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Jacob Isaacs

@jacobisaacs.bsky.social

Higher education administrator. Experience in educational research, assessment, communication studies, advising, and student affairs. Interested in persistence, retention, belonging, and first gen issues.

91 Followers  |  89 Following  |  40 Posts  |  Joined: 05.11.2023  |  2.0327

Latest posts by jacobisaacs.bsky.social on Bluesky

Wow.....

03.06.2025 20:52 β€” πŸ‘ 1    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0
Life is a hard battle anyway. If we laugh and sing a little as we fight the good fight of freedom, it makes it all go easier. I will not allow my life’s light to be determined by the darkness around me.
Sojourner Truth

Life is a hard battle anyway. If we laugh and sing a little as we fight the good fight of freedom, it makes it all go easier. I will not allow my life’s light to be determined by the darkness around me. Sojourner Truth

Good morning. Remember to laugh & sing a little today.

03.04.2025 12:28 β€” πŸ‘ 42    πŸ” 7    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 1

This is an amazing kind of development in higher education, when funding is so uncertain that it's a better idea to not accept more students.

22.02.2025 01:09 β€” πŸ‘ 0    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0
End of Term Web Archive – Preserving the Transition of a Nation | Internet Archive Blogs

The Internet Archive has to date downloaded 500 terabytes of US government websites, which it crawls at the end of every presidential term. The whole archive is fully searchable. This effort's housed by a donation-funded nonprofit, not a branch of the US government. blog.archive.org/2024/05/08/e...

01.02.2025 00:58 β€” πŸ‘ 33138    πŸ” 12258    πŸ’¬ 489    πŸ“Œ 585

One reason we bought a car last year

31.01.2025 23:16 β€” πŸ‘ 557    πŸ” 41    πŸ’¬ 42    πŸ“Œ 3

Listening to my 8 year-old read "Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No-Good, Very Bad Day" and stop occasionally to chew out Alexander for not being responsible for himself and making bad life choices. πŸ˜‚πŸ€£

03.01.2025 03:34 β€” πŸ‘ 1    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0

I could opine about the variety of reasons, some of which the author hasn't even addressed. But I'd save it for a conversation instead of a social media space. My research is a little dated.

01.01.2025 23:47 β€” πŸ‘ 0    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0

And answering why men have stopped coming to college as much as before is a very complex problem.

01.01.2025 23:46 β€” πŸ‘ 0    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0

Yes. And I expect that part of why it's being ignored is because it's complex. It requires critical thinking, which is already discouraged in favor of sound bite solutions. People like easy answers. They've also been trained to distrust complex work involving people.

01.01.2025 23:45 β€” πŸ‘ 0    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0

Exactly. It's far more nuanced than just "implicit bias" (sexism). There's cultural norming. There are issues with race, homophobia, classism, & more. There's resentment of the cultural institution of higher education, despite the understanding that educated people are a necessity. It's complex!

01.01.2025 23:23 β€” πŸ‘ 2    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0

This is an interesting article, but it feels like it misses the mark. You can't look at this as just a problem of implicit bias against women. It's more than that. And the answer isn't men's colleges. Wabash & Hampden-Sydney (& even Morehouse, I think) aren't growing. They're still treading H2O.

01.01.2025 20:35 β€” πŸ‘ 0    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0

#RPVSky

One of the first things I teach my students *and* my thesis advisees is how to develop a writing practice.

Perhaps the most challenging thing in the #HiddenCurriculum of being a graduate students, one of the many things I wasn't taught, was the idea of a writing practice, the "how to".

18.12.2024 00:38 β€” πŸ‘ 47    πŸ” 6    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 3

Grading spree this weekend. This semester, I taught 4 classes, coming to 6 credit hours. It's been a great experience watching these students experience their first semester at college. We've got some amazing people here. I can't wait to see how the rest of their journey ends up.

16.12.2024 04:55 β€” πŸ‘ 1    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0

This is a fascinating piece, especially relevant for communities who still have the small, endangered institutions with very low endowments. Thanks for posting!

