Thoughts on Being a Professor: Part 2

 

I am between semesters.  During this so called ‘free’ time, I have to prepare the classes I will be teaching in the upcoming Spring Term which begins on January 12.  Normally, I would just update what I have been using for several years.  I would adjust the dates to reflect the start and due dates for the course and all assignments.  If necessary, I would tweak the assignments that themselves to keep them fresh with current readings and examples.

For many years, I have gotten into a groove of assigning two papers and weekly discussions in my two semester long courses:  Operations & Supply Chain Management and Principles of Microeconomics.  For further homework and assessments, I use the following in these two courses.

 

• Operations:  The course is structured around the Council for Supply Chain Management Professional’s (CSCMP) SCPro Certification program.  The final exam in this course is the first of eight certification exams in the series:  Supply Chain Management Principles. 
• In this first overview course, we cover demand planning, procurement, inventory management, warehousing, transportation, manufacturing/service operations, customer service, and customer service.
• To supplement the management principles, there are 5 worksheets that involve the formulae and calculations involved in forecasting, make vs buy decisions, metrics, Little’s Law, and project management.
  
  
• Microeconomics:  This course is structured around the OpenStax open source Principles of Microeconomics textbook.  Hawkes Learning has built an excellent programmed learning structure on this text.  My course used their Chapter Learning (reading and learning for each section of the chapters we cover) and Chapter Quizzes. 
• There are unlimited tries for the Learning category
• But only two attempts for the Chapter Quizzes.

 

These formats were added during the COVID shutdown for Microeconomics in the Spring of 2020 and around the same time frame for Operations.

I am contemplating make some drastic changes.  There are a few reasons for this:

• AI:  Students are using it pretty freely (maybe wantonly?) in writing paper and in their weekly discussion posts.  The can easily use it to solve numerical problems on graded worksheets and online quizzes and tests.  While I don’t have direct evidence on this, there is a convergence to a certain sameness in terms and flow used in papers that was not there before AI. 
  
  
• Obsession with Points/Grades:  Students are focusing primarily on their point totals and not on the primary objective (which is learning something).  In my years in Quality Management and Process Design and Improvement, I have learned that obsession on one single metric that is not 100% correlated to the real objective will deliver a suboptimal results. AI enables students maximize the metric with minimal learning.  As a result, students can ace a course and without actually learning very much.
  
  I believe that we, a large number of professors, have gotten into the habits of having way too many assignments with differing amounts of points.  These assignments, their frequency, and their due dates that tend to follow a weekly drumbeat, force a structure on the students to keep them ‘on track’ and active in the course.  I liken this to spoon feeding pablum to babies.  Because of this, students have not really had full opportunity to develop and master their own method for time and task management.  Also, very few do anything, that isn’t assigned.  If there are no points, there is little likelihood the vast majority of students would read anything for the sole sake of learning a bit more about a topic.
  
  
• Attention in Class:  Students generally don’t take notes during class.  Some don’t even bring anything to class to write on or write with.  This past term I gave a few non-graded quizzes on terms and concepts from the previous few classes.  The results were not encouraging. 

I remember my math classes from my undergraduate days some 50+ years ago.  There was a mid-term exam worth 40% of the grade and a final exam worth 60%.  Each day, the professor would lecture and assign a handful of homework problems to be done for the next class.  The professor never collected or graded the homework; he would simply ask in the next class if anyone had any questions about the homework.  If students asked questions, he would do the problems they had questions about.  If there were no questions, he would proceed with the lecture for that day assuming the students were good.  Doing the problems or not doing the homework was all on the students.  It was not the professors’ job to police such.   As first semester freshmen, only about half the students would do the homework.  The midterm exam was a day of reckoning for those that didn’t when they inevitably got a D or E on the exam.  The students learned that the motivation to do the work and learn the material was on them (intrinsic motivation) versus what they were used to in high school where the motivation was mostly coming from parents and teachers (extrinsic motivation).  Also, in those ‘analog’ days, the exams were all done in blue books.

