Essay Power, racism, and the role of the university February 23, 2022 In October 2020, I sat down with historian Khalil Gibran Muhammad for an event about my book, The Campus Color Line. It was a lively conversation, ranging from discussions about reparations in higher education to questioning who should lead U.S. colleges and universities. Read More
Podcast Listen in: Rescuing Socrates January 19, 2022 What is the value of a liberal education? Traditionally characterized by a rigorous engagement with the classics of Western thought and literature, this approach to education is all but extinct in American universities, replaced by flexible distribution requirements and ever-narrower academic specialization. Read More
Essay Educating citizens November 11, 2021 The presidential election of 2016 prompted many academic leaders and faculty members to ponder the implications for their own institution. Read More
Video PUP Speaks: Rachel Gable on The Hidden Curriculum October 11, 2021 Are universities designed to trip up those individuals they should most be trying to include? Rachel Gable, PUP Speaks speaker and author of聽The Hidden Curriculum: First Generation Students at Legacy Universities, presents the results of her investigation into the difficulties first generation students must overcome to succeed. Read More
Podcast The Book Proposal Book: A Guide for Scholarly Authors September 15, 2021 The scholarly book proposal may be academia鈥檚 most mysterious genre. You have to write one to get published, but most scholars receive no training on how to do so鈥攁nd you may have never even seen a proposal before you鈥檙e expected to produce your own.聽 Read More
Podcast Moving Up without Losing Your Way August 24, 2021 Upward mobility through higher education has been an article of faith for generations of working-class, low-income, and immigrant college students. While this path usually entails financial sacrifices and hard work, little attention has been paid to the personal compromises such students make as they enter worlds vastly different from their own. Read More
Essay Pandemic lessons to take to college August 19, 2021 What have you missed most during the isolation of the pandemic? For most of us, it鈥檚 being in the same room with real humans, visiting with friends and family, and meeting new people. Read More
Essay Why are no-excuses schools moving beyond no excuses? August 09, 2021 This past year has forced schools to make significant changes to their practices. It has also prompted teachers and administrators to reimagine education and to rearticulate a new vision for their schools鈥攁s I鈥檝e seen at 鈥渘o excuses鈥� charter schools, which I have spent the last decade studying and observing. Read More
Essay Trying to get your scholarly book published? Some tips for maintaining perspective and staying true to your vision July 27, 2021 Developmental editor Laura Portwood-Stacer shares some key reminders you can return to when you find yourself in need of encouragement during the proposal and publication processes. Read More
Essay I spent a year and a half at a 鈥榥o-excuses鈥� charter school 鈥� this is what I saw May 19, 2021 Charter schools are 30 years old as of 2021, and the contentious debate about their merits and place in American society continues. Read More
Interview Navigating college as a first generation student: An interview with Alvina Atkinson May 12, 2021 There is a startling disparity in the number of female math PhDs and tenured professors, as evidenced by the most recent research from the American Mathematical Society showing the percentage of men vs. women who earned a PhD in Math and are tenured. Read More
Essay The paradoxical pleasures of reading literature April 21, 2021 Reading literature is a deeply dialectical experience, one that offers a variety of paradoxical pleasures. One of the most salient of these is that in reading well we both submit to the text and resist it. Read More
Podcast College presidents and the struggle for Black freedom December 01, 2020 Some of America鈥檚 most pressing civil rights issues鈥攄esegregation, equal educational and employment opportunities, housing discrimination, and free speech鈥攈ave been closely intertwined with higher education institutions. Read More
Essay Campus racism and how history can inform college leaders today September 24, 2020 College presidents have described the uncertainty within higher education due to the coronavirus pandemic and subsequent economic downturn as 鈥渦ncharted territory.鈥� Read More
Essay A virtual guide to Leaving Academia September 23, 2020 Two distinct challenges stood in my way when I began to consider leaving academia. The first was psychological. By that point in 2015, my entire identity was bound up in my scholarly work. Read More
