Here comes the new episode for Thoughts on academic life There has always been self‑promotion in academia. People mailed offprints, boasted about books, dropped famous names at dinner. But the contemporary landscape is qualitatively different: platformized, metricized, gamified.[6][8] Academics now operate across multiple, interconnected arenas: Citation and profile platforms: Google Scholar, Scopus IDs, ORCID, ResearchGate, … Read more
Key Insights by [Merlin AI](https://merlin.foyer.work/) Impact of AI on Employment Opportunities – The unemployment rate for recent college graduates (ages 22-27) has risen to 5.8%, nearly double the rate for older workers with degrees. – Industries like finance and insurance have seen a 14% drop in youth employment between 2010 and 2024, reducing job opportunities … Read more
A new session of accreditation in our campus is up. That means we will compile strategic plans, assessment reports, learning outcome documentation, meeting minutes, curriculum maps, faculty CVs formatted according to specific templates, evidence of “continuous improvement,” proof of “stakeholder engagement,” and spreadsheets demonstrating “alignment” between course objectives and program outcomes. The process consumes dozens … Read more
After three weeks, I can finally rest on a Saturday, which still includes the embarrassingly dirty car getting washed, which in turn contributes more to Google Maps by trying a different mall. The highlight of the week was a training session at the Anadolu Agency ,which is reported here in English. The week included … Read more
I see a new article nearly every week about the state of higher education due to the rise of generative AI. These are mostly pessimistic articles, and they definitely carry some truth. Still, in a broader perspective, I cannot help but think that higher education/academia was in trouble before generative AI. The latter pushes it … Read more
New international student enrollment in the U.S. dropped by 17 percent this fall compared to last year, according to multiple sources including Inside Higher Ed, the Institute of International Education (IIE), and Higher Ed Dive. This decline is attributed to recent changes in U.S. immigration and visa policies under the Trump administration, which have made … Read more
Episode 3: The Q1 Journal Fetish Episode 1- The Performance of Transparency Episode 2 – The Theater of Scholarly Collegiality A colleague proudly announced his latest publication, adding Q1 even before the title. I see self-promotional Instagram posts that mention the Q number, mostly Q1. This moment crystallized something I’ve observed throughout my career in Turkish … Read more
As noted in the first episode, this series is based on my observations in many different settings, not necessarily happening in my own department. In fact, I am relatively lucky to be there, exposed to fewer troubles than I usually observe. “These meetings are so valuable,” a colleague proclaimed at the conclusion of yet another … Read more
Orhan Pamuk on His Museum of Innocence in Istanbul Newsweek Nobel laureate Orhan Pamuk explains why he built a museum dedicated to the glory and tragedy of one fictional couple’s love. Print; Email; Comments. The museums I visited in my childhood?not just in Istanbul but even in Paris, where I first went in Six … Read more
PEW Report: 28% of American adults use mobile and social location-based services More than a quarter (28%) of all American adults use mobile or social location-based services of some kind. This includes anyone who takes part in one or more of the following activities: 65% of online adults use social networking sites Fully … Read more