A growth mindset

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A growth mindset suggests that you can grow, expand, evolve, and change. Intelligence and capability are not fixed points but instead traits you cultivate. A growth mindset releases you from the expectation of being perfect. Failures and mistakes are not indicative of the limits of your intellect but rather tools that inform how you develop. A growth mindset is liberating, allowing you to find value, joy, and success in the process, regardless of the outcome. 

Cultivating a growth mindset can begin with shifting your inner dialogue from beliefs about your ability (a fixed mindset) to beliefs about your opportunities and needs (a growth mindset)—for example, from “I’m terrible at giving presentations” to “I need more practice presenting in front of others.” 

Similarly, “I’m not good enough to be promoted to supervisor” might become “I need some additional experience before I’ll be ready for promotion.” Simple restatements have a dramatic impact on what you believe about your own abilities. A fixed mindset often runs deep; it may take constant practice to reframe your default thoughts.   

Lisa Christensen, Jake Gittleson, and Matt Smith

Articles of interest about higher education - April 17

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***COVID-19

How Pfizer Became the Status Vax

Some People’s Bodies Aren’t Set Up for Vaccines

Vaccines Won’t Protect Millions of Patients With Weakened Immune Systems ($)

***HIGHER ED & COVID

Maine college will fine students $50 for failing to mask 

What former foster children went through when the COVID-19 pandemic closed college campuses

4 Historically Black Medical Schools Receive $6 Million for Vaccination ($)

Texas and Utah Bar Public Colleges From Requiring Covid-19 Vaccines ($)

A vaccine study in college students will help determine when it’s safe to take masks off

Hampton University requires all staff get vaccinated by May 31

***HIGHER ED & POLITICS

Texas lawmakers consider limiting tenure after UT-Austin professor sued students over accusations of promoting pedophilia

***LAYOFFS & CUTS

Laurentian University cuts 69 programs

City College San Francisco to lay off nearly 163 full-time faculty

***HIGHER ED IN COURT 

American University hit with pay discrimination lawsuit from female Kogod professor

Parent involved in college admissions scandal sues Netflix over documentary

***CHEATING  

University of Michigan Dearborn decides to reject remote proctoring

Report: Plagiarism Rates Changed When Instruction Moved Online

Dartmouth medical students accused of cheating

***ACADEMIC LIFE  

Caught up in false accusations, professors found themselves fighting to clear their names

Scottsdale Professor Who Offended Muslims Gets Hefty Settlement From College District

SDSU defends professor's use of controversial language about race and stereotypes

Why Disability Studies Scholars Are Protesting a Prominent Textbook

'Tiger Mom' Amy Chua says Yale punishing her over false student allegations

***ADMINISTRATORS

University of South Alabama board appoints acting president

Shippensburg University gets interim president

***CHRISTIAN SCHOOLS  

Students protest Seattle Pacific University policies after discrimination lawsuit

Liberty University Sues Jerry Falwell Jr. for $10 Million ($)

South Carolina private colleges are challenging a state law prohibiting public funding for religious or other private educational institutions

College of the Ozarks sues Biden Administration over anti-sex discrimination order

Falwell’s son out as VP at Liberty University

Colleges Seek to Intervene in Title IX Religious Exemption Suit

Pacific Lutheran University to cut 36 positions, eliminate programs to fit budget

Why Belmont University is making more space for Jewish perspectives

Notre Dame, First Christian University to Require Mandatory Vaccination for All Students

***RESEARCH

Why don’t researchers correct their own errors in the scientific record?

Why researchers created a database of half a million journal editors

Has the pandemic changed research culture – and is it for the better?

Are You Confused by Scientific Jargon? So Are Scientists 

Want other scientists to cite you? Drop the jargon

Why I Won't Review or Write for Elsevier and Other Commercial Scientific Journals 

Leading Chinese universities axe publication requirement for PhDs ($)

Why did it take so many decades for the behavioral sciences to develop a sense of crisis around methodology and replication? 

