The Academic Life: Recent Episodes
New Books Network
Discussions of life in the academy Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/academic-life
Why are academics encouraged to be rigorous and exhausted, instead of innovative and engaged? What learning outcomes are we sacrificing by being so serious? Dr. Alison James joins us to share insights from her research and practice of emphasizing play in higher education. This episode explores:
How having fun can strengthen problem solving skills and learning outcomes.
Why higher education doesn’t take play, creativity, and fun seriously enough.
What led her to prioritize play when other educators weren’t.
A discussion of her books The Value of Play in Higher Education, and The Power of Play in Higher Education.
Our guest is: Dr. Alison James, who is Professor Emerita of the University of Winchester. She is the author of numerous articles and publications on play and creativity in university learning, and of the three year study The Value of Play in HE, supported by the Imagination Lab Foundation and available free here. She is the co-editor, with Chrissi Nerantzi, of The Power of Play in HE: Creativity in Tertiary Learning, and the co-author, with Stephen D. Brookfield, of Engaging Imagination: Helping Students Become Creative and Reflective Thinkers. Our host is: Dr. Christina Gessler, who is a freelance book editor. She has served as content director and producer of the Academic Life podcast since she launched it in 2020. The Academic Life is proud to be an academic partner of the New Books Network. Listeners to this episode may also be interested in:
Awe: The New Science of Everyday Wonder and How It Can Transform Your Life, by Dacher Keltner
Hanging Out: The Radical Power of Killing Time, by Sheila Liming
Enchantment: Awakening Wonder in an Anxious Age, by Katherine May
The Fun Habit: How the Pursuit of Joy and Wonder Can Change Your Life, by Dr. Mike Rucker
The Well-Gardened Mind: The Restorative Power of Nature, by Sue Stuart-Smith
This conversation about seeking meaning instead of happiness
This conversation about the importance of spending time in nature
This conversation about the need to take a break from overworking and underliving
This conversation about belonging and the science of creating human connections
This conversation about the value of living a “good-enough” life
Welcome to the Academic Life! Join us here each week to learn from experts inside and outside the academy, and around the world, and embrace the broad definition of what it truly means to live an academic life. Missed any of the 150+ Academic Life episodes? You can find them all archived here. And check back soon: we’re in the studio creating more episodes for your academic journey—and beyond! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/academic-life
Can your graduate school affect your mental health? Dr. Zoe Ayres joins us to discuss what she wishes she had known before starting graduate school, including:
What happens when you can’t access the hidden curriculum.
The myths we tell ourselves, and the systems that work against us.
How the pressures of graduate school can affect our mental health.
Why you need a to build a network of mentors outside your school.
Today’s book is: Managing Your Mental Health During Your PhD: A Survival Guide, by Dr. Zoe Ayres, which investigates why mental health issues are so common among the student population. Ayres looks honestly at the experiences of PhD students, and explores environmental factors that can impact mental health. These include the PhD student-supervisor relationship, the pressure to publish, and deep systemic problems in academia, such as racism, bullying and harassment. She provides resources students, while offering ideas for improvements that universities can make to ensure that academia is a place for all to thrive. Our guest is: Dr. Zoë Ayres, who studied for a PhD in chemistry at the University of Warwick, looking at using electrochemical boron doped diamond sensors to monitor environmental contaminants, before transitioning to industry. She worked for several years as a Senior Scientist in the water industry, before becoming Head of Research and Technology for a biotechnology start-up. She has transitioned back into academia, and is Head of Laboratory Facilities at the Open University, working with her team to manage over 180 laboratories. Zoë cares passionately about creating spaces for people to thrive in research. She is the author of Managing Your Mental Health During Your PhD: A Survival Guide, and of articles and peer-reviewed papers on improving research culture. She is co-Founder of Voices of Academia, an international blog designed to share the academic mental health experiences of academics from around the world. Our host is: Dr. Christina Gessler, who is a historian. Listeners to this episode may also be interested in:
The Field Guide to Grad School podcast
This podcast on protecting your wellbeing in graduate school
Academic Life episode on surviving the final year of your PhD program
Academic Life episode on campus mental wellness services
Academic Life podcast on Leaving Academia
Should I quit my PhD program? podcast
The podcast on dealing with rejection so you can grow your career
Academic Life episode on the benefits of learning from failure
Welcome to The Academic Life! Join us here each week to learn from today’s experts inside and outside the academy, and embrace the broad definition of what it truly means to live an academic life. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/academic-life
What is a Whisper Network? What can you gain from being in one, and what is expected of the network members? Not everybody is invited is into a Whisper Network—which is part of how they keep members safe. But it’s also how many of the vulnerable are further left out. Today, Dr. Carrie Ann Johnson joins us to share her research on Whisper Networks, and their role in bridging the safety gap for vulnerable people. This episode explores:
Why formal reporting systems fail.
How whisper networks can offer safeguards.
Why some people who need to be in a whisper network aren’t in one.
Who gets left out, and why.
A discussion of the article “Whisper Networks Thrive When Women Lose Faith in Formal Systems of Reporting Sexual Harassment,” which you can access here.
CW: Examples of harassment (including sexual harassment) are included throughout this episode. Our guest is: Dr. Carrie Ann Johnson, who earned a Ph.D. in Rhetoric and Professional communication from Iowa State University and received the Iowa State Research Excellence Award for her dissertation, "Whisper Networks: Sexual Harassment Protection Through Informal Networks." She earned a master’s degree in American Studies and a bachelor’s degree in journalism and public relations, both from Utah State University. She loves digging into difficult topics and opening doors for deeper contemplation about our lived realities. She is the Research and Outreach Coordinator for the Catt Center for Women in Politics, Iowa State University, and is on the editorial board of BONDS, where you can read more her work on whisper networks in organizations. Our host is: Dr. Christina Gessler, who holds a PhD in history. She is a freelance book editor. She has served as content director and producer of the Academic Life podcast since she launched it in 2020. The Academic Life is proud to be an academic partner of the New Books Network. Listeners to this episode may also be interested in:
This conversation on Who Gets Believed
This conversation with Rebekah Tausig on Sitting Pretty
This conversation on feminist communication strategies
This conversation on Black Boy Out of Time
This conversation with Virgie Tovar on The Right to Remain Fat
This conversation with Jessica McCrory Calarco on The Field Guide to Grad School
This conversation on structural inequality and barriers to tenure for women of color
This conversation about quitting a PhD program
This conversation on community-building and How We Show Up
Welcome to the Academic Life! Join us here each week to learn from experts inside and outside the academy, and around the world, and embrace the broad definition of what it truly means to live an academic life. Missed any of the 150+ Academic Life episodes? You can find them all archived here. And check back soon: we’re in the studio preparing more episodes for your academic journey—and beyond! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/academic-life
You’ve probably heard by now that there’s a hidden curriculum in academia. But it’s called hidden for a reason—only some [privileged] people are in the know about what it contains. And when you can’t find the answers you need, earning your degree is much harder than it should be. Today, higher education podcast host Dr. Ethel Tungohan of the Academic Aunties joins Dr. Christina Gessler, the producer and host of the Academic Life, to talk about why they are so passionate about bridging this knowledge gap. This episode explores:
The importance of seeing the structural barriers and gatekeepers.
Why the problem is not you, it’s them.
How being left out of important conversations harms women, first gen students, and people of color in academia.
Some advice that can help you survive and thrive in academia.
Our guest is: Dr. Ethel Tungohan, who is Associate Professor of Politics and Social Science at York University. She received her doctoral degree in Political Science and Women and Gender Studies from the University of Toronto. Her research looks at migrant labor, specifically assessing migrant activism. Her work has been published in academic journals such as the International Feminist Journal of Politics; Politics, Groups, and Identities; and Canadian Ethnic Studies. Dr. Tungohan specializes in socially engaged research and is actively involved in grassroots migrant organizations such as Gabriela-Ontario and Migrante-Canada. She is the host of the Academic Aunties. Our host is: Dr. Christina Gessler, who is a freelance book editor. She has served as content director and producer of the Academic Life podcast since she launched it in 2020. The Academic Life is proud to be an academic partner of the New Books Network. Listeners to this episode may also be interested in:
Care Activism: Migrant Domestic Workers, Movement-Building, and Communities of Care, by Ethel Tungohan
Containing Diversity: Canada and the Politics of Immigration in the 21st Century, by Yasmeen Abu-Laban, Ethel Tungohan, and Christina Gabriel
Filipinos in Canada: Disturbing Invisibility, by Roland Sintos Coloma, Bonnie McElhinny, Ethel Tungohan, John Paul Catungal and Lisa M. Davidson
The Academic Life podcast on community-building and How We Show Up, with Mia Birdsong
The Academic Life episode on the Field Guide to Grad School
The Academic Life episode on barriers to tenure for women of color
The Academic Life podcast on feminist communication strategies
The Academic Life podcast on how to stop overworking and underliving
The Academic Life podcast about quitting a PhD program
The Academic Life episode on The Grant Writing Guide
Welcome to The Academic Life! On the Academic Life channel we are inspired and informed by today’s knowledge-producers, working inside and outside the academy, and around the world. Find us on Twitter: @AcademicLifeNBN. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/academic-life
What defines the complicated relationship between brothers and sisters—is it lineage? Love? Obligation? Friendship? Need? And why did so many parents expect their offspring to share and share alike? Historian Amy Harris joins us to talk about:
What led to her interest in researching sibling relationships.
Why her book project seemed to find her in an archive in England.
How the early stresses on sibling relationships plagued them in later life.
Why parents’ behavior affects how sibling relationships function.
A discussion of the book Siblinghood and Social Relations in Georgian England: Share and Share Alike.
Today’s book is: Siblinghood and Social Relations in Georgian England: Share and Share Alike (Manchester University Press, 2016), Dr. Amy Harris, which examines the impact sisters and brothers had on eighteenth-century English families and society. Using evidence from letters, diaries, probate disputes, court transcripts, prescriptive literature and portraiture, Dr. Harris argues that although parents’ wills often recommended their children 'share and share alike', siblings had to constantly negotiate between prescribed equality and practiced inequalities. This is the first monograph-length analysis of early modern siblings in England, and is at the forefront of sibling studies. The book is intended for a broad audience of scholars – particularly those interested in families, women, children and eighteenth-century social and cultural history. Our guest is: Dr. Amy Harris, who is an associate professor of history and family/history genealogy at BYU, where she also serves as the director for the Family History Program. She is the author of Siblinghood and Social Relations in Georgian England, and the co-editor of Family Life in England and America, 1690-1820. She is currently working on her new book: A Single View: Family Life and the Unmarried in Georgian England, which analyzes family relations across the lifespan of never-married men and women. Our host is: Dr. Christina Gessler, who holds a PhD in American history. She has served as content director and producer of the Academic Life since she launched it in 2020. The Academic Life is proud to be an academic partner of the New Books Network. Listeners to this episode may also be interested in:
This episode on the detective work of research
This episode on reclaiming lost voices and recovering history
This episode on writing feminist biography
This episode about the House on Henry Street and public-facing humanities
This episode on how our pets are family members
This episode on archival etiquette and what to know before you go
This episode on launching an online history conference
This episode on where research really begins
Welcome to the Academic Life! Join us here each week to learn from experts inside and outside the academy, and around the world, and embrace the broad definition of what it truly means to live an academic life. Missed any of the 150+ Academic Life episodes? You can find them all archived here. And check back soon: we’re busy in the studio preparing new episodes for your academic journey—and beyond! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/academic-life
Does listening to an audio book count as reading? Can audio books help democratize education? Will more academic presses be creating audio versions of their books? Princeton University Press audio books editor Danielle D’Orlando joins us to share about the exciting future of audio books for academia. More about PUP Audio: In 2018, the Princeton University Press team launched the first university press audiobook program, Princeton Audio. Four years and almost a thousand hours of published audiobooks later, they published their hundredth audiobook. Along the way, they have had the privilege of learning from their trusted partners in audio, from authors and agents to narrators, producers, proof-listeners, directors, and engineers. Their hundredth audio production is “only the tip of the iceberg”, which also includes co-publications with other publishers, audiobooks produced by partners new and old including Audible, Recorded Books, Blackstone, University Press Audio and many others. More about our guest: Danielle D’Orlando is the Curator of Audio at Princeton University Press, home to the first in-house university press audiobook division: Princeton Audio. She spent much of her career at Yale University Press where she spearheaded their audio program, including the development of Yale Press Audio. She has an M.S. in Publishing and lives in Connecticut with her spouse, two children, and, as featured in today’s episode, her 10-year-old dog, Lacey. More about our host: Dr. Christina Gessler holds a PhD in history, which she uses to explore what stories we tell and what happens to those we never tell. She is a freelance book editor, and has served as content director and producer of the Academic Life podcast since she launched it in 2020. The Academic Life is proud to be an academic partner of the New Books Network. Listeners to this episode may be interested in:
Becoming the Writer You Already Are, by Michelle Boyd
The Grant Writing Guide, by Betty S. Lai
The Book Proposal Book, by Laura Portwood-Stacer
Writing with Pleasure, by Helen Sword
How To Impress an Acquisitions Editor
The libro playlist of African-American studies audio books for AP students
Listeners may be interested in these Academic Life episodes:
This conversation on revising your dissertation for press submission
This conversation on determining if you need a developmental editor
This discussion of the top ten things to fix in your manuscript before submitting it
This conversation on university press submissions and the peer review process
This conversation on marketing your scholarly book
This conversation about how to write a book proposal
This conversation explaining open-access publishing
This discussion about doing archival research
This conversation about Where Research Begins
Welcome to the Academic Life! Join us here to learn from experts inside and outside the academy, and around the world, and embrace the broad definition of what it truly means to live an academic life. Missed any of the 150+ Academic Life episodes? You can find them all archived here. And check back soon: we’re in the studio preparing more episodes for your academic journey—and beyond! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/academic-life
Today’s book is: Forager: Field Notes for Surviving a Family Cult, published by Algonquin Books, and written by Michelle Dowd. Forager is a memoir which showcases Michelle’s life growing up on an isolated mountain in California as part of an apocalyptic cult, and how she found her way out of poverty and illness by drawing on the gifts of the wilderness. Our guest is: Michelle Dowd, who is a journalism professor and contributor to The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, The LA Book Review, TIME Magazine, The Alpinist, ORION, LA Parent Mag, Catapult, and other publications. She was 2022 Faculty Lecturer of the Year at Chaffey College, where she founded the award-winning literary journal The Chaffey Review, advises Student Media, and teaches poetry and critical thinking in the California Institutions for Men and Women in Chino. She was a Longreads Top 5 for her article on the relationship between environmentalism and hope in The Alpinist, nominated twice for the Pushcart Prize, and her Modern Love column in The New York Times inspired a book contract. Michelle was raised on a mountain in the Angeles National Forest where she learned to identify flora and fauna, navigate by the stars, forage for edible plants, and care for the earth. She is the author of Forager: Field Notes on Surviving a Family Cult. Learn more about her at https://www.michelledowd.org/ Our show host and producer is: Dr. Christina Gessler, who holds a PhD in history, which she uses to explore what stories we tell and what happens to those we never tell. She has continuously served as the show host and producer of the Academic Life podcast since she launched it in 2020. Academic Life is proud to be an academic partner of the New Books Network. Listeners to this episode may also be interested in:
This Time magazine article on growing up in a cult and survival skills
Becoming the Writer You Already Are, by Michelle Boyd
The Lost Journals of Sacajawea, by Debra Magpie Earling
The Business of Being a Writer, by Jane Friedman
We Are Too Many: A Memoir, by Hannah Pittard
The Killer Whale Journals: Our Love and Fear of Orcas, by Hanne Strager
Writing with Pleasure, by Helen Sword
Welcome to Academic Life: The podcast for your academic journey and beyond! Join us to learn from experts inside and outside the academy, and around the world, and embrace the broad definition of what it means to live an academic life. If you’d like to further support the show, please consider enjoying your morning coffee in an Academic Life mug. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/academic-life
Why are students encouraged to move far from home and family, to attend “the best school”? Why aren’t the emotional and physical costs of this disclosed to students and their families? Dr. Jorge Juan Rodríguez joins us to talk about his article, “Lessons From My Working Class Parents,” and the graduate school sacrifices he wouldn’t make. This episode explores:
The personal costs first gen students make when they leave family behind.
How lived experience can influence your field of study.
Why stories from his parents led to his dissertation topic.
What led him to prioritize his family and his home life in graduate school.
Lessons from his parents.
Our guest is: Dr. Jorge Juan Rodriguez, who is the son of two Puerto Rican migrants. He grew up in an affordable housing community outside of Hartford, Connecticut. His lived experiences in that community influenced his academic work, leading him to degrees in biblical studies, liberation theologies, and a Ph.D. in history where he specialized in the intersections of religion and social movements. While engaging public scholarship and teaching courses in U.S. Religious History, Latinx Religious Activism, and 20th Century Social Movements, Dr. Rodríguez also serves as the Associate Director for Strategic Programming at the Hispanic Summer Program. He consults with institutions of higher education across the country on matters of policy development, grant systems, curricular reviews, social media management, and internal operations. In all that he does, he invites people to critically assess the histories that shape them, the communities that ground them, the challenges of our current systems, and the possibilities of dreaming new systems into existence. Our host is: Dr. Christina Gessler, a historian of women and gender. Listeners to this episode may also be interested in:
How We Show Up: Reclaiming Family, Friendship and Community, by Mia Birdsong
How to Human: An Incomplete Manual for Living in a Messed-Up World, by Alice Connor
Set Boundaries, Find Peace: A Guide to Reclaiming Yourself, by Nedra Glover Tawwab
Dr. Jorge Juan Rodriguez's blog post entitled Careerism and the Lessons of My Working-Class Parents
The Academic Life podcast on community-building and How We Show Up, with Mia Birdsong
The Academic Life episode on the Field Guide to Grad School
The Academic Life episode with Virgie Tovar on body acceptance and ending fatphobia
The Academic Life episode on barriers to tenure for women of color
The Academic Life podcast on the benefits of living a "good-enough" life
The Academic Life podcast on belonging and the science of creating connection and bridging divides
Welcome to The Academic Life! On the Academic Life channel we are inspired and informed by today’s knowledge-producers, working inside and outside the academy. Find us on Twitter: @AcademicLifeNBN. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/academic-life
What happens when you come of age in mid-life? Why is so challenging to figure out your own past? Can you find the permission to be weird? (And can you be happy if you don’t?) Memoirist and English professor Hannah Pittard joins us to explore:
If the personal is ever too personal.
