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Christopher Green (provider of the 10-million-hit "Classics in the
History of Psychology" <http://psychclassics.yorku.ca/>), in his TIPS
post of 18 Jul 2005 titled "Upwardly Mobile Academic: Robert
Sternberg," wrote:
"APA's Former Fearless Leader (Fearless Former Leader?) Robert
Sternberg has moved from Yale to Tufts. There's an interview . . .[by
Scott Jaschik (2005)]. . . in the latest Inside Higher Ed. at
<http://insidehighered.com/careers/2005/07/18/sternberg>."
Jaschik wrote [bracketed by lines "JJJJJJJJJJJJ. . . ."; my CAPS]:
JJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJ
Robert J. Sternberg's <http://www.yale.edu/rjsternberg/> psychology
laboratory at Yale University has put him in the forefront of debates
over how to measure intelligence and to promote creativity. Sternberg
is a critic of conventional methods of sorting students and others
and has conducted research for the College Board, among others, on
alternative approaches. Tufts University announced last week that
Sternberg would be taking his lab with him when he moves to Tufts
next month to become DEAN OF ITS SCHOOL OF ARTS AND SCIENCES. In an
interview, Sternberg discussed why he is making a career change, the
state of his research, and how he will apply his ideas when he
becomes a dean."
***************************
Q: What motivated you to take a job as a dean. Do you worry about a
loss of research time?
A: Three things motivated me to take a job as a dean.
First, I study leadership. As a scholar studying this topic, I advise
leaders on how to be more effective. At some point, it occurred to me
that I would rather actually be doing it than just advising people on
what they should be doing. SO THIS IS A CHANCE TO APPLY MY OWN
THEORIES
Second, after being president of the American Psychological
Association, an association of 155,000 members, I found it difficult
to return to my old position. I felt I needed a new challenge that
would enable me to build upon the skill I developed leading APA.
Third, I have directed the PACE Center at Yale
<http://www.yale.edu/pace/>, which has been a wonderful opportunity.
But I FELT READY TO ASSUME RESPONSIBILITY FOR A LARGER AND MORE
COMPLEX ORGANIZATION WHERE I COULD MAKE A DIFFERENCE NOT ONLY TO THE
CENTER, BUT TO A UNIVERSITY AS A WHOLE.
I do not worry about the loss of research time. After a year, the
PACE Center will move to Tufts. I am hoping some of our key staff
will move with it. I have confidence in their ability to carry forth
with our mission of helping people transform abilities into
competencies, and competencies into expertise.
***************************
Q: As a psychologist whose work has explored questions of
intelligence and creativity . . . .[e.g, see REFERENCES below]. . .
will you bring a different perspective to being a dean? Do you think
you will evaluate faculty talent based on some of your ideas as a
researcher?
A: One thing that excited me about being a dean is the opportunity to
apply some of the ideas I have developed to university education. Our
main goal in our research is to help teacher teach and assess
students in a way that maximizes their learning - that helps all
students to learn at the very highest level possible. This is the
orientation I bring to the job. The goal of a university is to
develop the next generation of leaders, and HELPING TO CREATE SUPERB
TEACHING, AND THE RESEARCH THAT IS AT THE CORE OF GREAT TEACHING, is
a step toward developing that next generation.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
JJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJ
I hope Sternberg will indeed:
A. Make a difference at Tufts by applying his own theories and
defying the crowd [Sternberg & Lubart (1999)] that contributes to the
monumental inertia of higher education [Cornford (1908), Halfman et
al. (1977), Hake (2002)].
(B) Help to "create superb teaching, and the research that is at the
core of great teaching," by (among other things):
(a) advancing the exemplary work of physics-education-research
pioneer Ron Thornton <http://ase.tufts.edu/csmt/html/ron.html>, who
heads the Tufts Center for Science and Mathematics Teaching
<http://ase.tufts.edu/csmt/>,
(b) urging Tufts psychologists, unlike those in other institutions,
to research the effectiveness of their own introductory psychology
courses [Hake (2005)], as have astronomers, biologists, chemists,
economists, and engineers [Hake (2004a,b)].
Richard Hake, Emeritus Professor of Physics, Indiana University
24245 Hatteras Street, Woodland Hills, CA 91367
<[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
<http://www.physics.indiana.edu/~hake>
<http://www.physics.indiana.edu/~sdi>
"Difficulties of Change: . . . 9. The PRIMA FACIE AFFRONT: Whereas I
have spent a significant fraction of my professional life perfecting
my lectures and otherwise investing conscientiously in the status
quo, therefore to suggest an alternative is, by definition, to attack
me."
Halfman et al. (1977).
"I shall take it that you are in the first flush of ambition and just
beginning to make yourself disagreeable. You think (do you not?) that
you have only to state a reasonable case, and people must listen to
reason and act upon it at once. It is just this conviction that makes
you so unpleasant. There is little hope of dissuading you; but has it
occurred to you that nothing is ever done until every one is
convinced that it ought to be done, and has been convinced for so
long that it is now time to do something else? AND ARE YOU NOT AWARE
THAT CONVICTION HAS NEVER BEEN PRODUCED BY AN APPEAL TO REASON WHICH
ONLY MAKES PEOPLE UNCOMFORTABLE? If you want to move them, you must
address your arguments to prejudice and the political motive, which I
will presently describe."