***STUDENT LIFE 

Bowling Green State University expels fraternity for hazing in wake of student's death

Florida poised to pass bill allowing students to record classes

Consumer survey of teens

After Anti-Asian Incidents, Colleges Seek to Reassure Fearful International Students ($)

***FREE SPEECH

How unconstitutional school-disruption laws place children at risk of prosecution for “speech crimes”

***SEXUAL HARASSMENT & ASSAULT

Former student sues University of Evansville over sexual assault allegations against former basketball coach

Ohio University Board Says Professor Accused Of Sexual Harassment Should Be Fired

'I just want women to be safe': Women who resigned from University of Minnesota math department speak out about sexism

Three rapes reported on Stanford University campus

Eastern Michigan rape suspect: Title IX director said assault didn't sound like him

***RACIAL ISSUES ON CAMPUS 

Cornell faculty approves resolution removing race from crime alerts

Nazi salutes at the University of Kentucky

Univ of San Francisco Student Who Hung Noose Off Dorm Room Balcony Expelled University of Minnesota confronts troubled history with tribal nations ($)

After Anti-Asian Incidents, Colleges Seek to Reassure Fearful International Students ($)

***CAMPUS CYBERATTACKS

Cyberattacks Are Spiking. Colleges Are Fighting Back 

University Of Colorado Refuses To Pay $17 Million Ransom 

Safe Solutions

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If your state of mind is coming from a place of fear and risk avoidance, then you will always settle for the safe solutions—the solutions already applied many times before. Sometimes, the path already taken is the best solution. But you should not follow the path automatically without first seeing it for what it really is. When you are open to possibilities, you may find that the common way is the best way for your particular case. However, this will be a choice you made not by habit, but by reflection and in the spirit of a fresh beginner with fresh eyes and a new perspective. 

Garr Reynolds, Presentation Zen

Articles of interest about journalism, social media, security & more - April 15

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***COVID-19

Study shows vaccines carry much lower risk of blood clots than COVID-19

Why The COVID-19 Vaccines Take Two Weeks To Be Fully Effective

Health experts weigh in on whether 'herd immunity' is possible

CDC reports 5,800 Covid infections in fully vaccinated people

A New Study Suggests Empty Middle Seats On Planes Reduce COVID Exposure By A Third

Study: Moderna immunity wanes 6 months in but still protective

Erectile dysfunction risk is 6 times higher for men with COVID-19 

***JOURNALISM

Using FOIA logs to develop news stories 

How Instagram became the place to find Asian American news

Bad news for journalists: The public doesn’t share our values. But there’s hope.

The Marshall Project’s style guide for “how we talk about people who are currently in or have previously been in prison or jail” 

News deserts and weak ethics laws allow corruption to run rampant in SC

What Pew’s Defense of Polling Accuracy Tells Us (opinion)

Why journalists shouldn’t parrot police language

Nebraska lawmakers kill student journalist protection bill after filibuster

***THE BUSINESS OF JOURNALISM

Kim Godwin makes history by taking over as ABC News president

The rise of news products They look like journalism, but they're not

How newsrooms learn from other industries

Top Bidder for Tribune Newspapers Is an Influential Liberal Donor ($) 

Investigative journalists sued for defamation by charity with cult connections—it takes four years for the suit to be dismissed

An eleventh-hour bid might keep Tribune Publishing out of a hedge fund’s hands 

Hearst Invests More Resources Into Data Journalism

***WRITING & READING

The Books That Made Me: 8 Writers on Their Literary Inspirations ($)

The Madman’s Library

The best — and newest — science fiction and fantasy story collections

TikTok Is Changing The Way Publishers Market New Books

Parts of Alberta's draft school curriculum plagiarized, academic finds

***FAKES, FRAUDS & SCAMS

Anti-Vax Activists Are Quietly Bending State Politics To Their Will

Mick Jagger Takes Shots at Conspiracy Theorists & Anti-Vaxxers in a New Song, “Eazy Sleazy”