What is a collective memory.
The imperfect way we perceive our own experiences.
Taking risks in writing and in life.
The memoir We Are Too Many.
Today’s book is: We Are Too Many, a memoir about a marriage-ending affair between award-winning author Hannah Pittard’s husband and her best friend. An innovative and genre-bending look at a marriage and friendship gone wrong, Professor Pittard recalls a decade’s worth of conversations that are fast-paced, intimate, and reveal the vulnerabilities inherent in any friendship or marriage. She takes stock not only of her own past and future but also of the larger, more universal experiences they connect with—from the depths of female rage to the ways we outgrow certain people. We Are Too Many examines the unfiltered parts of the female experience, as well as the possibilities in starting life over after a catastrophe. Our guest is: Professor Hannah Pittard, who is the author Visible Empire, Reunion, Listen to Me, The Fates Will Find Their Way, and the memoir We Are Too Many. She is a professor of English at the University of Kentucky. Our host is: Dr. Christina Gessler, who is a historian. Listeners to this episode may also be interested in:
Becoming the Writer You Already Are, by Michelle R. Boyd
Story Genius, by Lisa Cron
Writing Down the Bones, by Natalie Goldberg
Revise, by Pamela Haag
Bird by Bird, by Anne Lamott
Academic Life episode with Professor Morgan Talty about Night of the Living Rez
Academic Life episode with novelist Erica Bauermeister, who left academia
Academic Life episode with Nancy Thayer, an English professor who left academia to write full time
Academic Life episode on writing memoir with Dr. Rebekah Tausig
Academic Life episode on Shoutin in the Fire with Dante Stewart
Welcome to The Academic Life! Join us here each week to learn from today’s experts inside and outside the academy, and embrace the broad definition of what it truly means to live an academic life. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/academic-life
From Dr. Painter restoring the words of Sojourner Truth’s original speech, to VP-candidate Kamala Harris enduring through repeated interruptions at her debate, to Katie Porter silently reading The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck at the Speaker of the House election—American women persist in speaking over their censors. While this takes courage, it is neither new or modern. American women have spoken in public spaces for hundreds of years, on myriad subjects, in venues of varying size, through a variety of methods. So why are their speeches consistently omitted from anthologies? Today’s book is: Speaking While Female: 75 Extraordinary Speeches by American Women, by Dana Rubin. This anthology reexamines the American story as it unfolded through the centuries, revealing that in every time and place and at every critical juncture, women were speaking. Women from all backgrounds—some whose names you already know and others who will be introduced to you here—spoke in every corner of the land, and in a variety of ways. This volume offers a corrective to the story we have been told about whose ideas and which voices shaped the nation. Today’s guest is: Dana Rubin, who is the author of Speaking While Female: 75 Extraordinary Speeches by American Women. She is the creator of the Speaking While Female Speech Bank, and the founder of the Leadership Communications Roundtable. Learn more about Dana Rubin and the speech bank here. Our host is: Dr. Christina Gessler, who holds a PhD in American history. She has served as content director and producer of the Academic Life since she launched it in 2020. The Academic Life is proud to be an academic partner of the New Books Network. Listeners to this episode may also be interested in:
Creating Black Americans: African American History and Its Meanings, 1619 to the Present, by Nell Irvin Painter
Learn more about Emma Willard and the Willard School here
This episode on reclaiming lost voices and recovering women’s history
This episode on feminist communication strategies
This episode on overcoming public-speaking anxieties
This episode on underrepresentation in the archive
This episode discussing the anniversary of the 19th amendment with two curators from the Smithsonian
Welcome to the Academic Life! Join us here each week to learn from experts inside and outside the academy, and around the world, and embrace the broad definition of what it truly means to live an academic life. Missed any of the 150+ Academic Life episodes? You can find them all archived here. And check back soon: we’re busy in the studio preparing new episodes for your academic journey—and beyond! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/academic-life
When we teach about how women go into politics, how are we looking for the places and ways that women get involved? Are we giving enough consideration to small towns, and to grassroots work? Heather Lende joins us to share what it was like to run for office in her Alaskan town. This episode considers:
How she ended up in Alaska.
What led her to run for office.
Why she was subjected to a recall.
How she rebuilt relationships with neighbors who voted against her, and what happened when she couldn’t.
A discussion of the book Of Bears and Ballots: An Alaskan Adventure in Small Town Politics.
Today’s book is: Of Bears and Ballots: An Alaskan Adventure in Small Town Politics, by Heather Lende. Lende was one of the thousands of women inspired to take a more active role in politics during the past few years. But tiny, breathtakingly beautiful Haines—a place accessible from the nearest city, Juneau, only by boat or plane—isn’t the sleepy town that it appears to be. From a bitter debate about the expansion of the fishing boat harbor, to the matter of how to stop bears from rifling through garbage on Main Street, to the recall campaign that targeted three assembly members, Lende’s book reveals that small town politics aren’t so small. In her book, we witness up close the nitty-gritty of passing legislation, trying to uphold the lofty ideals of our republic, and just how the polarizing national politics of our era played out in one small town. Of Bears and Ballots: An Alaskan Adventure in Small-Town Politics considers what living in a community really means, and what we owe one another. Our guest is: Heather Lende , who has contributed essays and commentary to NPR, the New York Times, and National Geographic Traveler, among other newspapers and magazines, and is a former contributing editor at Woman’s Day. A columnist for the Alaska Dispatch News, she is the obituary writer for the Chilkat Valley News in Haines and the recipient of the Suzan Nightingale McKay Best Columnist Award from the Alaska Press Club. Her previous bestselling books include Find the Good; Take Good Care of the Garden and the Dogs; and If You Lived Here, I'd Know Your Name. Her website is heatherlende.com. Our host is: Dr. Christina Gessler, who holds a PhD in American history. She has served as content director and producer of the Academic Life since she launched it in 2020. The Academic Life is proud to be an academic partner of the New Books Network. Listeners to this episode may also be interested in:
This episode on feminist communication strategies
This episode on overcoming public-speaking anxieties
This episode on belonging and the science of bridging divides
This episode on dealing with rejections
This episode on the fight to save the town
This episode discussing the anniversary of the 19th amendment with two curators from the Smithsonian
Welcome to the Academic Life! Join us here each week to learn from experts inside and outside the academy, and around the world, and embrace the broad definition of what it truly means to live an academic life. Missed any of the 150+ Academic Life episodes? You can find them all archived here. And check back soon: we’re busy in the studio preparing new episodes for your academic journey—and beyond! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/academic-life
Like wolves, orcas have been loved and loathed throughout history. What created this complicated relationship between humans and whales? And have we changed our attitudes toward them and their habitat needs in time to save them? Science writer and biologist Hanne Strager joins us to share:
How a conversation in a cafeteria led her to remote corners of the world.
Why her sister helped her be in two places at once.
How she learned about whale dialects.
Why the loss of a pod member matters so much.
A discussion of the book The Killer Whale Journals: Our Love and Fear of Orcas (Johns Hopkins University Press, 2023).
Today’s book is: The Killer Whale Journals: Our Love and Fear of Orcas, by Hanne Strager, which opens as intrepid biology student Hanne Strager volunteers to be the cook on a small research vessel in Norway's Lofoten Islands. This trip would inspire a decades-long journey to learn about the lives of killer whales—and an exploration of people's complex relationships with the biggest predators on earth. In The Killer Whale Journals, Strager brings us along with her as she battles the stormy Arctic seas of northern Norway with fellow biologists intent on decoding whale-song and dialects, interviews First Nations conservationists in Vancouver, observes Inuit hunters in Greenland, and witnesses the dismantling of black market "whale jails" in the Russian wilderness of Kamchatka. Featuring photographs from Paul Nicklen, The Killer Whale Journals reveals rare and intimate moments of connection with these fierce, brilliant predators. Our guest is: Hanne Strager, who is a biologist, whale researcher, and the future Director of Exhibitions and Visitor Experience at The Whale, a museum in Norway set to open in 2025. She cofounded a whale center in Norway and has served as the Director of Exhibitions at the Natural History Museum of Denmark. She is the author of A Modest Genius: The Story of Darwin’s Life and How His Ideas Changed Everything, and The Killer Whale Journals: Our Love and Fear of Orcas. Our host is: Dr. Christina Gessler, who holds a PhD in American history. She has served as creator and producer of the Academic Life since she launched it in 2020. The Academic Life is proud to be an academic partner of New Books Network. Listeners to this episode may also be interested in:
This episode on wasps with Seirian Sumner
This episode on Climate Change with Dr. Shuang-ye Wu
This episode on why time spent in nature is good for you
This episode on how our pets are family members
This episode on gender bias in the study of science
This episode on gender bias in medical school and the ER
Welcome to the Academic Life! Join us here each week to learn from experts inside and outside the academy, and around the world, and embrace the broad definition of what it truly means to live an academic life. Missed any of the 150+ Academic Life episodes? You can find them all archived here. And check back soon: we’re busy in the studio preparing new episodes for your academic journey—and beyond! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/academic-life
When we are tethered to our responsibilities, it can feel like we need someone to give us permission to go have fun. Maybe some of us have begun to forget what “fun” is? And what it feels like to have it? Have we talked ourselves into the idea that fun is just for kids…and that truly responsible people don’t have time for it? Dr. Mike Rucker joins us to explain the value of fun for our personal and our professional life. It turns out, it’s even good for our health. Today’s book is: The Fun Habit: How the Pursuit of Joy and Wonder Can Change Your Life, by Dr. Mike Rucker. Fun is an action you can take here and now, practically anywhere, anytime. Through research and science, we know fun is enormously beneficial to our physical and psychological well-being, yet fun’s absence from our modern lives is striking. Grounded in current research, accessible science, and practical recommendations, The Fun Habit explains how you can build having fun into an actionable and effortless habit and why doing so will help you become a healthier, more joyful, more productive person. Our guest is: Dr. Mike Rucker is an organizational psychologist and charter member of the International Positive Psychology Association whose work has been published in the International Journal of Workplace Health Management and Nutrition Research. His ideas about fun and health have been featured in The Wall Street Journal, Forbes, Vox, Thrive Global, mindbodygreen, and more. Named one of ten digital changemakers by the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society, he currently serves as a senior leader at Active Wellness. Learn more at MichaelRucker.com. He is the author of The Fun Habit: How the Pursuit of Joy and Wonder Can Change Your Life. Our host is: Dr. Christina Gessler, a historian of women and gender. Listeners to this episode may be interested in:
Belonging, by Dr. Geoffrey Cohen
It’s a Wonderful Life: Insights on Finding a Meaningful Existence, by Dr. Frank Martela
The Well-Gardened Mind: The Restorative Power of Nature, by Dr. Sue Stuart Smith
This podcast on the value of spending time outside
Academic Life podcast on how to stop chasing happiness and make a meaningful life instead
Academic Life podcast on belonging and the science of creating connections
Academic Life podcast on navigating difficult conversations
Academic Life episode on a college baseball league that puts fun first
Welcome to The Academic Life! Join us here each week, to learn from experts inside and outside the academy, and embrace the broad definition of what it means to lead an academic life. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/academic-life
Today’s book is: The Lost Journals of Sacajewea (Milkweed Editions, 2023), by Debra Magpie Earling, which is a devastatingly beautiful novel that challenges prevailing historical narratives of Sacajewea. Among the most memorialized women in American history, Sacajewea served as interpreter and guide for Lewis and Clark’s Corps of Discovery. In this visionary novel, acclaimed Indigenous author Debra Magpie Earling brings this mythologized figure vividly to life, casting unsparing light on the men who brutalized her and recentering Sacajewea as the arbiter of her own history. Raised among the Lemhi Shoshone, in this telling the young Sacajewea is bright and bold, growing strong from the hard work of “learning all ways to survive”: gathering berries, water, roots, and wood; butchering buffalo, antelope, and deer; catching salmon and snaring rabbits; weaving baskets and listening to the stories of her elders. When her village is raided and her beloved Appe and Bia are killed, Sacajewea is kidnapped and then gambled away to Charbonneau, a French Canadian trapper. Heavy with grief, Sacajewea learns how to survive at the edge of a strange new world teeming with fur trappers and traders. When Lewis and Clark’s expedition party arrives, Sacajewea knows she must cross a vast and brutal terrain with her newborn son, the white man who owns her, and a company of men who wish to conquer and commodify the world she loves. Written in lyrical, dreamlike prose, The Lost Journals of Sacajewea is an astonishing work of art and a powerful tale of perseverance—the Indigenous woman’s story that hasn’t been told. Keywords from today’s episode include: Sacajewea, Agai River, Appe, Bia, Charbonneau, Lewis and Clark, The Journals of Lewis and Clark, Otter Woman, Pop Pank, MMIW, Lemhi Shoshone, Shoshone, Mandan, Hidasta. Today’s guest is: Debra Magpie Earling, who is the author of The Lost Journals of Sacajewea. An earlier version of The Lost Journals of Sacajewea was written in verse and produced as an artist book during the bicentennial of the Lewis and Clark expedition. She has received both a National Endowment for the Arts grant and a Guggenheim Fellowship. She retired from the University of Montana where she was named professor emeritus in 2021. She is Bitterroot Salish. Our host is: Dr. Christina Gessler, who is a freelance book editor. She has served as content director and producer of the Academic Life podcast since she launched it in 2020. The Academic Life is proud to be an academic partner of the New Books Network. Listeners to this episode may be interested in:
Perma Red, by Debra Magpie Earling
Sacred Wilderness, by Susan Power
Grass Dancer, by Susan Power
Night of the Living Rez, by Morgan Talty
Indian Horse, by Richard Wagamese
Embers, by Richard Wagamese
Listeners may also be interested in:
This podcast with Morgan Talty discussing Night of the Living Rez
This podcast with Michelle Cyca about Misrepresentation on Campus
This podcast with the editor of Tribal Colleges Journal of American Indian Higher Education
This podcast on The Diné Reader: An Anthology of Navajo Literature
Welcome to the Academic Life! Join us here each week to learn from experts inside and outside the academy, and around the world, and embrace the broad definition of what it truly means to live an academic life. Missed any of the 150+ Academic Life episodes? You can find them all archived here. And check back soon: we’re in the studio preparing more episodes for your academic journey—and beyond! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/academic-life
Have you ever been ghosted in academia? The mentor who no longer replies when you reach out, the collaborators who mysteriously stopped collaborating with you, the search committee that said you were a top candidate and then stopped communicating with you—these are academic ghosts. They are people who are important to your career and suddenly stop responding to you without warning or explanation. What makes academic ghosting different than romantic ghosting? And why does it seem to hurt so much more? Dr. Andrea Andrzejewski joins us to explain:
The systems in academia that make some forms of ghosting inevitable.
What to do about it.
The lingering pain and shame that being ghosted causes.
Why your ghoster may reappear but they won’t apologize.
The ethical and financial reasons to address the issues that perpetuate ghosting.
