Patrick Gray, Author at The James G. Martin Center for Academic Renewal

The Liberal Arts: What We Don’t Know

Apr 21, 2021 · Patrick Gray · Comments Off

What is the value of a liberal arts education? At a time when parents are wary of taking on loads of debt to finance their children’s college degrees, it was inevitable that the language of the market would become more pronounced, especially during a pandemic. For my money, the cleverest answer came from a former … Continue reading “The Liberal Arts: What We Don’t Know”

Did You Know? New College to Launch in Wake Forest This Fall Jun 23, 2022
Thales College, a new undergraduate institution launching this fall in Wake Forest, N.C., is eagerly preparing to open its doors to its inaugural class. Thales College is a unique institution with a fresh vision for higher ed: rigorous academics and effective professional preparation joined with a commitment to affordability not often found among other higher … Continue reading “Did You Know? New College to Launch in Wake Forest This Fall”
The Limits of Expertise Jun 22, 2022
As a professor devoted to his college’s “pre-disciplinary” core curriculum, I was hooked by David Epstein’s title, Range: Why Generalists Triumph in a Specialized World. The book is chock-full of anecdotes and evidence that people with breadth or range—indeed, amateurs in the true sense of the word—can contribute immensely to enterprises in environments that seem, … Continue reading “The Limits of Expertise”
Birds of Paradise: The Moral Poverty of Faculty Freedom Fighters Jun 17, 2022
Carl Dobsky’s brilliant, fiery painting “Birds of Paradise” has been the focus of attention at his recent exhibitions, because it accurately and effectively captures the zeitgeist of contemporary American life. The painting is set in the backyard of a bourgeois Los Angeles home, where a laughing group of partying Angelinos drink red wine from large … Continue reading “Birds of Paradise: The Moral Poverty of Faculty Freedom Fighters”

Did You Know? New College to Launch in Wake Forest This Fall Jun 23, 2022
Thales College, a new undergraduate institution launching this fall in Wake Forest, N.C., is eagerly preparing to open its doors to its inaugural class. Thales College is a unique institution with a fresh vision for higher ed: rigorous academics and effective professional preparation joined with a commitment to affordability not often found among other higher … Continue reading “Did You Know? New College to Launch in Wake Forest This Fall”
Are UNC System Chancellors Overpaid? Jun 20, 2022
Chancellor salaries at public universities across the country are far higher than those for other public executives, out of step with faculty compensation, and unrelated to student success and university performance. A new program at UNC may help to address some of these concerns. In an article in Forbes, the economic historian Richard Vedder states … Continue reading “Are UNC System Chancellors Overpaid?”
Connecting Degree Return-On-Investment with a Better Financing System Jun 15, 2022
While some nerdy people like me thought that college was fun, and so stayed in it for life, for most people it is a chore to be completed with the goal of higher income. College is a big investment—of time, of expenses such as tuition, and of wages unearned due to one’s being in school. … Continue reading “Connecting Degree Return-On-Investment with a Better Financing System”

Remembering Title IX Abuses Jun 24, 2022
Recently, Title IX has been in the news because of the Biden administration’s promised (and, as of yesterday, delivered) rejection of much-needed Trump-era reforms. As we are approaching the 50th anniversary of the statute, introduced as part of the Education Amendments of 1972, it is worth revisiting the history of Title IX and reviewing its … Continue reading “Remembering Title IX Abuses”
Did You Know? New College to Launch in Wake Forest This Fall Jun 23, 2022
Thales College, a new undergraduate institution launching this fall in Wake Forest, N.C., is eagerly preparing to open its doors to its inaugural class. Thales College is a unique institution with a fresh vision for higher ed: rigorous academics and effective professional preparation joined with a commitment to affordability not often found among other higher … Continue reading “Did You Know? New College to Launch in Wake Forest This Fall”
The Limits of Expertise Jun 22, 2022
As a professor devoted to his college’s “pre-disciplinary” core curriculum, I was hooked by David Epstein’s title, Range: Why Generalists Triumph in a Specialized World. The book is chock-full of anecdotes and evidence that people with breadth or range—indeed, amateurs in the true sense of the word—can contribute immensely to enterprises in environments that seem, … Continue reading “The Limits of Expertise”

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Patrick Gray

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The Liberal Arts: What We Don’t Know