My goal is to get to move toward the midterm/final exam model starting with this next term.  Here is what I am thinking about doing:

 

• Reintroducing in-class exams:  Midterm and final exams will be given in class.  They will be done in bluebooks with nothing else on the desk except a pencil, an eraser, and a calculator with no internet connection.  At least half of the points in the class will be from these exams.  In Operations, half of the final will be the CSCMP certification exam.
  
  
• Discussions:  We will keep assigning readings/video based discussions as usual but they will not be graded.  Doing them or not doing them will be up to the student.  There will be questions on the readings/video on the midterm and final exams. 
  
  
• Papers:  I will still assign two papers.  The major change here is that the students must use AI and include all the prompts and AI answers in appendices of the paper.  The main paper need only be 700-1200 words with 2000-4000 words of AI content attached.  Grading will mainly be participation.  The midterm final exams will have short answer questions on the paper topics to verify they learning something from these assignments.
  
  
• Online Materials:  The Operations Class will continue to use the CSCMP Materials but for less points than now given.  The same for the Hawkes Learning part of Microeconomics.

I have spent a considerable amount of time thinking about this and have been feeling a wee bit proud of myself for this scheme to use AI productively and to assess students with midterms and finals devoid of AI.  But I know I am not that uniquely clever.  So, I queried Gemini AI with the following:  “Have the sales of bluebooks increased?”  Per the output below, I am very accurate in my assessment that ‘I am not that uniquely clever.’

 

=== Gemini AI output ===

Yes, sales of physical blue books—the staple-bound booklets used for college examinations—have seen a significant and unexpected increase as of 2025–2026. This resurgence is primarily driven by academic institutions returning to in-class, handwritten exams to combat AI-assisted cheating. 

 

Recent Sales Trends (2024–2025)

Data from various universities and industry trackers show a sharp rise in demand: 

• Widespread Growth: Nationwide, blue book sales nearly tripled between 2022 and October 2025, exceeding $300,000 in the first 10 months of 2025 alone.
• University-Specific Surges:
• UC Berkeley: Reported an 80% increase in sales over the two academic years leading into late 2025.
• University of Florida: Sales rose by nearly 50% in the 2024–2025 school year.
• Texas A&M University: Experienced a 30% increase in campus bookstore sales.
  
  
• Manufacturing Impact: Roaring Spring Paper Products, a major Pennsylvania-based supplier, reported a notable upswing in production to meet this new demand. 

Primary Drivers

• Combating AI Cheating: With the rise of advanced generative AI (like ChatGPT), professors are increasingly replacing take-home essays and digital tests with in-person, proctored exams that require students to demonstrate knowledge in real-time.
  
  
• Low-Tech Security: Handwritten exams provide a straightforward way to ensure students are producing original work without digital assistance. 

Christmas 2025

 

As usual, I am the only one in the house ‘stirring’ at the early hour this Christmas morning.  I want to open the window and yell down to and call out to a passing young fellow as did a reborn Scrooge in Dickens' iconic tale. 

I could easily do that, but, alas, there would be no passing “boy in Sunday clothes.’  There is no Poulterer “in the next street but one, at the corner” with “a prize Turkey that was hanging up there --Not the little prize Turkey: the big one.”  It is after all the suburbs of Chicago and not the bustling streets of London in the 1800s.  I could stare out the window this morning for a few hours before seeing anyone pass by.  Even then, it is unlikely that it would be a lad dressed in his Sunday best.  It would probably be an adult in sweats, walking their dog.

I could still reenact the scene by myself.  I could go upstairs, as it needs to be a second floor window.  I could throw up the sash and yell out to the still and calm of this morning the Scrooge lines and someone would eventually answer… most likely my wife, rudely wakened by my thespian need to reenact this iconic scene.  She would, no doubt, recognize the lines and from whence they came and she would, with even less doubt, inquire with a well-founded air of stern astonishment, “What the heck are you doing.” 

As fun as that might be, just conjuring up the thought and beginning this annual Christmas letter with that notion is more than enough.

Why has this notion popped into my head?  Why ‘A Christmas Carol’ and why that scene?

Well… I do feel a bit reborn in the Christmas Spirit.  It has been a heck of a year and mostly a good year.  I have had both knees replaced, the left in January and the right in June, giving me more and better mobility.  While that has happened, I also realize, the rest of my body is 72+ years old.  I have seen a few good friends, musician friends, pass on this year.  I realize that this will only happen with greater frequency.   While there is the realization that this is most certainly part of life and this stage of life, it does have a certain sobering impact.  But is it is sobering in a good way that has me appreciating everything and everyone on a higher level. 