Our guest is: Dr. Alicia Andrzejewski, an assistant professor of English at the College of William & Mary. She is a scholar of early modern literature and culture; queer, feminist, and critical race theory; and the medical humanities. Her work has appeared in Shakespeare Studies, Shakespeare Bulletin, The Chronicle, Literary Hub, American Theater, The Boston Globe, Catapult, and others. Her current book project is Rude-Growing Briars: Queer Pregnancy in Shakespeare’s Plays, which argues for the transgressive force of pregnancy in his oeuvre and expansive ways in which modern people thought about the pregnant body. Our host is: Dr. Christina Gessler, who is a historian. Listeners to this episode may also be interested in:
"The Sad Humiliations of Academic Ghosting," by Alicia Andrzejewski, PhD
The Field Guide to Graduate School, by Jessica McCrory Calarco
Candid Advice for New Faculty Members, by Marybeth Gasman
The Latinx Guide to Graduate School, by Genevieve Negron-Gonzales and Magdalena Barrera
Who Gets Believed, by Dina Nayeri
Academic Life episode on Belonging
Academic Life episode on quitting a PhD program
Academic Life episode on the long road to the dream job in academia
Academic Life episode on mistreatment of women of color in academia
Academic Life episode on dealing with rejection
Academic Life episode on Preparing for Difficult Conversations
Academic Life episode on almost leaving academia
Welcome to The Academic Life! Join us here each week to learn from today’s experts inside and outside the academy, and embrace the broad definition of what it truly means to live an academic life. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/academic-life
Did we miss a fork in the road somewhere? What if our lives are going just fine, but we still want to hunt for the pieces of ourselves we’ve dropped along the way? Is it too late to claim more for ourselves? CEO and author Alisha Fernandez Miranda joins us to talk about what she gained by loosening her grip on deliverables, deadlines, and external affirmations of success. In this episode we explore the value of internships, mishaps, and what it means to trust in your dreams and in yourself. Today’s book is: My What If Year (Zibby Books, 2023) a memoir by Alisha Fernandez Miranda, about pausing her career to take four internships in three different countries, and finally explore the “What If” of her once-discarded—but still very real—dreams. With the tentative blessing of her husband, her parents, and her kids, she spent one year asking “What if?” and getting far more answers to that question than she ever expected. In My What If Year, she begins to question if exhaustion is a reasonable price to pay for anything, why she was so afraid of failure, and what success could look like on her own terms. For anyone who’s ever felt stuck, My What If Year proposes that it’s not too late to look for roads untraveled. Today’s guest is: Alisha Fernandez Miranda, who is a graduate of Harvard, and the London School of Economics. She is the author of My What If Year, and the co-author of 50 Years: Kinloch Lodge. She is the ex-CEO and current Chair at I.G. Advisors, and is the host of Quit Your Day Job, a podcast that takes you behind the scenes of your dream jobs. Alisha is a Cuban-American, born and raised in Miami, and has spent her adult life in New York and London; she is currently based in Scotland. She speaks and writes regularly on women’s empowerment, social impact and sustainability. Her writing has been published in Vogue, Romper, The Good Trade, Insider and more. Our host is: Dr. Christina Gessler, who is a freelance book editor. She has served as content director and producer of the Academic Life podcast since she launched it in 2020. The Academic Life is proud to be an academic partner of the New Books Network. Listeners to this episode may be interested in:
Podcast on the benefits of doing less, and stressing less
Podcast on living the "good-enough" life
Podcast on why a DIY retreat might help you
Podcast on difficult conversations
Podcast asking about quitting a PhD program
How We Show Up: Reclaiming Family, Friendship and Community, by Mia Birdsong
Weird: The Power of Being an Outsider in an Insider World, by Olga Khazan
You Could Make This Place Beautiful: A Memoir, by Maggie Smith
What If Year reading guide
Welcome to the Academic Life! Join us here each week to learn from experts inside and outside the academy, and around the world, and embrace the broad definition of what it truly means to live an academic life. Missed any of the 150+ Academic Life episodes? You can find them all archived here. And check back soon: we’re in the studio preparing more episodes for your academic journey—and beyond! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/academic-life
We all know that academic integrity matters. But do we all agree on what academic integrity really is? Somewhere beyond the nuances and gray areas is blatant cheating. And that’s always wrong . . . but what if your professor asks you to cheat? This episode explores:How well students understand academic integrity.Why Dr. Heng Hartse designed a course that required cheating.What he and his students learned from it.How it feels to cheat, and why some students feel forced to do it.A discussion of the article “What Happened When I Made My Students Cheat.”Our guest is: Dr. Joel Heng Hartse, who teaches at Simon Fraser University. He wrote Sects, Love, and Rock and Roll (Cascade Books, 2010); Dancing About Architecture is a Reasonable Things to Do (Cascade Books, 2022); co-authored with Jiang Dong Perspectives on Teaching English at Colleges and Universities in China (TESOL Press, 2015); and is the author of the article “What Happened When I Made My Students Cheat,” published in Inside Higher Ed (November 9, 2022).Our host is: Dr. Christina Gessler, a historian of women and gender.Listeners to this episode may also be interested in:Intellectual Appetite, by Paul Griffiths“Dishonest Behavior in the Classroom and Clinical Setting: Perceptions and Engagement” by Emily L. McClung and Joanna Kraenzle Schneider“Literacy Brokers and the Emotional Work of Mediation,” by Ligia Ana Mihut, in Literacy and Composition Studies, volume 2, number 1 (2014)Jeffrey Moro’s blog article “Against Cop Shit”The New York Times article on the aftermath of “Harvard cheating scandal”This podcast on learning from your failed researchWelcome to The Academic Life! On the Academic Life channel we embrace a broad definition of what it means to lead an academic life. We view education as a transformative human endeavor and are inspired by today’s knowledge-producers working inside and outside the academy. Find us on Twitter: @AcademicLifeNBN.Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoicesSupport our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/academic-life
Need help curating a list of Holocaust books for your students or library patrons? What’s on your shelf? What should be there? This podcast episode explores:
The most commonly assigned Holocaust books.
Why some of them are books you should never assign.
Recommendations for books to assign, read, and share.
Gaps in the literature.
Gatekeepers of higher education.
Susan’s wish-list.
Our guest is: Susan Kusel, who is the Library Director at Temple Rodef Shalom in Falls Church, Virginia. She is also an author, a children’s book consultant and a former independent bookstore buyer. She has served on multiple book award committees including the Caldecott Medal and as the chair of the Sydney Taylor Book Award. She is a former board member of the Association of Jewish Libraries. Her debut picture book, The Passover Guest won the Sydney Taylor Book Award. Our host is: Dr. Christina Gessler, a historian of women and gender. Listeners to this episode may also be interested in:
Deborah Hopkinson, We Must Not Forget
Dita Kraus, A Delayed Life: The True Story of the Librarian of Auschwitz
Susan Kusel, The Passover Guest
Primo Levi, The Periodic Table
Doreen Rappaport, Beyond Courage: The Untold Story of Jewish Resistance During the Holocaust
David Safier, 28 Days: A Novel of Resistance in the Warsaw Ghetto
Hana Volavkova et al, I Never Saw Another Butterfly: Children’s Drawings and Poems from the Terezin Concentration Camp, 1942-1944
Liza Wiemer, The Assignment
Elie Wiesel, Night
Susan’s wish list
The Blog: The Sydney Taylor Schooze
The Association of Jewish Libraries
Sydney Taylor Book Award
Welcome to The Academic Life! We reach across our mentor network to bring you podcasts on everything from how to finish a project to how to take care of your beautiful mind. On the Academic Life channel we embrace a broad definition of what it means to lead an academic life. We view education as a transformative human endeavor and are inspired by today’s knowledge-producers working inside and outside the academy. DMs us on Twitter: @AcademicLifeNBN. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/academic-life
“I’m burned out” is a familiar phrase in higher ed these days. This episode explores:
What burnout is and is not.
One scholar’s personal experience with burnout.
How higher ed’s culture and the “expectation escalation” encourage burnout.
Academic capitalism and its relationship to faculty burnout.
The missing voices from the conversation on burnout.
Imposter syndrome and how it plays out for women, especially, in the academy.
Our guest is: Dr. Laura Pope-Ruark, Director of the Office of Faculty Professional Development at the Georgia Institute of Technology. She is the author of Unraveling Faculty Burnout: Pathways to Reckoning and Renewal (Johns Hopkins University Press, 2022) and Agile Faculty: Practical Strategies for Managing Research, Service, and Teaching (The University of Chicago Press, 2017) as well as the coeditor of Redesigning Liberal Education: Innovative Design for a Twenty-First-Century Undergraduate Education (Johns Hopkins University Press, 2020). Our host is: Dr. Dana M. Malone, co-producer and co-host of The Academic Life channel. Dana is energized by facilitating meaningful conversations and educational experiences for folks across the academy and beyond. Dana is the author of From Single to Serious: Relationships, Gender, and Sexuality on American Evangelical Campuses, (Rutgers University Press). Listeners to this episode may also be interested in:
This Chronicle of Higher Education article on how to cope with Covid-19 burnout.
This Inside Higher Ed article on beating pandemic burnout.
The Maslach Burnout Inventory for Educators (MBI-ES).
This Academic Life conversation on community building and how we show up.
This Academic Life conversation on being well in academia.
This Academic Life conversation on finding your people and making meaningful connections.
Welcome to The Academic Life! You are smart and capable, but you aren’t an island, and neither are we. We reach across our mentor network to bring you podcasts on everything from how to finish that project to how to take care of your beautiful mind. Here on the Academic Life channel, we embrace a broad definition of what it means to be an academic and to lead an academic life. We view education as a transformative human endeavor and are inspired by today’s knowledge-producers working inside and outside the academy. Wish we’d bring on an expert about something? DMs us on Twitter: @AcademicLifeNBN. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/academic-life
Today’s book is: Where Research Begins: Choosing a Research Project That Matters to You (and the World) (U Chicago Press, 2022) by Thomas S. Mullaney and Christopher Rea, which tackles the two challenges every researcher faces with every new project: “How do I find a compelling problem to investigate—one that truly matters to me, deeply and personally? How do I then design my research project so that the results will matter to anyone else?” This easy-to-follow workbook guides you to find research inspiration within yourself, and in the broader world of ideas. Our guest is: Dr. Thomas S. Mullaney, who is Professor of History at Stanford University and Professor of East Asian Languages and Cultures, by courtesy; the Kluge Chair in Technology and Society at the Library of Congress; and a Guggenheim Fellow. He is the author or lead editor of 7 books and the forthcoming The Chinese Computer—the first comprehensive history of Chinese-language computing. His writings have appeared in the Journal of Asian Studies, Technology & Culture, Aeon, Foreign Affairs, and Foreign Policy, and his work has been featured in the LA Times, The Atlantic, the BBC, and in invited lectures at Google, Microsoft, Adobe, and more. He holds a PhD from Columbia University. Our guest is: Dr. Christopher Rea, who is a literary and cultural historian. His research focuses on the modern Chinese-speaking world, and his most recent publications concern research methods, cinema, comedy, celebrities, swindlers, cultural entrepreneurs, and the scholar-writers Qian Zhongshu and Yang Jiang. At University of British Columbia, he is a faculty member and Associate Head, External of the Department of Asian Studies; former Director of the Centre for Chinese Research; an associate of the Hong Kong Studies Initiative; and a Faculty Fellow of St. John’s College. He co-authored with Tom Mullaney, Where Research Begins: Choosing a Research Project That Matters to You (and the World). Our host is: Dr. Christina Gessler, a historian of women and gender. Listeners to this episode may also be interested in:
The Craft of Research, by Wayne Booth et al
The Research Companion, by Petra Boynton
How to Write a Thesis, by Umberto Eco
The Art of Creative Research, by Philip Gerald
This podcast on learning from your failed research
Welcome to The Academic Life! We reach across our mentor network to bring you podcasts on everything from how to finish a project to how to take care of your beautiful mind. On the Academic Life channel we embrace a broad definition of what it means to lead an academic life. We view education as a transformative human endeavor and are inspired by today’s knowledge-producers working inside and outside the academy. DMs us on Twitter: @AcademicLifeNBN. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/academic-life
You’re going to an academic conference—and maybe even presenting a project! Whether you are going virtually or in person, for the first time or the tenth, presenting or just attending, you want to feel prepared. Are you? This podcast episode explores:
Why we need to go to academic conferences.
Why it can be difficult to navigate them.
How can you get the most of out of it.
Our guest is: Dr. Thomas J. Tobin, who is a founding member of the Center for Teaching, Learning, and Mentoring at the University of Wisconsin at Madison. He is an internationally recognized speaker and author on quality in technology-enhanced education. His latest book is Going Alt-Ac: A Guide to Alternative Academic Careers, written with Katie Linder and Kevin Kelly, from Stylus Publishing. You can find him on Twitter @ThomasJTobin and at his website, Thomasjtobin.com. Our host is: Dr. Christina Gessler, a historian of women and gender and an introvert, who has presented in dozens of academic conference, and like many of our listeners, she is still learning how to make the most of an academic conference. Listeners to this episode may also be interested in:
The Chronicle of Higher Ed article “How to Make the Most Out of An Academic Conference”
The Chronicle of Higher Ed article “How to Make the Most of a Virtual Conference”
The Chronicle of Higher Ed article “How To Cope With Presentation Anxiety”
This article on The Introverts’ Guide to Speaking Up
Quiet: The Power of Introverts, by Susan Cain
The Craft of Research, by Wayne Booth et al
The Research Companion, by Petra Boynton
The Art of Creative Research, by Philip Gerald
Welcome to The Academic Life! We reach across our mentor network to bring you podcasts on everything from how to finish a project to how to take care of your beautiful mind. On the Academic Life channel we embrace a broad definition of what it means to lead an academic life. We view education as a transformative human endeavor and are inspired by today’s knowledge-producers working inside and outside the academy. DMs us on Twitter: @AcademicLifeNBN. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/academic-life
How does identity and experience inform your writing? This episode explores:
Professor Talty’s journey from community college student to college professor.
The importance of supportive mentors and professors.
Using identity and experience ethically in fiction and nonfiction.
Why finding the right form for your story matters.
A discussion of the book Night of the Living Rez.
Our guest is: Professor Morgan Talty, who is a citizen of the Penobscot Indian Nation where he grew up. He is the author of the story collection Night of the Living Rez from Tin House Books, and his work has appeared in Granta, The Georgia Review, Shenandoah, TriQuarterly, Narrative Magazine, LitHub, and elsewhere. A winner of the 2021 Narrative Prize, Talty’s work has been supported by the Elizabeth George Foundation and National Endowment for the Arts (2022). Talty is an Assistant Professor of English in Creative Writing and Native American and contemporary Literature at the University of Maine, Orono, and he is on the faculty at the Stonecoast MFA in creative writing as well as the Institute of American Indian Arts. Professor Talty is also a Prose Editor at The Massachusetts Review. He lives in Levant, Maine. Our host is: Dr. Christina Gessler, a historian of women and gender. Listeners to this episode may also be interested in:
A Calm and Normal Heart by Chelsea T. Hicks
The Removed by Brandon Hobson
There There by Tommy Orange
Heart Berries by Terese Marie Mailhot
The Lesser Blessed by Richard Van Camp
Welcome to The Academic Life! We reach across our mentor network to bring you podcasts on everything from how to finish that project to how to take care of your beautiful mind. Here on the Academic Life channel, we embrace a broad definition of what it means to be an academic and to lead an academic life. We view education as a transformative human endeavor and are inspired by today’s knowledge-producers working inside and outside the academy. Wish we’d bring on an expert about something? DMs us on Twitter: @AcademicLifeNBN. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/academic-life
Ever felt uncertain about how to manage the academic mid-career stage? This episode explores:
Why the mid-career stage is so important to mid-career faculty.
Strategies for taking control of your mid-career advancement plans.
Equity issues surrounding women, academic mothers, and faculty of color.
The importance of the department chair for mid-career faculty.
Being strategic about your mentoring needs in mid-career.
Two critical considerations for mid-career faculty developing programs.
Our guest is: Dr. Vicki L Baker, author of Managing Your Academic Career: A Guide to Re-Envision Mid-Career (Routledge). Vicki is the E. Maynard Aris Endowed Professor in Economics and Management at Albion College and serves as the Faculty Director of the Albion College Community Collaborative (AC3), Co-Chair of the Economics & Management Department, and instructor for Penn State University’s World Campus. Prior to joining the academy as a faculty member, Vicki worked at Harvard Business School (Executive Education) and AK Steel Corporation. Vicki is the author of 90 peer-reviewed articles, chapters, invited works, and several books. Recognized as a “Top 100 Visionary” in Education by the Global Forum for Education and Learning (20-21), Vicki is at the forefront of innovation and strategy in faculty and leadership development; her goal is to help faculty members and colleges and universities thrive. She earned her PhD (Higher Education) and MS (Management & Organization) from Penn State University, MBA from Clarion University and BS from Indiana University of Pennsylvania. Vicki also holds a certificate in Human Resource Management from Villanova University and is a certified professional in HR from the Society for Human Resource Management. Our host is: Dr. Dana M. Malone, co-producer and co-host of The Academic Life channel. Dana is energized by facilitating meaningful conversations and educational experiences for folks across the academy and beyond. Dana is the author of From Single to Serious: Relationships, Gender, and Sexuality on American Evangelical Campuses, (Rutgers UP). Listeners to this episode may also be interested in:
New Directions in Higher Education volume, Bridging the Research-Practice Nexus: Resources, Tools, and Strategies to Navigate Mid-Career in the Academy. Edited by Vick L. Baker and Aimee LaPointe Terosky.
The Evolving Faculty Affairs Landscape - a compilation of publications from Inside HigherEd focused on faculty (several focused at mid-career).
This Academic Life channel conversation with Vicki Baker on navigating mid-career choices as a faculty member.
This Academic Life channel conversation with Laura Gail Lunsford on how to create a mentor network.
How to Chair a Department by Kevin Dettmar (Johns Hopkins).
Unraveling Faculty Burnout: Pathways to Reckoning and Renewal by Rebecca Pope-Ruark (Johns Hopkins).
Welcome to The Academic Life! You are smart and capable, but you aren’t an island, and neither are we. We reach across our mentor network to bring you podcasts on everything from how to finish that project to how to take care of your beautiful mind. Here on the Academic Life channel, we embrace a broad definition of what it means to be an academic and to lead an academic life. We view education as a transformative human endeavor and are inspired by today’s knowledge-producers working inside and outside the academy. Wish we’d bring on an expert about something? DMs us on Twitter: @AcademicLifeNBN. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/academic-life
Welcome to The Academic Life! In this episode you’ll hear about:
What inspired Clare Griffin to move far from home.
The hidden curriculum of academic relocation.
Her research concerns given world tensions and wars.
The complexity of taking your pet from country to country.
The importance of creating a community.
Our guest is: Dr. Clare Griffin, a neuroatypical historian, fiction writer, and mental health advocate who is an assistant professor in the department of history at Indiana University Bloomington. Originally from the UK, her work has taken her to Russia, Germany, and Kazakhstan. Her research focuses on science, medicine, and expertise in the early modern Russian Empire, in particular how those processes intersected with colonialism and globalization. Alongside her academic work, she also publishes fiction and advocacy pieces focused on her experiences of neurodiversity and mental illness. Her new book is Mixing Medicines: The Global Drug Trade and Early Modern Russia. Our host is: Dr. Christina Gessler, who is the co-producer of the Academic Life. Listeners to this episode may also be interested in:
The Eternal Dislocation of Academic Living
Manu Sander’s blog post on academic relocations
Academic Nomad
The Long Road to A Dream Job
You are smart and capable, but you aren’t an island, and neither are we. We reach across our mentor network to bring you podcasts on everything from how to finish that project to how to take care of your beautiful mind. Here on the Academic Life channel, we embrace a broad definition of what it means to be an academic and to lead an academic life. We view education as a transformative human endeavor and are inspired by today’s knowledge-producers working inside and outside the academy. Wish we’d bring on an expert about something? DMs us on Twitter: @AcademicLifeNBN. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/academic-life
Welcome to The Academic Life! In this episode you’ll hear about:
Why we need to write about difficult topics.
Four American towns trying to save themselves.
The structural processes behind poverty.
A discussion of the book The Fight to Save the Town.
