iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Timothy R Cain @timcain.bsky.social · 04/10/2026

I teach that chapter in my history of higher education class. It is eye-opening for a lot of students (and very well done).

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Timothy R Cain @timcain.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

So... we are back to political sign stealing season. My Ossoff yard sign was stolen last night. My mistake for not buying multiple of them the first time. I had to buy 3 for Abrams and 2 for Warnock a few years ago, because some people want to steal elections, rather than win them.

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The EDU Ledger @theeduledger.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

A new paper published in @aeraedresearch.bsky.social's AERA Open identifies and publicly names 149 colleges and universities with high outcomes for Pell-eligible students.

theeduledger.com

Identifying Colleges and Universities with Low-Income Student Success

A new paper identifies and publicly names 149 colleges and universities with high outcomes for Pell-eligible students.

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Reposted by Timothy R Cain

Mary Anne Franks @maryannefranks.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

Should be lively!

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Timothy R Cain @timcain.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

The best evidence is that tenured faculty work more than 50 hours a week already. 18 more hours a week sounds...

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Timothy R Cain @timcain.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

Always enjoy talking. If we can sort a way to do it in person, even better.

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Timothy R Cain @timcain.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

Athens is nice in the spring, just saying.

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Timothy R Cain @timcain.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

Dealing with page proofs is the worst part of the job, especially when you need to back out a few dozen inserted errors (and then likely miss other ones that were your fault). Also, this is the second time this year I have gotten page proofs without getting copy edits from the publisher beforehand.

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Timothy R Cain @timcain.bsky.social · 06/09/2026

But they are the champions of the west, so...

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Timothy R Cain @timcain.bsky.social · 06/09/2026

Yeah. I was disgusted when I saw the article but not surprised.

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Timothy R Cain @timcain.bsky.social · 05/09/2026

I agree fully. I don't let students use AI in my classes based on the purpose of the classes. They should learn to use AI since it is here, but my classes are not designed to produce a product but to promote critical thinking about and understanding of higher ed and the history of higher ed.

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Timothy R Cain @timcain.bsky.social · 05/09/2026

Assuming that it is not messing with you.... More seriously, I think AI allows us to do work that we might not be able to do otherwise (the example I use is help us understand race in the entire Congressional record) but, also, I maintain my concerns about how it might be misused and mislead.

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Timothy R Cain @timcain.bsky.social · 05/09/2026

You know me... not a huge fan of AI for environmental, humanistic, and Luddistic reasons (a colleague teaching about AI was unsure about what to do with the last few sessions of the class and I suggested showing the Terminator movies), but thanks for finding and, more importantly, doing this.

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Timothy R Cain @timcain.bsky.social · 05/09/2026

Good that you did, and it does not surprise me that you would.

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Timothy R Cain @timcain.bsky.social · 05/09/2026

I might capture this and use it in the unit of my intro class on workers in higher ed alongside Magolda and Delman's (2016) "Campus custodians in the corporate university" and clips from the documentary "Philosopher kings," if you don't mind.

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Timothy R Cain @timcain.bsky.social · 05/09/2026

Just watched the first 1/2 of the Mandolorian movie with my kid and it was worse than the reviews. It was like the creative team behind it watched Superman IV (the only movie I have ever walked out of a theater during in my life) and said, "hold my..."

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Reposted by Timothy R Cain

Mary Anne Franks @maryannefranks.bsky.social · 04/09/2026

A very good letter in the @chronicle.com by @lsiraganian.bsky.social & other JHU AAAUP members debunking the fake crisis of declining public trust in higher education and highlighting a real one: university administrators willing to collaborate with authoritarians. www.chronicle.com/blogs/letter...

Excerpt from article: Compact 2.0 relies on misleading rhetoric citing a lack of public trust in higher education. Ironically, public trust in higher education, including medical and scientific researchers, ranks higher than in all three branches of government, including the President, Congress, and the Supreme Court, as well as tech companies, according to Gallup data. Although polls show trust has declined over the past decade, this is part of a larger trend affecting all US institutions — not just universities. The mistrust in US institutions is, in part, a symptom of the Trump administration’s erosion of democratic norms and the rule of law and use of anti-university, “adaptable authoritarian rhetoric” from Russia and Hungary. As the Brookings Institution notes, “targeting higher education is an essential tool in the autocratic playbook.” Beyond polls, data tell a different story. College enrollment is stabilizing or rising despite demographic decline and the unaffordability crisis. Most high school students want to attend college. Globally, students trust our universities to provide unparalleled educational and research opportunities. International student enrollment continued to rise until the Trump administration’s anti-immigration measures caused a decline. In the U.S. and around the world, millions of students and their families work hard to earn a spot in our classrooms and to save money to pay for it.

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Timothy R Cain @timcain.bsky.social · 04/09/2026

I have a chapter coming out in an edited book at a good press. I got an email from the editors in early February that the full .ms had been submitted to the press for review. Next I heard about it was when I got page proofs late last week. Then a contract this. Seems like some steps were missed.

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Timothy R Cain @timcain.bsky.social · 03/09/2026

Maybe we should just stop trusting B-school profs who study honesty

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Timothy R Cain @timcain.bsky.social · 02/09/2026

Glad there is a rebuttal. Does this change what we have been discussing? I know we are both busy.

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Timothy R Cain @timcain.bsky.social · 01/09/2026

I think that is usually the right choice to be more formal. On the first day of class, I tell students that I don't care if they call me Tim or Dr. Cain as long as they respect other faculty who expect more formality because of the systems that privilege and disprivilege based on gender, race, etc.