14.12.2024 02:35 β€” πŸ‘ 1    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0
Preview
Can a College Town Survive the Closure of Its College? For communities surrounding small institutions, the losses are more than economic.

This is a great piece on the implications for local communities when their college closes. We're planning to do an empirical examination of this topic in upcoming research.

14.12.2024 00:38 β€” πŸ‘ 14    πŸ” 3    πŸ’¬ 3    πŸ“Œ 0

That happening in my brain is why I can't go to sleep at a reasonable hour.

11.12.2024 21:57 β€” πŸ‘ 2    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0

Completely. We have engrained the idea of a "four year degree". It would be better to focus on good learning and work-life balance, as long as the impact on student loan debt isn't too much. That's one reason why I like how we don't charge out-of-state tuition and we have the MN North Star Promise.

05.12.2024 04:02 β€” πŸ‘ 0    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0

One of the biggest things that we have done on our team is work on destigmatizing a student taking a step back because life got in the way. Things happen. Life happens. Sometimes it's not the right time. It's perfectly okay. We'll welcome you back when you're ready...and here's how to come back.

05.12.2024 03:22 β€” πŸ‘ 3    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0

It's definitely the busy season right now. Wrapping up a semester of teaching, doing registration for Spring semester, onboarding a new colleague, handling a couple of special projects, and leading our retention project data work. It's a lot, but our team is a great one!

03.12.2024 23:05 β€” πŸ‘ 1    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0

Paging Tywin Lannister... "Any man who must say 'I am the king' is no true king."

27.11.2024 01:48 β€” πŸ‘ 1    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0

Note, I'm not saying that we ARE self-important or think we're better. But we're perceived that way. And perception shapes reality for people. We need to be known again and not be an abstract group that's easy to villainize. It's how K-12 teachers were protected for so long until the last 15-20 yrs.

26.11.2024 21:29 β€” πŸ‘ 0    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0

The perception seems to be that higher ed is full of self-important "elites" who think they're better than everyone else. People who get "rich" while doing very little (What's "knowledge work"?). In our country, that's ripe ground to be taken down a peg or two. And that's part of what's happening.

26.11.2024 21:15 β€” πŸ‘ 0    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0

I've seen too many instances where faculty and more senior (wealthy) admins are only involved in other arenas of privilege, such as local politics or board positions. We should be able to be recognized because we respect and work alongside an electrician or builder or truck driver.

26.11.2024 20:44 β€” πŸ‘ 1    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0

I've believed for awhile that we need to be reconnecting with our communities in ways that humanize higher ed. Be involved in community spaces like fraternal & service organizations, churches...the places where "regular" people go. If we aren't showing up for them, they won't show up for us.

26.11.2024 20:41 β€” πŸ‘ 0    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0

In other circumstances, that cost could be a disqualification to an otherwise great promotion. I love my job and am glad that I'm here. At the same time, I can't help but to think of how many great professionals want to change jobs, but can't because it costs too much to relocate. 2/2

21.11.2024 01:05 β€” πŸ‘ 0    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0

One thing that I learned in my move up north is that there is a hidden inhibitor to career progression: the cost to move. Even with a moving allowance, the cost of moving my family a significant distance was a financial hit. 1/?

21.11.2024 01:03 β€” πŸ‘ 0    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0

Can't listen to "How to Save a Life" by The Fray without thinking of Dr. Cox's breakdown on this show. Or J.D. at the funeral: "Where do you think we are?". Freaking rip your heart out.

17.11.2024 01:32 β€” πŸ‘ 1    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0

Very excited this week to hear about our new record first-year retention rate! We've got a great advising team working with our colleagues to build a phenomenal community here in NW Minnesota!

15.11.2024 23:58 β€” πŸ‘ 1    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0

Way too many people are going to think this is real....😁

11.11.2024 12:26 β€” πŸ‘ 0    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0

Going to try to spend more time here than the other place. I think that it's going to be better all around. Anyone want to talk student success?

07.11.2024 16:58 β€” πŸ‘ 1    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0

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