Today’s book is: The Fight to Save the Town: Reimagining Discarded America (Avid Reader, 2022), by Michele Wilde Anderson, which examines how decades of cuts to local government amidst rising concentrations of poverty have wreaked havoc on communities left behind by the modern economy. These discarded places include big cities, small cities, rural areas, and historic suburbs. Some are diverse communities, while others are nearly all white, all Latino, or all Black. All are routinely trashed by the media for their poverty and their politics, ignoring how our smallest governments shape people’s safety, comfort, and life chances. For decades, these governments haven’t just reflected inequality—they have helped drive it. But Anderson argues that a new generation of local leaders are figuring out how to turn poverty traps back into gateway cities. Our guest is: Michelle Wilde Anderson, a professor of property, local government, and environmental justice at Stanford Law School. Her writing has appeared in the Stanford Law Journal, Yale Law Journal, California Law Review, New York Times, Los Angeles Times, Chicago Tribune, among other publications. Prior to joining Stanford, she worked as a visiting professor, assistant professor, a research fellow, and an environmental law fellow. She is the Chair of the Board of Directors of the National Housing Law Project and a board member at the East Bay Community Law Center in Oakland. She holds a joint appointment with Stanford’s new Doerr School of Sustainability, and lives with her family in San Francisco. Our host is: Dr. Christina Gessler, who is the co-producer of the Academic Life. Listeners to this episode may also be interested in:
On the Line: A Story of Class, Solidarity, and Two Women’s Epic Fight to Build a Union, by Daisy Pitkin
Pedagogy of the Poor: Building the Movement to End Poverty, by Willie Baptist and Jan Rehmann
How to Live in Detroit Without Being a Jackass, by Aaron Foley
Dog Whistle Politics, by Ian Henry Lopez
The Miseducation of the Barrio: The School to Prison Pipeline, by Julia Mendoza
You are smart and capable, but you aren’t an island, and neither are we. We reach across our mentor network to bring you podcasts on everything from how to finish that project to how to take care of your beautiful mind. Here on the Academic Life channel, we embrace a broad definition of what it means to be an academic and to lead an academic life. We view education as a transformative human endeavor and are inspired by today’s knowledge-producers working inside and outside the academy. Wish we’d bring on an expert about something? DMs us on Twitter: @AcademicLifeNBN. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/academic-life
Welcome to The Academic Life! In this episode you’ll hear about:
What inspired Professor Sumner to study wasps.
That time she ate a slug.
Her grad school research trip to study wasps in the Malaysian rainforest.
The complex and varied roles wasps play in the natural world.
The importance of approaching the natural world with endless curiosity.
Today’s book is: Endless Forms: The Secret World of Wasps, which explores these much-maligned insects’ secret world, their incredible diversity and complex social lives, and reveals how they hold our fragile ecosystem in balance. Everyone worries about the collapse of bee populations. But what about wasps? Deemed the gangsters of the insect world, wasps are winged assassins with formidable stings. But do wasps deserve this reputation? Wasps are nature’s most misunderstood insect: as predators and pollinators, they keep the planet’s ecological balance in check. They are nature’s pest controllers; a world without wasps would be just as ecologically devastating as losing the bees, or beetles, or butterflies. Our guest is: Seirian Sumner, who is a professor of behavioral ecology at University College London, where she studies the ecology and evolution of social insects. She has published over seventy papers in scientific journals and has received numerous awards for her work, including a L’Oréal-UNESCO for Women in Science Award, a Points of Light Award from the UK prime minister, and a Silver Medal from the Zoological Society of London. She is a fellow and trustee of the Royal Entomological Society and cofounder of the citizen science initiative Big Wasp Survey. Sumner lives in Oxfordshire, England, with her husband and three children. She is the author of Endless Forms: The Secret World of Wasps (HarperCollins, 2022). Our host is: Dr. Christina Gessler, who is the co-producer of the Academic Life. Listeners to this episode may also be interested in:
Pests: How Humans Create Animal Villains by Bethany Brookshire
Silent Earth: Averting the Insect Apocalypse by Dave Goulson
Silent Spring by Rachel Carson
City of Sinners by A. A. Dhand
S. Sumner et al, “Why We Love Bees and Hate Wasps,” in Ecological Entomology 43 (6): 836-45.
Natural History and the Evolution of Paper-Wasps, ed by Stefano Turillazzi and Mary Jane West-Eberhard
You are smart and capable, but you aren’t an island, and neither are we. We reach across our mentor network to bring you podcasts on everything from how to finish that project to how to take care of your beautiful mind. Here on the Academic Life channel, we embrace a broad definition of what it means to be an academic and to lead an academic life. We view education as a transformative human endeavor and are inspired by today’s knowledge-producers working inside and outside the academy. Wish we’d bring on an expert about something? DMs us on Twitter: @AcademicLifeNBN. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/academic-life
Is there a strategy to communicating your research online? This episode explores:
What an academic communications strategist does.
Why having a strategy to your online presence is important.
Common misperceptions about communicating online.
Lessons learned from an academic communications strategist.
The benefits and challenges to being an academic entrepreneur.
Our guest is: Jennifer van Alstyne (@HigherEdPR), a communications strategist for professors and researchers. At The Academic Designer LLC, Jennifer helps people share their work effectively in online spaces like websites and social media. The Social Academic blog shares advice about managing your online presence in Higher Education. Jennifer is a Peruvian-American poet with a BA in English from Monmouth University, an MFA in Writing & Poetics from the Jack Kerouac School, and an MA in English from the University of Louisiana at Lafayette. She lives in San Diego, California. Connect with Jennifer on Twitter and LinkedIn. Our host is: Dr. Dana M. Malone, a higher education scholar and practitioner energized by facilitating meaningful conversations and educational experiences. She specializes in college student relationships, gender, sexuality, and religious identities as well as student success and assessment planning. Dana is the author of From Single to Serious: Relationships, Gender, and Sexuality on American Evangelical Campuses, (Rutgers UP). Listeners to this episode may also be interested in:
Social Media How To’s
Articles about managing your personal website
Successes and Setbacks of Social Media: Impact on Academic Life edited by Cheyenne Seymour (Wiley)
Social Media for Academics by Mark Carrigan, 2nd edition (Sage)
This NBN conversation on how social media has shaped contemporary society.
This NBN conversation on theories and practices of social media communication.
Welcome to The Academic Life! You are smart and capable, but you aren’t an island, and neither are we. We reach across our mentor network to bring you podcasts on everything from how to finish that project to how to take care of your beautiful mind. Here on the Academic Life channel, we embrace a broad definition of what it means to be an academic and to lead an academic life. We view education as a transformative human endeavor and are inspired by today’s knowledge-producers working inside and outside the academy. Wish we’d bring on an expert about something? DMs us on Twitter: @AcademicLifeNBN. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/academic-life
Welcome to The Academic Life! In this episode you’ll hear about:
The hard work of balancing academics and sports when you attend college on an athletic scholarship.
Kyle’s original dream for his life after college, and where he is now.
Why you need someone to have your back, and who that person has been in Kyle’s life for the last five years.
How playing ball in the college off-season for the Savannah Bananas reminded him about the importance of having fun, and what he had liked about the sport as a kid.
How learning to dance taught him not to take himself too seriously.
Our guest is: Kyle Luigs, who is the pitcher for the Savannah Banana’s professional premier team. He also works as their camp instructor. Kyle attended the University of North Georgia on a baseball scholarship, and graduated in 2021 with a kinesiology degree. From 2018 to 2021, he played summer baseball for the Savannah Bananas on the CPL team. He played his last year of college baseball at Jacksonville State University, while working on a masters in Sports Management. Our host is: Dr. Christina Gessler, who is the co-producer of the Academic Life. Listeners to this episode may also be interested in:
Ballparks: A Journey Through the Fields of the Past, Present, and Future, by Eric Enders
The Savannah Bananas
University of North Georgia baseball
This discussion of How to College
This discussion about making a meaningful life
A Wonderful Life: Insights on Finding a Meaningful Existence, by Frank Martela
You are smart and capable, but you aren’t an island, and neither are we. We reach across our mentor network to bring you podcasts on everything from how to finish that project to how to take care of your beautiful mind. Here on the Academic Life channel, we embrace a broad definition of what it means to be an academic and to lead an academic life. We view education as a transformative human endeavor and are inspired by today’s knowledge-producers working inside and outside the academy. Wish we’d bring on an expert about something? DMs us on Twitter: @AcademicLifeNBN. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/academic-life
Welcome to The Academic Life! In this episode you’ll hear about:
Why a humanities degree actually opens many career paths.
The importance of curiosity.
The contingency crisis in higher ed.
How we can re-evaluate “academic success.”
Advice for students and faculty.
Our guest is: Dr. Katina Rogers, the author of Putting the Humanities PhD to Work: Thriving in and beyond the Classroom (Duke University Press, 2020). In 2021, she founded Inkcap Consulting to help universities build more supportive and sustainable graduate programs. Her career has included work at The Graduate Center, CUNY, the Modern Language Association, the Scholarly Communication Institute, and the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation. She has two young kids and a deep frustration with higher education, that is inextricably bound up with hope. She holds a PhD in Comparative Literature from the University of Colorado at Boulder. Our host is: Dr. Christina Gessler, who has effectively used her humanities degrees for interesting jobs both inside and outside the academy. She is the co-producer of the Academic Life. Listeners to this episode may also be interested in:
The Mushroom at the End of the World: On the Possibility of Life in Capitalist Ruins, by Anna Lowenhaupt Tsing
Imagine PhD, created by the Graduate Career Consortium:
Next Generation Dissertations
Inkcap and its resources
Get Sorted: How to Make the Most of Your Student Experience, by Jeff Gill and Will Medd
Where Research Begins: Choosing A Research Project that Matters to You, by Thomas Mullaney and Christopher Rea
Going Alt-Ac: A Guide to Alternative Academic Careers, by Kathryn Linder, Keven Kelly, and Thomas Tobin
The Employability Journal, by Barbara Bassot
Candid Advice for New Faculty Members, by Marybeth Gasman
You are smart and capable, but you aren’t an island, and neither are we. We reach across our mentor network to bring you podcasts on everything from how to finish that project to how to take care of your beautiful mind. Here on the Academic Life channel, we embrace a broad definition of what it means to be an academic and to lead an academic life. We view education as a transformative human endeavor and are inspired by today’s knowledge-producers working inside and outside the academy. Wish we’d bring on an expert about something? DMs us on Twitter: @AcademicLifeNBN. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/academic-life
Welcome to The Academic Life! In this episode you’ll hear about:
Why Aaron Basko thinks we are looking at student success backwards.
How asking alums why they stayed at a school often tells us more about student needs than asking the students who are withdrawing why they leave.
What the “Big Six” for student success is.
What two things to evaluate as you decide which college or university will be the right “fit” for you.
His advice to parents and incoming students.
Our guest is: Aaron Basko, who currently serves as Associate Vice President for Enrollment Services at the University of Lynchburg, in Lynchburg Virginia. With 25 years of experience serving as an enrollment growth specialist and student success strategist for multiple institutions, Aaron has been part of the leadership team that engineered historic growth comebacks at three different colleges and universities. Aaron specializes in creating cross-functional teams for strategic enrollment planning and retention success. A thought leader and author, Aaron has written for The Chronicle of Higher Education, Inside Higher Ed, The Times Higher Education, and the State Department’s Fulbright blog. As a 2015 Fulbright International Education Administrator and capacity building specialist, Aaron also assists institutions with student mobility and international partnership initiatives. Aaron loves to create “a-ha moments” and to help institutions clarify the distinctive voice that will resonate with the right students. Our host is: Dr. Christina Gessler, who holds a PhD in American history. She is the co-producer of the Academic Life. Listeners to this episode may also be interested in:
Aaron Basko’s article in Inside Higher Ed on how to attract more liberal arts college students to campus : Liberal arts colleges need new strategies (opinion)
“Have We Gotten Student Success Completely Backwards?” and Aaron’s other articles in The Chronicle of Higher Education: Aaron Basko (chronicle.com)
This discussion about the college admissions process.
Get Real and Get In: How to Get Into the College of Your Dreams by Being Your Authentic Self, by Aviva Legatt
This conversation about navigating the ups and downs of student life:
How To Human: An Incomplete Manual for Living in a Messed-Up World, by Alice Connor
How to College: What to Know Before You Go (and When You’re There), by Andrea Malkin Brenner and Lara Hope Schwartz
This conversation about rejection-recovery and dealing with mistakes
You are smart and capable, but you aren’t an island, and neither are we. We reach across our mentor network to bring you podcasts on everything from how to finish that project to how to take care of your beautiful mind. Here on the Academic Life channel, we embrace a broad definition of what it means to be an academic and to lead an academic life. We view education as a transformative human endeavor and are inspired by today’s knowledge-producers working inside and outside the academy. Wish we’d bring on an expert about something? DMs us on Twitter: @AcademicLifeNBN. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/academic-life
Welcome to The Academic Life! In this episode you’ll hear about:
How journalist Lisa Selin Davis became interested in tomboys.
The questions that arise when we say the word “gender.”
The supposed freedoms and limits of being a tomboy.
Why manufacturers insist that clothing and toys and décor are “gendered.”
A discussion of the book Tomboy: The Surprising History and Future of Girls Who Dare to be Different.
Today’s book is: Tomboy: The Surprising History and Future of Girls Who Dare to be Different, which journalist Lisa Selin Davis was inspired to write when her six-year-old daughter first called herself a "tomboy.” She favored sweatpants and T-shirts over anything pink or princess-themed, just like the sporty and skinned-kneed girls Davis had played with as a kid. But "tomboy" seemed like an outdated word, and why use a word with "boy" in it for girls? Where do tomboys fit into our understandings of gender? In Tomboy, Davis highlights the forces behind what we think of as masculine and feminine, delving into everything from clothing to psychology, history to neuroscience, and the connection between tomboyism, gender identity, and sexuality. Davis's deep-dive appreciates those who defy traditional gender boundaries, and the incredible people they become.
Our guest is: journalist Lisa Selin Davis, who wrote the novels Belly, and Lost Stars, and the non-fiction book Tomboy: The Surprising History and Future of Girls* Who Dare to Be Different. She has written for the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Time and many others. Our host is: Dr. Christina Gessler, who holds a PhD in American history. She is the co-producer of the Academic Life. Listeners to this episode may also be interested in:
Gender and Our Brains, by Gina Rippon
Raising Them, by Kyl Myers
A Burst of Light, by Audre Lorde
LGBTQ+ Studies channel on NBN
Gender Studies channel on NBN
This conversation about gender bias in science
This discussion of the book Raising Them
You are smart and capable, but you aren’t an island, and neither are we. We reach across our mentor network to bring you podcasts on everything from how to finish that project to how to take care of your beautiful mind. Here on the Academic Life channel, we embrace a broad definition of what it means to be an academic and to lead an academic life. We view education as a transformative human endeavor and are inspired by today’s knowledge-producers working inside and outside the academy. Wish we’d bring on an expert about something? DMs us on Twitter: @AcademicLifeNBN. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/academic-life
Welcome to The Academic Life! In this episode you’ll hear about:
The Open Learning Initiative (OLIve) operating out of Central European University.
The importance of language related to students experiencing displacement.
How our guests center theory-informed practice in their work.
Three proposals for opening up the university to promote transformative experiences.
Advice to others in the field initiating programs for displaced students.
Our guests are: Dr. Ian M. Cook and Dr. Prem Kumar Rajaram, two of the three editors of Opening Up the University: Teaching and Learning with Refugees. Dr. Celine Cantat is also an editor on the volume. Ian M. Cook is Director of Studies at the Open Learning Initiative (OLIve), Budapest located at Central European University (CEU). An anthropologist by training, his work focuses on urban India, environmental justice, access to higher education, and podcasting. He strives to make scholarly practice more collaborative and multimodal. He is part of the Allegra Lab editorial collective. Dr. Prem Kumar Rajaram is Professor of Sociology and Social Anthropology at Central European University and Head of the OLIve unit at the same university. He works on issues to do with race, capitalism, and displacement in historical and contemporary perspective. Our host is: Dr. Dana M. Malone, a higher education scholar and practitioner energized by facilitating meaningful conversations and educational experiences. She specializes in college student relationships, gender, sexuality, and religious identities as well as student success and assessment planning. Listeners to this episode may also be interested in:
Our featured book: Opening Up the University: Teaching and Learning with Refugees
Refugee Education Initiatives
Higher Education Supporting Refugees in Europe
Refugees and Higher Education: Trans-national Perspectives on Access, Equity, and Internationalization
You are smart and capable, but you aren’t an island, and neither are we. We reach across our mentor network to bring you podcasts on everything from how to finish that project to how to take care of your beautiful mind. Here on the Academic Life channel, we embrace a broad definition of what it means to be an academic and to lead an academic life. We view education as a transformative human endeavor and are inspired by today’s knowledge-producers working inside and outside the academy. Wish we’d bring on an expert about something? DMs us on Twitter: @AcademicLifeNBN. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/academic-life
Welcome to The Academic Life! In this episode you’ll hear about:
How both of today’s guests became involved in higher education in prison.
Why this work is personal to them.
Funding and representation issues in higher education in prison.
The complexities of supporting students who are incarcerated without supporting the carceral system.
And a discussion of the Journal of Higher Education in Prison.
Our guest is: Dr. Erin Corbett, who earned her doctorate from the University of Pennsylvania, where her dissertation examined the relationship between educational attainment level and post-release employment outcomes for formerly incarcerated people in Connecticut. While pursuing her doctorate, Erin launched a nonprofit that provides not-for-credit, postsecondary level courses in three correctional facilities in Connecticut. She has also taught in correctional facilities in Rhode Island with College Unbound, and guest lectured to incarcerated students in the Iowa through the University of Iowa Liberal Arts Beyond Bars (UI LABB) program. Erin was the Assistant Director for Applied Research at the Institute for Higher Education Policy focusing on federal policy related to the intersection of higher education policy and policy related to educational access for justice-impacted people; and she was the Director of Policy at the Katal Center for Health, Equity, and Justice before transitioning to working with SCEA full time and consulting. Our guest is: Dr. Breea Willingham, incoming Associate Professor of Criminology at UNC Wilmington. Dr. Willingham earned her Ph.D. in American Studies from the State University of New York at Buffalo. As an interdisciplinary scholar, Dr. Willingham’s research examines the intersections of race, gender, higher education, and the injustice system. She is particularly interested in examining Black women’s pathways to incarceration, their experiences with higher education in prison, and providing a platform for Black women impacted by the injustice system to tell their stories. Influenced by her experiences as a sister and aunt of two men serving life sentences, Dr. Willingham’s research also focuses on the societal ramifications of mass incarceration, especially its impact on families. Her work on incarcerated fathers and their children, Black women’s prison narratives, teaching in women’s prisons, and Black women and police violence has been published in academic journals and edited collections. In 2020, Dr. Willingham was appointed Managing Editor of the Journal for Higher Education in Prison, a peer-reviewed journal that publishes on the topics and issues in higher education in prison. Our host is: Dr. Christina Gessler, the co-creator of the Academic Life. Listeners to this episode might also be interested in:
The Journal of Higher Education in Prison
The Alliance for Higher Education in Prison
Ear Hustle, a podcast hosted by persons who are incarcerated at San Quentin
A conversation about the Emerson Prison Initiative
Dr. Erin Corbett on Beyond Prisons
Abolition. Feminism. Now. edited by Angela Davis et al.
