Al-Diwan Roundup: News and Analysis from Publishing and Academia

Al-Diwan brings you the latest news and analysis from the publishing and academic worlds that relate to pedagogy and knowledge production.

Education

O Adjunct! My Adjunct!
By Carmen Maria Machado (The New Yorker)

The plight of adjunct faculty in the United States continues to receive attention, but that has not made up for the faults in the system. While adjunct faculty remain the backbone of academia, as Carmen Maria Machado notes, their stories and hard work go unpaid for and unrecognized in many cases. Machado recounts a personal story to demonstrate how vital adjunct faculty are in academia.

Survey: The State of Adjunct Professors
By Bettina Chang (Pacific Standard)

A survey by Pacific Standard, part of their special March 2015 report highlighting the woes of adjunct faculty, finds that 62 percent of adjuncts claim they make less than $20,000.

Corinthian College Graduates Protest Student Loans
By Mandi Woodruff (Yahoo Finance)

“Corinthian 100” is a growing movement of former and current students who attend schools under Corinthian Colleges, Inc. who are protesting their accumulating student loans while the benefit of their education goes unseen in a struggling job market.

The Student Loan Protest Just Might Work
By Danielle Douglas-Gabriel (The Washington Post)

While the burden of student loans continues to plague old and new graduates of higher education, some are beginning to protest with the hope that the government will the forgive the loans they are unable to pay back.

From MOOCs To Minerva: Higher Education And Beyond
(Forbes)

While educators continue to try and work out the kinks in massive open online courses (MOOCs), The Minerva Project moves forward in its effort to revamp and modernize higher education.

U.S. Names Remaining Colleges Under Scruitiny
By Michael Stratford (Inside Higher Ed)

The U.S. Department of Education releases the names of 20 U.S. colleges and universities who will face restricted federal funding due to various “severe” problems.


Publishing

Coloring Books for Adults Top Amazon Bestseller List
By Alison Flood (The Guardian)

You’d think the top of the best selling adult title on Amazon would be a classic novel or new piece of literature making waves, right? Well, wrong. Johanna Basford’s coloring books for adults are replacing words with fill-in pictures on the bestseller lists.

Revolving Door News at Grand Central Publishing
By Maryann Tin (GalleyCat)

Some changes are taking place at Hachette Book Group USA with quite a number of people climbing the success ladder with new promotions.