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Barbara Gross Davis, Tools for Teaching. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass Publishers, 1993.
A textbook for both beginning and experienced teachers that is well worth reading. Have this open to the relevant section when you are writing your syllabus, designing your classes, or even grading papers. Tools for Teaching is a very well-organized and user-friendly manual with very clear bullet-point sections covering every aspect of teaching, a book to be read through the course of the term rather than at one or two sittings (the chapters on designing a syllabus and planning your first class are particularly strong). Davis includes almost every valuable insight from literally hundreds of teaching guides, and of all the manuals I have read this is easily the most helpful and effective, although occasionally the book's earnest desire to state the obvious ("encourage your students," "create a relaxed mood") and lack of humor is frustrating. The most glaring omission is the book's lack of anecdotes, but this is almost completely compensated for by the range of techniques and tips offered. Although Tools for Teaching is not written specifically for teachers of writing and literature, it should definitely be read by new preceptors. My favorite piece of advice: there is no need to read and grade every piece of students' writing, as writing itself is always a valuable exercise.
Kenneth E. Eble, The Craft of Teaching: A Guide to Mastering the Professor's Art 2nd ed. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass Publishers, 1985.
First published in 1976, this entertaining study by a former professor of English at the University of Utah is one of the classics of the field. Eble begins with the original premise that "the enemy of learning is primarily other learning," allowing him to ask why a student who can't learn algebra is able to learn to ski, play guitar, or predict the stock market, given that they all demand discipline and hard work. He refuses the answer "because algebra isn't fun," offering in its place a pluralist vision of pedagogy which emphasizes learning instead of teaching. In a series of essays Eble sets out to refute certain myths about teaching: that teachers are born not made; that those who can't do teach; that teaching should exclude personality. He argues that college professors need to expose themselves to teachers in their discipline at every level, from primary school up, in order to understand how their students have been formed intellectually. The Craft of Teaching is witty, well-written, and full of useful advice, such as how to learn student names (by having them do a writing exercise in the first class which you can collect and talk about) to effective questions to ask in discussion. Eble's focus is on the fringe benefits of the classroom, encouraging randomness (brainstorming, freewriting), discussion, and entertainment (classes must be fun for both students and teacher); for him the teacher is an actor, whose theatre is the classroom. The chapters on grading and holding discussion seminars are particularly helpful. Highly recommended.
Louis B. Barnes, C. Roland Christensen, and Abby J. Hansen, Teaching and the Case Method 3rd ed. Boston: Harvard Business School Press, 1994.
An astonishing source book from the Harvard Business School which provides a whole range of fascinating and thought-provoking case studies based on real experience. The book is probably best read within the context of a seminar on teaching which would allow for discussion of the case at hand (the book is more about how to teach teaching than teaching itself). The most helpful aspect of Teaching and the Case Method, however, is that it provides ample evidence that nearly every scenario encountered by teachers both inside and outside the classroom has happened to others and is almost certainly not completely the fault of the teacher. Recommended cases: "The French Lesson," "The Day The Heat Went On," "The Case Of The Dethroned Section Leader," "The Offended Colonel," "Bound Feet," "That Discussion Just Fell Apart," "Trevor Jones," "The Puzzling Student," "Herr Faber's New Course," "Peter Morgan," "I Felt As If My World Had Just Collapsed." See the accompanying instructor's guide for more information on each case and a summary of HBS students' discussion of them.
Elisa Carbone, Teaching Large Classes: Tools and Strategies. London: Sage Publications, 1998.
A very informed, chatty, and well-written guide which, although of little relevance to precepting, still offers plenty of good advice, and features a particularly useful index. Tips include holding office hours in the reference section of the library so as to train your students how to research, the concept of think-pair-share (see pp. 52-55), and the reminder to constantly ask your students to ask questions. I found the chapter on managing student behavior especially relevant.
Joseph Lowman, Mastering the Techniques of Teaching 2nd ed. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass Publishers, 1995.
A conservative study by a professor of psychology at UNC who emphasizes the importance of learning to speak well in front of students. Lowman argues that "the college classroom is a dramatic event first and a setting for intellectual discourse second," a "human arena" where the teacher is a "skilled artist." The bulk of the book contains a (fairly pedestrian) series of examples of exemplary teaching. This is less a textbook than a slightly idiosyncratic study of the profession, helpful when it comes to understanding student behavior but of little practical value. Most of Lowman's advice could have been communicated much more succinctly (such as his suggestion that you take five minutes to prepare emotionally before every class).
