Category Archives: Higher Education

Happy 60th Birthday, DARPA: you’re doomed

Posted on September 6, 2018 by schrodt735

Today marks the mid-point of a massive self-congratulatory 60th anniversary celebration by DARPA [1]. So, DARPA, happy birthday! And many happy returns!! YEA!!! That’s a joke, right? Why yes, how did you guess? A 60th anniversary, of course, is very … Continue reading →

Posted in Higher Education, Methodology | 1 Comment

What if a few grad programs were run for the benefit of the graduate students?

Posted on July 16, 2018 by schrodt735

I’ve got a note in my calendar around the beginning of August—I was presumably in a really bad mood at [at least] some point over the past year—to retweet a link to my blog post discussing my fondness for math … Continue reading →

Posted in Higher Education, Methodology | Leave a comment

So, punk, think ya can start a data science program??

Posted on April 25, 2017 by schrodt735

This is the second part of a two-essay series addressing some of the features one might wish to include in a contemporary “data science” program using resources in existing quantitative “social science” programs. The first, a rather rambling polemic, addressed … Continue reading →

Posted in Higher Education, Methodology, Programming | 4 Comments

Reflecting on the suicide of Will Moore

Posted on April 19, 2017 by schrodt735

I spent most of today working on a new blog post motivated in part by a re-tweet of a teaser for same by, well, Will Moore. Who I had seen in Phoenix only six weeks ago where he introduced my … Continue reading →

Posted in Higher Education, Ramblings | 2 Comments

A Numerical Reflection upon the 2015-2016 APSA Placement Statistics

Posted on February 7, 2017 by schrodt735

[Okay, this “Seven…” gimmick isn’t working for producing finished blogs—mind you, I’ve got about a dozen 50%-80% finished entries in the pipeline—and [shock!] there are things that can be said with less than “Seven…” witty subcategories, but are still longer than an extended set … Continue reading →

Posted in Higher Education | 4 Comments

7 reasons political science “math camp” is a complete waste of your time

Posted on March 14, 2016 by schrodt735

This little rant is going to piss off a lot of people in my professional circles but, well, I’m known for doing that sort of thing. So, today, I announce my support for Donald Trump for president. KIDDING!!! Though what … Continue reading →

Posted in Higher Education, Methodology | 5 Comments

Seven Theses on Theil and Drezner [1]

Posted on December 24, 2014 by schrodt735

The Yule season is upon us, and as I sit watching sun progress across the windswept prairies of central Kansas, my Twitter-lurking attention was drawn to Dan Drezner’s recent challenge to Peter Theil’s prediction of the impending collapse of the … Continue reading →

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When the ISA outlaws blogs, only outlaws will blog

Posted on January 30, 2014 by schrodt735

Which, in fact, sounds kind of attractive. But that’s not the real point of this essay. What the ISA is doing is stupid, and ISA is not supposed to be stupid. Stupid is the APSA, charging extortionate dues in order … Continue reading →

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Rampant parasitism hits the open access journal concept!

Posted on October 31, 2013 by schrodt735

Many years back, before I tired of Slashdot, my signature included a phrase I’d picked up from some essay on systems theory: “All successful systems accumulate parasites.” As a vociferous advocate of open access publication, I would now observe: “Wow!—do … Continue reading →

Posted in Higher Education | 1 Comment

When Blogs Go Bad…and a word on networking at conferences

Posted on August 21, 2013 by schrodt735

Not this blog. But rather the unfortunate Brian Rathbun whose ill-considered post [8]—or at the very least, poor choice of metaphors—on the merits of networking at the American Political Science Association (APSA) meetings resulted in a flurry of unanticipated consequences … Continue reading →

Posted in Higher Education, The Blog | 4 Comments