June 24, 2010
Newsmakers
TRUTH IN MARKETING: A recent article in Bloomberg’s Businessweek says there’s a “quiet revolution” going on in U.S. business schools as they look for new, relevant ways to market their MBA degrees. More than ever, recruiters are facing tough return-on-investment questions at information sessions and meetings with applicants, the article stated. The article quoted Daniel Poston, assistant dean for master’s programs in the UW’s Michael G. Foster School of Business, who said the school is “blunt” with candidates about expectations. “If they seem to want a career on Wall Street, we tell them to apply to New York University’s Stern School of Business or Columbia Business School,” he said. Poston added that the truth is the best marketing tool. “This generation can see hype from a mile away. You have to cut through that and be straight with people.” Read the story online here.
CROWDSOURCING ASTRONOMY?: Ed Lazowska, chair of Computer Science & Engineering, was quoted in a recent article about crowdsourcing in science in The Chronicle of Higher Education. The article discusses how astronomy, long a science pursued solo by scientists peering through telescopes, is opening increasingly to data sharing. Scientific findings have grown too voluminous for the old, solo style of analysis to be effective. “The culture shift is the sharing of data. And astronomers have led the way,” he says. Read the article online here.
FORMER FOSTER KIDS: A New York Times article this spring discussed a new study showing the academic and other difficulties that former foster children have after turning 18. The study showed high rates of unemployment and being on public assistance among former foster children now in their 20s. The article quoted Mark Courtney, professor and dean of the UW School of Social work, who was among those conducting the study. “We took them away from their parents on the assumption that we as a society would do a better job of raising them,” Courtney said. “We’ve invested a lot money and time in their care, and by many measures they’re still doing very poorly.” Read the story online here.
KINDLE REVIEWED: The Kindle reading device represents emerging technology that just hasn’t emerged far enough yet to be right for academic use, according to a recent article in Bloomberg Businessweek which quoted Dan Turner, associate dean for masters programs and executive education at the Michael G. Foster School of Business. “It’s an amazing device for recreational reading, but it’s not quite ready for prime time in higher education,” he said. The UW was one of seven universities that ran a pilot program giving Kindles to students. Most students reported that the Kindle was hard to use in class, difficult to navigate and, overall, an insufficient replacement for the standard textbook. “There were some high hopes. It’s easy to say they were not fully met,” he said. “I think what students are calling for is a device that doesn’t exist just yet.” Meanwhile, many schools are beginning to think the iPad might be the answer. Read the article online here.
FOR LOVE OF DOVEKIE: When NPR ran a story about a couple’s attempts to determine the breed of Dovekie (pronounced “dove-kee”), a dog they had thought was a Golden Retriever chocolate lab mix, they spoke with Joshua Akey, UW assistant professor of genome sciences, along the way. Listeners also wrote in with their own guesses about Dovekie’s breed. Akey told them that canine DNA testing is still in its infancy and its accuracy is dependent on whether certain “markers” for breeds are present in the dog. He said it’s almost impossible to get testing companies to reveal the genetic markers they’re using. Still, the couple, a pair of independent NPR producers, continued their search, and came away, they said, “confident that Dovekie is the world’s most loved black-coated golder griffon.” Listen to the story online here.
Newmakers is a periodic column reporting on the coverage of the University of Washington by the national press and broadcasting services.