Bette La Sere Erickson and Diane Weltner Strommer, Teaching College Freshmen. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass Publishers, 1991.
Reflecting the recent focus on freshman education, this heavily sociological study details the unique instructional challenges posed by first year undergraduates. This is worthwhile reading if you want to better understand your students but may not be worth the effort for a busy preceptor. Like freshmen it often states the obvious, but it does ultimately paint a well-rounded picture of the pressures faced by first-year students (jobs, roommates, unhealthy expectations, anxiety, how to manage time, not dropping out). Chapter four offers a student's perspective of the classroom, containing the invaluable advice to concentrate on learning rather than teaching (best done by emphasizing writing). Also provides useful examples of exam questions.
Richard Prégent, Charting Your Course: How to Prepare to Teach More Effectively. Montreal: Magna Publications, 1994.
Not recommended. Its bullet-point style gives it a textbook look, but unnecessarily scientific language and confusing diagrams erode any effectiveness it may otherwise possess.
James L. Bess, ed., Teaching Well and Liking It: Motivating Faculty to Teach Effectively. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1997.
Mixed bag of essays with a strong sociological bias. The introduction makes the interesting point that, as most of the professional life of college teachers is spent performing in front of students and our peers, we should think of ourselves as entertainers and learn to love what we do. Recommended essays include chapter five on enjoyment as motivation, chapter eight on the importance of setting specific goals, and chapter fourteenóan honest, interesting, and surprising account of assessments and evaluations, which motivate when they praise but actually demotivate when they criticize.
Leo M. Lambert, Stacey Lane Tice, and Patricia H. Featherstone ed., University Teaching: A Guide for Graduate Students. Syracuse, NY: Syracuse University Press, 1996.
Collection of essays by graduate students and faculty at Syracuse, most of which are too general to be of any real help. Chapter two, which discusses the lecture, is perhaps the best, offering advice on how long to wait for questions (count to ten before moving on). Many of the essays overlap, and most are by and for scientists, engineers, or social scientists. One to avoid.
David W. Johnson, Roger T. Johnson, Karl A. Smith, Academic Controversy: Enriching College Instruction through Intellectual Conflict. Washington, DC: George Washington University, 1996.
Impenetrable jargon-laden plea for teaching through debate written by professors in education. This is addressed neither to inexperienced teachers nor to literature ones, and shifts uneasily between the glaringly obvious ("issues must be viewed from all perspectives") and the arcane.
Margaret Morgenroth Gullette ed., The Art and Craft of Teaching. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1982.
A generally well-written collection of essays covering an interesting variety of pedagogical issues. Chapter two on the first day of class offers a raft of possible suggestions, while the chapter on how and when to ask questions is the best of its kind I read, providing a list of sample questions you can take into precept. There is a separate chapter on the art of running a successful precept, while the essay for beginning teachers offers a checklist of things to do to help you through your first term from the most trivial preparation to psychological tricks.
Stephen D. Brookfield and Stephen Preskill, Discussion as a Way of Teaching. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass Publishers, 1999.
Exhaustive scholarly and analysis of discussion as a pedagogical tool. The authors offer plenty of examples and tips for beginning discussion and keeping it going, but the book is not exactly user-friendly and requires a lot of reading time. That said, the section on summary and synthesis (pp. 90-91) is well worth looking at, while chapters seven and eight, which treat discussion in culturally diverse classrooms and across gender differences, are excellent. The last chapter, which provides ways to evaluate the discussion in your classroom, certainly made me re-think the way I currently teach. Well worth reading if you have the time.
Barbara J. Flood and Jay K. Moll, The Professor Business: A Primer for Faculty. New York: Learned Information Inc., 1990.
Jargon-laden book written for education specialists on teaching as learning management, which imports many of its terms from the business world. Being a college professor may be a business but I found this book depressing. It's hard to know for whom this book is written, as despite lip service to the novice teacher this is far from user-friendly. However, the authors psychological focus does throw up this terrifying statistic: 80% of a lecture is not recalled by students a day later, and 80% of the remainder fades in a month. A cheery thought.
Peter Seldon, The Teaching Portfolio. Boston: Anker Publishers, 1991.
Attempts to provide a blueprint for the ideal portfolio so as to make teaching evaluation easier. A useful if occasionally tedious guide by a professor of management, which supplies a great checklist for what to include and, best of all, provides models for use in compiling your own portfolio including samples of teaching statements, syllabi, reading lists, assignments, exams, handouts, descriptions of efforts to improve teaching, peer evaluation, student evaluation, and video tapes.
