Category Archives: Uncategorized
210 Years: A Lot to Consider
Today marks the 210th anniversary of my family’s departure from Ireland for America—initially for Pennsylvania, then the Ohio frontier. I didn’t know this so exactly until this summer, when I chanced upon the original manifest listing 11 Armstrongs aboard the … Continue reading
Why is it called a sabbatical again?
I realize the academic tradition to call development leave a “sabbatical” comes from the notion that it occurs every 7 years or so, but sabbath implies rest, and no one I know finds sabbaticals all that restful. It’s the time when … Continue reading
What we’re looking for in the oral exam: Fall 2017 edition.
It’s that time of year when Human Situation students are getting ready for the final oral examination. Since oral exams are rare and the students are largely freshmen, it’s understandable that they don’t quite know what to expect. I have posted … Continue reading
That Plagiarism Thing…Again
Happily, in an Honors College plagiarism isn’t a rampant problem, so my work in policing students is fairly light duty. But something I tend to use as a talking point when I’ve called in someone for “processing” in an academic … Continue reading
What We’re Still Looking For in an Oral Exam
It’s that time of year when Human Situation students are getting ready for the final oral examination. Since oral exams are rare and the students are largely freshmen, it’s understandable that they don’t quite know what to expect. I have posted … Continue reading
The Czar speaks again…
Ok, so now to my surprise, the Trump campaign has brought forward a responsible party for the plagiarism in Melania’s speech. In the New York Times of July 20, we read that Meredith McIver, an in-house staff writer for the Trump Organization, … Continue reading
The Czar of Plagiarism Speaks
One of my less glorious roles in life is to be the Czar of Plagiarism in the Honors College—technically what is known as the First Hearing Officer. This isn’t a large part of what I do, since in an Honors College … Continue reading
What do we look for in an oral exam?
It’s that time of year when Human Situation students are getting ready for the final oral examination. Since oral exams are rare and the students are largely freshmen, it’s understandable that they don’t quite know what to expect. I posted something … Continue reading
Theater: The Drama of Ourselves
A few years ago, I had the pleasure of working on a cd with John Lienhard that served as one of the premiums for the KUHF pledge drive that year. It was all centered on theater, and featured our Engines of … Continue reading
An Awesome Bit of Synergy
So here’s why I love my job. An awesome colleague, Ricardo Nuila, MD, came to us with a project: mounting a service learning trip to a clinic in Santa Ana Honduras run by an NGO, Shoulder to Shoulder. With the … Continue reading
Richard H Armstrong 