The Training and Disciplinary Identity of Linguists in Europe’s Long Nineteenth Century

In the mid-19th century, the great centers of philological and linguistic study in Europe were a handful of German universities that led the way in organizing doctoral training. In seminars guided by a senior professor, students presented papers on specialized topics and had them critiqued and queried. This chapter takes a close look at the nature of such training in Germany and France through the experience of one Leipzig doctoral student who went on to lecture in Paris and Geneva, Ferdinand de Saussure (1857-1913). The political and cultural relations between Germany and France in the two decades following the Franco-Prussian War and the annexation of Alsace and Lorraine colored and complicated the importation of the Germany doctoral training model in the various branches of the University of Paris, and not least in the section of the École Pratique des Hautes Études in which Saussure was hired to lecture on Gothic and Old High German, to a student body made up disproportionately of displaced Alsatians. So significant was Saussure’s impact on the institution that his teaching set the agenda for French doctoral training in linguistics and adjacent areas at least through the 1960s, and indeed across Europe and beyond – this despite the fact that he was never in a position to direct a single doctoral thesis himself. The chapter considers as well how the disciplinary identity of linguistics came to be formed in this period, and how it went on to develop over the ensuing decades.

Time Perception in Times of COVID-19

This article discusses how time perception changes during the lockedown caused by COVID-19. The author pays attention to the changes in people`s daily routines due to the pandemic situation, which in turn led to the feeling that time is running at a different speed than life before COVID-19. Data from a study conducted in the UK, by Ruth Ogden, a senior professor of psychology at John Moores University in Liverpool, is exposed on the subject. The meaning of Chronos and Kairos, the Greek gods of time, is interpreted in COVID-19 situation.

Columbia in the Nation’s Service: Warner Burke and the Education of U.S. Army Leaders

In 1969, Columbia University banned Reserve Officers’ Training Corps (ROTC) from campus. In 2004, Teachers College’s Warner Burke, a senior professor of psychology and Army officer veteran, saw an opportunity to close this civil–military gap. Burke partnered with West Point to educate West Point cadets’ primary leader developers, its 36 company tactical officers, through hosting them annually in a world-class Master of Social-Organizational Psychology. In 2010, Burke welcomed the Army Fellows program to campus, bringing in one or two senior Army officers a year to study under his mentorship. Since Burke courageously showed the way, Columbia has welcomed ROTC back to campus and now boasts the largest numbers of veteran students in the Ivy League. Most recently, Burke built a third program, this one to educate critical Army leaders who historically did not have access to elite higher education, its noncommissioned officer corps.

The Pursuit of Success in Academia: Plato’s Ghost Asks “What then?”

What do we pursue as we seek success in academia? For most, the path to academic success focuses narrowly on A-level journal publications, which has caused a stealthy but steady erosion in the very essence of academia. In this essay, we explore that erosion by drawing on the poem by William Butler Yeats titled “What then?” to highlight the questions, doubts, and perils that lie at each of the four stages of academic life: doctoral student, junior professor, senior professor, and professor emeritus. We then offer a new set of questions that academics may ask at each stage to remain true to their sense of scholarly identity and calling. Our hope is to shine a critical spotlight on the modal journey and inspire a confident and courageous few to deviate from that well-trodden path and chart a course that is truer to the essence, purpose, and potential of academia.

Nimsamer, Chalood (1929--)

Beginning his career in the 1950s, Chalood Nimsamer became one of the most influential contemporary Thai artists. Recognized as a Thai national artist in 1998, Chalood is also a distinguished senior professor who helped develop Thai traditional art in the context of modernism. Most of his work portrays the relationship between local Thai culture and the traditional spirit of Thai people. The variety of his artistic forms, including drawing, painting, printmaking, mixed media, and installation, represent simplicity and calmness, which the artist claims is a unique characteristic of Eastern culture. His fine, delicate drawing lines and gentle colors reflect the love and generosity of rural society. Chalood first gained recognition in the Thai art scene with his early series of tempera paintings, oil paintings, and wood cuts, in which he was inspired by the images of rural women in their daily life. The artist used techniques found in traditional Thai art—organic shapes, vivid colors, and gold leaf—to portray the simple life of Thai people. As a result of these works, including Thai Farmers (1955) and Songkran (1956), Chalood received many awards from the National Art Competition and eventually gained the title of an artist of distinction (in the field of painting) in 1959.

An Indian Official’s Trials and Tribulations

In this chapter Ruchi Ram Sahni recounts what he calls the most depressing and unpleasant incident of his life. It involved his supersession for the position of Professor-in-Charge of the Chemistry Department at the Government College, Lahore, by a much younger Englishman, fresh from university. The post in question was vacated by an English colleague, a Senior Professor, with whom the author had a difficult relationship involving a dispute about who was to be selected for the post of Examiner in the university examinations. This colleague went on to write a secret report against Sahni, resulting in his supersession despite his vast seniority. Sahni relates the psychological trauma resulting from this experience, and its contribution to strengthen his resolve to leave Lahore for a short period to do research in Europe.

Role of modern teaching aids and technologies in Ophthalmic teaching

Clinical teaching in Ophthalmology is a big challenge. In the words of a senior professor, “I still remember those days when I used to be an undergraduate student of medicine in 1964-67 and later on as a post graduate in 1968-71, there used to be a batch of twenty to twenty-five students for OPD or indoor clinics for case presentations. The case was being shown on the indirect ophthalmoscope or slitlamp or in the operation theatre. Since it was not possible that all the students could see the patients individually by torch or on slitlamp or on any other device, therefore we had to rely most of the time on the statements of our teachers.” Now the scenario has entirely changed. All the equipments are attached with electronic devices and projection on computer monitor or much higher magnification, with the help of LCD projector, to larger group of students is possible. Thus, Ophthalmic teaching has become much easier and simpler because the teachers and the students see and discuss the same things together, at the same time. There is no need of giving the false consent of understanding when one has not comprehended what is being taught.

Aspects of Research Methodology: For Today and Tomorrow

What is it that connects together work of a doctoral student and studies conducted by a high profile lab team lead by a senior professor? Research methodology, is based upon establishing the basic connective tissue while crossing borders across hierarchies and disciplines...