Month: May 2007
Intellectual Insecurity at Iowa State?
Following his May 16 piece, Lawrence Selden has more incisive commentary on the Guillermo Gonzalez denial of tenure scandal at Iowa State University: Is the faculty at Iowa State University intellectually insecure? The statement of two years ago signed by 120 members of the faculty perhaps suggests that, especially when compared with the actions of other schools and faculties. I wonder if they are afraid that others will think they are backward country bumpkins for allowing someone who is interested in exploring intelligent design on the faculty. Harvard University is not ashamed of Owen Gingerich, who had this to say about Gonzalez’ book The Privileged Planet:
Key Developments in Gonzalez Tenure Denial Case, May 14-19
The big story this week was the denial of tenure to widely-published pro-ID astronomer Guillermo Gonzalez at Iowa State University, despite the fact that he exceeded by 350% his department’s standard for research excellence in peer-reviewed publications.
Darwinists Spread Misinformation about Guillermo Gonzalez’s Denial of Tenure
All too predictably, during the past week various Darwinists have been trying to divert attention away from the Guillermo Gonzalez tenure case through a campaign of misinformation about both Dr. Gonzalez and intelligent design. Whether they do so knowingly–as a calculated attempt to defame Gonzalez and smear his professional record–or through ignorance isn’t always clear. Either way, the truth about Dr. Gonzalez’s work and achievements is readily available. (A great place to start is the Biosketch of Dr. Guillermo Gonzalez, Astronomer and Asst. Professor at Iowa State University.) Let’s take a look at some of the false facts being tossed around. False Fact #1: Dr. Gonzalez’s Work is about Intelligent Design in Biology. One commenter on Ed Brayton’s blog said, Read More ›
A Tale of Two Universities
With the Guillermo Gonzalez controversy as the background, blogger Lawrence Selden at Darwinian Fundamentalism has written an insightful comparison of Iowa State University and Arizona State University. He concludes: While Iowa State is trying to shut down creative thinking, Arizona State is reveling in it. Where would you rather go to school? An excellent question.
ISU Department: “Evaluation of research ability is based primarily upon published papers in refereed journals”
There has been much unfounded speculation this week about the specific standards governing astronomer Guillermo Gonzalez’s application for tenure at Iowa State University. Some have claimed, for example, that outside research grants must be a primary criterion for tenure at ISU. Unfortunately, the specific tenure and promotion standards adopted by the Department of Physics and Astronomy at ISU have not been available online. So we have decided to make them available for download here so that people can read the standards for themselves. These standards make clear that the key criterion for research excellence in Dr. Gonzalez’s department is the number of refereed papers, not the level of outside funding: Evaluation of research ability is based primarily upon published papers Read More ›