I have decided to start pushing my thoughts for higher education out there. I feel that having had an experience as a management consultant in the railroad industry gives me a unique insight into how large financially conservative businesses run. And my very unique pathway through life has given me a powerful insight into how people from all walks of life live. Coupled with the strong problem solving nature of being a physicist, when I see things that are incorrect, I feel I should take action to fix them.

At the same time, I understand that I cannot have all the data. And even if I did, there may in fact be other interpretations of the data that may be more correct than mine. I freely admit that I am wrong often. Please call me out! I will listen! I look at the information in front of me, I come up with a model, and then I continually adjust the model (even to the point of getting rid of it) based on additional information I receive. Although I have paid heavily professionally for adhering to this principle, I strongly believe there is no such thing as a bad question.

Thoughts expressed in this blog are my own. In some cases the thoughts of my research team may also be expressed, but mostly they are my own. Yesterday I got what felt like harsh feedback from a friend, and I am still internalizing this.

---

Working with the major freight railroad carriers was pretty amazing! I got to go to terminals of all kinds across the country. I got to see from the bottom up how information got from the ground to the higher-ups, and how information went the other way too. I got to see how trucks, trains, and ships work up close – mostly trucks and trains. I expected that things would have been more graceful when usually it was just sheer power. I remember how surprised I was the first time I saw a locomotive connect the rest of the train. BAM!

Railroads have many of the same features that universities have. They have razor thin margins, vast amounts of capital that they manage conservatively, a long history being an organization that has been good for workers, and one that is struggling to modernize while at the same being surrounded by things that are state-of-the-art. Just like universities, railroads tend to be conservative. They aren’t in it for the quick buck. They always have an eye on the next 10 or 20 years. To me, it is not surprising that I find my training as a consultant has given me a unique insight into higher education.

The thing that bothers me the most is how vertical universities are. There are so many missed opportunities because of this.

---

This morning I spent time trying to calculate how many different places I have lived. It was definitely more than 25, loosely defined as a place I stayed every day for at least a month. I vaguely remember that the number was over 30 – it is difficult to remember all the places I lived as a kid – it’s something I don’t think about much.

Each time I moved from place to place, everything changed. New groups of friends. New places to eat. New ways to live. New schools! In many ways it was stinky. As a kid most of my moves were local in and around Erie, PA. The diversity is very different than it is on long island. It is possible to go from cow farms to inner city, in less than 15 miles.

One of the moves I remember well, was 7th grade! By NYC standards this is laughable, but to a 7th grader in Erie, PA this was intense. I remember moving from a suburban white middle school to a diverse one in the city. The school I was moving to had a history of being a poor school with violence. I was freaked out.

I remember going to eat lunch on my first day and I sat down next to a kid who had been nice to me earlier that day. Immediately the other, mostly black, kids at the table wanted to know if I liked rap. I said yes of course and they let me sit next to them. I had no freaking idea what rap was! In 7th grade all I knew was baseball and fishing.

Every day I ran home from school and watched “Yo! MTV Raps” to learn about what it was. I didn’t know. Within a month I was hooked. Even though I didn’t stay at that lunch table through 7th grade, I had made some good friends there and enjoyed my time hanging with them.

Later on, as I got older, I learned that it was the music underneath the raps that I really liked and ultimately fueled me to become a lindy hop dancer.

As with most things, the hype was the problem. That middle school was amazing. I still talk to folks that went to that school every day. I got to be friends with a wide array of people and it was likely the best thing that ever happened to me. That uncomfortableness has stuck with through out my life. It doesn’t feel good to not belong. (and that only scratches the surface on social justice issues.)

---

As I grew up, I began to notice that my classes were becoming whiter and whiter. Ultimately I became a physicist where most people are white or asian males. I miss the diversity. It has been something that I have always wanted to do something about.

---

Recently, I realized that I have never been in one place longer than I had at Adelphi. I have been living on the grounds of the Smithtown Historical society for 7+ years. Long Island, and Adelphi have become home for me and my family.

I whine a lot in this blog about issues that I feel passionate about such as student-centered faculty/mentors, increasing diversity, and keeping the university strong. I do this because I care! I want my home to be a strong, wonderful, diverse, fun environment where everyone is welcomed.