Friday, October 02, 2009

Dumbest Ads--College Edition

Here are some pretty amazing, and unintenionally funny, ads I have received via email in the last couple of weeks....

1. Don't miss a remarkable opportunity taking place in Raleigh, North Carolina in April, 2010. Hundreds of educators across disciplines will come together at the 2010 On Course National Conference (http://www.oncourseworkshop.com/Conference.htm) offered on April 8-10, 2010. Featured keynote speaker Ann Hermann (CEO of Hermann International) will present an invigorating opening session on brain-based thinking and learning styles.

Brain-based thinking? Really? That WILL be invigorating....

2. The Department of Politics and Geography at Coastal Carolina University is accepting applications for a tenure-track position at the rank of Associate Professor. Appointment effective August 16, 2010. Successful candidate must be able to create, implement, and direct a new B.A. in Intelligence and National Security. Ph.D. is preferred, but an M.A. or J.D. with relevant experience will be considered.

So, they would prefer a PhD to be in charge of a program on intelligence, but they'll also consider a lawyer. (Nod to RL)

3. Seton Hill University seeks Assistant Professor of Political Science for tenure-track position starting August 2010. The faculty member will teach a range of courses throughout the discipline, including Comparative Politics and International Relations, as well as methodology and other courses in undergraduate Political Science. Ph.D. required. Background or teaching experience in genocide and/or Non-Western area studies desirable.

Background in genocide??!?! (And, yes, there is a "Seton Hill U") (Nod to RL)

4 comments:

Simon Spero said...

The last two do at least have sensible readings;

In advert #2 a JD with 10 years experience at a TLA may be a better candidate than a PhD and 10 years in academe, though it may be hard to describe that experience when the interview panel doesn't have high enough clearance.

Advert #3 is ambiguous as to the scope of studies; when the paragraph is word-wrapped after the and/or, the odd reading seems to be preferred. But the fact that someone called a university "Seton Hill" is fricking hillarious. It's like calling a school "The University of South Carolina" and trying to get away with shortening it to "Carolina" or "USC".

Advert #1 is the Chicago of the bunch; I tried to guess what they meant by brain-based thinking, but all I could come up with was that it was a way of saying "Cognitive Neuroscience" without scaring away Education majors.

Apparently it means something else, though I don't have the faintest idea what. Asking Google Scholar gave 9 hits, the highest ranked being from an institute of Intellegent Design. But one of the hits seems thoroughly relevant to the KPC core curriculum, and I think deserves a review (I would do it but zombies ate my brainwork).

Leinfellner, W. (2001) , Towards a Bayesian Theory of Self-Organization, Societal Evolution, Creativity, and the Role of Randomizers in the Societal Evolution. In Evolution and Progress in Democracies: Towards New Foundations of a Knowledge Society, Kluwer Academic Pub.

"... by neuronal randomizers; this explains the non-computational, non-linear, highly
probabilistic, evolutive ways of our brain-based thinking (Penrose 1994, 196). ... "

The next article is devoted to the "cognitive and ideological development of game theory", but contains no brain-based intelligence, so review is optional for extra credit.

Michael said...

I must admit the lawyer letters went over my head, but the background in genocide was the funniest thing I've read today.

Term Papers said...

i really admire this..thanks for sharing..

Term Papers said...

Very good post. I have been searching for this post since many days. Now I have implemented the same for my site.