James M. Banner Jr. and Harold C. Cannon, The Elements of Teaching. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1997.
More personal than professional, The Elements of Teaching emphasizes the nobleness of the teacher's calling, the fact that it is an art rather than a profession. This involves the inclusion of a series of twee stories about great teachers that are to be avoided. There is a good chapter on authority, however, which is a part of teaching often ignored by teaching guides. Banner and Cannon are probably too conservative for most tastes, their emphasis being on morality and aesthetics rather than practicality and student needs. By the time of their chapter on order I was ready to part company, but the book is saved by its final essays on imagination and compassion which are inspirational in their way.
Diane F. Sadoff and William E. Cain eds., Teaching Contemporary Theory to Undergraduates. New York: MLA, 1994.
Collection of stimulating and intelligent essays which is highly recommended. The essays are useful primarily for beginning graduate students, in that they provide a treasure trove of bibliographies on and approaches to theory. The pedagogical questions raised in a series of short and readable essays are very relevant to graduate study. The book tries to cover too many approaches too quickly (reproducing the problems of teaching theory to undergraduates) and too many essays on the same subject can prove indigestible. Well worth focusing on the theory closest to your heart.
Robert Magnan, 147 Practical Tips for Teaching Professors. Madison: Atwood Publications, 1990.
An easy to read selection that starts well (plan breaks in your class to let your students know where you have been and where you are headed, make sure you sum up at the end of class) but then begins to recycle common sense remarks for ëtips.' My tip: avoid.
Peter Elbow, Embracing Contraries: Explorations in Learning and Teaching. New York: Oxford University Press, 1986.
Following on from Elbow's acclaimed and original Writing Without Teachers and Writing With Power, this is a collection of thoughtful and intelligent autobiographical essays about teaching. Elbow, an English professor at UMASS Amherst, writes more for an audience of education scholars than beginning teachers, but provided you do not go to this book for concrete advice you will enjoy his interesting anecdotes and compelling observations. More for junior professors than graduate students.
George E. Haggerty and Bonnie Zimmerman eds., Professions of Desire: Lesbian and Gay Studies in Literature. New York: MLA Press, 1995.
A diverse and thought-provoking collection of essays ranging from discussions of gay teachers in the classroom to canon issues to actual lesbian and gay seminars to four readings of literature (including Jeff Nunokawa on Wilde's Dorian Gray and Eve Sedgwick on The Importance of Being Earnest). The first four essays, on gay teachers, are of necessity largely autobiographical and well worth reading. Of the next four, I found Karla Jay's essay on lesbian modernism, "(Trans)Forming the C(Anon)" particularly compelling. But perhaps the most useful essays are those dealing with the theory and practice of lesbian and gay seminars. While not immediately useful for the beginning teacher, the innovative teaching methods and fascinating eyewitness accounts in this collection make it an invaluable resource.
Kenneth A. Brufee, Collaborative Learning: Higher Education, Interdependence, and the Authority of Knowledge. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1991.
Original if not always convincing argument by a professor of English as CUNY Brooklyn that knowledge is constructed through negotiation with others in communities of knowledgeable peers. Based on this, Brufee suggests that university education must be transformed, so that students and professors learn collaboratively. Universities, in Brufee's unlovely terminology, should be seen as "institutions of reacculturation" and professors as agents of cultural change. An overly optimistic but curiously inspirational book, which argues that the most pressing issue facing education today is how to negotiate and resolve conflict (he sees graduate education as desperately in need of a dose of negotiation and consensus).
Kenneth T. Henson, Writing for Professional Publication: Keys to Academic and Business Success. Boston: Allyn and Bacon, 1999.
Read this book not for what it says about writingówhich is pretty pedestrianóbut for what it says about all the other aspects of getting published. Henson begins with a puzzling tale of a trip to some American fairyland version of Britain, complete with Queen's garden party, and the first chapter, entitled "Why Write?" is pretty forgettableówe already know the answer to that. The next six chapters, which deal with various aspects of the writing process, are best ignored, but chapter eight, on how to write a cover letter and communicate with journals, is a useful step-by-step guide, as is chapter 11 on planning for success, which offers a checklist of strategies for getting published. The next and last chapter is a superb treatment of applying for grantsódefinitely the best guide I found to this dreary task.
John A. Butler, Cybersearch: Research Techniques in the Electronic Age. London: Penguin Books, 1998.