Another reason that scene was top of mind this morning was that I know four intelligent, remarkable, and delightful boys.  They are my four grandsons:  Aris, Vaughn, Sasoun, and Haig.  They are indeed intelligent, remarkable, and delightful lads though I am the first to admit my perspective is certainly biased in this regard.  I am also blessed with an intelligent, remarkable, and delightful lass in my life:  my granddaughter Lara.  None of them are with us physically today but are perpetually in our hearts and in my thoughts.  Through the magic of FaceTime, we will see them later this morning. 

We did have an intelligent, remarkable, and delightful lad with us on Christmas Eve.  Our two month old grandnephew, Massis, was with us last night.  Needless to say, he stole the show and was the center of attention as he was the grand kiddo of any kind at our Christmas Eve gathering.

It is no wonder that this scene from Dicken’s classic was on my mind this morning. 

Wishing on and all a very Merry Christmas and healthy, happy, and prosperous 2026.  If I could, I would have several remarkable, intelligent, delightful lads bring each of you a prize turkey and cup of good cheer.

 

From 'A Christmas Carol'

Running to the window, he opened it, and put out his head. No fog, no mist; clear, bright, jovial, stirring, cold; cold, piping for the blood to dance to; Golden sun-light; Heavenly sky; sweet fresh air; merry bells. Oh, glorious! Glorious!

"What's to-day?" cried Scrooge, calling downward to a boy in Sunday clothes, who perhaps had loitered in to look about him.

"EH?" returned the boy with all his might of wonder.

"What's to-day, my fine fellow?" said Scrooge.

"To-day!" replied the boy. "Why, CHRISTMAS DAY.”

"It's Christmas Day!" said Scrooge to himself. "I haven't missed it. The Spirits have done it all in one night. They can do anything they like. Of course they can. Of course they can. Hallo, my fine fellow!"

"Hallo!" returned the boy.

"Do you know the Poulterer's in the next street but one, at the corner?" Scrooge inquired.

"I should hope I did," replied the lad.

"An intelligent boy!" said Scrooge. "A remarkable boy! Do you know whether they've sold the prize Turkey that was hanging up there?--Not the little prize Turkey: the big one?"

"What! the one as big as me?" returned the boy.

"What a delightful boy!" said Scrooge. "It's a pleasure to talk to him. Yes, my buck!"

"It's hanging there now," replied the boy.

"Is it?" said Scrooge. "Go and buy it."

"Walk-ER!" exclaimed the boy.

"No, no," said Scrooge, "I am in earnest. Go and buy it, and tell 'em to bring it here, that I may give them the directions where to take it. Come back with the man, and I'll give you a shilling. Come back with him in less than five minutes, and I'll give you half-a-crown!"

Parting with a Noble Workhorse

 

Wiping the hard drive of my trusty iMac

In my December 4, 2025 post, Part 2: Is Quality an Issue Again? , I wrote about my appreciation for quality of my iMac desktop computer.  I bought this when I joined the full time faculty at North Park University in 2014.  I wanted a large screen desktop computer for course, development, grading, and general use.  The version I wanted cost me $1,500 or 1,600 and I remember contemplating the purchase for several weeks because of the high price.  Ultimately, I decided to splurge and bought the PC in November of that year. 

It was one of the best decisions I ever made.  I admired the sleek design of the machine and the Bluetooth keyboard and trackpad.  I really loved the large 27 inch screen in which I could have a student assignment and the answer key open and visible at the same time for grading.  The large screen was also helpful in course development when I would have an MS Word or PowerPoint that I was creating open at the same time as a reference document.  I loved it for watching YouTubes for either education, music, or entertainment.  I also used to the iMac for creating posts for this blog, articles for the Armenian Weekly, and for sorting through and editing the myriad photographs and videos I take for both the articles and general family use.  During COVID, all my courses and the two task forces I was part of moved online.  I was on the iMac most of the day working from home.  It was the perfect home set-up during those pandemic times.

