About Grinnell
These are essays about Grinnell that did not naturally fit into other categories.
How has Grinnell changed in the past twenty years? (Essay #79)
My answers to a question I’ve been asked a few times.
10/10 (Essay #78)
Okay, 10/10 isn’t really all that important an issue. But I couldn’t think of another place to list this essay.
Grinnell Football (Essay #90)
Thinking about the team, the sport, and some history.
Mastering Grinnell (Essay #91)
How does one learn and keep track of all that is happening at the College?
Faculty Lines and Zero-Sum Games (Essay #150)
The joy of limiting tenure-line faculty.
Should Grinnell be tuition free? (Essay #158)
Reflections on a question from about a decade ago.
The divide between varsity/club athletes and other students (Essay #160)
An issue we probably need to address.
Helping our students speak persuasively (Essay #167)
One of our primary goals as an institution.
The size of the College (Essay #169)
Something it appears we are being asked to reconsider.
The recent history of Grinnell’s mission statement (Essay #170)
How we got to the mission statement we have.
Grinnell’s Board of Trustees (Essay #171)
Thoughts about the folks who govern the College
Grinnell traditions I miss: National pipe cleaner day (Essay #204)
A day of joy and creativity
Grinnell traditions I miss (but shouldn’t): Bakery run (Essay #205)
What could be better than fresh baked goods?
Grinnell traditions I never witnessed, but miss anyway: The Cross-country team’s naked run (Essay #207)
It brings new meaning to
fun run.
Grinnell traditions I miss (and mostly missed): Graduation pranks
(Essay #217)
Ferguson, fish, and failure.
New Grinnell traditions I appreciate: The Grinnell lecture (Essay #234)
Celebrating scholarship.
Grinnell traditions I despise: The Noyce/Cooper cookout (Musing #276)
Strange.
Branding the College (Essay #218)
Can we find another term?
The department’s restricted fund (Essay #228)
Or
unrestricted fund, as I like to think of it.
Designing a handbook for our Student Educational Policy Committee (Essay #230)
Helping our SEPC help themselves.
A draft handbook for the Computer Science SEPC (Essay #255)
Further help.
Grinnell’s 2017 Kinetic Sculpture Competition (Musing #291)
Yet another thing I enjoy about Grinnell.
Student wages (Musing #299)
An extended reflection with no real point.
The Staff Handbook (Musing #304)
They asked for suggestions.
Campus rumors (Musing #324)
Students come up with the strangest rumors. But some might be true.
Advising at Grinnell (Musing #457)
My response to a request from the Dean to reflect on advising at Grinnell.
Endowed chairs (Musing #461)
Wow, they’re expensive.
The role of the humanities in a Grinnell education (Musing #485)
Oh, that’s right. I need to explain this to some of my students.
Coreis probably a good summary.
Double majors (Musing #492)
Why students might choose more than one.
A prologue to some notes for external reviewers about Grinnell (Musing #543)
I think the title says it all.
About Grinnell (some draft notes for external reviewers) (Musing #544)
Why do I end up drafting institutional documents?
Expanding the faculty (Musing #603)
How I’d allocate new positions, if we had them.
Conflicting values (Musing #604)
What do you do when two core values come into conflict?
Just another Saturday at Grinnel (Musing #608)
Too much to do!
Unpacking quantitative reasoning
(Musing #623)
Reflections on a core element of a Grinnell liberal-arts education.
Marketing Grinnell (Musing #625)
How do you convince folks to consider this gem of an institution?
Grinnell’s location (Musing #628)
Drawbacks and benefits.
Changing Grinnell, take one: Alumni mentors (Musing #629)
A suggestion on how to distinguish the College.
Our better Grinnellian story (Musing #631)
Positive comments on (and a few small criticisms of) our new admissions site.
Our new banners (Musing #639)
Trying to find some meaning in a confusing campaign.
Noyce third (Musing #659)
My favorite place on campus.
The cost of attending Grinnell (aka exponential growth) (Musing #746)
Outpacing inflation.
Grinnell’s 2019 U.S. News ranking (Musing #747)
Why the jump?
Go Forth Grinnellian (Musing #788)
Our new tagline.
Grinnell ephemera (Musing #790)
Discovering new things about the College.
Increasing class sizes (Musing #831)
Why it’s hard.
Meaningful, flexibile, and educational work (Musing #834)
An excellent goal.
Centering the humanities (Musing #849)
It’s complex.
Our new dean (Musing #884)
We’re lucky to have found her.
Writers at Grinnell (and other events at Grinnell) (Musing #890)
A highlight of the Grinnell calendar.
A last-minute innovation-fund proposal (Musing #903)
Beyond bean counting: A more humanistic approach to assessing Grinnell students’ individual curricula.
