A scan of my web stats shows that my recent Academic Job Market Notes post has already received more traffic than any other single post in the past 12 months, and almost twice as many pageviews as its closest competitor. Wow….
Two recent posts about the academic job market for political science PhDs are worth a read: Chris Blattman‘s search committee notes give a good demand side perspective, and Nate Jensen has some useful data on the supply side. As the PS…
Around this time of year, I find myself writing a lot of emails to people interested in graduate study in Cornell’s Government Department or the Southeast Asia Program. The majority of these emails are directed to prospective applicants from outside…
Here are some stylized facts about Chinese universities. Cheating among students is rampant Faculty turnover is high Instructors are overworked Administration and oversight of teaching and pedagogy is at best weak Here are some stylized facts about U.S. higher education Everyone…
At this time of year I find myself talking to students considering PhD programs who are interested in my own advice on whether or not pursuing a PhD is a good idea. One question that has come up repeatedly has…
This is my job! It’s early May, and that means that this semester’s teaching is finally done. Phew. This has been the heaviest teaching semester that I’ve ever had: one 65+ person lecture plus two 15-person seminars (both of which…
A confession: I tend to have quite a bit of disdain for “teaching with technology.” Call me old fashioned, but I don’t see the point in many of the teaching innovations that technology is supposed to have brought us. No…
Today is the counterinsurgency class in Southeast Asian Politics. I don’t relish teaching this class—even though I’m assigning my own work—because it is a sad topic. Here is a lecture slide that always gets me (image from here). I can…
At the request of the beginning PhD students here, I am giving a presentation on interview-based field research this morning. It’s really very sketchy—there is just no way that I can do this topic justice in an hour—but there are…
Just in time for today’s lecture on economic development in Southeast Asia, and a week after the Asian values (or “listing our stereotypes of Asians”) class, a beautifully sarcastic post by Noah Smith on culture as an explanation for Chinese…