The iMac was a workhorse and, even more importantly, a durable and reliable workhorse.  In the 11 years of usage, I had one issue with a virus for which an online session with Apple’s help desk got it all cleaned up.  There were myriad upgrades of the operating system, the various apps I use, and the MS Office suite of applications that all happened seamlessly. 

In 2018 in a blog piece, Old Car - New Car, I wrote the following praising my 2002 Toyota 4Runner:

I remember hearing a Toyota executive address us in the study mission to Japan that, and I paraphrase, their goal was to have their customers happier with their vehicles with each year of ownership. I was really surprised to hear this as cars and truck wear out. They start losing value from the moment you buy them. Repairs simply become more expensive as components wear out. To achieve their vision, they would have to have excellent engineering and precision manufacturing…

My iMac had this same quality attribute.  My happiness and satisfaction with this product increased with each year of ownership.  In the same period, I have had four university issued laptops which all died in 2-4 years.  My cost per year for the iMac was less than if I had paid $500-600 for each of those laptops.  Computers aren’t cars, but they do age and in their own way ‘wear-out.’  Electronics in phones and computers are made of perishable components.  The are not in the same category of fruits and vegetables which are truly perishable as they can rot and need to be trashed in a matter of days.  Electronic components are different.  They are  perishable in the sense that innovation of newer and more capable components render older components useless even though they are still perfectly functional.  This is what happened to my iMac.  It works perfectly.  But because of the age of the CPU, I can no longer update the operating system, and many apps includes the MS Office Suite of Word, Excel, and PowerPoint on which ~80% of my work is built upon.  Within a matter of a few months, the performance of my iMac began to wane requiring more frequent reboots and I simply had to make a change.

This morning, December 21, 2025, I wiped the hard drive of the best computer I have ever owned, shut it down on last time, drove it to the town refuge center, and gingerly deposited it in electronics bin.  There were no tears or swells of emotions, but it was a somber moment.

Nubar Café

      

There is a trend, maybe even a phenomenon, in and around Chicago.  Middle Eastern coffee houses are popping up all over.  The are not, as yet, as ubiquitous as that small taco joints that in neighborhood stores that seem to come and go with the seasons.  This coffee house craze reminds me of similar phenomena and fads from decades ago such as movie rental stores and cell phones stores.

What kind of coffee houses?  No, not Starbucks or anything similar.

These are Middle Eastern coffee and sweet shops.  Most of them are Yemeni in name or coffee brews.  Some are Turkish or Kurdish.  One I know of was started by a Kurdish immigrant who recently sold it a Mexican immigrant.  I am guessing these are fashioned after shops in the Middle East where drinking alcohol is discouraged and gathering in coffee houses is a valued pastime.  These shops are all well, appointed, well lit, with a color scheme that is basically white with gold or word trim and accents. 

My favorite of all these places is Nubar Café.  It is near North Park University.  I can walk here from my office.  Until a few months ago, it was a Brazilian café which was OK but nothing special.  I was driving by in late October, and I saw the sign for Nubar Café and got excited as Nubar is an Armenian male name.  I couldn’t stop in that day, but with the aid of Siri, I called them as I was anxious to see if they were Armenian owned.  I ended up speaking to the owner, Zarya, who told me that she is Kurdish from Northern Iraq and her husband, Kadir, was also Kurdish from Van, Turkey.   Zarya told me that “nubar” means fresh start or new beginning in Kurdish.  It is indeed an inviting pleasant place for a solo or more social coffee.

This coffee house phenomenon is summarized as follows per Google’s Gemini AI:

The rise of Yemeni coffee shops in the U.S. is a booming trend, driven by demand for "third places" (social spots outside home/work) for Muslim communities seeking alcohol-free socializing, and a wider audience for unique, spiced coffee & rich desserts like Adeni Chai, offering late-night vibes with cardamom-infused drinks, attracting diverse crowds to vibrant spaces that honor Yemeni heritage and family farms. Led by pioneers like Qahwah House (which started in Dearborn, MI), these independent and chain stores (like Haraz Coffee House and Qamaria Yemeni Coffee Co. ) are expanding nationwide, transforming local coffee culture with their distinct flavors and community focus.