Another last-minute innovation-fund proposal (Musing #904)
Recentering Scholars’ Convocation.
Last week’s Scholars’ Convocation (Musing #906)
A good reason to recenter Scholars’ Convocation.
Volleyball (Musing #922)
Another successful season.
R.I.P. GrinCam (Musing #924)
Something I”ll miss.
Choosing courses (Musing #929)
Too many great options!
Grinnell’s persistence rate (Musing #931)
We need to improve it.
Persistence rates, continued (Musing #935)
More thoughts on the issues.
Cuts, closes, and balances in CS for Spring 2020, revisited(Musing #936)
Unexpected challenges.
What would Joe say? (Musing #940)
Seeking the opinion of a respected leader.
Grinnell’s student workload (Musing #941)
How do we make it more reasonable?
Grinnell’s next president (Musing #943)
Some charactistics that I’d like to see.
Grinnell gossip: The (potential) new residence hall (Musing #951)
Is this news?
SEPC funding (Musing #956)
Am I permitted opinions?
The honor of giving to Grinnell (Musing #975)
Fun with donations.
Dear Concerned Alumni (Musing #976)
Please donate.
Honoraria and Memorials in the Honor Roll (Musing #977)
Fun things to read
A draft memo regarding the celebration of fifty years of Grinnell’s Tutorial and the Open Curriculum (Musing #982)
There’s only one fiftieth anniversary; let’s not waste it.
MLK Day 2020 (Musing #989)
How should we celebrate?
Credit where credit is due (Musing #990)
I am humbled and inspired by your work.
Elections for the chair of the faculty (Musing #996)
So many potential candidates!
The joy of cool friends (Musing #1003)
Can I count alums as friends?
Trustees and the Grinnell student union (or vice versa) (Musing #1012)
A good rationale and some hope for positive directions.
A response to an angry alum (Musing #1013)
I am not a College spokesmodel.
Trend lines (Musing #1014)
Two billion is less than you think.
Growth in the number of staff (Musing #1020)
It’s not a simple matter.
Updates on the chair of the faculty (Musing #1021)
Yet another pointless musing.
Advising (Musing #1023)
What is my approach?
Revising the Faculty Handbook (Musing #1026)
Contemplating changes.
Classes of students (Musing #1027)
Or something like that.
A short tribute to the Grinnell College class of 2020 (Musing #1031)
Not a good alternative.
Summer 2020 MAPs (Musing #1038)
Let’s go virtual!
A list of Grinnell’s Summer 2020 classes (Musing #1061)
Reorganized.
Questioning the fall (Musing #1064)
Advice, of sorts.
Questioning credit hours (Musing #1068)
Feeling like a broken record.
Summer courses, post-preliminary-registration (Musing #1069)
What next?
Notes for a letter that I will not send to the BoT (Musing #1071)
Can’t we just call of the search?
ShutDownGCCS (Musing #1082)
How I spent my day.
Fall planning (Musing #1088)
Difficult!
Scheduling fall terms (Musing #1089)
Starting chair duties early.
Circles: Restorative justice, community building, and more (Musing #1114)
Give ’em a try!
What’s the largest major at Grinnell? (Musing #1133)
Approximate data, at best.
Summer workshops (Musing #1145)
Trying to cut back.
Breathe in, let go (setting aside institutional issues, take one) (Musing #1155)
Good advice.
First-Year Registration, Fall 2021 (Musing #1163)
Not a derecho, but perhaps some other kind of storm.
New faculty lines (Musing #1166)
Why do I always see the negative?
Dinner with trustees (Musing #1186)
Feeling conflicted.
Young alumni weekend (Musing #1192)
YAW! Who?
Title IX, Men’s Soccer, Women Coaches, Grinnell, and Such (Musing #1207)
The newspaper of record needs to get its records right.
On group advising (Musing #1220)
I don’t get it.
Another dinner with Grinnell’s Board of Trustees (Musing #1227)
Always fun (these days)
Salaries (Musing #1228)
Why do I care?
Student wages (Musing #1235)
Some back-of-the-envelope calculations.
Mixed messages (Musing #1238)
Are different sections of the same course equivalent?
A curmudgeon attends Grinnell’s 2023 graduation (Musing #1239)
Why can’t I just be happy?
Scholars’ Seminar, Abbreviated (Musing #1245)
Things all faculty should know
A bit of joy (Musing #1246)
Such wonderful colleagues.
Updating Grinnell’s Academic Honesty Handbook (Musing #1247)
A bit of bragging.
Major counts, more or less (Musing #1249)
Terrifying data.
Sam attends student supervisor training (Musing #1250)
More enjoyable than I’d expected.
Placement in CS (Musing #1255)
It’s complicated.