***SOCIAL MEDIA 

Facebook urged to scrap Instagram for children plans

Social Media Use in 2021

Instagram’s new test lets you choose if you want to hide ‘Likes,’ Facebook test to follow 

Review Your Social Media Etiquette ($)  

Muslim Advocates Has Filed A Lawsuit Against Facebook

Partisan differences in social media use show up for some platforms, but not Facebook

***PRIVACY & SECURITY 

Lawsuit Filed After Facial Recognition Tech Leads to Wrongful Arrest

Please stop doing this when you create a new password 

‘Dark Patterns’ in Consumer Data Privacy Garner Policy Attention

Huge Zoom flaw lets hackers completely take over your Mac or PC

Data from half a billion LinkedIn users has been scraped and put online

New Phishing Campaign Sends Malware-Laced Job Offers Through LinkedIn 

Law enforcement agencies across the US ran thousands of AI facial recognition searches

High numbers of schools hit by phishing, account compromise and ransomware attacks

Houston Rockets works with FBI after being hit by major cyberattack

***LANGUAGE

‘Race against the clock’: the school fighting to save the Ojibwe language before its elders pass away 

How Did a Self-Taught Linguist Come to Own an Indigenous Language?

Why The English Language Lost These Nine Letters (video)

Diminishing our Pain

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People say to me, "Things in my life are pretty hard right now, but I have no right to complain—it’s not Auschwitz." This kind of comparison can lead us to minimize or diminish our own suffering. If we discount our pain, or punish ourselves for feeling lost or isolated or scared about the challenges in our lives, however insignificant these challenges may seem to someone else, then we’re still choosing to be victims. We’re judging ourselves. I don’t want you to hear my story and say, "My own suffering is less significant. " I want you to hear my story and say, "If she can do it, then so can I."

 Auschwitz survivor Edith Eva Eger in her book The Choice

Self-Renewal & Motivation

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The self-renewing man is highly motivated and respects the sources of his own energy and motivation. He has the priceless quality of enthusiasm.  He knows how important it is to believe in what he is doing. 

He knows how important it is to pursue the things about which he has a deep conviction. Enthusiasm for the task to be accomplished lifts him out of the ruts of habit and customary procedure. Drive and conviction give him the courage to risk failure. (One of the reasons mature persons stop learning is that they become less and less willing to risk failure.) And not only does he respond to challenge, but he also sees the challenge where others fail to see it . . . 

John Gardner, Self-Renewal

Articles of interest about religion - April 11

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***COVID-19

Why It's Not a Bad Thing If You Don't Experience COVID-19 Vaccine Side Effects 

Why you should still wear a mask even if you've been vaccinated

***RELIGION & THE VIRUS

Why the key to ending the pandemic runs through the evangelical church

How White Evangelicals’ Vaccine Refusal Could Prolong the Pandemic ($)

***RELIGION 

'Allergic reaction to US religious right' fueling decline of religion, experts say

Church takes away fishing trip prize from woman-- because she is a woman

***RELIGION AND POLITICS 

Alabama removes religious oath requirement from voter registration

Survey: Most Americans know Biden is Catholic, far fewer know Harris’ religion

***RELIGION & THE LAW 

EEOC Issues New Guidance on Religious Discrimination and Accommodation of Religious Beliefs 

***RELIGION & RACIAL ISSUES

Proud Boys and other far-right groups raise millions via Christian funding site

Black Southern Baptists are "deeply disappointed" that seminary presidents continue to reject critical race theory in "all its forms"

***CATHOLIC 

Hans Kueng, dissident Catholic theologian, dies at 93

***MEGACHURCHES

Megachurch Pastor Greg Laurie still can’t smell after COVID-19

Former Hillsong Megachurch pastor who faked cancer to hide porn problem starts charity 

