Welcome back Day at Krasnow

It’s become a tradition at the Institute–we welcome back faculty, staff and students with a picnic barbecue. Today, the weather is picture perfect–the torrid heat of the Washington summer is in transition to the much more temperate norms of Fall–the University’s dormitories are being refilled as I write these words with new incoming freshman and a huge crane is pouring the concrete for the slab on the second floor of the new Krasnow expansion building.

I’m looking very much forward to today’s events and for a productive semester.

For the readers of this blog, I’ll be posting from around the globe this semester as my travels take me overseas.

The Marc Hauser case at Harvard

I haven’t commented to date on the case of prominent Harvard cognitive scientist Marc Hauser basically out of respect for the investigatory process. However with the report of Harvard FAS Dean Michael Smith here, I think it’s time to weigh in, at least to the general issue of scientific misconduct, without commenting on the specifics of the Hauser case itself.

Any case of scientific misconduct is both sad and at the same time extremely serious. The progress of science requires, from all investigators, the highest levels of professional conduct. From my perspective these include the active prohibition against: falsification of data, fabrication of data and plagiarism (FFP as we teach it to graduate students).

Any example of a scientist, particularly a very prominent one,  being found to be guilty of scientific misconduct erodes the web of trust between scientists themselves, and as importantly between scientists and the public which funds science through their tax dollars.

The role of institute director

I’ve been thinking carefully about the role of institute director as I commence my 12th academic year at the head of Krasnow.  It seems to me that just as important as the internal role–which I liken to serving as cheerleader-in-chief, is the external role, which involves a complex set of cultivation, diplomatic and social sensitivity skills that for me, are constantly evolving.

One aspect of this external role involves the complex interactions with other deans and directors at the University, each doing their best to serve their own unit’s interest, but at the same time, also aware of the overall strategic vision for George Mason as it moves forward. The key point is that from my standpoint as institute director, it’s incumbent upon me to consciously keep the larger University interest in mind and then to figure out how to align the Institute’s interests with the University. That doesn’t mean compromising the central scientific mission of the Institute. Rather, it means understanding that it doesn’t work to simply say no when that answer would make the most sense if we existed in a stand-alone context (as many of our sister institutes in fact do).

So how to get to yes? That’s the central external skill actually. To get to yes, it’s not enough to simply rejigger a proposition to be obviously win-win–that ignores political and emotional considerations. Sometimes, it takes simply the patience to wait things out, to patience to allow individuals to gain more knowledge, the patience to understand that even when a counterparty indicates no,  they actually are saying yes.

Annual Planning Conference–George Mason

Just got back from our annual planning conference–this year held on campus at the brand new Mason Inn and Conference Center (which we’ll be using for our executive short courses next summer). Take away message: the University is in good shape. I found my colleagues to be enthused and full of energy about the new academic year. There is a strong consensus for combining the strengths of a major research university with an institution dedicated to excellent teaching, and the notion of students as scholars, not just learners, as a way to differentiate ourselves going forward.

And the construction keeps on rolling

Krasnow is of course in the process of growing. Here’s the picture from late last week on the new wing. We’ll add a bunch of new labs and offices, which of course will allow us to expand our research and teaching. When we take delivery, the Institute’s footprint will reach an impressive 60,000 square feet. And we’ll still have satellite operations across the Mason campus which we’ll hope to bring under one roof with a Phase III project on the other end of the facility–sometime in 2014.

Andrew Sullivan on TED

I find myself disagreeing with Andrew on much of what he writes about these days, but I think he and others on to something about the future of higher education in his blog post here. In essence, TED represents the future of higher ed.  Along with MIT’s Open Course Ware. But this can’t be all of it. You can’t acquire a deep knowledge of quantum mechanics from a few “carefully curated” lectures–even if those are given by geniuses.