The Chronicle of Higher Education
David D. Perlmutter
June 17, 2018
Professors always believe their own fields are central and vital to education — and to life. So I can be forgiven for pointing out that a great deal of evidence supports the idea that superior communicators succeed disproportionately in every profession. For example, when Google identified the "eight habits" of its best managers, the first seven were communications skills. Only the eighth was technical knowledge.
Communication skills are no less vital for academic leaders, given how much time we spend building consensus and gaining genuine support. But it’s not just a matter of possessing robust skills. You also need the situational awareness and flexibility to know which communication skills work in different settings and with diverse audiences.
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The Chronicle of Higher Education
Alexander C. Kafka
June 15, 2018
Jay Van Bavel is a highly successful research psychologist at New York University, but he also likes junior colleagues to know about his crummy first year as an assistant professor, when he had 10 papers and three grant proposals rejected, and zero papers published.
Make no mistake, over all, he has kicked scholarly butt. Now an associate professor, he is also affiliated with NYU’s Stern School of Business, has published more than 60 papers, and won prestigious academic awards and a wide range of grants.
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NIH Office of Science Policy News
June 5, 2018
The National Institutes of Health (NIH) today released its first ever Strategic Plan for Data Science to capitalize on the opportunities presented by advances in data science. The plan describes NIH’s overarching goals, strategic objectives, and implementation tactics for promoting the modernization of the NIH-funded biomedical data science ecosystem. NIH is grateful for the input from the community and the public received from the Request for Information, which was incorporated into the final plan.
Over the course of the next year, NIH will begin implementing its strategy, with some elements of the plan already underway. NIH will continue to seek community input during the implementation phase. We know that we share a common interest with you in maximizing the value of data generated through NIH-funded efforts to accelerate the pace of biomedical discoveries and medical breakthroughs for better health outcomes.
This announcement was circulated via the NIHOSP email list.
Philanthropy News Digest
June 5, 2018
The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation has announced a four-year, $68 million initiative aimed at providing education systems with better information, evidence, tools, and approaches to improve teaching and learning.
Through its Global Education Learning Strategy, the foundation will work with partners at the global and country levels in India and sub-Saharan Africa to develop new education tools and approaches, with an emphasis on foundational learning such as reading and mathematics in primary grades. At the global level, the foundation will support efforts to make data about learning outcomes comparable so that progress can be tracked over time. And at the country level it will work with partners to better diagnose the root causes of poor performance and help develop approaches that are best suited to address their specific circumstances. The foundation also will work with partners to identify and apply evidence-based strategies and tools that support quality teaching and student learning.