Punishment and Society, by Breea Willingham
Privilege and Punishment, by Matthew Clair
No Mercy Here, by Sarah Haley
You are smart and capable, but you aren’t an island and neither are we. We reach across our mentor network to bring you experts about everything from how to finish that project, to how to take care of your beautiful mind. Here on the Academic Life channel, we embrace a broad definition of what it means to be an academic and to lead an academic life. We view education as a transformative human endeavor and are inspired by today’s knowledge-producers working inside and outside the academy. Wish we’d bring on an expert about something? DMs us on Twitter: @AcademicLifeNBN. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/academic-life
Welcome to The Academic Life! In this episode you’ll hear about:
Hari Ziyad’s journey through higher education.
Why they became editor of RaceBaitr after finishing film school at NYU.
The necessary disruption of social norms.
The challenges of writing memoir.
And a discussion of the book Black Boy Out of Time.
Our guest is: Hari Ziyad (he/they), a screenwriter, and the Editor-in-Chief of RaceBaitr. Originally from Cleveland, OH, they currently reside in Brooklyn, NY, and received their BFA from New York University, where they concentrated in Film and Television and Psychology. They are a 2021 Lambda Literary Fellow, and their writing has been featured in the peer-reviewed academic journal Critical Ethnic Studies, among other publications. They are also currently a writer at CBS, and were previously a script consultant on the drama series David Makes Man (OWN), as well as Managing Editor of Black Youth Project, and an Assistant Editor of Vinyl Poetry & Prose. They are the author of Black Boy Out of Time (Little A, 2021) Today’s book is: Black Boy Out of Time, which explores childhood, gender, race, and the trust that is built, broken, and repaired through generations. Memoirist Hari Ziyad investigates what it means to live beyond the limited narratives Black children are given and challenges the irreconcilable binaries that restrict them. Heartwarming and heart-wrenching, radical and reflective, Hari Ziyad’s vital memoir is for the outcast, the unheard, the unborn, and the dead. It offers us a new way to think about survival and the necessary disruption of social norms. It looks back in tenderness as well as justified rage, forces us to address where we are now, and, born out of hope, illuminates the possibilities for the future. Our host is: Dr. Christina Gessler, the co-creator of the Academic Life. Listeners to this episode might also be interested in:
Hari’s website
Hari’s pieces in Gawker, Out, The Guardian, Huffington Post, Ebony, Mic, Paste Magazine, AFROPUNK
The Future is Black: Afropessimism, Fugitivity and Radical Hope in Education, edited by Michael Dumas, Ashley Woodson and Carl Grant
This Academic Life episode on memoir and the MFA
You are smart and capable, but you aren’t an island and neither are we. We reach across our mentor network to bring you experts about everything from how to finish that project, to how to take care of your beautiful mind. Here on the Academic Life channel, we embrace a broad definition of what it means to be an academic and to lead an academic life. We view education as a transformative human endeavor and are inspired by today’s knowledge-producers working inside and outside the academy. Wish we’d bring on an expert about something? DMs us on Twitter: @AcademicLifeNBN. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/academic-life
Welcome to The Academic Life! In this episode you’ll hear about:
Dr. Laura Portwood-Stacer’s own experience getting her first two academic books published.
An overview of different kinds of editors who will be part of shepherding your book to publication.
What a developmental editor does.
Why might you need to hire one.
Her advice to book editors and their clients.
Our guest is: Dr. Laura Portwood-Stacer, who is a scholar and academic. She wrote a book based on her dissertation and many scholarly journal articles, including “How To Email Your Professor (Without Being Annoying AF).” She earned a PhD in Communication, with a certificate in gender studies, from the Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism at the University of Southern California. She lives in Los Angeles and, in 2021, I became a two-time Jeopardy champion. She is the author of The Book Proposal Book, and runs her own consulting business for authors. Our host is: Dr. Christina Gessler, who holds a PhD in American history. Listeners to this episode may also be interested in:
Stylish Academic Writing, by Helen Sword
What Editors Do, by Peter Ginna
This podcast about the peer review process
This podcast about book proposals, by Laura Portwood-Stacer
Information about developmental editing and academic book publishing in general:
These online programs, including a free webinar for scholarly authors on How to Work With a Developmental Editor
Information about The Book Proposal Book including free downloads and worksheets
Laura’s weekly newsletter with timely tips and resources for scholarly authors
You are smart and capable, but you aren’t an island, and neither are we. We reach across our mentor network to bring you podcasts on everything from how to finish that project to how to take care of your beautiful mind. Here on the Academic Life channel, we embrace a broad definition of what it means to be an academic and to lead an academic life. We view education as a transformative human endeavor and are inspired by today’s knowledge-producers working inside and outside the academy. Wish we’d bring on an expert about something? DMs us on Twitter: @AcademicLifeNBN. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/academic-life
Welcome to The Academic Life! In this episode you’ll hear about:
Our guests’ career paths at the Smithsonian,
their work to help create a new Women’s history museum,
collecting BLM materials during protests,
creating exhibits just as the pandemic closed the museum,
and a discussion of their book on women’s artifacts in the Smithsonian.
Today’s book is: Smithsonian American Women: Remarkable Objects and Stories of Strength, Ingenuity, and Vision from the National Collection, a book that offers a unique and panoramic look at women's history in the United States through the lens of ordinary objects from, by, and for extraordinary women. Featuring more than 280 artifacts from 16 Smithsonian museums and archives, and more than 135 essays from 95 Smithsonian authors, this book tells women's history as only the Smithsonian can. Portraits, photographs, paintings, political materials, signs, musical instruments, sports equipment, clothes, letters, ads, personal possessions, and other objects reveal the incredible stories of amazing women such as Phillis Wheatley, Julia Child, Sojourner Truth, Mary Cassat, Madame CJ Walker, Amelia Earhart, Eleanor Roosevelt, Mamie Till Mobley, Dolores Clara Fernandez Huerta, Phyllis Diller, Celia Cruz, Sandra Day O'Connor, Billie Jean King, and Silvia Rivera. Published to commemorate the centennial of the 19th Amendment granting women the right to vote, Smithsonian American Women is a deeply satisfying read and a reflection on how generations of women have defined what it means to be recognized in both the nation and the world. Our guest is: Dr. Margaret A. Weitekamp, who is the Department Chair and Curator of the Space History Department at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum. Dr. Weitekamp curates the Museum's social and cultural history of spaceflight collection, and is the author of numerous scholarly articles, and co-edited the ninth volume in the Artefacts series on the material culture of science and technology, Analyzing Art and Aesthetics (Smithsonian Institution Scholarly Press, 2013). She is currently completing a book on social and cultural history of space memorabilia. Our guest is: Dr. Michelle Anne Delaney, who is the Assistant Director for History and Culture of the National Museum of the American Indian. Dr. Delaney manages the Museum's research and scholarship team, and leads the intellectual program development for exhibitions, educational programming, publications, and digital scholarship; and directs strategic internal pan-Smithsonian projects, and external collaborations and university partnerships. An author and editor of several history of photography books, Dr. Delaney has also curated 25 Smithsonian exhibitions and web projects. Our host is: Dr. Christina Gessler, the co-creator and co-producer of the Academic Life. Listeners to this episode might also be interested in:
Information in the National Archives about the 19th Amendment
Because of Herstory webpage
National Women’s History Museum website
Information on the 19th amendment from the National Parks Service
The Women’s Museum of California
Women’s history resources at the National Museum of American History
You are smart and capable, but you aren’t an island and neither are we. We reach across our mentor network to bring you experts about everything from how to finish that project, to how to take care of your beautiful mind. Here on the Academic Life channel, we embrace a broad definition of what it means to be an academic and to lead an academic life. We view education as a transformative human endeavor and are inspired by today’s knowledge-producers working inside and outside the academy. Wish we’d bring on an expert about something? DMs us on Twitter: @AcademicLifeNBN. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/academic-life
Welcome to The Academic Life! In this episode you’ll hear about:
Dr. Ruby Tapia’s viral Cornell sweatshirt tweet.
How witnessing domestic violence, and the aftermath of her father’s suicide, influenced her decision to go to college far from home.
Difficulties she faced freshman year both on and off campus.
The professor who called her in to office hours, and how that changed her academic path.
The meaning she’s made of these experiences, and how they changed her.
Her hopes for future generation of college students, including her own daughters.
Our guest is: Dr. Ruby C. Tapia, who is Chair of the Department of Women's and Gender Studies, and Associate Professor of English and Women's and Gender Studies at the University of Michigan. Her work engages the intersections of photography theory, feminist and critical race theory, and critical prison studies. She is co-editor of Interrupted Life: Experiences of Incarcerated Women in the United States, co-editor of the University of California book series Reproductive Justice: New Visions for the 21st Century, and author of American Pietàs: Visions of Race, Death and the Maternal. Her current book project, The Camera in the Cage, interrogates the intersections of prison photography and carceral humanism and puts forth an argument and methodology for abolitionist aesthetics. She has facilitated creative writing workshops via the Prison Creative Arts Project at Women's Huron Valley Correctional Facility in Michigan, is a member of the Theory Group Think Tank at Macomb Correctional Facility for men and is the lead faculty member of the Critical Carceral Visualities component of the Documenting Criminalization and Confinement project at UM's Humanities Collaboratory. Our host is: Dr. Christina Gessler, the co-producer of the Academic Life. Listeners to this episode may also be interested in:
Borderlands, by Gloria Anzaldua
Academic Outsider, by Victoria Reyes
The Abortionist, by Rickie Solinger
Welfare, by Rickie Solinger
Ruby Tapia’s Avidly article “What I Was Looking For Was Green”
Ruby Tapia’s Avidly article “Never Been A Scared Bitch”
A discussion of Presumed Incompetent
You are smart and capable, but you aren’t an island, and neither are we. We reach across our mentor network to bring you podcasts on everything from how to finish that project to how to take care of your beautiful mind. Here on the Academic Life channel, we embrace a broad definition of what it means to be an academic and to lead an academic life. We view education as a transformative human endeavor and are inspired by today’s knowledge-producers working inside and outside the academy. Wish we’d bring on an expert about something? DMs us on Twitter: @AcademicLifeNBN. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/academic-life
Welcome to The Academic Life! In this episode you’ll hear about:
Zibby Owen’s experience in grad school of losing her best friend.
What she did to regroup and find a way forward after failing a grad exam.
How the meaning she’s made of those experiences changed her.
Why books and writing are essential to her.
Why “overnight” success takes tenacity, adaptability, and a long time.
Her passion for publishing, podcasting, and reading.
The advice she would have given herself when she was embarking on her educational journeys.
Today’s book is: Bookends: A Memoir of Love, Loss, and Literature by Zibby Owens. Our guest is: Zibby Owens, who is an author, podcaster, publisher, CEO, and founder of Zibby Owens Media, a privately-held media company designed to help busy people live their best lives by connecting to books and each other. Moms Don’t Have Time To is the home for Zibby’s podcasts, publications (including two anthologies), and communities. Zibby Books is a publishing home for fiction and memoir which she co-founded with Leigh Newman. Her award-winning podcast, Moms Don’t Have Time to Read Books, has been downloaded millions of times. She is a regular columnist for Good Morning America, Katie Couric Media, and Moms Don’t Have Time to Write on Medium. She is the author of Bookends: A Memoir of Love, Loss, and Literature, and lives in New York with her husband and four children. Visit zibbyowens.com and follow her on Instagram @zibbyowens. Our host is: Dr. Christina Gessler, co-producer of the Academic Life podcasts. Listeners to this episode may also be interested in:
The Harbus article Zibby wrote about her conflicted feelings about finishing graduate school.
The Harbus article Zibby wrote about losing her friend Stacey:
The Harbus article Zibby wrote about not going back to normal:
Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life, by Anne Lamott
Still Points North, by Leigh Newman
Academic Life Podcast: Being Well in Academia
Academic Life Podcast about failing a comp
You are smart and capable, but you aren’t an island, and neither are we. We reach across our mentor network to bring you podcasts on everything from how to finish that project to how to take care of your beautiful mind. Here on the Academic Life channel, we embrace a broad definition of what it means to be an academic and to lead an academic life. We view education as a transformative human endeavor and are inspired by today’s knowledge-producers working inside and outside the academy. Wish we’d bring on an expert about something? DMs us on Twitter: @AcademicLifeNBN. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/academic-life
Welcome to The Academic Life! In this episode you’ll hear about:
Why Robert Ramaswamy wants to see your revised dissertation submitted for publication.
What makes a revised dissertation ready to submit to a press.
How to choose mentor texts to put in your proposal.
Signs that you might not want to turn your dissertation into a book, and what to do instead.
The editorial complexities of saying “no” to a book proposal.
And a discussion about the new University of Wyoming Press imprint
Our guest is: Robert Ramaswamy (he/they), who has a BA in American studies from Yale University and an MA in American studies from George Washington University, and left a PhD program in American Culture at the University of Michigan ABD. He joined UPC/University of Wyoming Press as acquisitions editor in 2022, after working as an assistant editor for the Ohio State University Press and as an editorial assistant for University of Michigan Press/Michigan Publishing. At UPC/UWyoP, Robert acquires in history, environmental humanities, public humanities, and democracy and the United States. He lives in Ann Arbor, MI with his partner, Anna, two dogs, and eight chickens. Our host is: Dr. Christina Gessler, the co-creator of the Academic Life. Listeners to this episode might also be interested in:
Association of University Presses
University of Wyoming Press
On Revision, by William Germano
From Dissertation to Book, by William Germano
What Editors Do: The Art, Craft and Business of Book Editing, by Peter Ginna
A discussion of From Dissertation to Book, hosted by Dr. Dana Malone
A conversation with Mona Hamlin about marketing scholarly books
A conversation with acquisitions editor Rachael Levay
You are smart and capable, but you aren’t an island and neither are we. We reach across our mentor network to bring you experts about everything from how to finish that project, to how to take care of your beautiful mind. Here on the Academic Life channel, we embrace a broad definition of what it means to be an academic and to lead an academic life. We view education as a transformative human endeavor and are inspired by today’s knowledge-producers working inside and outside the academy. Wish we’d bring on an expert about something? DMs us on Twitter: @AcademicLifeNBN. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/academic-life
Welcome to The Academic Life! In this episode you’ll hear about:
Ellen Synder-Grenier’s career as a curator and public historian
How Henry Street helped its neighbors survive the 1918 pandemic
A discussion of the book The House on Henry Street
Today’s book is: The House on Henry Street: The Enduring Life of a Lower East Side Settlement, which chronicles the sweeping history of the Henry Street Settlement and its enduring vision of a more just society. Through personal narratives, vivid images, and previously untold stories, Ellen M. Snyder-Grenier chronicles Henry Street’s sweeping history from 1893 to today. From the fights for public health and immigrants’ rights that fueled its founding, to advocating for relief during the Great Depression, all the way to tackling homelessness and AIDS in the 1980s, and into today―Henry Street has been a champion for social justice. Its powerful narrative illuminates larger stories about poverty, and who is “worthy” of help; immigration and migration, and who is welcomed; human rights, and whose voice is heard. Our guest is: Ellen M. Snyder-Grenier, who is an award-winning curator and writer, and principal of REW & Co. She has directed research projects, developed physical and digital exhibitions, and written on the history of New York City—as well the urban centers of Newark and Philadelphia—with a focus on social justice. She is a Fellow of the New York Academy of History. Our host is: Dr. Christina Gessler, the co-creator and co-producer of the Academic Life. Listeners to this episode might be interested in:
· The House on Henry Street: The Enduring Life of a Lower East Side Settlement, by Ellen M. Snyder-Grenier
The Henry Street website
Windows on Henry Street by Lillian Wald
The House on Henry Street by Lillian Wald
This online journal about gender and the history of medicine
This NPR episode about the 1918 pandemic and Covid
The Pandemic Perspectives episodes on the Academic life, such as this one
You are smart and capable, but you aren’t an island and neither are we. We reach across our mentor network to bring you experts about everything from how to finish that project, to how to take care of your beautiful mind. Wish we’d bring on an expert about something? DM us on Twitter: The Academic Life @AcademicLifeNBN. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/academic-life
Welcome to The Academic Life! In this episode you’ll hear about:
Why the AAUP was formed.
Their role in supporting academic freedom.
Why the threat to tenure is a threat to higher education.
The importance of collective bargaining, and of transparency in academic salaries.
