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Over the last week, millions of Nittany Lions worldwide have faced the profound disillusionment that so many Americans have experienced over the last two generations. Most historians trace this creeping sense of despair back to the Watergate scandal and the fall of President Nixon in 1973 and 1974. However, the distrust of large institutions and…

Spectacular achievements fill human history.  My students often debate the greatest acts of genius across time.  Are the simple creations like bricks, glass, and filaments more impressive for their extensive utility?  Or, are the monumental applications of accumulated knowledge like the Great Wall of China, the Statue of Liberty, and the University at St. Coree…

Last month the annual U.S. News & World Report college rankings were published. The U.S. News “Best Colleges” is the best-known, or at least the best-promoted, guide to American colleges, but there are more than 30 college guides, including the Princeton Review series, Peterson’s, and the Fiske Guide to Colleges. During this college application season I want to offer some reflections, both as a…

The passing of the Baby Boom has begun. From youngsters like the storytelling and technological geniuses Dwayne McDuffie and Steve Jobs to the elder celebrities like Al Davis and Sylvia Robinson, the children of America’s “Greatest Generation” now face life’s greatest mystery in increasing numbers. The next twenty years will fill with internet and cable…

Editorial/Opinion “Five Streams of Income” Walter Greason Norristown Times-Herald 22 September 2011   So much of my colleagues’ work on urban development emphasizes the prevalence of poverty, unemployment, and crime in American cities after 1960.  These histories emphasize the lost opportunities of the Civil Rights and Black Power Movements. Despite the election of unparalleled numbers of African…

William Edward Harris died on September 7, 2011, in Freehold, New Jersey.  He was 85 years old.  Harris is survived by the hundreds of cousins – blood-related and not – he loved in his life.  At age 5, he was dismissed from the Englishtown elementary school because the other children laughed at his learning differences.…

THE LONG VIEW 25 August 2011 Walter Greason Norristown Times-Herald “The Gamble”   Clarence Thomas was right.   As a nominee to the Supreme Court in 1991, he scolded his critics for conducting a “high-tech lynching.” At the time, it was a poor choice of words no matter how angry he was. The national institutions…

After sixty years, we have arrived at the next crucial turning point in the development of human democracy.  In 1948, President Harry Truman linked the legacy of his Fair Deal domestic agenda to the fundamental confrontation with Soviet communism around the world at the start of the Cold War.  It was the beginning of the…

Civil Rights Dr. Maghan Keita Villanova University 27 June 2011   :: 50 years after the fact?  Civil Rights is not an event.  What is the broader framework when we talk about the event?  It is a process – not limited to the United States – missing the regional and global perspective, reaching back (at…

Game 7 of the 2011 Finals – Dirk Nowitzki receives a pass on the wing, guarded by LeBron James in the last minute of a tightly fought series.  Two games have gone to overtime.  None of the victories have been by more than three points.  James’ ascension as the pre-eminent international star hinges on the…