Thirty years ago in August, Elizabeth and I were married. Over our honeymoon, I was encouraged to send in an application to the Oxford Centre for Postgraduate Hebrew & Jewish Studies for their one-year “Graduate Diploma.” I was admitted and received a full scholarship, so we deferred the offer from […]
Academics
254 posts
Dean is absolutely right. It has always rubbed me the wrong way. Very similar to the way in which “Dean Dad,” a community college dean who blogs anonymously, would openly mock or criticize his faculty and others who were in their community. Oddly enough, Inside Higher Ed decided to make […]
Several years ago I offered a “brief definition” of Targum and the Targumim but here is the more detailed entry I wrote for the Dictionary for Theological Interpretation of the Bible. The Hebrew term “targum” (plural “targumim”) literally means “translation,” but in the rabbinic period (c. 1st century – 7th century AD) the term came to […]
During the Q&A period of the panel discussion with Bart Ehrman, Will Gaffney, and Larry Schiffman were asked about whether or not grad students should blog. There response was an unanimous “no.” Some of their specific reasons were concerns of exposure, that they might post things/opinions that could come back to […]
From Inside Higher Ed: ‘It’s in the Syllabus!’ October 18, 2013 By Colleen Flaherty Some things are better worn than said. At least that’s what one Austin Community College professor of English thinks, based on his “It’s in the syllabus” T-shirt. A student posted a photo on Reddit and Imgur of David Lydic flashing […]
This is a paper presented at the 2006 SBL. I am negligent in preparing it for a volume on teaching the Bible in a secular context. I thought I would repost it here now in hopes that a few more folks might offer their thoughts and comments that I may […]
Most of you know that I am dean of the Schreyer Honors College at Penn State. Those of you in the United States also likely know that this has been a very hard week. I thought I should share with those of you who only know me as “Targuman” what […]
Can we all agree that endnotes are simply awful? They are annoying at best and, when reading electronic texts that are not hyperlinked, downright damnable. Footnotes, on the other hand, are convenient, easy to read and do little to interrupt the flow of the argument. I believe we should stand […]
Sean Caroll, “a Cal Tech physicist denied tenure a few years back at Chicago” wrote a guide: How To Get Tenure at a Major Research University | Cosmic Variance | Discover Magazine. His field is not mine (or likely that of those reading this blog) but you should read his whole […]