Disappointing tour round the internet, valuable only for its list of addresses and a glossary of technical terms. Most of this information you either already know or could find out by asking a librarian the right questions.
Beth Luey, Handbook for Academic Authors. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1987.
Refreshingly honest and sincere guide to the world of publishing for academics, although its audience is more junior faculty than graduate student. Luey dispenses plenty of sound common sense (write clearly, don't expect to earn any money) that you probably already know but need to be reminded of, but follows this with a sober chapter on the possibilities of revising your dissertation (not high). From then on things get more and more absorbingóthe chapter on finding a publisher is a wonderful step-by-step guide, as is the section on drawing up a book contract. Also useful is advice on how and when to ask permission to reproduce quotes and photos including sample letters (some of which could well have been included in the chapters on publishing). A sound annotated bibliography and a chapter on the costs of publishing round off a very solid book.
Walter W. Powell, Getting into Print: The Decision-Making Process in Scholarly Publishing. Chicago: Chicago University Press, 1985.
A much more detailed study of the publishing business that is less a guide for writers than a sociological study. The chapter on the nature of editorial work is interesting, in that the process is seen from the publishers' point-of-view, and certainly makes you feel better about being rejected once you realize the sheer number of articles and manuscripts being looked at at any one time.
Gordon B. Davis and Clyde A. Parker, Writing the Doctoral Dissertation. 2nd ed. New York: Baron's, 1997.
Short but not user-friendly guide that dispenses management jargon. Too general to be of any use. Avoid.
David Sternberg, How To Complete and Survive a Doctoral Dissertation. New York: St. Martin's Press, 1981.
Outdated and unhelpful tome that is written more for science than humanities students. What would have been good advice on file organizing has now been superseded by the advent of the personal computer.
Howard S. Becker, Tricks of the Trade: How to Think About Your Research While You're Doing It. Chicago: Chicago University Press, 1998.
Very well written and original study of research habits in the social sciences that has some relevance for literary scholars. Unfortunately I learned more about the social sciences than how to write my dissertation, which led me to think that someone needs to re-write this for English students.
Rebecca Anthony and Gerald Roe, The Curriculum Vitae Handbook: How to Present and Promote Your Academic Career. San Francisco: Rudi Publishers, 1998.
Excellent handbook to a tricky and often ignored subject, succinctly written with plenty of advise on the terms and categories to use. Includes plenty of samples of CVs written with from both a teaching and a research focus (I never knew how important it was to have more than one). The authors discuss the difference between a CV and a resume, how to write an effective cover letter (again with plenty of examples), and supply some useful addresses. Well worth a look.
Mary-Claire Van Lenuen, A Handbook for Scholars. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1978.
Outdated guidebook written well before the steep decline in the job market. Includes chapters on citations, quotes, and footnotes. Useless.
Robert L. Peters, Getting What You Came For: The Smart Student's Guide to Earning a Master's or Ph.D. 2nd ed. New York: Noonday Press, 1997.
A thorough, well-written, and engaging guide to succeeding as a graduate studentóI wish I had been aware of this earlier! Peters avoids much of the cant and tedium of other how-to books, and instead tells you much of what you need to know about writing the dissertation, getting published, attending conferences etc. The section on financial aid is particularly helpful, complete with up-to-date web addresses, while the chapter on managing your time as a graduate student has revolutionized the way I organize my day. I learned more from Getting What You Came For than all the other guide books combinedóread it and take notes. Of course not every section is useful or applicable, but some at least will be. You will either find his cynicism refreshing or frustrating, but at least his honesty goes some way to counteract the hypocrisy encountered by graduate students at every step of the Ph.D. For example, here is Peters on teaching: "The less teachingóthe better. Remember that every quarter you teach a full load is an extra quarter you will spend in school. When you do have to teach, put in the minimum amount of time and effort to do it competently. It will be tempting to overinvest in the classroom because the students will be eager to learn and you will feel important in your role as teacher. Unfortunately, the academic system won't reward you for being a good teacher. It will only reward you for doing research, which in your case means writing a good thesis. Don't get distracted."
The Real Guide to Graduate School: What You Better Know Before You Choose. New York: Linguafranca Books, 1997.
Notable for the fact that Gage McWeeny wrote the chapter on English Departments. An entertaining and informative account of the state of our profession. Recommended.
The MLA Guide to the Job Search. New York: MLA Publications, 1996.
