Just what I need: another blog to feed

Yes, I’ve unleashed another blog on the world. But this one is work-related, and my hope is that it will engage the students, alumni, faculty and staff of our university in an online discussion about a topic that is important to our future.

Name change conversations is the name of the blog, and we’ve launched it to better facilitate the discussion we’re having on our campus about whether to change our name. This site is designed to complement a white paper that outlines the rationale for a name change and to provide students, alumni, etc., with a constructive outlet for discussing the issues.

From the inaugural post:

Welcome to “name change conversations,” a weblog designed to inform the UMR community about Chancellor John F. Carney III’s proposal to change the university’s name to one that better describes its mission as a technological research university. While this is a university website, and is being managed by the UMR director of communications, its purpose is to foster a conversation about the proposal. In other words, we want this blog to be:

  • a source for useful information about the proposed name change.
  • a forum discussion about the issues being raised by the proposal.
  • an avenue for providing up-to-the-minute information about the proposal.

Let’s hope this foray into blogworld serves its purpose.

Friday Five: Quotables from CASE

One of the takeaways from futurist David Zach‘s presentation at the CASE District VI Conference earlier this week was a handout of “FutureQuotes” from Zach’s collection and speeches. Below are five that resonated with me. (Download the PDF for the whole collection.)

  • Civilizations begin with religion and stoicism; they end with skepticism and unbelief, and the undisciplined pursuit of individual pleasure. A civilization is born stoic and dies epicurean. — Will Durant
  • Do not wait for leaders; do it alone, person to person. — Mother Theresa
  • Let us not look back in anger or forward in fear, but around in awareness. — James Thurber
  • The trouble with the rat race is that even if you win, youʼre still a rat. — Lily Tomlin
  • The library is the temple of learning that has liberated more people than all the wars in history. — Carl Rowan