Hillsong shuts down Dallas operations after pastors used church donations to fund their lifestyle

***RELIGION & BUSINESS

Religion is a driving force behind the gender wage gap, study finds

Dave Ramsey’s company dropped from ‘Best Workplaces’ list by Inc. magazine

***ISLAM

Renouncing Islam in Malaysia

Civil rights group sues Facebook over anti-Muslim posts

***SATANISM

Why Satanic Panic never really ended

Nike reaches agreement with Satan Shoes manufacturer

***RELIGION & WOMEN’S ISSUES

Baylor professor argues 'biblical womanhood' more cultural than biblical

New data says that women are more religious than men but it’s more complicated than the numbers reveal

Beth Moore apologizes for her role in elevating ‘complementarian’ theology that limits women leaders

***CHRISTIAN CELEBRITIES

Former Moody Bible Institute professor Paul Maxwell leaves the Christian faith

Elizabeth Elliot & the Language of Mission   

Profit-preaching televangelist who stole millions is headed to prison

Articles of Interest about Higher Ed - April 9

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***COVID-19 

Got a strange text about your COVID vaccine? Here's what could be going on

1 in 3 Covid-19 patients are diagnosed with a neuropsychiatric condition

Wharton professor on the employer Covid vaccine requirement dilemma 

Your post-vaccination travel questions answered

What to Do If You Lose Your Vaccine Card

Here’s What Happens If You End Up Getting Two Different Vaccines

Tens of thousands of vaccine appointments remain unclaimed in Mississippi, a sign the state is already encountering hesitancy ($)

***HIGHER ED & COVID

Some Colleges Are Mandating COVID-19 Vaccines — But At What Cost?

5 US colleges to require students to be vaccinated before returning in the fall  

More colleges move to make vaccines mandatory for students

***COVID AT SPECIFIC SCHOOLS

Cornell University to require students to be vaccinated ahead of fall semester

More Than 50 UChicago Students Get Coronavirus, Forcing Return To Virtual Classes, Stay-At-Home Order 

Johnson County Community College is offering employees a one-time $250 payment to get the vaccine

 ***HIGHER ED  

Piedmont University's name change from Piedmont College now official

Coursera Is Now a Public Company. What Does That Mean For Higher Education?

***LAYOFFS & CUTS

Pacific Lutheran University will cut 36 positions, eliminate majors to fill budget hole

Western Oregon will be cutting multiple programs & the equivalent of more than a dozen full-time faculty 

Mills College Faculty Demand Answers About Closure 

***COLLEGE FINANCES 

Endicott College’s strength during the pandemic highlights the importance of diverse revenue streams

Tennessee owes Tennessee State University between $151 million and $544 million 

University of Iowa gives athletics $50 million ‘loan’

Biden Has Promised to Crack Down on Troubled For-Profit Colleges. Some Are Already in Peril.

Mormon Church helping put Utah State's language-focused programs under 1 roof

Donor Darla Moore writes off USC after it fails to acknowledge her mother's death

***ADMISSIONS 

Poll: Nearly half of parents don’t want their kids to go to a four-year college

COVID-19 pandemic making college choice especially difficult

University of Kentucky sends 500,000 acceptance emails in 'error'

Duke University Tried Test-Optional Admissions And Got 10,000 More Applicants

Harvard College Accepts Record-Low 3.43% of Applicants to Class of 2025

Colleges Get Creative To Reach Students After Enrollment Plummets Due To COVID-19

***HUMANITIES 

Survey of employers shows liberal arts skills are valued & sought out in the workplace

***HIGHER ED IN COURT 

LSU official sues for $50 million, alleging retaliation for Les Miles allegations

Michigan university can't punish Christian club for requiring leaders be Christian, Judge rules

Dartmouth College seeks dismissal of lawsuit alleging bias in sex assault ruling

University of Cincinnati Faces Lawsuit After Sharing Students’ Personal Data to Health Provider

***TEACHING  

What Impacts Active Learning in STEM?

