Throughout the academic year, Melinda Giampietro, Options Founder/President, will share some of her favourite things in her monthly Founder’s Feature. Melinda loves reading, data, research, and following academic and adolescent news around the world.
Book Pick of the Month
At the end of each year, I find it interesting to follow the “Best of” book lists. R.F. Kuang’s Yellowface↗ made every list. I picked it up to read between Christmas and New Year’s Eve. This is one of those books that made me wish I had a book club. It’s messy and complicated, and I intensely disliked the main character. While it is meant to be a satire and a commentary on the publishing world, the book is a brutal suspense novel about human behaviour at its worst. Have you read it? Let’s talk about it!
Article of the Month
I like top-10-percenters: the people who commit to mastering their craft, do the work, and make the most of their potential. For these reasons, I am a diehard Swiftie. I’ve been to every concert (yes, I’ve been to the Eras tour), know every word to every song, and cheer her on. When people ask why, it’s so hard to explain. But this media piece↗ demonstrates what she means to not just me, but to others as well. It also features another of my top-10-percent idols, Mikaela Shiffrin.
Hmmmm… now I’m thinking we need a ‘top-10-percenter’ feature monthly.
Cookbook Series of the Month
My all-time favourite pumpkin bread is this one↗ from Deb Perelman’s “smitten kitchen↗” blog. I made it at least six times in December and gave many loaves away as holiday gifts. When I’m not sprinting to get dinner on the table during the work week, I love cookbooks and trying new recipes. So, I took all three smitten kitchen cookbooks out of the library this December. This included Perelman’s newest book smitten kitchen keepers↗. I highly recommend it. Some highlights include: peanut butter, oat, and jam bars; farro salad with roasted tomatoes; baked orzo and artichokes; steak and corn tacos; and big crumb pie bars.
Podcast Episode of the Month
Throughout the years, I have featured a few episodes from Adam Grant’s Re:thinking podcast in Founder’s Feature. Recently, I really enjoyed this re-released episode: “Bringing out the good in kids —and parents— with Becky Kennedy.” I have followed Becky Kennedy’s Instagram account (@drbeckyatgoodinside↗) for a while, and I find her advice well-researched, practical, and far reaching. This episode has simple reminders for dealing with young people and how basic respect applies to all relationships.
Listen on Spotify:
Cookie Recipes of the Month
Every year, I change up our holiday cookie platters. For 2023, I included nine different types of cookies.
This year, there were two new additions and clear recipe winners!
Sarah Kieffer’s Coffee Blondies↗:
I knew these were the real deal when my chef friend said they were her favourite. Pro tip: I highly recommend using Café Bustelo espresso powder.
Sally’s Baking Recipes’ Iced Gingerbread Oatmeal Cookies↗:
One of the reviewers on the blog said these taste like Christmas, and boy, do they ever. They are spicy, but balanced by the sweet icing, and surprisingly chewy.
Academic Study of the Month
I enjoy following career data and predictions. One of my favourite areas to learn about is data science. It is an ever-evolving field, applicable to almost every industry, and it is interesting to see how it translates to an academic discipline of study. I also enjoy following Jeff Selingo. So, I was very excited to see these two topics collide in his new white paper, “Building Data Talent for the Decade Ahead↗.”
Here are three valuable takeaways:
- “Not only were there 50,000-plus job postings for data scientists in the U.S. alone last year, but there were also an additional 1.2 million jobs across 81 occupations requiring skills in data analytics.”
- “Sure, it’s great that the University of California at Berkeley created the College of Computing, Data Science, and Society↗—it’s the first new college at the university in more 50 years. But what is really needed is the democratization of data analytics education across the curriculum if we hope to instill such skills in those majoring in English or biology or history. Students are already voting with their feet. The reason Berkeley created its new college is because of demand: 13% of its undergraduates took an intro to data science course last year.”
- “In a seminal report released in 2018, the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine↗ said a key goal of a college education should be ‘to give all students the ability to make good judgments, use tools responsibly and effectively, and ultimately make good decisions using data.”
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To read more Founder’s Features, check them out under the Options News category.
