News from other Michigan public universities and U-M peer institutions across the nation.
STATE UNIVERSITIES
Ivory tower bucking social media
University scholars are largely resisting the use of social media to circulate their scientific findings and engage their tech-savvy students, a Michigan State University researcher argues in a new paper. While social media is widely used in fields such as journalism and business only a minority of university researchers are using free and widely available social media to get their results and published insights out and into the hands of the public, even though the mission of public universities is to create knowledge that makes a difference in people’s lives, the researcher finds. In a survey of 1,600 researchers, only 15 percent use Twitter, 28 percent use YouTube and 39 percent use Facebook for professional purposes.
PEER INSTITUTIONS
University of Chicago community celebrates Center in Delhi opening
Several hundred members of the university community and distinguished guests gathered March 29 for a three-day opening celebration of the new Center in Delhi, marking the occasion with academic panels, a gala dinner and a formal ribbon-cutting ceremony. The center will promote scholarship through three broad programs: business, economics, law and policy; science, energy, medicine and public health; and culture, society, religion and arts. “We take great pride in this facility and in the commitment it represents to collaboration in India and Asia, and to the university’s larger global engagement,” UC President Robert J. Zimmer told a full house at the center in New Delhi.
New Penn Graduate School of Education dean named
Pam Grossman has been named dean of the Graduate School of Education at the University of Pennsylvania, effective Jan. 1, 2015. A former English teacher, Grossman is currently the Nomellini-Olivier Professor of Education in the Graduate School of Education at Stanford University and faculty director of Stanford’s Center to Support Excellence in Teaching. She is dedicated to demonstrating how schools of education at research-intensive universities can help improve teaching and learning at all levels. She also is committed to reaching across disciplinary boundaries to address the educational needs of children and families who live in challenging circumstances.