A Harvard researcher says this is the smartest and 'least costly' way to help your kids reach 'accelerated learning'

Far Too Many Educators Aren’t Prepared to Teach Black and Brown Students (Opinion)

***ONLINE PROCTORING

Cheating on homework leads to extortion scam

UW-Madison disables proctoring software amid complaints

Proctoring Tool Failed to Recognize Dark Skin, Students Say

***ACADEMIC LIFE 

All Faculty Types Suffer Job Losses in 2020-2021 Academic Year

Florida GOP Wants To Take On 'Cancel Culture' By Secretly Recording Professors

Man who died in D.C. fire was an assistant professor at George Washington University

***CHRISTIAN SCHOOLS  

Notre Dame Law School Tells Non-Wealthy Students ‘Thanks, But No Thanks’ 

Baylor denies health care dependency status to same-sex spouses of university employees

LGBT students sue Education Department over Title IX religious exemption

Are LGBTQ students at Christian schools discriminated against?

Judson College trustees vote to keep the school open

***LIBERTY UNIVERSITY

Jonathan Falwell named Liberty University Campus Pastor following Nasser's resignation

‘They thank me’: Jerry Falwell Jr. says Liberty University community still embraces him

***RESEARCH

A simple guide to ethical co-authorship

Prey tell, what makes a publisher predatory?

Do you obey public-access mandates? Google Scholar is watching

Plagiarism scandals are devaluing higher degrees in central Europe ($)

***STUDENT LIFE 

I’m suing the University of Tennessee

Ole Miss Student Charged in Frat Hazing That Injured Pledge

Colleges see urgent mental health crisis ($)

Virginia Tech students decry Turning Point USA club for 'homophobic, racist' leaked chats

States Step In To Stop Colleges Holding Transcripts Ransom For Unpaid Bills

Another Graduating Class Faces A Workforce In Which Young People Are Struggling

A Michigan university is offering college students a scholarship to study cannabis

***SEXUAL HARASSMENT & ASSAULT

Eastern Connecticut State Univ hires firm to conduct independent review of its handling of Title IX claims  

Education Department Starts Review of Title IX

Former Northeastern University track coach accused of cyberstalking female athletes to get nude photos

***RACIAL ISSUES ON CAMPUS 

Albion College students continue to boycott class to fight racial injustices on campus

Police investigating after swastika found on furniture at MCLA

White supremacy graffiti was found on Northern Kentucky's campus for the second time this year

Honored by Southwestern Seminary, journal article explores Truett and Criswell's accommodation of racism

***HIGHER ED SECURITY

Moody's: Cyberattacks Could Dent Higher Ed Credit Rating

IRS warns of new phishing scheme targeting colleges

Brown Under Cyberattack: Some Systems Shut Down, University Calls Incident “Utmost Priority”

University of California victim of nationwide hack attack

How to safeguard online data collection against fraud

Essay mills ‘infiltrating university websites’ ($)

The Nazis hung him (on this date in 1945)

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Dietrich Bonhoeffer was arrested by the Nazi in 1943 for his work with the resistance. He had been warned not to speak publicly.  He did so anyway and was hanged April 9, 1945. Ethics is a gathering of his notes for an intended work on the subject, hidden in a garden before they could be seized by the police. Here is one paragraph contrasting the Ethics of Kant to Christ: 

Christ did not, like a moralist, love a theory of good, but He loved the real man. He was not, like a philosopher, interested in the 'universally valid,' but rather in that which is of help to the real and concrete human being. What worried him was not, like Kant, whether the 'maxim of an action can become a principle of general legislation', but whether my action is at this moment helping my neighbor become a man before God. -Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Ethics

Stephen Goforth

 

Change, Paradigm Shifts

Renewal and Friendship

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The self-renewing man has mutually fruitful relations with other human beings. They are capable of accepting love and capable of giving it – both more difficult achievements than is commonly thought. And what has that to do with self-renewal? The man or woman who is incapable of accepting love or of giving it is imprisoned, cut off from a great part of the world of experience. Love and friendship dissolve the rigidities of the isolated self, force new perspectives, alter judgments, and keep in working order the emotional substratum on which all profound comprehensive of human affairs must rest.