Our guest is: Dr. Irene Mulvey, who is a Professor of Mathematics at Fairfield University where she has been teaching for 37 years. She has been fighting to protect academic freedom, to promote shared governance, and to uphold AAUP principles and standards at the campus, state and national level for over 30 years. In 2020, she was elected to a four-year term as President of the AAUP on a platform pledging progress toward making the AAUP an anti-racist organization and dismantling structural racism in all aspects of higher education. Our host is: Dr. Christina Gessler, the co-creator of the Academic Life. Listeners to this episode might also be interested in:
The AAUP
The AAUP Foundation
Chronicle of Higher Education article on the Adjunct Problem
LA Times editorial about the adjunct crisis in California and how that affects Academic Freedom
Statement on academic freedom from the American Federation of Teachers
Academic Life interview with an Adjunct Professor
NBN episode on the future of tenure
You are smart and capable, but you aren’t an island and neither are we. We reach across our mentor network to bring you experts about everything from how to finish that project, to how to take care of your beautiful mind. Here on the Academic Life channel, we embrace a broad definition of what it means to be an academic and to lead an academic life. We view education as a transformative human endeavor and are inspired by today’s knowledge-producers working inside and outside the academy. Wish we’d bring on an expert about something? DMs us on Twitter: @AcademicLifeNBN. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/academic-life
Welcome to The Academic Life! In this episode you’ll hear about:
Our guest Eric Frans’ career path into, out of, and around higher education
Key factors that influenced his decision to pursue employment outside the academy
The transition from higher education to a different industry
How he plans to use his doctorate in the future
His advice to those inside higher ed considering switching to other industries
Our guest is: Eric Frans, a career development professional currently working as a Talent Acquisition Manager for PrimePay, a human resources software company. Eric holds a master’s degree in Higher Education Counseling/Student Affairs from West Chester University (WCU) and is pursuing a doctorate in Higher Education Policy, Planning, and Administration from WCU. Eric worked as a career development professional at SUNY Oswego and WCU before moving into his current role at PrimePay. Eric was born in Ghana and raised in Lehigh Valley Pennsylvania. As an undergraduate student, Eric studied psychology at WCU and was highly engaged in campus life; he was a member of the men’s basketball team, a resident assistant, and an orientation leader. Our host is: Dr. Dana M. Malone, a higher education scholar and practitioner energized by facilitating meaningful conversations and educational experiences. She specializes in college student relationships, gender, sexuality, and religious identities as well as student success and assessment planning. Listeners to this episode may also be interested in:
Inside Higher Ed article: 7 Steps for Discerning Whether to Leave Higher Ed by Beth Godbee
Chronicle article: Many Student Affairs Officials are Considering Leaving the Field
Jenny Blake’s Book: Pivot: The Only Move That Matters is Your Next One (Portfolio/Penguin) - https://www.pivotmethod.com/
Dawn Graham’s book: Switchers: How Smart Professionals Change Careers and Seize Success (Harper Collins Leadership)
The Academic Life episode: The Self-Care Stuff: Considering Whether to Stay or Drop Out
You are smart and capable, but you aren’t an island, and neither are we. We reach across our mentor network to bring you podcasts on everything from how to finish that project to how to take care of your beautiful mind. Here on the Academic Life channel, we embrace a broad definition of what it means to be an academic and to lead an academic life. We view education as a transformative human endeavor and are inspired by today’s knowledge-producers working inside and outside the academy. Wish we’d bring on an expert about something? DMs us on Twitter: @AcademicLifeNBN. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/academic-life
Welcome to The Academic Life! In this episode you’ll hear about:
Dr. Karin Lewis’s experience pitching and winning the book bid
Karin and the editorial team’s vision for an inclusive and diverse collection
The process of working as a team to develop an idea into a book
The realities of editing a large volume with many authors
Blurring the lines of traditional scholarship with artistic and creative submissions
Her advice to other scholars considering editing an established collection
Our guest is: Dr. Karin A. Lewis, an associate professor in the Department of Teaching and Learning at the University of Texas – Rio Grande Valley. She teaches educational psychology in the areas of cognition, learning, human development, and adult learning at the undergraduate, graduate, and doctoral levels. Her scholarship explores complexities of identity and agency from a multicultural, social justice perspective via transdisciplinary discourses and collaborative, collective ethnographic methodologies. Dr. Lewis is the Lead Editor for The Kaleidoscope of Lived Curriculum: Learning Through a Confluence of Crisis, 13th Annual Curriculum and Pedagogy Group, 2021 Edited Collection, published through Information Age Publishing. Our host is: Dr. Dana M. Malone, a higher education scholar and practitioner specializing in college student relationships, gender, sexuality, and religious identities as well as student success and assessment planning. Dana first met Karin as a doctorate student at the University of Kentucky when Karin hired her as a graduate TA to teach courses offered through the university’s academic success unit. Dana has always been impressed with Karin’s dedication to students, love of teaching, and the grace with which she moves through the world. Listeners to this episode may also be interested in:
Curriculum and Pedagogy Group Edited Collections
Journal of Curriculum and Pedagogy
About the Curriculum and Pedagogy Group
The Academic Life episode on writing a book proposal
You are smart and capable, but you aren’t an island, and neither are we. We reach across our mentor network to bring you podcasts on everything from how to finish that project to how to take care of your beautiful mind. Here on the Academic Life channel, we embrace a broad definition of what it means to be an academic and to lead an academic life. We view education as a transformative human endeavor and are inspired by today’s knowledge-producers working inside and outside the academy. Wish we’d bring on an expert about something? DMs us on Twitter: @AcademicLifeNBN. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/academic-life
Welcome to The Academic Life! In this episode you’ll hear about:
Why Dr. Marshall Poe left a tenured professorship to create the New Books Network
How his own experience with dyslexia inspired his book-talk podcasts,
Why he wouldn’t want to go back to being a professor now,
Common misconceptions—plus some good advice—about starting a podcast
The NBN’s role in democratizing education and in supporting academic presses.
Our guest is: Dr. Marshall Poe, who is a historian, writer, podcaster, and editor. He is the founder and editor of the New Books Network, an online collection of podcast interviews with a wide range of nonfiction authors which began as a single channel in 2007 and has since grown into an archived audio library containing thousands of NBN episodes. He has taught Russian, European, Eurasian, and world history at universities including Harvard, Columbia, University of Iowa, and the University of Massachusetts Amherst. Dr. Poe has also authored and edited of a number of books for children and adults. He lives in Northampton, MA. Our host is: Dr. Christina Gessler, the co-creator of the Academic Life. Listeners to this episode might also be interested in:
A History of Communications: Media and Society from the Evolution of Speech to the Internet, by Marshall Poe
Articles by Marshall Poe in the Atlantic
The Grinnell College History Department
The Grinnell College podcast channel on the NBN
The Russian and Eurasian Studies channel on the NBN
You are smart and capable, but you aren’t an island and neither are we. We reach across our mentor network to bring you experts about everything from how to finish that project, to how to take care of your beautiful mind. Here on the Academic Life channel, we embrace a broad definition of what it means to be an academic and to lead an academic life. We view education as a transformative human endeavor and are inspired by today’s knowledge-producers working inside and outside the academy. Wish we’d bring on an expert about something? DMs us on Twitter: @AcademicLifeNBN. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/academic-life
Welcome to The Academic Life! In this episode you’ll hear about:
Alice Connor’s career as a feminist scholar and a college chaplain
How women in the bible have been misunderstood by scholars
A discussion of the book Fierce: Women of the Bible and Their Stories of Violence, Mercy, Bravery, Wisdom, Sex, and Salvation
Today’s book is: Fierce: Women of the Bible and Their Stories of Violence, Mercy, Bravery, Wisdom, Sex, and Salvation which reveals how women in the Bible aren't shy or retiring; they're fierce and funny and demanding and relevant to 21st-century people. Women in the Bible—some of their names we know, others we’ve only heard, and others are tragically unnamed. In Fierce, Alice Connor introduces these women and invites us to see them not as players in a man’s story—as victims or tempters—nor as morality archetypes, teaching us to be better wives and mothers, but as fierce foremothers of the faith. These women’s stories are messy, challenging, and beautiful. When we read their stories, we can see not only their particular, fearsome lives but also our own. Our guest is: Alice Connor is an Episcopal priest and a chaplain on a college campus. She is the author of Fierce: Women of the Bible and Their Stories of Violence, Mercy, Bravery, Wisdom, Sex, and Salvation. She also wrote How to Human: An Incomplete Manual for Living in a Messed-Up World, and the book Brave: Women of the Bible and their Stories of Grief, Mercy, Folly, Joy, Sex, and Redemption. Alice is also a certified enneagram teacher and a stellar pie-maker. She lives for challenging conversations and has a high tolerance for awkwardness. She lives in Cincinnati with her husband, two kids, a dog, and no cats. Our host is: Dr. Christina Gessler, the co-creator and co-producer of the Academic Life. Listeners to this episode might be interested in:
Brave: Women of the Bible and their Stories of Grief, Mercy, Folly, Joy, Sex, and Redemption by Alice Conner
How to Human: An Incomplete Manual for Living in a Messed-Up World, by Alice Connor
Understanding the Bible, by Stephen Harris
Standing Again at Sinai: Judaism from a Feminist Perspective, by Judith Plaskow
The Samaritan Woman’s Story: Reconsidering John 4 After #ChurchToo by Caryn A. Reeder
Texts of Terror: Literary-Feminist Reading of Biblical Narratives, by Phyllis Trible
Sisters in the Wilderness: The Challenge of Womanist God-Talk, by Delores Williams
This podcast with Alice Connor about her book How To Human
You are smart and capable, but you aren’t an island and neither are we. We reach across our mentor network to bring you experts about everything from how to finish that project, to how to take care of your beautiful mind. Here on the Academic Life channel, we embrace a broad definition of what it means to be an academic and to lead an academic life. We view education as a transformative human endeavor and are inspired by today’s knowledge-producers working inside and outside the academy. Wish we’d bring on an expert about something? DMs us on Twitter: @AcademicLifeNBN. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/academic-life
Welcome to The Academic Life! In this episode you’ll hear about:
Dr. Heather Wagoner’s experience failing her doctoral qualifying exam
How she responded as the shame set in
What she did to regroup and find a way forward
The meaning she’s made of that experience and how it changed her
Heather’s advice to advisors and graduate faculty
Her advice to students facing a crossroad in their educational journeys
Our guest is: Dr. Heather Wagoner, Director of Student Engagement and Campus Life at Virginia Tech. Heather has been a higher education practitioner for almost 20 years, working at institutions including Longwood University, University of South Carolina, and University of Kentucky. She specializes in college student involvement, experience building, communications, strategic planning, and leadership. Heather loves spending time with her little family, listening to musicals, and dancing around the kitchen. She dabbles in academic and creative writing and hopes to use her dissertation “Determined to Make a Difference: A Qualitative Study of College Women Leaders” as a launching point for future articles and conversations. Our host is: Dr. Dana M. Malone, a higher education scholar and practitioner specializing in college student relationships, gender, sexuality, and religious identities as well as student success and assessment planning. Dana first met Heather at University of Kentucky when they were both doctoral students. Dana was and continues to be impressed with Heather’s commitment to students, enthusiasm for her work, and the authenticity she brings to her life. Dana enjoys engaging conversations, delicious food, practicing yoga, and wandering the Jersey shore. Listeners to this episode may also be interested in:
Academic Life Podcast: Being Well in Academia
Daring Greatly: How the Courage to Be Vulnerable Transforms the Way We Live, Love, Parent, and Lead by Brené Brown (Gotham Books)
Pivot: The Only Move That Matters is Your Next One by Jenny Blake (Portfolio/Penguin)
Switchers by Dawn Graham (Amacom)
Leaving Academia: A Practical Guide by Christopher L. Caterine (Princeton UP)
You are smart and capable, but you aren’t an island, and neither are we. We reach across our mentor network to bring you podcasts on everything from how to finish that project to how to take care of your beautiful mind. Here on the Academic Life channel, we embrace a broad definition of what it means to be an academic and to lead an academic life. We view education as a transformative human endeavor and are inspired by today’s knowledge-producers working inside and outside the academy. Wish we’d bring on an expert about something? DMs us on Twitter: @AcademicLifeNBN. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/academic-life
Welcome to The Academic Life! In this episode you’ll hear about:
Why failure is part of the hidden curriculum
Why you can’t be creative or innovative without failing [sometimes a lot]
How to learn from it, instead of sweeping it under the rug
A failure our guest and our host each faced
A discussion of the Museum of Failure
Our guest is: Dr. Samuel West, a licensed psychologist (cognitive behavioral therapy) with a PhD in Organizational Psychology. His research focuses on creating climates for innovation by encouraging experimentation and exploration. In 2017 he founded the Museum of Failure showcasing over a 100 innovation failures from around the world. The aim of the museum is to stimulate productive discussions about the important role of failure for innovation and to increase organizational acceptance of failure. Our host is: Dr. Christina Gessler, the co-creator and co-producer of the Academic Life. She previously worked in Museum Education at a small museum in New York; and as a PhD student worked for a professor who was a Smithsonian curator. Listeners to this episode might also be interested in:
The Museum of Failure
The Museum of Broken Relationships
The remote control referred to in this podcast
The marshmallow candy referred to in this podcast
TedTalk on Failing “Mindfully”
Podcast on fear and failure
Podcast on the role of failure in student success
Failosophy: A Handbook for When Things Go Wrong, by Elizabeth Day
Dr. Manu Kapur’s work on Productive Failure
You are smart and capable, but you aren’t an island and neither are we. We reach across our mentor network to bring you experts about everything from how to finish that project, to how to take care of your beautiful mind. Wish we’d bring on an expert about something? DM us on Twitter: The Academic Life @AcademicLifeNBN. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/academic-life
Welcome to The Academic Life! In this episode you’ll hear about:
How the Common got started
What is involved in running a literary journal
Why grants and institutional support matter so much in the literary arts
The importance of finding mentors and building a network
How the Common creates community
Our guest is: Jennifer Acker , who is the founder and editor in chief of The Common, and author of the debut novel The Limits of the World, a fiction honoree for the Massachusetts Book Award. Her memoir “Fatigue” is a #1 Amazon bestseller, and her short stories, essays, translations, and reviews have appeared in Oprah Daily, Washington Post, Literary Hub, n+1, and The Yale Review, among other places. Acker has an MFA from the Bennington Writing Seminars and teaches writing and editing at Amherst College, where she directs the Literary Publishing Internship and LitFest. She lives in western Massachusetts with her husband. Our guest is: Elizabeth Witte, who is a writer and editor based in western Massachusetts. She is a recipient of the Massachusetts Cultural Council's Artist Fellowships in Poetry and author of the chapbook, Dry Eye (Dancing Girl Press); her work appears in a variety of journals, including Prelude, Word For/ Word, and Denver Quarterly. She is Associate Editor of The Common and directs the journal's education program The Common in the Classroom. Our host is: Dr. Christina Gessler, the co-creator and co-producer of the Academic Life. She is a historian of women and gender. Listeners to this episode might also be interested in:
Fatigue, by Jennifer Acker
Amherst College
The Bennington Writing Seminars https://www.bennington.edu/writing-seminars
The Common
More about the Common in the Classroom can be found here The Common in the Classroom,
The Common Young Writers Program
A podcast from The Common magazine on The New Books Network “This is the Place”
Amherst College LitFest
The Whiting Literary Magazine Prize
Learn more about The Alternative Press conversation with co-founder Ken Mikolowski (courtesy of Centre For Print Research, UWE Bristol); and the Press’s Multiple Originals project
The Poetry Foundation
You are smart and capable, but you aren’t an island and neither are we. We reach across our mentor network to bring you experts about everything from how to finish that project, to how to take care of your beautiful mind. Wish we’d bring on an expert about something? DM us on Twitter: The Academic Life @AcademicLifeNBN. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/academic-life
Welcome to The Academic Life! In this episode you’ll hear about:
Why doing writing and other kinds of retreats are part of the hidden curriculum
How taking time for self-care is crucial to doing well at work and at school
What a retreat is
How to do a retreat at home
Ways retreating helps you think and feel better, and the science that proves it
Today’s book is: DIY Solo Retreats: A Handbook for Creating Your Space, Setting an Intention and Getting the Self-Care You Deserve, by S. A. Snyder. Whether you need time to decompress, listen for answers to nagging questions, read, write, or recharge your life, a personal retreat might be what you need. But when going away on a retreat is too expensive or just not possible, this handbook helps you create your own retreat. Whether you want to find time to journal, meditate, or tackle that writing assignment, this how-to guide for retreating may just be the book you're looking for. Our guest is: S.A. Snyder, who has been a professional writer for more than 30 years. She has worn hats as a newspaper columnist and reporter, writing instructor, communications manager and consultant, blogger, and book author. With humor and insight, she inspires others through the telling of her own experiences to examine what it means to live a meaningful life. She currently blogs about self-care and random commentary on contemporary life. She is the author of DIY Solo Retreats: A Handbook for Creating Your Space, Setting an Intention and Getting the Self-Care You Deserve. Our host is: Dr. Christina Gessler, the co-creator and co-producer of the Academic Life. She is a historian of women and gender. Listeners to this episode might also be interested in:
Atomic Habits, by James Clear
Bird by Bird, by Anne Lamott
It’s a Wonderful Life, by Frank Martel
Make Your Art No Matter What, by Beth Pickens
From To-Do to Done, by Maura Thomas
This episode on guided meditation
This episode on finishing your book when things are going wrong https://newbooksnetwork.com/finishing-your-book-when-life-is-a-disaster
This episode on writing a book proposal https://newbooksnetwork.com/the-book-proposal-book
Sarah’s website on DIY retreats
You are smart and capable, but you aren’t an island and neither are we. We reach across our mentor network to bring you experts about everything from how to finish that project, to how to take care of your beautiful mind. Wish we’d bring on an expert about something? DM us on Twitter: The Academic Life @AcademicLifeNBN. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/academic-life
Welcome to The Academic Life! In this episode you’ll hear about:
Dr. Julie Dillemuth’s path through higher ed
What led her to try to write for a popular audience, and what helped her learn how to do it
Why she writes for children about spatial cognition skills
How receiving 82 rejection letters didn’t stop her path to publication
A discussion of the books Lucy in the City, and Camilla and the Big Change
Today’s books are: Lucy in the City, a picture book about a young raccoon who gets separated from her family one night and has to find her way home. Faced with the challenge of being on her own, Lucy tunes in to her surroundings for the first time and discovers that she can re-trace her steps using smells, sights, and sounds. At its heart, the story focuses on developing spatial thinking, understanding the world around us, and using concepts of space for problem-solving. Our other book today is Camilla and the Big Change, a picture book about the wild boar Camilla and her loyal sidekick Parsley enjoying Spring in the forest. When beavers move in, trees come down as they start building a dam. The path of the river will be forever altered and Camilla does NOT want a pond in the middle of her forest! It's too much change. But when her map-making skills are needed for the pond construction, Camilla comes to understand that change can be good as she works with the entire forest community to draw new maps and look at her home in a whole new way. Both books include a Note to Parents & Caregivers in the backmatter with information about map-making and spatial thinking, and also about adapting to new environments and building community. Our guest is: Dr. Julie Dillemuth, who earned her undergraduate degree at Yale, and went on to earn a PhD in Geography with an Emphasis in Cognitive Science from UC Santa Barbara, where her dissertation focused on how people use maps on small screens (like cell phones) to make navigation decisions, follow routes, and acquire spatial knowledge about their environment. She is the author numerous picture books for children, including Lucy in the City, and Camilla and the Big Change. Our host is: Dr. Christina Gessler, the co-creator of the Academic Life. She and Julie met when they joined the same critique group. They have been friends for nearly a decade. Listeners to this episode might also be interested in:
Mapping My Day, by Julie Dillemuth
Camilla Cartographer, by Julie Dillemuth
The Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators
The American Psychological Association’s Press
This Academic Life episode on writing and mindfulness
This Academic Life episode about writing middle grade novels
You are smart and capable, but you aren’t an island and neither are we. We reach across our mentor network to bring you experts about everything from how to finish that project, to how to take care of your beautiful mind. Here on the Academic Life channel, we embrace a broad definition of what it means to be an academic and to lead an academic life. We view education as a transformative human endeavor and are inspired by today’s knowledge-producers working inside and outside the academy. Wish we’d bring on an expert about something? DMs us on Twitter: @AcademicLifeNBN. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/academic-life
Welcome to The Academic Life! In this episode you’ll hear about:
How ‘the good life’ makes people disconnected and unhappy
Mia Birdsong’s work in community building
The intentionality required for creating communities of support
The importance of interdependence, vulnerability, accountability, and leaning on each other
And a discussion of her book How We Show Up
Today’s book is: How We Show Up: Reclaiming Family, Friendship, and Community by Mia Birdsong, in which Birdsong uses research, interviews, and stories of lived experience to explore how showing up—literally and figuratively—points us toward the promise of our collective vitality and leads us to the liberated wellbeing we all want. Our guest is: Mia Birdsong, who was an inaugural Ascend Fellow and faculty member with The Aspen Institute, a New America California Fellow, and Advocate-in-Residence with University of Pennsylvania’s School of Social Policy and Practice. She has been published widely and speaks at conferences and universities across the country. A graduate of Oberlin College, she stays “apocalypse ready” by gardening, keeping bees and chickens, studying herbalism, and occasionally practicing archery. Her children, partner, and chosen family are her home. Our host is: Dr. Christina Gessler, the co-creator and co-producer of the Academic Life. Listeners to this episode might also be interested in:
How We Show Up: Reclaiming Family, Friendship, and Community by Mia Birdsong
Mia Birdsong’s website
Pleasure Activism: The Politics of Feeling Good by adrienne maree brown
Beyond Survival: Strategies and Stories from the Transformational Justice Movement, by Ejeris Dixon and Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha, eds.
