The Irascible Professor writes today about whether or not research is done, or should be done, at state universities that are paid for by the state mainly to teach. IP says yes, because

...most of the really great teachers in the system are faculty members who have had a long and abiding interest in scholarship. The reason, which should be obvious, is that knowledge is not static. Those faculty members who have active research programs are far more likely to keep up both with new discoveries and with new interpretations of old knowledge. Even if their own research impacts only tangentially on the courses that they teach, they are far more likely to attend professional meetings and engage in spirited discussions with colleagues than those who have no program of scholarship. All of this feeds back into the insight with which the faculty member teaches even introductory courses.

Which allows me to tell you that I will be engaging in research at another fine institution Monday and Tuesday, so posting will be light-to-nonexistent for a few days. Meanwhile I encourage you to read the rest of the Irascible Professor's outstanding post and the link below to AEQ. Have a great weekend.