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There is now a CONTENT FREEZE for Mercury while we switch to a new platform. It began on Friday, March 10 at 6pm and will end on Wednesday, March 15 at noon. No new content can be created during this time, but all material in the system as of the beginning of the freeze will be migrated to the new platform, including users and groups. Functionally the new site is identical to the old one. webteam@gatech.edu
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"Blurring Cultures, Building Hybridity: Remaking a University Identity in a Time of Crisis"
There is desperation in the academic air. Public institutions face regular budget shortfalls. University researchers find that the US federal government has less to give, just as their need grows, and leading politicians question the value of liberal arts education, instead favoring the provision of market-ready skills for today’s undergraduates. In this context, institutions of higher education in the United States are grappling with identity redefinition. With a new urgency, universities leaders and faculty are experimenting with business-friendly or –relevant practices, and this is likely to alter how we understand the nature and purpose of higher education.
In this paper, Dr. Kleinman consider several hybrid initiatives or experiments undertaken in the last several years at the University of Wisconsin—Madison that in some fashion blend academic and business codes and practices. He seek to understand what these initiatives, which echo efforts across the United States, can tell us about the identity of US research universities in the second decade of the 21st century.