Where Starbuck’s has moved to more grab and go stores, these Middle Eastern coffee shops are designed for comfort and ambiance for the express purpose for people sit and enjoy your coffee, desserts, or light meals on site.  These style coffee houses exist to provide vital social hubs for Muslim communities, offering a safe, alcohol-free alternative to bars, catering to families, students, and remote workers.  The few I have visited here have very diverse clienteles. I believe these coffee houses appeal to everyone that likes and drinks coffee or tea.  I also believe that the pace at which these coffee houses are being built will exceed the demand and not all will survive.

This is my third time visiting Nubar Café.  It is a delightful place.  The coffee is very good, the food and desserts are equally good.  One of their offerings is Kurdish coffee which is espresso or Turkish/Armenian coffee with thin slivers of pistachio.  It is creamy and a wee bit chewy in a very good way.  The simits, boregs, and sandwiches are very tasty and all worth trying.  The desserts feature baklavas, cheesecakes, and lokhoums.   It is a great place just to have a coffee, coffee and desert, and even lunch. 

 There are always people in the café.  Some, like me today, are on their laptops.  Others are with friends and family, talking, laughing, and enjoying the fare.  I see me as a regular at Nubar Café. 

 

 

 

                                                                                        

 

 

 
 

 

Thoughts on Being a Professor: Part 1

 

Yesterday, December 12^th, was our December graduation at North Park University.  The fall term of 2025 is ‘officially’ over.  For professors, we still have to finish up and turn in our grades by the 17^th.   While finishing up grading assignments and then tallying up the final grades, it is also a time for reflection.  Personally, I reflect on the students in my classes this term and those who graduated yesterday.  I reflect on the excellent students and those that struggled, for any variety of reasons, to get by the skin of their teeth.

I also reflect on being a professor.  It is a profession I have always wanted to be part of.  It is a profession for which I took a circuitous path, almost a random walk, to finally realize.  I am thankful and grateful to have achieved this as the last stage of my working career. 

Beyond being appreciative, I reflect on the state of the profession, in general, and how it and higher education is being challenged and stressed in this day and age.  What are the stresses and challenges?  There are several.  First, is that we are experiencing a decline in the college age population.  This is threatening financial well-being of all schools, especially smaller colleges and universities with tight budgets and smaller endowments.

• Undergraduate enrollment has been generally falling since its peak in 2010. While there was a slight rebound in enrollment in 2023 and 2024, the structural decline in the number of potential students is a major headwind.
• The "Cliff" Arrives: Experts indicate that 2025 will mark the peak year for high school graduates in the U.S. and the beginning of the anticipated sharp drop-off in the number of applicants.
• Long-Term Outlook: The number of high school graduates is projected to decline steadily through at least 2041, with one analysis projecting a 13% drop nationwide by that year.
• Regional Variation: The decline is not uniform. The Northeast and Midwest are expected to see the steepest drops in their youth populations, while the Sun Belt and Mountain West regions may see stable or even increased numbers due to domestic migration.
• Impact on Institutions: Smaller, tuition-dependent colleges with limited endowments in affected regions are the most vulnerable, with a potential acceleration in college closures. Elite and highly selective institutions are likely to be more insulated.

Universities and colleges will close.  We have already experienced that.  This will decrease the number of professor positions in the country.  Here is a summary, selectively cut and pasted, from Gemini AI:

• Between 2008 and 2023, nearly 300 colleges and universities ceased operations. The majority of these (over 60%) were for-profit institutions, but small private non-profits are rapidly catching up.
• A model by the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia projects that in a worst-case scenario (a sharp 15% enrollment drop), up to 80 colleges could close annually between 2025 and 2029.

Who is most at risk?

The "closure zone" is very specific. Elite universities (Ivies, major state flagships) are safe. The colleges closing almost always fit this profile:

• Small Size: Fewer than 1,000 students.
• Tuition Dependent: They rely on tuition for >80% of their revenue (they have almost no endowment).
• High Acceptance Rate: They accept >80% of applicants (meaning they cannot simply "lower standards" to get more bodies in the door).
• Rural Location: Located in rural areas in the Northeast or Midwest (e.g., Ohio, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, New York).