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Timothy R Cain @timcain.bsky.social · 31/08/2026

I was wondering if you were watching and actually checked in here to see. Djokovic looked like he was struggling as they closed the roof in the first, but I was still not expecting it to play like it did.

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Timothy R Cain @timcain.bsky.social · 30/08/2026

I think that we are the sports fan equivalents of Samuel L Jackson and Bruce Willis in Unbreakable.

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Timothy R Cain @timcain.bsky.social · 30/08/2026

Those could be two of my least favorite teams

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Timothy R Cain @timcain.bsky.social · 30/08/2026

I was a bigger fan of the Larry Finch version of Memphis basketball than the Hardaway version.

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Timothy R Cain @timcain.bsky.social · 30/08/2026

They have played in the Rose, Orange, and Cotton Bowls.* *but not since 1961

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Timothy R Cain @timcain.bsky.social · 30/08/2026

I mean, Duke is the defending champion of the ACC. Kind of a big football school.

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Timothy R Cain @timcain.bsky.social · 30/08/2026

Duke legend Daniel Jones? That should be worth a fortune.

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Timothy R Cain @timcain.bsky.social · 30/08/2026

There is a slim chance that I am in an episode of that show. They filmed a scene during halftime of a game that I attended. Also, write me if you want to do the postdoc thing.

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Timothy R Cain @timcain.bsky.social · 30/08/2026

Very excited for this. Congrats.

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Timothy R Cain @timcain.bsky.social · 29/08/2026

I might ask you for tips. You do this type of writing so much better than I do.

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Timothy R Cain @timcain.bsky.social · 29/08/2026

We can find a middle ground. I also thought of "Union protections could have protected Michelangelo's mentees from his volatile behaviors." Also, there is a reason they don't have reporters write headlines.

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Timothy R Cain @timcain.bsky.social · 29/08/2026

This title is far too long, but my initial thought was... We Are All Burger Flippers: Why Uniquely Positioned Faculty Should Not Assume that all Postdoctoral Workers are in Boutique Appointments

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Timothy R Cain @timcain.bsky.social · 28/08/2026

Then they are ok because there is no cost to the United States

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Timothy R Cain @timcain.bsky.social · 28/08/2026

I am assuming futures markets have odds on River America and Pond of America.

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Robert Kelchen @robertkelchen.com · 28/08/2026

The Trump administration is limiting international students' ability to take on internships while in college, an effort that is likely to widen the trade deficit by discouraging prospective students.

wsj.com

Trump Limits Internships for International College Students

Hands-on opportunities are key to gaining a toehold in the job market and are a reason many young people come to the U.S.

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Timothy R Cain @timcain.bsky.social · 27/08/2026

As someone who studies unions in higher education, I fundamentally disagree with almost all of this (maybe all I stopped reading by the end).

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Timothy R Cain @timcain.bsky.social · 28/08/2026

I am actually annoyed enough that I might write a response even though I don't have time to do it.

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Timothy R Cain @timcain.bsky.social · 27/08/2026

As someone who studies unions in higher education, I fundamentally disagree with almost all of this (maybe all I stopped reading by the end).

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Timothy R Cain @timcain.bsky.social · 24/08/2026

I miss the Open. We went every year when I was in jr and sr high school. Always (for whatever reason) for the night session on the day after Labor Day. Tickets were not free but they were cheap and we got to see amazing tennis. I would get home after 2am and sleepwalk through the first day of class.

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Timothy R Cain @timcain.bsky.social · 24/08/2026

Yikes. Glad you are feeling better. I have had it 6 times (though not in a bit). I style it coVId

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Harvard Education Press @harvard-ed-press.bsky.social · 16/07/2026

THE POSTLIBERAL UNIVERSITY by Barrett J. Taylor and Brendan Cantwell serves as an urgent exploration of the political and social conditions that shape contemporary higher education governance. Pre-order this book here: bit.ly/4bdwG3s

Image displaying the cover of "The Postliberal University"

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Timothy R Cain @timcain.bsky.social · 19/08/2026

After leaving VCU, he became a crucial advocate for and counselor of gay men during the HIV crisis, until he succumbed to the disease himself. I think of Stephen Lenton in awe of how he was able to live his life openly in the face of extreme challenges and how he helped so many others.

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Timothy R Cain @timcain.bsky.social · 19/08/2026

Lenton was pushed out of VCU in the late 1970s because he was an openly gay advocate for gay students and people—he was demoted, told he would never again be promoted, and was moved to an office in a building that was under construction due to his advocacy.

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Timothy R Cain @timcain.bsky.social · 19/08/2026

With Lenton playing a crucial role, GAS won at the federal appellate level, changing opportunities and securing rights for LGBTQ students in multiple states.

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Timothy R Cain @timcain.bsky.social · 19/08/2026

He then lived an out career as a gay student affairs officer at VCU in the 1970s. He was the advisor to the Gay Alliance of Students (GAS), which sued VCU for recognition as a student group--all 144 proposed student organizations before it had been approved, but GAS was denied recognition.

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Timothy R Cain @timcain.bsky.social · 19/08/2026

It is late, but today (August 18) is Stephen Lenton’s birthday. You probably don’t know that name but should. He grew up in a challenging environment, got to Berkeley, dropped out to join the Peace Corps, and became the youngest regional director in the history of the Peace Corps. (1/?)

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