The place to start your research before going on the market. The essays provide an excellent introduction to this terrifying subject, offering plenty of advice on do's and don'ts, and there is a fine annotated bibliography.
Margaret Newhouse, Outside the Ivory Tower: A Guide for Academics Considering Alternative Careers. Cambridge, MA: Harvard Career Services, 1993.
A comprehensive guide designed to allay anxieties and empower the job-seeker, including a terrific annotated bibliography and an opening chapter on self-assessment which is practical and informative. Offers copious examples of CVs and cover letters as well as advice on interviewing, researching, brainstorming, job searching, and negotiating. The chapter on the special problems faced by international students is particularly helpful.
Christina Boufis and Victoria C. Olsen eds., On The Market: Surviving the Academic Job Search. New York: Riverhead, 1997.
Sobering series of essays covering every aspect of the market, although surprisingly light on actual advice. The attempts at humor are somewhat heavy-handed and there is more than a touch of self-pity about many of the narratives. The best of the bunch are Joseph J. Basile's "Remembering the Battlefront: Notes on the Academic Job Search in the 1990s"; Barbara Bennet's "It's All Uphill from Here: Confessions of a Ph.D. Job Searcher" and Daniel Brownstein's "Cadences of Rejection." But the best writing in the volume appears at the end, in the form of Louis Menand's and Michael Bérubé's afterwords, which are thoughtful, practical, and, refreshingly, objective.
Michael Bérubé, The Employment of English: Theory, Jobs, and the Future of Literary Studies. New York: New York University Press, 1998.
Idiosyncratic, iconoclastic, occasionally irritating but often impressive attempt to come to terms with many of the problems facing graduate students, who are Bérubé's focus throughout. Bérubé refuses to separate questions of aesthetics and the canon from the poverty and exploitation of graduates. I particularly recommend the chapters on cultural studies, the Yale strike, the job market, and writing for a non-academic audience. Bérubé makes the important point that current graduate students are responsible for mastering many times as much scholarship as their seniors: "the field now runs from Chaucer, Shakespeare, and Milton to Andrew Ross on biotechnology and Teresa de Lauretis on spectatorship. As well as this graduates are expected to contribute substantially to the field well before they have been credentialed to join it" (102). Add the explosion of studies of english studies, of which this is one of the finest, to the list.
Cary Nelson and Stephen Watt, Academic Keywords: A Devil's Dictionary for Higher Education. New York: Routledge, 1999.
A book that falls in-between Ambrose Bierce's infamous Devil's Dictionary (1911) and Raymond Williams' influential Keywords (1976) and one that describes itself as "a critical polemic on the state of the professoriate and the contemporary university." The authors cover everything from affirmative action to academic superstars to yuppies. Biased, iconoclastic, irreverent, often informative, Academic Keywords would have benefited from many of its controversial points being discussed in an open forum rather than being presented to the reader out of context. Their prognostication of the job market is naïve at best, although their anger on behalf of graduate students is to be applauded. Princeton, described along with Harvard and Yale as a robber baron school, comes off particularly badly. (Stuart Burrows)
This is one of my favorite books on academia. Avowedly partisan and polemical, though too considered to qualify as "biased" in my opinion. Honest and straightforward rather than polite or conciliatory. Contains many incisive and convincing analyses of academic labor and academic politics, delivered with style and (gallows) humor. The analysis of the job system, tenure, hiring, et cetera is thoughtful, reasonable, and justifiedly pessimistic; the authors consider and reject many unsatisfactory proposed solutions to the existing system's problems. One need not agree with everything to find much of value here: hard facts about the economic realities of the profession, concise summaries of many knotty and persistent problems and often-proposed solutions, and insightful arguments for and against them. I'd particularly recommend the sections on the corporate university; academic labor (under "Faculty"); the job system; part-time faculty; tenure; the MLA; and the state of English ("America's Fast-Food Discipline"). Apart from the section exhorting the "robber-baron universities" to be better examples for academia at large rather than simply sitting on huge nest-egg endowments (an argument with which I entirely agree), there's little about Princeton here, nor anything which strikes me as inaccurate. (Roger Bellin)
Goldsmith, Komlos, and Gold, The Chicago Guide to Your Academic Career. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2001.