The second stress and challenge is AI.  It is what I used to generate the above summary using Google’s Gemini AI and then cut and pasted into this post.  Students are already using AI to solve problems from the sciences and business that require math.  They are writing papers and preparing discussion posts using AI.  They use AI to save time and cut corners.  From a productivity standpoint, this is admirable.  On the other hand, many students are using it blindly.  These students just enter prompts into AI and then cut and paste the output into the assignment document and turn it in… quite possibly without reading or studying the output. 

There is nothing wrong with saving time and being more productive.  It is a sign of progress.  The problem is when students just use it to click, paste, and check the box on finishing an assignment without learning anything except how to cut corners.  AI can and will eventually do this by itself in the workplace, so there will be no need for graduates with this skill. 

Thirdly, and this is related to the above, how will AI alter the teaching of classes?  Will AI takeover and require less human being professors?  I can see a learning AI platform using the Socratic method to teach students.  Of course, such a system would have to lock down ALL of one’s devices and detect eye movements indicative of checking other sources.  To me, this seems inevitable.  I asked Gemini, what percentage of reduction in professor positions might be eliminated by AI.  The response was, “There is no single consensus percentage for job loss, but major economic forecasts distinguish clearly between task automation (which is high) and job elimination (which is currently low).”  This table was also generated.

 

Between the demographic challenge and the AI challenges/opportunities, I am convinced that the number of professor positions per 1,000 college students will decrease in the coming years.  The best of the best, the skillsets for which will evolve, will be retained and their roles will change per the Gemini AI generated table below.  If I asked my colleagues how our roles will change as we use more and more AI, we would brainstorm this exact table:

 

To quote Bob Dylan, “these times they are a changin’.”  The times are always changing and evolving.  In higher education, we seem to be and an inflection point where pace of change is increasing.

 

 

MEME Concert Day

 

Wanees Zarour and Firas Zreik

This afternoon, early evening, the Middle Eastern Music Ensemble of the University of Chicago (MEME) is giving the first concert of the 2025-26: A Salute to Ziad Rahbani.  We are featuring nine of his compositions.  We have a guest artist with us, the gifted kanun player, Firas Zreik.  Our vocalists are Karl El Sokhn and Sham Abyad.

We have worked hard for this concert to master the difficult pieces selected by our director Wanees Zarour.  The lines each instrumental group must play are a wee bit challenging but simply require practice.  The difficulty lies in bringing it all together and playing precisely with everyone hitting their marks to fully bring to life the jazzy fusion pieces as Rahbani composed them.  I do believe after seven weekly practices and a dress rehearsal, we are ready.

MEME has really evolved since I first heard the orchestra in a concert I attended in 2008 and even more so since I joined them in 2014.   For the concert today, there will be 85 of us on stage:  50 musicians and a choir of 35.  That is about two or three times the size of the ensemble when I first joined it. 

While the growth of the ensemble is impressive, the musicianship is probably at the highest level as well.  The new musicians that join MEME are simply more talented and experienced.  This is exemplified by the quality of our ‘first reads’ which is basically the first time we play a piece at a practice.  When I first joined, our first reads basically indicated how much we would need to practice the piece before it was performance ready.  Now, I am amazed at how much better our first reads are.  For simpler pieces, our first reads are practically concert ready.  For more challenging pieces, our first reads are much closer to being concert ready than we once were. 

More and more at practices, I will hear something truly impressive enough from somewhere in the ensemble that I turn my head to look.  I find myself marveling at a bass run from Cee Mikhail, a beautifully executed enhancement from our cellos, percussion, or woodwind sections.  Our ney player, Pan Fayang, is amazing.  When Ronnie Malley plays a taksim, it is brilliant. if it is in nahawand, it is steller.  More recently, we have added a brass section which is not typical in Middle Eastern music.  But, dang, they are good and give Maestro Wanees another wonderful color on his arrangement pallet.  I have seen folks improve dramatically as they join us and want to play Middle Eastern instruments.  The growth of our choir is equally impressive and is invaluable in all of the genres we tackle, especially for classical Arab and Turkish music.

