I am pleased to report that this blog was recently rated as one of the top-5 college administrative blogs by DIY Learning. This news was reported in a new featured post on DIY Learning’s website entitled, “Top 50 College Admission & Administration Blogs.”
DIY Learning maintains a web site dedicated to informing the public about what’s happening in higher education. The site contains many rankings of universities — both conducted by DIY, as well as other sources.
Of course, I would like to thank my family, my third grade teacher, Mrs. Magnuson…. In all seriousness, I give special thanks to Brian Clark, a member of our crack communications staff, who got me started on this whole blog thing. Also, Kathy Barnard, who with Brian, constantly reminds me of “blogable” topics and material and prods me to add entries.
I am impressed with the power of this medium to connect with the friends of our college. While blogs are not “push technologies,” they can reach large numbers of people in a short time frame. For example, within a few hours of posting my recent piece concerning the proposal to eliminate ag research funds at WSU, over 300 people had read about the economic impacts of this action. While it does take time to maintain the blog, it also serves as some sort of perverse administrative therapy. Sometimes it’s just good to sit in front of the computer and write down what you are thinking without a lot concern about perfect grammar, administrative protocol, etc.
Interestingly, the blog of my old friend, Virginia Moxley, the dean at the College of Human Ecology at Kansas State University, was listed third among the administrative sites. Virginia, and her cattle rancher husband, Tom, used to sit in front of my wife Pam and me at K-State football games. Pam was responsible for bringing Tom a stash of peanuts for each game. Another blog, ranked number eight, is President Mark Emmert’s at the University of Washington. Always good to be listed ahead of the Huskies, particularly when they just finished off a sweep of the Cougs in both basketball and football this weekend.
Thanks to all readers of this blog. If you have suggestions on how to make it better, please forward them along. We will continue to reach out to those interested in a more in-depth look at the College and WSU-Extension.