CAA News Today

Each week CAA News publishes summaries of eight articles, published around the web, that CAA members may find interesting and useful in their professional and creative lives.

No Laughing Matter: President’s Quip about Art History Pricks Some Ears

Art history caught some unwelcome attention from President Obama in a recent speech emphasizing the need for job training. To reinforce his point that manufacturing jobs pay off, Obama said that young people who train for them could outearn art-history majors. The remark drew laughter from the president’s audience in Wisconsin, but some in higher education felt slighted. (Read more from the Chronicle of Higher Education.)

Experts Say Academics Are Timid about Fair-Use Laws

Professionals in the visual arts—including art historians—let real and perceived fears about copyright law get in the way of their work, finds a new report from CAA. And while the fundamentally visual nature of their discipline raises particular concerns among scholars of art, artists, editors, and museum curators, experts say their fears are shared across academe—although some disciplines have worked to develop codes to help scholars navigate the murky waters of fair use. (Read more from Inside Higher Ed.)

Teaching for the First Time? Read “Purposeful Pedagogy”

Most doctoral students enter the classroom without any formal teaching experience or pedagogical training. Instead, they are often provided, at best, a quick orientation that offers tricks before entering the undergrad classroom as teachers. As a result, graduate students begin teaching without any support or training to help them be successful. (Read more from Art History Teaching Resources.)

A Modigliani? Who Says So?

Three daunting facts confront anyone interested in buying one of Amedeo Modigliani’s distinctive elongated portraits. They tend to have multimillion price tags; they are a favorite of forgers; and despite an abundance of experts, no inventory of his works is considered both trustworthy and complete. (Read more from New York Times.)

DIA’s $100 Million Pledge to Rescue Fund Helps Clear Path to Bankruptcy Resolution

In a whirlwind day that marks a turning point in Detroit’s historic bankruptcy, the Detroit Institute of Arts pledged $100 million to a growing rescue fund to protect pensions and art, and emergency manager Kevyn Orr released to major creditors an early version of the massive restructuring proposal for the city’s estimated $18.5 billion in debt and liabilities. (Read more from the Detroit Free Press.)

Now Starts the Hard Work for DIA: Raise $100 Million to Meet Its Pledge

The Detroit Institute of Arts has pledged $100 million to the growing rescue fund to shore up municipal pensions, shield its treasures from sale, and spin the city-owned museum into an independent nonprofit. But now DIA leaders have to go out and make good on their word and raise the money. (Read more from the Detroit Free Press.)

Adjuncts Gain Traction with Congressional Attention

Maria C. Maisto went to Capitol Hill last fall to correct what she saw as a misperception about colleges’ response to the nation’s new healthcare law. By the time she left, she had accomplished something bigger. She had gotten lawmakers talking about higher education’s reliance on adjuncts and how their working conditions make it difficult for them to do their best work. (Read more from the Chronicle of Higher Education.)

New Report Urges More Emphasis in Adjunct Faculty Conditions during Accreditation

Accreditors “can and should be doing more” on site visits and in their standards to address concerns about adjunct faculty employment and its effect on student learning, says a report from the Council for Higher Education Accreditation. “Campuses often do not evaluate the type of support they have in place to help faculty perform to their highest capabilities,” the report says. “The negative student learning outcomes [associated with overreliance on adjunct faculty] that have been documented have occurred in part because institutions have not updated or changed.” (Read more from Inside Higher Ed.)