A guide to the academic career path from graduate-school admissions through assistant professorship and tenure. Multivocal in format, as the authors offer their individual opinions and sometimes disagree. The authors (an economist, a linguist, and a historian) claim not to "politicize" the discussion, but this is clearly not true. The tenure discussion felt to me more like a polemic against the tenure system than career advice. Statements like "tenure seems to have outlived its usefulness" are just completely out of place in a guidebook like this one. The job-market discussion is probably influenced by the authors' fields, and is often more rosily optimistic than one would expect from the humanities/English perspective. E.g.: the book claims that the "tendency to overproduce" (more Ph.D.s than jobs) is a "strength of the American university system" rather than a deeply rooted problem with it. Depressingly, the discussion of intra-department politics for young professors urges pure, apolitical apathy and abstention as the only good career choice. Still, there is good advice here if you're willing to read past the occasional curmudgeonliness, the urgings toward conformity at all costs, and the overgeneralization from the authors' experience (mostly in the mathematical social sciences, with only the occasional humanities corrective). Recommended sections: Penny Gold's advice on participating in departmental politics (pp. 152-153), and the discussion of job-seeking and negotiation, in particular the job-offer negotiation advice (pp. 120-122). (Roger Bellin)
Leigh DeNeef and Cranford D. Goodwin, The Academic's Handbook 2nd ed. Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 1995.
Unpredictable and uneven collection of essays on everything from the academic environment, political correctness, tenure, free speech, sexism and racism, research, the job search, and academic salaries and taxes. Includes a very useful section on research and publishing and an equally helpful guide to applying for grants and fellowships. Perhaps most important of all, however, is the guide to the administrative make-up of a university, which is well worth knowing before heading onto the market. Some of the essays are so basic that it is hard to know for whom they have been written; others, such as Henry M. Wilbur's highly recommended "On Getting a Job," are terrific how-to guides.
Norman Graves and Ved Varma eds., Working for a Doctorate: A Guide for the Humanities and the Social Sciences. London: Routledge, 1997.
Written for a British audience, this guide has little relevance for graduate study in America, as British students do not take classes and rarely teach. Very little new hereómore for those considering the Ph.D. than for those actually in the middle of one.
Loraine Blotner, Christina Hughes, and Malcolm Tight, The Academic Career Handbook. Buckingham, PA: The Open University Press, 1998.
Another guide for British graduate students, and therefore of limited use, but does include a wonderfully cynical guide to getting the most out of conferences which dispenses the following advice: plan to attend only those talks relevant to you; do not sit through a whole session on the basis of some misguided notion that this is what you are supposed to do; luncheons and banquets are a waste of time unless you ensure that you get a table with people you want to meet; the gatherings for cocktails are the best bet and you should always go to these; get there on time and have serious discussions early; leave with friends when the venue gets packed.
Martin J. Finkelstein, Robert K. Seal, and Jack H. Schuster, The New Academic Generation: A Profession In Transformation. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1998.
A sociological study that charts the demographic revolution amongst academics over the last ten years. The new generation of academics in the 1990s, which includes more women and is slightly more diverse, is more likely to have student loans, to have had previous work experience, and to be hired at a later age, and is less likely to have tenure, to be satisfied with their job, and to spend more time in research than in teaching and administration. Unsurprisingly, teaching takes up more time in the humanities than in the sciences, and women in particular emphasize the classroom over research. The new generation of faculty advise more and hold more office hours than their older colleagues, but in general the study finds that they differ from this generation more in who they are than what they do.
Matthew Melko, A Professor's Work. Lanham: University Press of America, 1998.
A study of the academic life, written by a sociology professor at Wright State. Melko's conceit that he is observing the observers gives rise to a somewhat precious style, but in general this is an absorbing insider's view of departmental politics. Each chapter deals with an event in the life of the sociology department over one year, complete with Fielding-like summary at the beginning. Melko is painfully honest at times, and his account early on of his department's interviewing for a tenure-track position is both entertaining and enlightening. The book does tend to celebrate the minutiae of Melko's life, making it sometimes irritating and self-serving, but is perhaps saved by a generous description of the individuality of Melko's students and the many distractions they face.
San American Council on Education Report, "First Impressions and Second Thoughts: Public Support for Higher Education in the 1990s."
Very interesting 1995 survey, that tells us what we already suspected. The findings lead to the following conclusions: most people know very little about academia and are not deeply concerned about this lack of knowledge; the public cannot therefore be expected to rush to the defense of higher education when budget cutbacks threaten; the public values credentials (the degree) not the education as many doubt that general education is of any economic value; the public would probably support legislation to divert funds from higher education to vocational training; administrators are perceived as overpaid, while professors are seen as (relatively) benign and honest.
