Research

The liberal arts are an important part of a well-rounded education. They establish habits of the mind that are essential in a democracy. One of the divisions of liberal arts, the trivium, grammar, logic, and rhetoric, should be taught in high schools, through programs such as dual credit, to establish "civic virtues" in a wider audience.

An overview of Bakhtin's theory of dialogue focusing on his early works. Bakhtin argues that the self and other are in constant interaction in their attempt to describe and understand the world. The chapter is written to introduce Bakhtin's concept of dialogue to social movement practitioners. 

This article considers how the technological changes have facilitated the establishment of a sense of ‘ressentiment’ in modern political cultures. This is the unease created when someone believes they have been injured by another but feel impotent to act. While technologies have developed at a startling rate, society’s ability to deal with them has not kept up. Consequently, neo-liberal economic principles and political narratives have distorted the culture practices as a range of agencies (political, economic, technology) have become elitist and self-serving. Individual forms of identity are undermined by a surfeit of information in which online gatekeepers (Google, Facebook, Twitter) use algorithms that synthesize real with virtual emotional values. These distortions are now being made tangible with the

election of right-wing populists such as Donald Trump and the genuine sense of popular dislocation that contributed to the UK Brexit vote.

Strategic mergers are formal combinations or unifications of two or more organizations, including institutions of higher education, for the purpose of gaining competitive advantages. In the case of higher education, such mergers may also serve as the salvation of one or more colleges or universities. Mergers have gradually become the instrument of boards of trustees and governmental agencies to address institutional problems such as declines in enrollment, demands for efficiency and cost savings, and to expand the service area (Harman and Harman, 2008). Because mergers can involve significant change for individuals in the organization, one can also consider the impact of mergers on stakeholders. This paper presents a case study of the unification process of two institutions of higher education, discusses the impact on its internal stakeholders such as faculty, staff, and students, and offers suggestions for future endeavors.