RPInsider

Pretend this man is Dr. Jackson, and the meeting is taking place at EMPAC.

Yesterday morning, Dr. Jackson held the spring Town Hall meeting (webcast here) in the Concert Hall at EMPAC. We saw some new levels of transparency at the meeting, as numbers and stats bombarded the audience for the first portion of the event. Dr. Jackson emphasized moving forward and addressed certain rumors. She mentioned that the RPI is moving away from hiring faculty on a year to year basis. She and the Provost (Robert Palazzo) insisted that anyone pursing a language minor would not be left “high and dry.” They emphasized that it is tenure and tenure-track faculty that are the core of our “academic enterprise.” With this in mind, they are still looking at ways to help RPI students learn foreign languages, and at this time, the best thing to do would be to partner with schools who have faculty there that are “leading scholars” in their fields. Dr. Jackson made sure to assure us that this was not a “put down to anyone who is teaching anything.”  Palazzo said he was up at Skidmore before the Town Hall meeting discussing the possibility of such a partnership with the college.
Read more…

Share Uncategorized Dr. Jackson, provost, Town Hall

Will Dr. Jackson be the next Mark Zuckerberg?

Today, the day before the spring Town Hall meeting, Dr. Jackson sent out an email to the RPI community, addressing most of the recent hot button issues, such as faculty hiring, student life, presidential salary, and financial aid (to name a few.)

Of note: she and the cabinet will be taking salary reductions:

The President and the Cabinet will take 5 percent and 2.5 percent salary
reductions, respectively, or make equivalent givebacks, to Rensselaer in
the 2010 fiscal year. Those funds will be contributed to a student
scholarship fund.

The email does not answer some of the specifics that people have been abuzz about, but this is a great first step towards answering them. I welcome this email with open arms in an attempt to gain insight as to why things have fallen the way they have. I would like to thank Dr. Jackson and the administration for doing this and hope that such transparency is expanded further and will continue into the future.

To address the way the institute is dealing with the current economic situation, RPI’s Division of Strategic Communications and External Relations has established a new website, part of which seems to have pages that take information available elsewhere and combine it onto one place. It seems that the “Your Questions” part of the site doesn’t really ask my questions, (that’s what the town hall is for right?) more like questions that they think I might have. I was hoping for at least a web form to submit a question, but maybe that’s for when the site goes web 2.0 with some social networking features.

What do you think of the email? Let us know in the comments!

The full text of the email is below.

Read more…

Share Uncategorized Dr. Jackson, Town Hall, transparency

We don't really have one of these, so EMPAC will have to suffice

You know when presidential candidates hold those town hall meetings where they answer the tough questions that regular people ask? You know how much some candidates DREAD those meetings? Well, if you’ve ever wanted to be one of those people that makes the politician sweat, you have an opportunity to do so this Thursday. Except, it’s not a political candidate; it’s Dr. Shirley Ann Jackson, RPI’s very own president (and professor of physics). It seems like an appropriate time to ask some hard hitting questions in an attempt to get some answers to why things have gone downhill so much lately. (Not to mention the rumored foreign language department being dissolved and some adjuncts and clinicals not having their the contracts renewed. Kinda funny for a school which is trying to expand its study abroad program huh?)

As many students should go as possible, to make sure that our voice will be heard. If you have class, speak with your professor and let them know you want to get involved and attend the meeting! They might be willing to let you miss a class without a penalty.

There is a facebook group here. Invite all of your friends!

Share Uncategorized Dr. Jackson, Town Hall