John Gardner, Self-Renewal

Articles of interest about journalism, writing, conspiracy theories & more - April 5

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***COVID-19

CDC: Fully vaccinated people can travel in U.S. without tests or quarantines 

Can Vaccinated People Spread the Virus? We Don’t Know, Scientists Say.

CDC Data Suggests Vaccinated Don’t Carry, Can’t Spread Virus

***JOURNALISM

Why Being ‘Anti-Media’ Is Now Part Of The GOP Identity

The journalism crisis across the world

Asian America women like me have been objectified & dehumanized. This was my TV news experience (opinion) 

Paul Brock, a founder of Black journalism group, dies at 89

Vaccine Hesitancy: What Journalists Need to Know

News deserts and weak ethics laws allow corruption to run rampant in SC

Kansas City newspaper sends a warning with a blank front page ($)

More than 25 places to find journalism jobs and internships

Bystander intervention training to stop anti-Asian/American and xenophobic harassment

***THE BUSINESS OF MEDIA

Billionaires push to derail hedge fund takeover of local newspapers

U.S. Supreme Court permits FCC to loosen media ownership rules

West Coast billionaires buy dying legacy media companies

How Stat survived, and thrived, during the craziest year in health reporting history 

***WRITING & READING

HarperCollins to Acquire HMH Trade 

Graphic novel from the “Captain Underpants” series pulled from library and bookstore shelves

‘Hemingway’ documentary Is a Big Two-Hearted Reconsideration ($)

***COVID-19 MISINFORMATION 

Vitamin D: The truth about an alleged Covid ‘cover-up’

As the flood of false & misleading health information continues unabated on social media, publishers find themselves in for a battle

The Antiscience Movement Is Escalating, Going Global and Killing Thousands

COVID-19 Misinformation Playbook

The Dark Web Is Teeming With Vaccine Listings Right Now

'You can't trust the government': Spanish-speaking social media spreads COVID-19 vaccine disinformation, adds to hesitancy

***FAKES

How Sounds Are Faked For Nature Documentaries

***SOCIAL MEDIA  

How to check if your account was part of Facebook’s 533M record leak

Google integrates Chat to Gmail for all accounts

How beauty filters took over social media | MIT Technology Review 

Facebook Disputes Claims It Fuels Political Polarization And Extremism

Group-Chatting Platform Discord Might Change Social Media With Its Business Model 

QAnon Facebook Group Linked to Capitol Riot Still Active

***PRIVACY & SECURITY 

Personal data from over 500M Facebook users leaked online - 9to5Mac

IRS Warns of Scam Targeting .Edu Email Addresses

Fake apps are circumventing Apple’s rules in order to rob users

New study reveals iPhones aren't as private as you think 

Spy pixels in emails have become endemic 

Companies use this email trick to spy on you all the time – and you had no idea 

***LANGUAGE

Words Like 'Racism' Have Lost Their Common Meaning (opinion)

***POETRY

San Diego's Poet Laureate Launches Digital Poetry Platform

Amanda Gorman’s Poetry United Critics. It’s Dividing Translators

Poetry Challenge: Create A List Poem That Grapples With Rise Of Anti-Asian Racism

Renewal Happens 

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Renewal comes neither by taking a rest nor changing the scenery, nor by adding something new to our lives, but by ending whatever is, and then entering a temporary state of chaos when everything is up for grabs and anything is possible. Then we can come out of what is really a death-and-rebirth process with a new identity, a new sense of purpose, and a new store of life energy.

William Bridges, The Way of Transition