Science and Technology

Science and Its Discontents: An Evolutionary Tale

Donald Kennedy
2008

This paper analyzes the roots and implications of conflict between the conduct of science and government predilections in the United States, including the security state and neoconservative control of Washington. Three major conflicts are discussed: the emergence of new security and secrecy regimes that seek control of science; religiously derived moral viewpoints that seek to limit scientific research; and the purposeful shaping and censoring of scientific findings for political gain. All three policy issues, argues the author, have their roots in a growing public mistrust of science and...

CHANGES IN KNOWLEDGE CULTURES AND RESEARCH ON STUDENT LEARNING

Monika Nerland
2012

This paper discusses how contemporary changes in knowledge cultures and practices alter conditions for student learning in higher education and what this may imply for research on student learning. Drawing on perspectives from social studies of knowledge, it is argued that the general emphasis on science in society generates an increased research orientation also in professional programs and brings with it a focus not only on science-based knowledge but also on the investigative processes through which knowledge is produced and validated. Changes are also related to the emergence of...

Minority Undergraduate Programs Intended to Increase Participation in Biomedical Careers

Anne MacLachlan
2012

This article reviews a selection of undergraduate programs intended to increase successful minority participation in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics majors, potentially leading to biomedical careers. The object is to examine their structure, consider how well they address the issues of the target population, and assess the extent to which they have met/meet their goals. As a means of conducting this review, the first step is to examine the concepts used as the building blocks for program design. These concepts are found in a shared, yet often undefined, vocabulary...

DOES IT PAY TO BE A STEM GRADUATE? Evidence from the Polish Graduate Tracking System by Tomasz Zając, Mikołaj Jasiński, and Marek Bożykowski, University of Warsaw CSHE 13.17 (November 2017)

Tomasz Zajac
Mikołaj Jasiński
Marek Bożykowski
2017

Returns to education have received much attention from scholars as well as policy makers and the media. It is a well-established fact that educational attainment improves employability and wages and that university graduates better than their less educated counterparts. However, the educational expansion rises the importance of the horizontal dimension in explaining social stratification. The field of study has proved to be an important factor for graduates’ labor market performance in many countries. This paper discusses the differences in the labor market outcomes in early careers of...

A Career in Chemical Engineering and University Administration, 1963-2013 by C. Judson King (2013)

C. Judson King
2013

Conducted by Lisa Rubens and Emily Redman, with Sam Redman, in 2011, Regional Oral History Office, The Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley, 2013.

Jud King is a distinguished chemical engineer, holding 14 patents, who brought an engineer’s creative and problem-solving abilities to a succession of academic and administrative positions—including Provost and Senior Vice-President of the UC system. This wide-ranging and richly detailed interview takes us from King's pioneering research and the growth of his discipline, to the governance, decision-making process,...

The Pursuit of Knowledge Speeches and Papers of Richard C. Atkinson by Richard C. Atkinson, Patricia A. Pelfrey and David S. Saxon (2007)

Richard C. Atkinson
Patricia A. Pelfrey
David S. Saxon
2007

Richard C. Atkinson’s eight-year tenure as president of the University of California (1995–2003) reflected the major issues facing California itself: the state’s emergence as the world’s leading knowledge-based economy and the rapidly expanding size and diversity of its population. As this selection of President Atkinson’s speeches and papers reveals, his administration was marked by innovative approaches that deliberately shaped U.C.’s role in this changing California. These writings tell the story of the national controversy over the SAT and Atkinson’s successful challenge to the...

University in Transition: Research Mission, Interdisciplinarity and Governance by Anne MacLachlan, Detlef Müller-Böling, Evelies Mayer, and Jutta Fedrowitz (1998)

Anne MacLachlan
Detlef Müller-Böling
Evelies Mayer
Jutta Fedrowitz
1998

The major theme of this book is how the many kinds of changes and reforms which the research university needs to make to respond to conditions today could be made. While overall government support is a major concern in both Germany and the United States, the issues go beyond money to the basic organization of research universities: maintaining the integrity of basic university research while collaborating more with industry, recovering and sustaining the curriculum when research predominates, addressing the unruly development of instructional technology, coping institutionally with...

The Role of Universities in Economic Competitiveness in California by John Aubrey Douglass and C. Judson King (February 2018)

John Aubrey Douglass
C. Judson King
2018

Commissioned by the Associació Catalana d’Universitats Públiques (ACUP), this report provides a case study of the University of California’s (UC) role in helping to create a highly competitive economy and in a manner that may be of use in Catalonia. The report provides a discussion on the role of research universities as important players in larger innovation ecosystems, the economic impact of UC on California, specific examples of university-private sector engagement, and relevant UC policies that set what we call the “rules of engagement” that both encourage economic engagement and...

Entrepreneurial University: India’s Response

Asha Gupta
2008

The object of this paper is to analyze the concepts of ‘entrepreneurship’ and ‘entrepreneurial university’ in the broader context of globalization, technological innovations and the emergence of knowledge-based and technology-driven economies. Instead of epistemological and organizational forms of knowledge production and dissemination, the universities today are required to play a protagonist role by training productive intellectual resource and generation of new knowledge that could be converted into wealth or social gains. They are no longer confined to teaching ‘about’...

Internet as Teenager In Higher Education: Rapid Growth, Transformation, Uncertain but Bright Future

Gary M. Matkin
2007

This is a personal reflection on the impact of Internet technologies on higher education around the world over the last 13 years. It chronicles my observations of differences between perceptions and realities, of enthusiasm and disappointment, and the changes that have taken place in learning, teaching, and the structure of higher education during this period. Based on the work of others, this reflection also includes a prediction of the near term introduction of new instructional technologies and draws implications for higher education from these predictions and this history. I...