press reports and flyin' shoes

I've been getting some (mostly) positive press attention lately, so I'm sort of waiting for the other Red Wing 3508 Steel Toe Work Boot to drop. At the risk of navel-gazing, here's a quick rundown:

College Report. There's been thoughtful coverage of our CLA 2015 report to reshape the College of Liberal Arts, with strong features in the Minneapolis Star-Tribune, St. Paul Pioneer Press, Minnesota Daily, Minnesota Public Radio, and notes in the Chronicle and Inside Higher Ed. Jenna Ross' terrific Strib article generated especially provocative reader comments.
Other shoe. We're glad the report isn't gathering dust and it is nice to hear good things about our writing and analysis. That said, implementation decisions will ultimately determine whether we've been a beacon, a burden, or a complete nonentity -- and that's a job that's largely out of our hands.

Personal Profile. Adam Overland turned our fun and wide-ranging conversation into a really smart and friendly profile, touching on felon voting research, Contexts, administrative work, and even this blog.
Other shoe. My only regret is that I borrowed a friend's fine phrase without attribution. Jeremy Freese was first to describe his blogging source material as "cognitive runoff," so I can't take credit for that apt and creative descriptor. Sorry, Jeremy.

Felon Voting. My disenfranchisement research with Jeff Manza and friends is in the news again.
Other shoe. Michael Thielen, director of the Republican National Lawyers Association, referred to me as "Liberal, pro-felon vote advocate University of Minnesota criminologist Christopher Uggen." Hmmm. Adam Overland's profile tells the story of how we came to make policy recommendations on this issue. We initially planned to close the book with a just-the-facts public opinion poll, but were convinced by the weight of the evidence to advocate extending voting rights (writing op-eds in the LA Times and Newsday, academic policy pieces and legislative testimony). So, I take issue with attaching that "liberal" modifier. Unless, of course, Mr. Thielen uses the word in the sense of our CLA 2015 report: Justice and equality; belief and truth; the beauty or expressive power of the written word, a work of art, or a musical passage—these are how we find a life worth living and search for its meaning. These are the liberal arts in the 21st century. I guess I'd cop to liberal in that sense of the word.

Watch out for those flyin' shoes...