AKA Review– November 4, 2022

From Higher Ed Dive:
5 Things Colleges Can Do to Help Save the Planet from Climate Change
By Anthony Knerr
The impact of climate change is becoming increasingly clear and serious. Universities are strategically positioned to help mitigate the impact by taking several steps: continuing to strengthen the resiliency of campus infrastructure; incorporating climate change themes throughout campus curricula; expanding and deepening climate change research; mobilizing regional and local partnerships to advance environmental justice; and making climate change mitigation central to institutional strategic thinking, planning and action. Read this article

From The Economist:
How to escape scientific stagnation
The more knowledge humanity gains, the harder it is for a budding researcher to produce new insights. This conundrum can be remedied in part by changing the way research is funded. The current structure of peer review funding is stifling researchers’ creativity and flexibility. Adopting new funding models is bolstering researchers’ ability to pursue unique ideas. DARPA’s model of "moonshot funding" and funding "people not projects" gives researchers flexibility and the ability to pivot as circumstances change. Read this article

From Inside Higher Education:
What Museums Can Teach Us About the Emotional Dimensions of Learning
By Steven Mintz
Local history museums underwent seminal changes after the 1989 publication of History Museums in the United States, which criticized how these museums avoided controversy and reinforced cultural myths through highly biased exhibits, rendering visitors passive and unreflective. Museums have since pivoted—embracing complexity, focusing on individuals that visitors can identify with, and creating opportunities for reflection. Universities can learn how to better connect students with history by examining how local history museums have changed. Read this article

From University World News:
What the Nobels tell us about science and higher education
By Philip G Altbach and Tessa DeLaquil
A deeper look at the 2022 Nobel Prize winners and their affiliated universities sheds light on the factors that foster thriving scientific research as well as inequalities and elitism in research funding. While these top researchers are increasingly working with colleagues around the world, long-term disinvestment in public higher education and growing anti-intellectualism in the U.S. may contribute to a decline in America’s traditional domination of Nobel Prizes. Read this article

From The Washington Post:
We need more people to go to college
By Catherine Rampell
K-12 student test scores are at the lowest they have been in two decades, and students are continuing to head straight into the workforce rather than entering college. But many solid middle-class jobs, with strong projected growth—nurses, teachers, dental hygienists, paralegals, wind-turbine service technicians, among others—require at least some postsecondary education. Greater investment in K-12 education is critical to ensure more students understand the importance of college and are ready for it. Read this article