F.M. Cornford (1949)
REFERENCES
Cornford, F.M. 1949. "Microcosmographia Academica - Being A Guide for
the Young Academic Politician" (Bowes & Bowes, Cambridge, 4th ed.).
Online in HTML at
<http://www.cs.kent.ac.uk/people/staff/iau/cornford/cornford.html>,
courtesy Ian Utting; and as a 148kB pdf at
<http://tcode.auckland.ac.nz/~mark/microcosmographia.pdf>, courtesy
Mark Titchener. First published in 1908, but as current today as it
was then.
Detterman, D.K. & R.J. Sternberg, eds. 1993. "Transfer on Trial:
Intelligence, Cognition and Instruction." Ablex Publishing.
Hake, R.R. 2002. "Lessons from the physics education reform effort,"
Ecology and Society 5(2): 28; online at
<http://www.ecologyandsociety.org/vol5/iss2/art28/>. Ecology and Society
(formerly Conservation Ecology) is a free online "peer-reviewed
journal of integrative science and fundamental policy research" with
about 11,000 subscribers in about 108 countries. Lesson #13 is "The
monumental inertia of the educational system may thwart educational
reform.
Hake, R.R. 2004a. "Re: Measuring Content Knowledge", online at
<http://lists.asu.edu/cgi-bin/wa?A2=ind0403&L=aera-d&T=0&O=D&P=5436>.
Post of 14 Mar 2004 16:29:47-0800 to ASSESS, Biopi-L, Chemed-L,
EvalTalk, Physhare, Phys-L, PhysLnrR, POD, and STLHE-L; later sent to
AERA-D with a few corrections where it appears at
<http://lists.asu.edu/cgi-bin/wa?A2=ind0403&L=aera-d&P=R3625&I=-3>.
Hake, R.R. 2004b. "Re: Measuring Content Knowledge", online at
<http://listserv.nd.edu/cgi-bin/wa?A2=ind0403&L=pod&O=A&P=17167>.
Post of 15 Mar 2004 14:29:59-0800 to ASSESS, EvalTalk, Phys-L,
PhysLrnR, & POD.
Hake, R.R. 2005. "Do Psychologists Research The Effectiveness Of
Their Own Introductory Courses?" TIPS post of 19 Feb 2005
07:58:43-0800; online at
<http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/msg13133.html>.
Halfman, R., M.L.A. MacVicar, W.T. Martin, E.F. Taylor, & J.R.
Zacharias. 1977. "Tactics for Change." MIT Occasional Paper No. 11.
Jaschik, S. 2005. "Upwardly Mobile Academic: Robert Sternberg,"
Inside Higher Education at
<http://insidehighered.com/careers/2005/07/18/sternberg>.
Sternberg, R.J. 1989. "The Triarchic Mind: A New Theory of
Intelligence." Penguin.
Sternberg, R.J. 1990. "Metaphors of mind: Conceptions of the nature
of intelligence." Cambridge University Press.
Sternberg, R.J. ed. 1994. "Encyclopedia of Human Intelligence." MacMillan.
Sternberg, R.J. & T.I. Lubart. 1995. "Defying the crowd: Cultivating
creativity in a culture of conformity." Free Press.
Sternberg, R. J. 1997. "Thinking styles." Cambridge University Press.
Sternberg, R.J. & B.C. Biens. 1999. "In Search of the Human Mind."
Harcourt Brace.
Sternberg, R.J. 2001. "Why schools should teach for wisdom: The
balance theory of wisdom in educational settings." Educational
Psychologist 36(4): 227-245.
Sternberg, R.J. & T. Ben-Zeev. 2001. "Complex Cognition: The
Psychology of Human Thought." Oxford University Press.
Sternberg, R.J. 2002. "Cognitive Psychology" Harcourt, 3rd ed.
Sternberg. R.J. 2003a. "What Is an 'Expert Student'," Educational
Researcher 32(8): 5-8; online as a 64kB pdf at
<http://www.aera.net/publications/?id=400>.
Sternberg, R. J. 2003b. "Wisdom, intelligence, and creativity
synthesized." Cambridge University Press.
Sternberg, R.J. & J.E. Pretz. 2004. "Cognition and Intelligence:
Identifying the Mechanisms of Mind." Cambridge University Press.
Sternberg, R.J. 2004. "Good Intentions, Bad Results: A Dozen Reasons
Why the No Child Left Behind Act is Failing Our Schools," Education
Week, 27 October, online at
<http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2004/10/27/09sternberg.h24.html>;
also copied into the AERA-L archives by R. Hake at
<http://lists.asu.edu/cgi-bin/wa?A2=ind0411&L=aera-l&T=0&F=&S=&P=964>.
Sternberg R.J. & R.F. Subotnik, eds. 2005. "Optimizing Student
Success in School With the Other Three Rs: Reasoning, Resilience, and
Responsibility." American Psychological Association.
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