People come and go in our ensemble.  Whether students or community members, people in MEME come and go… and some come back again.  This is only natural.  Students come to the university and graduate.  Community members move to and away from Chicago.  Members have to drop out due to work or family circumstances.  Yet, the trajectory of growth in numbers and musicality continues.  It is a testimony to Wanees and the culture he has created and which we all buy into and actively support.

The MEME concerts have the best attendance for events in the Department of Music at the University of Chicago.  We regularly fill the 400 seat auditorium at the Reva and David Logan Center for the Performing Arts.  We anticipate the same for tonight’s concert and… we will rock the house.

A Rahbani Primer

 

I have been part of the Middle Eastern Music Ensemble of the University of Chicago (MEME) for 11 years.  I have learned so much about Persian and Arab music that I had minimal knowledge when I first started.  I have even learned a lot more about Turkish music which I naively believed I knew pretty well. 

One thing I know for certain about the music of the region is that I have so much more to learn about the artists, composers, musical theory, folk songs, and classical music of region.  It is a vast knowledge, and I am content with the obvious reality that I cannot know everything

While we have been rehearsing for eight weeks, our 2025-26 season begins with our first concert tomorrow, December 7.  The concert, A Salute to Ziad Rahbani, is a tribute to the famed Lebanese pianist, composer, playwright, and political activist, Ziad Rahbani, the passed away at the age of 69 on July 26, 2025.

The passing of Rahbani is a perfect example of my knowledge gap.  I knew of the Rahbani name and that members of the family were prolific and renowned composers of Lebanese music who wrote many of the classics for the legendary Fairuz.  I knew one of them was married to Fairuz.  If you had asked me their first names, which was married to Fairuz, and which were the notable pieces that became masterpieces, I might have gotten a scant few correct answers.  Case in point, I thought when I heard the news of Ziad’s passing, I assumed he was the husband of Fairuz, when, in fact, he was her son. 

There were three Rahbani brothers.  Assi (1923-1986) who was married to Fairuz, Mansour (1925-2009), and Elias (1938-2021).  They were all composers and lyricists.  When people talk of the Rahbani Brothers, they usually are referring to the partnership of Assi and Mansour who were also authors and playwrights.  The number of musicals they wrote, and presumably, produced is pretty impressive.

Ziad was born on January 1, 1956, in Antelias, Lebanon.  As the son of Assi Rahbani and Nouhad Wadie Haddad (Fairuz), he was a crown prince of the Lebanese art and music world in the days when Beirut was truly the Paris of the Middle East.  As he grew up, he certainly embraced his musical heritage, but also as many of us of his generation, he wanted to find his own voice and own way. 

He was writing significant music at a young age of 17 with a theatrical piece:  Sahriyyeh (The Soirée).  One of first big hits was  Mais el Reem which he wrote in 1978.  His music and political activism was heavily influenced by the Lebanese Civil War which began in 1975.  Per the article in the Syriac Press, Ziad Rahbani, Fierce Satirist and Musical Icon of Lebanon, Dies at 68

…it was his own satirical masterpieces—Film Ameriki Taweel (A Long American Film), Bikhsous el Karameh wal Shaab el ‘Anid (On Dignity and the Stubborn People), and Bennesbeh Labokra Chou? (What About Tomorrow?)—that made him a cult legend. Through them, he turned wartime Beirut into a stage where taxi drivers, waiters, and philosophers exchanged despair, laughter, and sharp political critique in equal measure.

A committed leftist, Rahbani was unapologetically vocal about his anti-sectarianism, disdain for corruption, and admiration for progressive ideals. He criticized both the religious establishment and political elites, including those within his own community, in equal measure. 

Yet it was his music—rich with jazz, funk, classical Arabic maqams, and local folkloric rhythms—that truly broke ground. He didn’t just modernize the Lebanese song; he cracked it open and let the world flood in. His musical arrangements, heavily influenced by jazz legends like Thelonious Monk and John Coltrane, were woven into the fabric of Beirut’s melancholic soul. Tracks like “Ana Mesh Kafer,” “Oummi el Hilweh,” and “Bi Nisbeh La Bukra Shu?” remain anthems of cultural resistance across the Arab world. 