Gerald Grant and Christine E. Murphy, Teaching in America: The Slow Revolution. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1999.
A survey of teaching conditions across the country by a sociology and an education professor. Well-written if daunting, this is more of a historical study than a guide to teaching, although it does contain the invaluable advice "teach by silence." The individual stories are entertaining and useful and possess the ring of truth, but graduate students will find little of help here.
Christopher J. Lucas, Crisis in the Academy: Rethinking Higher Education in America. New York: St. Martin's Press, 1996.
In probably the smartest, most comprehensive, and least idiosyncratic guide to American universities available, Lucas attempts to put the explosion of debates over higher education in the mid 1980sófrom political correctness to tenured radicals to canon wranglingóinto historical perspective. The author surveys all the elements of American universities from undergraduate education to graduate students to the faculty and the administration, covering issues such as admissions, tuition costs, affirmative action, tenure, what should be taught, scholarship, teaching, and the erosion of public confidence in the university. Lucas argues that much of the controversy surrounding higher education stems from features of the academy forever open to disagreement and disputation. The sheer size of higher education (900,000 US faculty members and staff) requires that these questions continue to be asked.
Daedelus. Special Issue on the American Academic Profession.
Collection of intelligent and interesting essays well worth dipping into. Arthur Levine's essay, on how the academic profession is changing, points out that the mounting criticism of faculty workloads is not trueófaculty members work longer hours than their predecessors (the average is not 53 hours up from 44 hours in 1970). Burton E. Clark looks at the conflict between academic freedom and administrators, while R. M. Douglas' terrific essay "Postgraduate Education and the Professoriate" compares the abundance of new Ph.D.s with the ësurplus woman problem' of mid-nineteenth century England. Douglas's essay is full of alarming figures (the mean time-to-degree has risen from 9.22 years in 1980 to 12.21 years in 1992) and contains the terrifying news that some universities are now only granting job interviews to students with a book contract in hand. Douglas concludes, "While present conditions persist, it is simply irresponsible to encourage even the brightest undergraduates to consider a career as a university teacher" (147). Other essays worth checking out include Charles Bernstein's "A Blow is Like an Instrument" and Theodore R. Mitchell's "Border Crossings."
Pierre Bourdieu, Homo Academicus. Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1988.
Famous sociological study of contemporary French academic life including that of Foucault, Derrida, and Lacan. Bourdieu describes his work as ethnological observation carried out "to trap homo academicus, supreme classifier among classifiers, in the nest of his own classifications." The study reveals, among other things, that Althusser, Barthes, Foucault, Derrida, Deleuze etc. held marginal positions in the French university system which often disqualified them from doing research (in several cases they had not written a thesis) and more or less deprived them of or liberated them from power, privilege, and responsibility. Forced to cultivate strong connections with the outside world, these thinkers thus shared with many of their students a strong anti-institutional mood.
Susan A. Holton ed., Mending the Cracks in the Ivory Tower. Boston: Anker Pub. Co., 1998.
Collection of essays compiled by a professor of communication studies of little relevance for graduate students but still well worth a look. Includes an interesting overview of conflict in academia, which examines the fractures inherent within various relationships in the university (dept. chairs and support staff, faculty, deans and chairs, students and administration). The case studies also merit attention.
Robert and Jon Solomon, Up The University: Re-Creating Higher Education in America. Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley Publishing Co., 1993.
Iconoclastic assault on higher education that takes on a number of sacred cows, such as the belief that university used to be some kind of utopia before the advent of political correctness. The authors argue that the university should be opened up to older students so as to escape from its current demotion to an extension of high school, and suggests a whole raft of improvementsófrom truly valuing teaching ahead of research to eliminating tenure. As they have it, "Much of the research on campus today is only secondarily the pursuit of knowledge. It is the search for status, for notoriety. Much of it is sheer junk, although we know that everyone thinks of their own interests as utterly important and essential to the future of the world" (10). And further on: "It is immoral to attract and invite graduate students to study under the illusion that they will get a job when they are finished" (105). At times the Solomon brothers' cynicism is too much to take, but for the most part this is a well-organized and courageous tract.
Alvin Kernan, In Plato's Cave. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1999.
A sour memoir from a former Yale and Princeton professor of English. The later chapters on Princeton are interesting if unfair, and offer a genealogy of our own department, including yet another re-telling of that scandal. The tone is slightly pompous, occasionally spiteful, often frustrating and self-serving: Kernan tends to mistake possible personal failings for institutional ones and is a better story-teller than cultural guide. Yet his failings are somewhat redeemed by a lovely testimony to Stephen Greenblatt and a moving final reflection on life as an English professor.
