education Committee. But the Secretary faces a long list of difficult and complex tasks.
The former chief of the Chicago Public Schools is now point person for President Barack Obama's expansive K thru 12 agenda, which includes efforts to recruit large numbers of new teachers, and ensure they're highly qualified to work in the schools that need them the most.
Secretary of Education, Arne Duncan, will lead the new administration's efforts to revise and renew the No Child Left Behind Act. And Mr. Duncan also needs to decide how to use temporary executive powers designed to ensure that banks have enough cash to make tuition loans to college students for the 2009 - 2010 school year.
Duncan must also find a way to bring various factions of the Democratic Party together on education issues like charter schools and alternative forms of teacher pay.
Education Secretary Duncan obviously can anticipate a great deal of support for his department for President Obama. The president has pledged to launch a "sweeping effort" to modernize school buildings and equip classrooms with computers as part of his economic stimulus plan. Indeed, early in his inaugural address, the president alluded to this, but also said schools are failing too many
(:25 audio bite)
"We will restore science to its rightful place, and wield technology's wonders to raise health care's quality and lower its cost. We will harness the sun and the winds and the soil to fuel our cars and run our factories. And we will transform our schools and colleges and universities to meet the demands of a new age. All this we can do. All this we will do."
Glenn Busby reports. (2:15)
"RACING ODYSSEUS:
A COLLEGE PRESIDENT BECOMES A FRESHMAN AGAIN" -
Who in our listening audience has not, at some time in their life, thought about going back in time, and trying to relive your youth? Our next guest actually did it.
Roger Martin is Professor of History Emeritus, and past President at Randolph-Macon College in Ashland, Virginia. He went from being a college president, to being a college freshman.
Martin enrolled at St. John's College, The Great Books School, in Annapolis, Maryland as a 61-year old freshman. Along the way, he pondered one of the most pressing questions facing education today. Do the liberal arts still have a role to play in a society that seems to value professional, vocational, and career training above all else?
His book chronicling this amazing journey and exciting return to youth, has now been published. It's titled, "Racing Odysseus: A College President Becomes A Freshman Again." It's from the University of California Press.
Katie Britton reports. (6:33)
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