In 1979, Ziad Rahbani married Dalal Karam, and the couple had a son they named Assi, in honor of Ziad’s father, Assi Rahbani. The marriage eventually ended in divorce. Years later, a legal dispute arose regarding the paternity of Assi Jr. In 2004, DNA testing confirmed that Ziad was not the biological father. Following this revelation, Rahbani took legal action to disavow paternity, which resulted in a court ruling that stripped the younger Assi of the Rahbani surname and removed him from the family register. 

Ziad Rahbani was a complicated man and a multifaceted talent.  He was troubled in his personal life and had health issues which took him too soon.  He was a great composer.  I am sorry for the passing of Ziad Rahbani, but I am thankful for this concert which motivated me to learn about this amazing man and gifted artist.

Part 3: Is Quality an Issue Again?

In my time as a professor of operations management in the School of Business and Nonprofit Management at North Park University, I came to realize the lack of a definition of business in all the books I have read and textbooks I have used in courses.  I do believe we all just assumed that everyone simply knew what a business was and what businesses were supposed to do.

I do believe that everyone just assumes that simply a business is an organization with the expressed purpose of making money selling products or services.  This is not wrong.  It clearly puts the focus on making money.  The result of this definition is in the way we value and track business.  Profit is the primary measure with an emphasis of profit in the short term.  With focus on the current quarter and current year, business leaders can easily trade off design and product quality to make their numbers.  They will drive down costs and drive up productivity, which again are what businesses should do.   But when driving down costs and driving up productivity become the primary operations emphasis… well, there is a greater likelihood quality might be compromised.

Deming had a graphic that was a major pillar of his philosophy presented in his book, Out of the Crisis, first published in 1866.  He may have used this graphic in his famous 4-Day Seminars well before the publishing of his seminal book.  He begins with improve quality which will drive down costs and drive up productivity.  This allows the enterprise to capture more market share with better quality sold at lower prices which perpetuates the enterprise.  Deming adds that more and more jobs will be created.  These days that will happen at a slower rate, if at all, because of the advances in technology and, now, the looming promise of AI.

I have certainly used my own rendition of Deming’s graphic, but it does not suffice as a general definition of business.  So, I decided to write one that I use in all my classes.

1. Business is business. It is cut and dry.
2. Provide products and services that customers want, sell these same products at a high volume at a price higher than the cost of goods and production, and, voila, the business is profitable and can thrive and grow.
3. Don’t do this and the opposite happens, the business loses money and will eventually have to cease operations, call it quits. 
4. This is not a one-time deal. Businesses have to do this continually.
5. To make it even more challenging, competitors would love to steal market share and act aggressively to do just that.
6. Markets and the preferences of customers are always changing.
7. So, businesses need to be aware of all this and adapt and innovate their product and service offerings to remain competitive and relevant to their customers.
8. As a result, some businesses expand and grow while others shrink and even go out of business

I have been happy with my definition of business but just noticed that I do not specifically use the word quality nor do I invoke the quality mindset in this definition.  It is assumed in point #7. 

To wrap up this series of posts.  Any company that can offer and innovate product and services that customers and consumer will value and then produce and deliver them in a defect and error should do better than their competitors.  If this becomes part of their culture and the company can excel at it, the company will thrive.  Customers and consumers will know it and become loyal consumers and customers. 

I believe Quality is always the issue.  Companies need to dig deeper to find out what customers and consumers want and design products and services that meet or exceed those needs.  Then, it is Job 1 of operations to deliver and exceed on delivering products and services that meet or exceed customers and consumers in ways that those products or service cause no issues and certainly causes no one to report a problem on the National Consumer Rage Survey.

As has always been the case in the realm of quality management, creating that culture to deliver better products and services is never easy… but it not impossible.

So, yes Quality is always an issue.  The mindset has to be the old Lexus matra, “The relentless pursuit of perfection.”  It is the old Ford mantra, “Do it right the first time.”  It is what Reuben Mark the CEO of Colgate-Palmolive would always say, “getting a little bit better, every day, in every way.”

The tenets of Total Quality Management are as relevant today as they ever were:

• Customer Focus
• Strong Quality Leadership
• All Employee Involvement
• Continuous Improvement
• Fact Based Decision Making

      These principles are evergreen.