Thursday, October 24, 2013

The Intersection of Education and Business

I had been blogging on the Adelphi Website under "The Business of HR" title. I would call it blogging lite, sort of like Tropicana 50 orange juice same taste but 1/2 the calories. There is only so much you can do on a college website. It is certainly more liberal in openness to diverse viewpoints, but lets be serious in how far an adjunct professor is actually going to take his or her writing to primarily 18-25 year olds...
It did however give me an outlet to talk about different topics and ideas related to the intersection of college and the business community. Now after more then 2 years I am thinking of shutting down the site or leaving it dormant for a while...I have run dry of topics...not so much writers block but more along the lines of an empty gas tank...
One thing I have found fascinating about working at a university is the lack of speed in modernizing their way of working. First off professors and administration do  not check their emails all that often (maybe that's a good thing). When they are on vacation or when they are off most don't check in at all. Second they are very big on pomp and circumstance...there is a way to do things in part because that's how we have always done them. Time and action move just a little bit slower then the business world.  Its like being under the dome or in a bubble.
A third observation is that Professors, especially tenured ones, get paid to research and publish. The problem with this is that none of us live in a static world. By the time the research gets published today its old news and occasionally irrelevant...Students need to learn what's on the edge and forefront of business and technology. Text books are old school. Business needs to play a much bigger partnering role on campuses today. Also many teachers and adjuncts are aging out. Wisdom is great as are war stories...but having a 70 year old marketing professor talk about madmen like it was still relevant is a little concerning...
There are many positives too including the amount of idealism that permeates a college environment. College students are not jaded yet. They still dream big. Some professors are pushing the envelope and have partnered with their respective professional community...
I believe my college experience as an adjunct has impacted me positively. I am once again open to new ideas and diverse thinking. I am still able to day dream about the possibilities instead of only focusing on results and outcomes...

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