Stamped from the Beginning: The Definitive History of Racist Ideas in America, by Ibram X. Kendi
This Academic Life episode about finding mentors and friends
You are smart and capable, but you aren’t an island and neither are we. We reach across our mentor network to bring you experts about everything from how to finish that project, to how to take care of your beautiful mind. Wish we’d bring on an expert about something? DM us on Twitter: The Academic Life @AcademicLifeNBN. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/academic-life
A Conversation with Dr. William Germano Welcome to The Academic Life! In this episode you’ll hear about:
Important questions to ask yourself before getting started on revising
A review of the basic options for the post-defense dissertation
Hurdles a manuscript must clear in the scholarly publishing process
How voice operates in scholarly writing
The importance of book and chapter titles
What good writing is and what it does
Our guest is: Dr William Germano, professor of English at Cooper Union in New York, where he served as dean of humanities and social sciences for more than a decade. In the years before he joined Cooper Union, he served as editorial director at Columbia University Press and, for almost twenty years, as publishing director at Routledge. He, and the editorial teams he has worked with, have published hundreds of leading scholars in the humanities and the social sciences. Bill Germano is the author of six books, On Revision: The Only Writing that Counts (University of Chicago Press, 2021) and Syllabus: The Remarkable, Unremarkable Document That Changes Everything, coauthored with Kit Nicholls and published by Princeton. Editor, publisher, teacher, writer, he is especially attuned to the problems that academic writers face. Those problems, and practical solutions for them, are the focus of his best-known work, Getting It Published: A Guide for Scholars and Anyone Else Serious about Serious Books (published by Chicago and currently in a third edition) and From Dissertation to Book (also from Chicago and currently in its second edition). Our host is: Dr. Dana Malone, a scholar and practitioner energized by facilitating meaningful learning experiences for students and educators alike. From Dissertation to Book was a valuable recommendation at pivotal moment in her scholarly life, and she is excited to share it with The Academic Life audience. Listeners to this episode might also be interested in:
NBN Interview with William Germano for On Revision: The Only Writing that Counts On RevisionNBN Interview with William Germano for Getting it Published: A Guide for Scholars and Anyone Else Serious about Serious Getting It Published
On Writing Well: The Classic Guide to Writing Nonfiction by William Zinsser (Quill)
How to Write a Sentence: And How to Read One by Stanley Fish (Harper)
Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life by Anne Lamott (Anchor Books)
You are smart and capable, but you aren’t an island, and neither are we. We reach across our mentor network to bring you experts on everything from how to finish that project, to how to take care of your beautiful mind. Wish we’d bring on an expert about something? DM us on Twitter: The Academic Life @AcademicLifeNBN. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/academic-life
Welcome to The Academic Life! In this episode you’ll hear about:
The science that explains our busy minds
What mindfulness is
The difference between mindfulness and meditation
How changing our habits is a small-step by small-step process
A discussion of the book Bettter Daily Mindfulness Habits: Simple Changes with Lifelong Impact
Today’s book is: Better Daily Mindfulness Habits: Simple Changes with Lifelong Impact Mindfulness by Kristen Manieri. Mindfulness is a powerful tool for staying calm, centered, and steady―but it can be challenging to remember to stay mindful. Better Daily Mindfulness Habits helps practitioners of any level. Rooted in proven habit-building methodology, the book contains 40 practices designed to orient your attention to the present. In as little as a few minutes at a time, it can become easier to practice self-compassion and connect with others, your work, and yourself more mindfully. Our guest is: Kristen Manieri, a certified habits coach as well as a certified mindfulness teacher. Kristen believes that when we actively engage in our growth and evolution, we can begin to live a more conscious, connected, and intentional life. She is the author of Bettter Daily Mindfulness Habits: Simple Changes with Lifelong Impact. Our host is: Dr. Christina Gessler, a historian of women and gender. Listeners to this episode might also be interested in:
Atomic Habits by James Clear
Tiny Habits by BJ Fogg
Create Your Own Calm: A Journal for Quieting Anxiety by Meera Lee Patel
The Mindfulness Journal by Worthy Stokes
Quick Calm: Easy Meditations to Short-Circuit Stress Using Mindfulness and Neuroscience by Jennifer Wolkin
The 60 Mindful Minutes podcasts with Kristen Manieri
This discussion of meditation
You are smart and capable, but you aren’t an island and neither are we. We reach across our mentor network to bring you experts about everything from how to finish that project, to how to take care of your beautiful mind. Wish we’d bring on an expert about something? DM us on Twitter: The Academic Life @AcademicLifeNBN. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/academic-life
Welcome to The Academic Life! In this episode you’ll hear:
Why it is so important to have the conversation about “Equity in Higher Education” and why now is the time to do so
What equity means; for whom, and what equity entails in thought and action
What it means to perform equity as a routine practice in higher education
What makes individuals equity minded
Today’s book is: From Equity Talk to Equity Walk: Expanding Practitioner Knowledge for Racial Justice in Higher Education, draws from campus-based research projects sponsored by the AAC&U and the Center for Urban Education at the University of Southern California. The book is a practical guide on the design and application of campus change strategies for achieving equitable outcomes. The authors offer advice on how to build an equity-minded campus culture aligning strategic priorities and institutional missions to advance equity. Our guest is: Dr. Tia Brown McNair, is the Vice President in the Office of Diversity, Equity, and Student Success and Executive Director for the Truth, Racial Healing, and Transformation (TRHT) Campus Centers at the Association of American Colleges and Universities (AAC&U) in Washington, DC. She oversees both funded projects and AAC&U’s continuing programs on equity, inclusive excellence, high-impact practices, and student success. McNair also directs AAC&U’s Summer Institutes on High-Impact Practices and Student Success, and Truth, Racial Healing, & Transformation Campus Centers. McNair currently serves as the project director for several AAC&U initiatives: "Truth, Racial Healing and Transformation Campus Centers," "Strengthening Guided Pathways and Career Success by Ensuring Students Are Learning," and “Purposeful Pathways: Faculty Planning and Curricular Coherence.” Our host is: Dr. Zebulun R. Davenport, Vice President for Student Affairs, West Chester University. Listeners to this episode might also be interested in:
AAC&U’s Committing to Equity and Inclusive Excellence: Campus Guide for Self-Study and Planning.
AAC&U’s Step Up and Lead for Equity: What Higher Education Can Do to Reverse Our Deepening Divides.
Five principles for enacting equity by design by E.M. Bensimon, A.C. Dowd, and K. Witham in Diversity & Democracy 19 (1)
Engaging the “Race Question”: Accountability and Equity in U.S. Higher Education, Multicultural Education Series by A.C. Dowd and E.M. Bensimon. (Teachers College Press).
Heutsche, A.M. and Hicks, K. (2018). Embedding equity through the practice of real talk. In: A Vision for Equity: Results from AAC&U’s Project: Committing to Equity and Inclusive Excellence: Campus-Based Strategies for Student Success. Washington, DC: Association of American Colleges.
You are smart and capable, but you aren’t an island, and neither are we. We reach across our mentor network to bring you experts about everything from how to finish that project, to how to take care of your beautiful mind. Wish we’d bring on an expert about something? DM us on Twitter: The Academic Life @AcademicLifeNBN. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/academic-life
Welcome to The Academic Life! In this episode you’ll hear about:
Dr. Bacal professional and academic rejections
How success and rejection are part of the same path
The importance of having a supportive person or a support system
Why rejection is part of the hidden curriculum
A discussion of the book The Rejection that Changed My Life
Today’s book is: The Rejection that Changed My Life, featuring interviews with more than twenty-five women, including Keri Smith, Angela Duckworth, and Roz Chast. Rejections don’t go on your résumé, but they are part of every successful person’s career. All of us will apply for jobs that we don’t get or have ambitions that aren’t fulfilled, because that is part of pushing oneself to the next step professionally. While everyone deserves feel-better stories, women are more likely to ruminate, more likely to overthink rejection until it becomes even more painful—a situation that the women in this collection are determined to change, and in so doing, normalize rejection and encourage others to talk about it. Our guest is: Dr. Jessica Bacal is director of Reflective and Integrative Practices and of the Narratives Project at Smith College. She leads programs to help students explore identity and find resilience in community. She also teaches a course called Designing Your Path, which guides students to consider questions like: What is your story? Where have you been and where are you going? What matters to you? What skills do you need to pursue what matters? Before her career in higher education, she was an elementary school teacher in New York City, and then a curriculum developer and consultant. She received a bachelor’s degree from Carleton College, an MFA in writing from Hunter College, and an EdD from the University of Pennsylvania. She lives in Northampton, Massachusetts, with her husband, two children, and two dogs. She is the author of The Rejection that Changed My Life. Our host is: Dr. Christina Gessler, a historian of women and gender. Listeners to this episode might also be interested in:
Mistakes I Made at Work, by Jessica Bacal
“Things You Didn’t Put on Your Resume” by Joyce Sutphen
Dr. Kristin Neff’s website
Dr. Kirby’s rejection letter dress
Rachel Platten’s Fight Song
Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance, by Angela Duckworth
This conversation about dealing with failure
You are smart and capable, but you aren’t an island and neither are we. We reach across our mentor network to bring you experts about everything from how to finish that project, to how to take care of your beautiful mind. Wish we’d bring on an expert about something? DM us on Twitter: The Academic Life @AcademicLifeNBN. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/academic-life
Welcome to The Academic Life! In this episode you’ll hear about:
How a devotion to efficiency can become unhealthy
Why leisure time (a.k.a. doing nothing) is essential
How to reclaim our time and humanity
· A discussion of the book Do Nothing: How to Break Away from Overworking, Overdoing, and Underliving
Today’s book is: Do Nothing, by Celeste Headlee, which examines how in searching for ways to “hack” our bodies and minds for peak performance, people are working more instead of less, living harder not smarter, and becoming more lonely and anxious. We strive for the absolute best in every aspect of our lives, ignoring what we do well naturally, and reaching for a bar that keeps rising higher. In Do Nothing, Celeste Headlee illuminates a new path to stop sabotaging our well-being, and start living instead of doing. Celeste offers strategies help you determine how your hours are being spent, invest in quality idle time, and focus on end goals instead of mean goals. Our guest is: Celeste Headlee, an award-winning journalist, professional speaker, and author. She is a regular guest host on NPR and American Public Media and a highly sought consultant, advising companies around the world on conversations about race, diversity and inclusion. Her TEDx Talk sharing 10 ways to have a better conversation has over 26 million total views, and she serves as an advisory board member for ProCon.org and The Listen First Project. Celeste is recipient of the 2019 Media Changemaker Award; the proud granddaughter of composer William Grant Still, the Dean of African American Composers; and she is the author of Do Nothing. Our host is: Dr. Christina Gessler, a historian of women and gender. Listeners to this episode might also be interested in:
Do Nothing: How to Break Away from Overworking, Overdoing, and Underliving by Celeste Headlee
Speaking of Race by Celeste Headlee
We Need To Talk: How To Have Conversations That Matter, by Celeste Headlee
Laziness Does Not Exist, by Devon Price
This conversation about seeking meaning instead of happiness
This conversation about the importance of spending time in nature
You are smart and capable, but you aren’t an island and neither are we. We reach across our mentor network to bring you experts about everything from how to finish that project, to how to take care of your beautiful mind. Wish we’d bring on an expert about something? DM us on Twitter: The Academic Life @AcademicLifeNBN. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/academic-life
Welcome to The Academic Life! In this episode you’ll hear about:
How rejection is normal and even inevitable
Skills to help you learn from and move through rejections toward your goals
Why you need to develop your capacity for patience
How asking people about their own rejections can help normalize yours
A discussion of the book Win or Learn
Today’s book is: Win or Learn: The Naked Truth About Turning Every Rejection into Your Ultimate Success, by rejection expert and New York Times bestselling author Harlan Cohen. Cohen lays the framework for identifying your wants, taking the risks necessary to pursue them, and finding success no matter the outcome. This step-by-step risk-taking experiment will guide you on a journey to understand your worth and fight for your goals—because rejection is a universal truth but not a final destination. Our guest is: Harlan Cohen, bestselling author of seven books, a journalist, and a speaker who has visited over 500 college campuses. He loves helping people find support, happiness, hope, love, and light. He is the author of WIN or LEARN: The Naked Truth About Turning Every Rejection Into Your Ultimate Success. Our host is: Dr. Christina Gessler, the co-creator and co-producer of the Academic Life. She is a historian of women and gender. Listeners to this episode might also be interested in:
The Naked Roommate, by Harlan Cohen
Harlan’s TedX talk (watch TEDx talk here).
