A very happy Memorial Day weekend to all, especially those in the Armed Forces.
Stay Safe!
Stay Safe!
Sunday, May 26, 2013
Wednesday, May 22, 2013
Place of the Day: Socotra Islands
Not all places in the Middle East/Africa are experiencing unrest, and that leaves a wide variety of choices for places to visit should you have the time and money.
One such place boasts a wide biodiversity of things to see:
One such place boasts a wide biodiversity of things to see:
The Socotra Islands - Yemen
A tiny archipelago located in the Indian Ocean, the Socotra Islands claim an environment of over 800 plants and animals and has been called the "Galapagos of the Indian Ocean". While its people are claimed to have descended from the Queen of Sheba, it has also claimed to have been the possible site of the original Garden of Eden, due to its proximity to other notable places in the area. You won't find many roads or other amenities when visiting, but you will find a diverse atmosphere and a possible fun camping adventure.
Tuesday, May 21, 2013
How the Internet has changed our travel
There are many obvious answers to the statement above - the ability to have a phone with you wherever you go with information at your fingertips, being able to search for locations and activities ahead of time, reading reviews of restaurants, checking in for your flight, and the list goes on. How we interact with each other has drastically changed.
It's even more pronounced when the unexpected happens, which it did this last week at work: an Internet outage. My office turned from an operation that was humming along to one where everyone just stood around, looking at each other, wondering what to do next. Have we become that dependent on being connected? No email, no Dropbox, no Facebook, the horror! I marvel at how many times I see our student workers with a bowed head buried in their phone on Facebook. I shake my head every time.
I share with you this disconnected article for more context.
The Internet and access has changed the way we do business, the way we interact with each other, and also the way we travel.
Does anyone know how to address an envelope anymore?
It's even more pronounced when the unexpected happens, which it did this last week at work: an Internet outage. My office turned from an operation that was humming along to one where everyone just stood around, looking at each other, wondering what to do next. Have we become that dependent on being connected? No email, no Dropbox, no Facebook, the horror! I marvel at how many times I see our student workers with a bowed head buried in their phone on Facebook. I shake my head every time.
I share with you this disconnected article for more context.
The Internet and access has changed the way we do business, the way we interact with each other, and also the way we travel.
Does anyone know how to address an envelope anymore?
Monday, May 20, 2013
Academic Freedom in the Middle East
The Chronicle for Higher Education recently posted an article about how Arab universities are grappling with accreditation by U.S. agencies, and the related affect this may be having on academic freedom and intellectual content.
Having recently done research in Qatar and experienced the atmosphere in Education City with the numerous U.S. universities, I'm interested in seeing if this has any affect on the current educational offerings of that model or future branch campus development. Texas A&M is mentioned toward the end of the article, and I found it compelling that a possible decision-making point was whether or not the presence of a branch campus in Doha would align with the values espoused by the university. Ultimately, TAMU thought it did.
Having recently done research in Qatar and experienced the atmosphere in Education City with the numerous U.S. universities, I'm interested in seeing if this has any affect on the current educational offerings of that model or future branch campus development. Texas A&M is mentioned toward the end of the article, and I found it compelling that a possible decision-making point was whether or not the presence of a branch campus in Doha would align with the values espoused by the university. Ultimately, TAMU thought it did.
Saturday, May 18, 2013
SDSU Commencement 2013
I'm not traveling too far today - just to my office for Commencement Coverage.
You can catch our broadcasts on Cox and Timewarner Cable locally, or view the stream here:
http://new.livestream.com/accounts/3661438/events/2101777
You can catch our broadcasts on Cox and Timewarner Cable locally, or view the stream here:
http://new.livestream.com/accounts/3661438/events/2101777
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