Donald Kennedy, Academic Duty. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1997.
A memoir written to understand exactly what the mission of the university is and how best this might be accomplished. After lamenting the fact that most faculty are ignorant of the organization and functioning of their own campus, Kennedy offers a guided tour of many different aspects of the university, including a disheartening but realistic account of going on the job market, an absorbing narrative of post-war changes in academia, and a warning about the many bureaucratic duties which await the new faculty member. A book that demands to be read as a whole, Academic Duty is a well-written defense of the life of the professor, which Kennedy believes combines academic freedom with academic duty. Chapter four, which details the moral questions raised by the graduate student/professor relationship, is especially recommended.
James Axtell, The Pleasures of Academe: A Celebration and Defense of Higher Education. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1998.
Dull tour of academic life, offering little new. Less for an academic audience than the general public, informing them about what exactly academics do, who we are, why we do what we do, and why they should support higher education. The passages on Princeton are disconcerting, in that Axtell rates the town on a par with Berkeley and Ann Arbor and lavishes praise on the P-Rade. Perhaps he's never been here.
Linc. Fish, The Chalk Dust Collection: Thoughts and Reflections on Teaching in Colleges and Universities. Stillwater: New Forums Press, 1996.
Eclectic collection of short articles originally printed elsewhere. Less essays than psychological musings, the pieces are worth dipping into, although there is more than a touch of Jonathan Livingston Seagull about Fish's style. Good advice includes the art of pre-class conversation (ask students questions based on what is written on their T-shirts at the first meeting), and the reminder to convey to the students something of value in your first class.
Terry Caesar, Writing in Disguise: Academic Life in Subordination. Athens: Ohio State University Press, 1998.
A very peculiar attempt to render an insider's view of academia by an English professor at Clarion University, which reads professional and academic relationships and interactions as a series of texts. Ranging from teaching, to memos, to faculty hiring, to office politics, to administration, to sexual harassment, Caesar weaves an incomprehensible text of jargon, theory, and personal opinion.
Henry Rosorsky, The University: An Owner's Manual. New York: W. W. Norton & Co., 1990.
Curiously dated but optimistic paean to the university by the former dean of Harvard aimed at a non-academic audience. The chapter on graduate education is somewhat galling, in that we learn that "It is not all that hard to gain admission to a good graduate program" (149) and that many graduate students "lead grubby lives in some low-rent suburb far away from a central campus." No need to put your grubby fingers on this one.
Robert Wexelblatt, Professors at Play. New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press, 1991.
Take it or leave it collection of comic essays by this creative writer and professor at Boston University. Esoteric pieces on chairs, imitating Oscar Wilde, the computer, and Kafka and marriage. Not my cup of tea.
Peter Sacks, Generation X Goes to College. Chicago: Open Court, 1996.
Compulsively readable and brutally honest account of a former Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist's stint as a teacher of English at a community college. Sacks' experiences with bored students, jaded faculty, venal administrators, and demanding parents are a terrifying if jaundiced view of life outside of graduate school. Reading this won't make teaching any easier, but it might make you feel better about yourself (if worse about your chosen career). Sacks' casual sexism and demeaning attitude toward his students is infuriating, and his narrative is completely self-serving, but his candor about what actually goes on in the classroom is refreshing. However, his attempt to blame postmodernism for the state of affairs he describes is deeply unsatisfying.
W. Ross Winterowd, The English Dept.: A Personal and Institutional History. Carbondale: Southern Illinois University Press, 1998.
Absorbing and imaginative account of the rise of english studies that argues for the centrality of pedagogy. Winterowd focuses on the interrelationship between literary studies and composition, showing how rhetorical and compositional textbooks altered the make-up of English departments and counterbalancing the absence of rhetoric from histories such as Gerald Graff's Professing Literature. Winterowd's incorporation of personal anecdotes makes for a very readable if slightly idiosyncratic narrative, but his central questionówhy do we know so little about the majority of what we teachóis well taken.
James Phelan, Beyond the Tenure Track: Fifteen Months in the Life of an English Professor. Columbus: Ohio State University Press, 1991.
Fascinating diary by a tenured professor that opened my eyes to the way faculty members see and treat their graduate students. Phelan is both thoughtful and funny, if a little too parochial, and his book is a wonderful insight into the demands and rewards that (let's hope) await us.