When you picture good teaching in your minds eye, what do you see? A charismatic speaker in a large lecture hall, perhaps in a room with raked seating and rows of students at rapt attention? A faculty member seated at a seminar table, surrounding by students, and all treating each other as peers? A senior…
Category: Reviews
Reviews of books, articles, and the like
Pasquarella on Public Heath, Justice and the Liberal Arts
Lynn Pasquerella is a philosopher, medical ethicist, and an influential academic thought leader. She heads the American Association of Colleges and Universities (AAC&U), the nation’s preeminent higher educational association. She’s enjoyed a very successful academic career, having an impact across institutions and disciplines. A scholar who leads, Pasquerella remained active and engaged throughout the pandemic.…
College Leadership Histories: Racism, Integration & Social Justice
The Campus Color Line: College Presidents and the Struggle for Black Freedom is a fascinating work of history. Written by Professor Eddie R. Cole of UCLA, it is a closely researched study of seven college presidents during two intense decades of integration in higher education, from 1948 to 1968. The book offers an up close…
Who Decides?
Several years ago I realized that the concept “should” was not particularly effective in facilitating change in higher education. We are immersed in a world of “shoulds” – from personal health and lifestyle to how large systems operate, and everything in between. We “should” have a work-life balance, students “should” come to class prepared, academia…
Conscious Leadership – Challenges and Opportunities
John Mackey is an entrepreneurial genius. The co-founder of Whole Foods, which was sold to Amazon for $13.7 billion dollars, he has been at the forefront of the organic food movement for decades. Mackey’s company set the bar for ethical sourcing and many other innovations. He’s a sought-after speaker, serves on several boards, and has…
On Coaching – With Wit & Humor
Business books are usually serious, grounded in wisdom, data, and an unshakeable faith that reading to learn will facilitate improvement. We don’t read business books for pleasure; we read them for action. As a literary form, they are inherently earnest. It’s the outlier that often defines the norm. The Coaching Habit: Say Less, Ask More…
Actionable Student Voice From Canada
All who work in higher education are drawn to stories of growth and success. Be it a student navigating roadblocks or institutions changing lives, we seek narratives with positive academic arcs, triumphs overcome and dreams realized. Attention is given to critiques and criticisms, to be sure, but are they embraced and acted on by the…