Meet Wright’s new president! He’s coming to Chicago from Curry College in Massachusetts: “Founded in 1879, Curry College is a private, four-year, liberal arts-based institution located on a wooded 135-acre campus in Milton, MA, just seven miles from downtown Boston. We offer 20 undergraduate majors, over 65 minors and concentrations, as well as four graduate programs”; where he was their Chief Academic Officer.
A hearty welcome from one David who was a philosophy major and started blogging in 2010 to another David who was a philosophy major and started blogging in 2010 (as best as I can tell).
Check out his webpage to find his Facebook and Twitter links, with links to his professional blog and his personal one. From a quick skim through his blogs, it looks like he’s a reader (a lot of the posts are reviews of books–education and history/biography related, mostly, but not exclusively), a lover of sloppy joes who dislikes wood paneling, who isn’t afraid of metaphor.
It’s curious that the “recent comments” on his academic blog are comments on a post from April of last year and that in three years there have been just under 90 comments altogether (compared to 420 on Don’s Desk over two years and change), but he gets props for the fact that they were attached to a piece about a Curry College visit from a philosopher named David Hansen, whom I also found to be impressive when he addressed the 2010 Philosophy of Education Society as its outgoing president.
(Yes, yes, it’s also strange that so many CCC leaders are making off for other, if not necessarily ‘greener’ pastures: first Alvin Bisaraya, then President Palos (Wright), then Kojo (congrats to him), and now President Romali (Truman), and President Ester (KK)–who is a finalist in a search with turmoil and controversy and drama that has led to the resignation of the Head of the college’s board of trustees and, apparently been halted by the Chancellor of that system–and that’s all without going into the numerous Vice Chancellors who have been in and out in the last year or two–e.g., VC de Lopez (Security), VC of HR, VC of Finance, the Chief Advisor to the Board, the General Counsel, and multiple Associate Vice Chancellors, just to name a few. I suppose the silver lining is that even with all of that turnover, it’s not even close to the turnover experienced over at CPS over the last few years. Unlike Realist, I don’t expect explanations for all (or even any) personnel issues–it is someone’s personal life, after all–and realize that some or all of the above could have been flukes of fortune (good or bad), so please don’t take me to be blaming or finger pointing. I’m not. It is an interesting set of data to consider, though.
It’s also, also strange that the last three leadership related dramas (Kojo, Romali, and Ester) have ALL been caused by the publishing of candidate lists prior to “Meet the Candidate” public forums, which, apparently is “best practice” according to the consultants hired to do those searches. Compare that to CCC where a significantly -expanded-in-recent-years communications department hasn’t even put out an announcement about the hiring of the new president on its own website! Talk about strange silences!! Sheesh. (Tangent Alert! Fill in the Blank Analogy Test: Best Practice Hiring is to CCC Hiring:: X is to Y).
Yes, yes–strange indeed, but all of that is neither here nor there and certainly not Presidents Potash or Laackman’s fault. End of three paragraph long parenthetical.)
In any case, congratulations President Potash, and welcome back to HWC, President Laackman. And if anyone knows of a good sloppy, post it in the comments. My own personal favorite is served at the Four Moon Tavern.
Alrighty, that’s it for me for now. Back to your regularly scheduled summer programming…
The Harold Lounge 
How would you define “corporate cyberstalking”?
(12Keystrokes does not strive for sensationalism when asking this question but asks it only given the back-to-back postings from Realist and PhiloDave. As is often the case, Realist’s post is qualitatively different from — well, from many other posts — and that seems to be recognized in the following: “Unlike Realist, I don’t expect explanations for all (or even any) personnel issues–it is someone’s personal life, after all–and realize that some or all of the above could have been flukes of fortune (good or bad), so please don’t take me to be blaming or finger pointing.”)
PhiloDave takes it that 12keystrokes is asking PhiloDave, so PhiloDave answers: had to look up Cyberstalking, but this seems right:
Cyberstalking: “the use of technology, particularly the Internet, to harass someone. Common characteristics include false accusations, monitoring, threats, identity theft, and data destruction or manipulation. Cyberstalking also includes exploitation of minors, be it sexual or otherwise.
“The harassment can take on many forms, but the common denominator is that it’s unwanted, often obsessive, and usually illegal. Cyberstalkers use email, instant messages, phone calls, and other communication devices to stalk, whether it takes the form of sexual harassment, inappropriate contact, or just plain annoying attention to your life and your family’s activities.”
“Corporate Cyberstalking”: The same by, for, or of a corporation.