The amazing thing about modern science is how it is capable of continuing to astound us with discovery. Consider the dodo, a bird we have thought to be extinct since the 1660s. As a recent Atlantic article reported, new science has made some interesting discoveries about the dodo. (Emily Anthes, “The Smart, Agile, and Completely Underrated […]
June 19, 2016 at 10:14 am
Before I stepped back from deaning last year I decided to deliver a “decanal valedictory;” some thoughts on higher education that offered a little more intellectual substance than someone in that position normally dispenses on a day to day basis, and that — not incidentally — shared first thoughts on the research project that has […]
It is important to recognize that while in recent years the growth of scientific and technical study has increased in all universities, the number of students in the former course in Arts has possibly not kept pace with this new demand for professional education; still, as a matter of fact, every increase in the number […]
It didn’t take a full century from the time the 19th Amendment was ratified, giving women the right to vote, until a woman became the candidate of a major party for the presidency. We left four years to spare. Forty-two countries have had a female head of government. It matters. Until now, we weren’t good […]
Planting season means no time to blog, but in working on my history of higher education in the U.S. (Nebraska phase), I ran across this in the July, 1951 issue of Mennonite Life: An Illustrated Quarterly. Just had to share. Don’t miss the fact that they credit the New England Mutual Life Insurance Company in […]
I was recently asked to write a little essay on how I am reinventing myself after a long time in university administration. Exciting and intimidating. I thought I might title it: “A Twelve-Step Program: Take Twelve Steps and Keep on Walking.” Here’s the essay: http://www.bu.edu/polisci/virginia-sapiro-essay/ .
April 24, 2016 at 8:21 pm
My father, Bill Sapiro, grew up in Detroit in the 1920s and 1930s. His parents moved there from New York in very different ways. My grandfather, Abram, was born on the Lower East Side of New York in the 1880s, the son of Russian Jewish immigrants. Unusually, he made his way to Ann Arbor to […]
Some juxtapositions are just too good to pass by without comment. This morning’s Washington Post has an article by Stephanie McCrummen entitled, “At rallies, Hillary Clinton’s supporters are looking for logic, not passion.” It picks up on an important theme in this year’s campaign which might at first seem like a matter of style, but is […]
March 21, 2016 at 12:58 pm
It’s snowing here in New Hampshire, and today I transplanted some celeriac, cutting celery, and snapdragons. No one has fingers small and sensitive enough to sow the microscopic seeds of these plants so that they don’t germinate and grow up hugging each other to death. Yes, I know about mixing them — and poppies, and the […]
March 16, 2016 at 12:35 pm
Here is a longer version of an interview I did with with Margaret Waterman of BU Professor Voices on the results of the 3/15 primaries. As of this writing, the Missouri races have not been completed, but I’m looking at the current results and the New York Times Live Model. We’ve had quite a few […]