Mindset: The New Psychology of Success by Carol Dweck
The Rejection that Changed My Life by Jessica Bacal
How to Fail podcast by Elizabeth Day
The Museum of Failure website
You are smart and capable, but you aren’t an island and neither are we. We reach across our mentor network to bring you experts about everything from how to finish that project, to how to take care of your beautiful mind. Wish we’d bring on an expert about something? DM us on Twitter: The Academic Life @AcademicLifeNBN. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/academic-life
Welcome to The Academic Life! In this episode you’ll hear about:
How multi-tasking and reactivity drain productivity
Why skills you used before you turned 20 don’t work for your maturing brain
Which attention management skills can solve your time management problems
How mindfulness can help
A discussion of the book Attention Management
Today’s book is: Attention Management: How to Create Success and Gain Productivity Every Day, by Maura Thomas. In a short, color-coded book designed to be read in an hour, Thomas succinctly outlines why Attention Management is the most essential skill you need to live a life of choice rather than a life of reaction and distraction. Offering readers a collection of new behaviors, including focus, mindfulness, control, presence, flow, and practical skills that will support your success, Maura Nevel Thomas shows you how to master attention management with strategies that make an immediate impact. Our guest is: Maura Nevel Thomas, an award-winning international speaker and trainer on individual and corporate productivity and work-life balance, and the most widely-cited authority on attention management. Her proprietary Empowered Productivity™ System has been embraced by the likes of the U.S. Army, L’Oreal, and Dell. She is a TEDx Speaker, founder of Regain Your Time, author of five books, and was named a Top Leadership Speaker in Inc. Magazine. Maura is frequently featured in major business outlets including Business Insider, Fast Company, and Huffington Post, and she’s also a regular contributor to both Forbes and the Harvard Business Review, with articles there viewed over a million times. Follow her on Twitter @mnthomas. Our host is: Dr. Christina Gessler, the co-creator and co-producer of the Academic Life. She is a historian of women and gender. Listeners to this episode might also be interested in:
Information about Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi
Do Nothing: How to Break Away from Overworking, Overdoing and Underliving by Celeste Headlee
Better Daily Mindfulness Habits: Simple Changes with Lifelong Impact by Kristen Manieri
· From To-Do to Done: How to Go from Busy to Productive by Mastering to Your To-Do List by Maura Thomas
This Maura Thomas article on attention
The Maura Thomas webpage on Flow https://maurathomas.com/flow/
This discussion of meditation
You are smart and capable, but you aren’t an island and neither are we. We reach across our mentor network to bring you experts about everything from how to finish that project, to how to take care of your beautiful mind. Wish we’d bring on an expert about something? DM us on Twitter: The Academic Life @AcademicLifeNBN. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/academic-life
Welcome to The Academic Life! In this episode you’ll hear about:
A process focused approach to completing a dissertation and other academic writing
The function of a dissertation and how it’s often misunderstood
The importance of the research question
The shift from student to scholar
How delaying writing saves time
The differences between fast writing, editing, and proof-reading
Our guests are: Dr. Sonja K. Foss and Dr. William Waters. Sonja and William are the coauthors of Destination Dissertation: A Traveler’s Guide to a Done Dissertation (Rowman & Littlefield). They offer writing retreats and present workshops at universities throughout the country on topics such as completing dissertations, publishing, and advisor advising and do individual coaching of scholars working on dissertations, articles, and books. Sonja K. Foss is a professor emeritus in the Department of Communication at the University of Colorado Denver. Her research and teaching interests are in contemporary rhetorical theory and criticism, feminist perspectives on communication, the incorporation of marginalized voices into rhetorical theory and practice, and visual rhetoric. She is the author or coauthor of the books Feminism in Practice, Gender Stories, Rhetorical Criticism, Contemporary Perspectives on Rhetoric, Inviting Transformation, Feminist Rhetorical Theories, and Women Speak. Dr. Foss earned her Ph.D. in communication studies from Northwestern University and previously taught at Ohio State University, the University of Oregon, the University of Denver, Virginia Tech, and Norfolk State University. William Waters is an associate professor in the Department of English at the University of Houston Downtown. His research and teaching interests are in writing theory and practice, the history of the English language, linguistics, and modern grammar. He was the managing editor of the book La Puerta: A Doorway into the Academy and has published several poems in national journals. Dr. Waters earned his Ph.D. in language and linguistics from the University of New Mexico and previously taught at Northwest Missouri State University; the University of Maine; University College in Galway, Ireland; and Cheongbuk National University in Korea. Our host is: Dr. Dana Malone, a scholar and practitioner energized by facilitating meaningful learning experiences for students and educators alike. She benefited from Destination Dissertation as a doctoral student and is excited to share it with The Academic Life audience. Listeners to this episode might also be interested in:
Dissertations and Project Reports: A Step by Step Guide by Stella Cottrell (Bloomsbury)
On Revision: The Only Writing that Counts by William Germano (Chicago UP)
Your PhD Survival Guide: Planning, Writing, and Succeeding in Your Final Year by Katherine Firth, Liam Connell, and Peta Freestone (Routledge)
How to Write a Better Thesis (3rd ed) by David Evans, Paul Gruba, and Justin Zobel (Springer)
You are smart and capable, but you aren’t an island, and neither are we. We reach across our mentor network to bring you experts on everything from how to finish that project, to how to take care of your beautiful mind. Wish we’d bring on an expert about something? DM us on Twitter: The Academic Life @AcademicLifeNBN. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/academic-life
Welcome to The Academic Life! In this episode you’ll hear about:
The Emerson College Prison Initiative
The Bard Prison Initiative
How students apply to, enroll in, and attend college while in prison
Challenges faced by incarcerated students
Engaging effectively with incarcerated students
Our guest is: Dr. Mneesha Gellman, an Associate Professor of Political Science in the Institute for Liberal Arts and Interdisciplinary Studies at Emerson College, in Boston, MA, USA. her primary research interests include comparative democratization, cultural resilience, memory politics, and social movements in the Global South and the United States. She is the founder and Director of the Emerson Prison Initiative, which seeks to bring high quality liberal arts education to incarcerated students at Massachusetts Correctional Institute (MCI) at Concord, a men’s medium security prison. EPI follows the model of college-in-prison work led by the Bard Prison Initiative. Prior to joining the faculty at Emerson College, she was a Postdoctoral Fellow at the Centre for Global Cooperation Research in Duisburg, Germany. She holds a PhD in Political Science from Northwestern University, USA, and an MA in International Studies/Peace and Conflict Resolution from the University of Queensland, Australia. Our host is: Dr. Christina Gessler, a historian of women and gender, and the co-founder of the Academic Life on NBN. She is the daughter of a public defender. Listeners to this episode might also be interested in:
Education Behind the Wall: Why and How We Teach in Prison [Brandeis University Press, 2022], by Mneesha
The Alliance for Higher Education in Prison
The Prison Policy Initiative
This report from the ACLU
The Sentencing Project
Equal Justice Initiative
The Emerson Prison Initiative (EPI) Emerson Prison Initiative (EPI)
The Bard Prison Initiative Consortium for the Liberal Arts in Prison
Democratization and Memories of Violence: Ethnic Minority Social Movements in Mexico, Turkey, and El Salvador by Dr. Mneesha Gellman
The Skillful Teacher: On Technique, Trust, and Responsiveness in the Classroom by Stephen Brookfield
You are smart and capable, but you aren’t an island and neither are we. We reach across our network to bring you experts about everything from how to finish that project, to how to take care of your beautiful mind. Wish we’d bring on an expert about something? DM us on Twitter: The Academic Life @AcademicLifeNBN. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/academic-life
Welcome to The Academic Life! In this episode you’ll hear about:
Dr. White’s journey to earn a PhD in tuba
The Baltimore School for the Arts
The importance of having a village
The hidden curriculum
Why teaching and mentoring are equally important for educators to do
A discussion of the book I’m Possible: A Story of Survival, A Tuba, and the Small Miracle of a Big Dream
Today’s book is: I'm Possible: A Story of Survival, a Tuba, and the Small Miracle of a Big Dream (Flatiron Books, 2021), a memoir by Dr. Richard Antoine White. When he and his mother didn’t have a key to a room or a house, they had each other. Richard believed he could look after his mother, even as she struggled with alcoholism and sometimes disappeared, sending Richard into loops of visiting familiar spots until he could find her again. One night, when he almost died searching for her in the snow, he was taken in by his adoptive grandparents. When Richard joined the school band, he discovered a talent and a sense of purpose. He was accepted to the Baltimore School for the Arts, then to the Peabody, where he navigated racial and socioeconomic disparities as one of few Black students in his programs. Richard secured a coveted spot in a symphony orchestra and became the first African American to earn a doctorate in music for tuba performance. Our guest is: Dr. Richard Antoine White, a professor, mentor, and motivational speaker. He received his bachelor's degree at the Peabody Conservatory of Music, and his master's and doctoral degrees at Indiana University. Dr. White was principal tubist of the New Mexico Symphony Orchestra from 2004 until its untimely demise in 2011. He is now principal tubist of the Santa Fe Symphony and is in his tenth season as principal tubist of the New Mexico Philharmonic. He teaches at the University of Mexico, where he is associate professor of tuba/euphonium. He is the author of I’m Possible. Our host is: Dr. Christina Gessler, a historian of women and gender. Listeners to this episode might also be interested in:
Information about the documentary referenced in this podcast and the film’s trailer
Baltimore School for the Arts
The Peabody Conservatory at Johns Hopkins University
The Santa Fe Symphony
The New Mexico Philharmonic
Dr. White playing tuba
You are smart and capable, but you aren’t an island and neither are we. We reach across our mentor network to bring you experts about everything from how to finish that project, to how to take care of your beautiful mind. Wish we’d bring on an expert about something? DM us on Twitter: The Academic Life @AcademicLifeNBN. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/academic-life
Welcome to The Academic Life! In this episode you’ll hear about:
The hidden curriculum of the final year of the PhD program
Writing your dissertation when you still have so much left to read about
Why the final year of grad school is uniquely challenging
How to determine if you should stay in your program or leave
Why finishing your degree causes both relief and grief
A discussion of the book Your PhD Survival Guide:Planning, Writing, and Succeeding in Your Final Year
Our book is: Your PhD Survival Guide: Planning, Writing, and Succeeding in Your Final Year (Routledge, 2020). by Katherine Firth, Liam Connell, and Peta Freestone. Part of the 'Insider Guides to Success in Academia' series from Routledge, this book offers practical and realistic guidance to students. Written in short chapters, this book is designed as an accessible toolkit for final year doctoral students. Drawing on an understanding of the intellectual, professional, practical and personal elements of the doctorate to help readers gain insight into what it means to finish a PhD and how to get there, this book covers the common challenges and ways to resolve them. Written for students in all disciplines, and relevant to university systems around the world, this book expertly guides students through the final 6–12 months of the thesis. Our guest is: Dr. Katherine Firth, who manages the academic programs of a residential college at the University of Melbourne, Australia and founded the Research Insiders Blog which has been running since 2013. Our guest is: Dr. Liam Connell, who has worked in research training and education since the late 2000s. He works in research development at La Trobe University, Australia. Our host is: Dr. Christina Gessler, a historian of women and gender. Listeners to this episode might also be interested in:
How to Fix your Academic Writing Trouble (Open University Press) by Inger Mewburn, Katherine Firth and Shaun Lehmann
Being Well in Academia: Ways to Feel Stronger, Safe and More Connected by Petra Boynton
A Field Guide to Grad School by Jessica Calarco
Level Up Your Essays by Katherine Firth
Katherine Firth, ‘Should a PhD be hard?’, Research Degree Insiders
Peta Freestone, ‘Valuing your writing: making a time budget’
You are smart and capable, but you aren’t an island and neither are we. We reach across our mentor network to bring you experts about everything from how to finish that project, to how to take care of your beautiful mind. Wish we’d bring on an expert about something? DM us on Twitter: The Academic Life @AcademicLifeNBN. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/academic-life
Welcome to The Academic Life! In this episode you’ll hear about:
What the two-body problem is
Dr. Kelly Baker’s experience on the academic job market as a wife and mother
How gender bias can play out in academic job searches
Why the three-body problem is a more accurate framing of this issue
How Kelly reimagined herself and her skill set for jobs outside the professoriate
Kelly and Chris’s advice to other dual-career academic couples
Our guests are: Dr. Kelly J. Baker and Dr. Chris Baker. Kelly is a religious studies Ph.D. and writer. She's the author of five books, including Sexism Ed: Essays on Gender and Labor in Academia, and the co-editor of Succeeding Outside the Academy with Joseph Fruscione. Her chapter, “What Would Your Poor Husband Do? Living with the Two-Body Problem” is the basis of this episode. Currently, she's the editor of Women in Higher Education and The National Teaching and Learning Forum. Chris has been a researcher and software developer in academia, industry, and government for over 20 years. Previously a scientist for the US Department of Energy, he developed software for the world’s largest supercomputers and published research in leading international journals. At ServiceMesh, and later CSC, Chris worked to streamline development and IT operations for numerous Fortune 1000 companies. After developing and leading the Nomad ecosystem team at HashiCorp, Chris joined Amazon Web Services as a Principal Engineer in the Core Container Technology group. Chris holds a Ph.D. in Computational Science from Florida State University. Our host is: Dr. Dana M. Malone, a higher education scholar and practitioner. She specializes in college student relationships, gender, sexuality, and religious identities as well as assessment planning. Dana enjoys engaging conversations, delicious food, practicing yoga, and wandering the Jersey shore. Listeners to this episode may also be interested in:
The Freelance Academic by Katie Pryal
Sexism Ed: Essays on Gender and Labor in Academia by Kelly J. Baker
From PhD to Life
Women in Higher Education
Succeeding Outside the Academy: Career Paths beyond the Humanities, Social Sciences, and STEM, edited by Joseph Fruscione and Kelly J. Baker, The University Press of Kansas
Dr. Frank Martela episode: Stop Chasing Happiness and Make a Meaningful Life
You are smart and capable, but you aren’t an island, and neither are we. We reach across our mentor network to bring you podcasts on everything from how to finish that project, to how to take care of your beautiful mind. Wish we’d bring on an expert about something? DM us on Twitter: The Academic Life @AcademicLifeNBN. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/academic-life
Welcome to The Academic Life! In this episode you’ll hear about:
The hidden curriculum of transforming yourself from student to teacher
Accepting and embracing your nerdy/geeky/introverted self
Challenges faced by introverted teachers
Prep [for yourself, your syllabus, and your course]
Engaging effectively with students
A discussion of the book Geeky Pedagogy: A Guide for Intellectuals, Introverts, and Nerds Who Want to Be Effective Teachers
Todays’ book is: Geeky Pedagogy: A Guide for Intellectuals, Introverts, and Nerds Who Want to Be Effective Teachers, a funny and pragmatic guide to the process of learning and relearning how to be an effective college teacher. It is the first college teaching guide that encourages faculty to embrace their inner nerd. Neuhaus eschews formulaic depictions of idealized exemplar teaching, instead inviting readers to join her in an engaging, critically reflective conversation about the vicissitudes of teaching and learning in higher education as a geek, introvert, or nerd. Written for the wonks and eggheads who want to translate their vast scholarly expertise into authentic student learning, Geeky Pedagogy is packed with practical advice and encouragement for increasing readers’ pedagogical knowledge. Our guest is: Dr. Jessamyn Neuhaus, a professor of popular culture, historian of gender, and scholar of teaching and learning, and a recipient of the SUNY Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Teaching. As an educational developer, she advocates for introverts in the college classroom. She is the author of Geeky Pedagogy: A Guide for Intellectuals, Introverts, and Nerds Who Want to Be Effective Teachers. You can learn more about her work and publications here https://geekypedagogy.com/about-jessamyn-neuhaus Our host is: Dr. Christina Gessler, an introvert who is probably geeky or nerdy or both. She is a historian of women and gender, and the co-founder of the Academic Life on NBN. Listeners to this episode might also be interested in:
“The Damaging Myth of the Natural Teacher” by Beth McMurtrie in The Chronicle of Higher Education, vol 68, number 5, p. 13-21
Ungrading by Susan D. Blum
The Skillful Teacher: On Technique, Trust, and Responsiveness in the Classroom by Stephen Brookfield
Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World that Can’t Stop Talking by Susan Cain
This discussion of effective teaching strategies
Geeky Bonus Materials: A Bibliographic Essay from Dr. Neuhaus
You are smart and capable, but you aren’t an island and neither are we. We reach across our mentor network to bring you experts about everything from how to finish that project, to how to take care of your beautiful mind. Wish we’d bring on an expert about something? DM us on Twitter: The Academic Life @AcademicLifeNBN. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/academic-life
Welcome to The Academic Life! In this episode you’ll hear about:
The other hidden curriculum: the support and care strategies necessary for being well in academia
Systemic and structural barriers
Undiagnosed academic challenges, and personal traumas guest and host have faced
Why we all need support
How to support someone in tough times and why “help” needs to be customized
the book Being Well in Academia: Ways to Fell Stronger, Safer and More Connected
Our book is: Being Well in Academia: Ways to Fell Stronger, Safer and More Connected by Dr. Petra Boynton. Part of the 'Insider Guides to Success in Academia' series from Routledge, this book offers practical and realistic guidance to students and early-career researchers on wellbeing topics that really matter, but which often get overlooked. Being Well addresses many of the personal challenges of trying to remain in academia when you are in need of support [perhaps you’re finding your work, study or personal life challenging or overwhelming; are experiencing bullying, harassment or abuse; or your progress is being blocked by unfair, exploitative or precarious systems; or you want to support a friend or colleague who’s struggling]. Being Well in Academia provides resources and workable solutions to help you feel stronger, safer and more connected in what has become an increasingly competitive and stressful environment. Our guest is: Dr. Petra Boynton, a social psychologist and Agony Aunt who teaches and researches in International Healthcare. She specializes in addressing the safety and wellbeing of students and staff in academic settings. Our host is: Dr. Christina Gessler, a historian specializing in under-represented voices. As referenced in this episode, between December 2017 and early 2020 she survived a wildfire, a mudslide, lost five loved ones on by one, and then the pandemic hit. She coped by joining a poetry writing group for reluctant grief experts, asking friends to take her to a lot of movies, and spending time in nature. She believes everyone deserves support [inside and outside academia]. It was out of this belief this that she co-founded the Academic Life channel on NBN with Dr. Dana Malone in 2020; she and Dr. Malone serve as the co-producers and hosts. Listeners to this episode might also be interested in:
The Unrecovery Star, referenced in this episode, found on page 78 and the Kvetching Circle and The Ring Theory, found on page 79 of Being Well in Academia
Your PhD Survival Guide by Katherine Firth, Liam Connell, and Peta Freestone
A Field Guide to Grad School by Jessica Calarco
These videos and resources from Dr. Pooky Knightsmith.
A discussion about natural disasters and poetry writing by Dr. Christina Gessler and her friend and neighbor, poet Jen Strube.
You are smart and capable, but you aren’t an island and neither are we. We reach across our mentor network to bring you experts about everything from how to finish that project, to how to take care of your beautiful mind. Wish we’d bring on an expert about something? DM us on Twitter: The Academic Life @AcademicLifeNBN. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/academic-life
Welcome to The Academic Life! In this episode you’ll hear:
How part of the hidden curriculum is the support networks you need to create for yourself;
How you create that by “finding your people” and what qualities to look for in those people;
Determining whether they belong in an advisor, mentor, thought partner, or academic friend role, and ways those relationships may transcend time and institutions;
Barriers to making connections and to being authentic;
And the importance of asking, “does this have my best interest at heart?”
Dana’s personal examples of why we need to be intentional in community building.
Our guest is: Dr. Dana Malone is a scholar and practitioner energized by facilitating meaningful learning experiences for students and educators alike. She loves connecting with kindred academic spirits and collaborating on inspiring projects. When she’s not having engaging conversations on The Academic Life channel, she writes, teaches, and works with institutions on a contract basis. Her specialty areas include student cultures, the intersection of gender, sexuality, and religious identities as well as student success and assessment and evaluation. Dana is the author of From Single to Serious. She counts herself fortunate to have made many meaningful connections that sustain her as she journeys through life and the academy. Our host is: Dr. Christina Gessler, a historian specializing in women and the environment, the writings of under-represented voices, and in public engagement with the humanities. She believes everyone deserves to have the support they need inside and outside academia. It was out of this belief this that she co-created and co-founded the Academic Life channel on NBN with Dr. Dana Malone in the summer of 2020. She and Dr. Malone work as the co-producers and hosts of the Academic Life. This is the channel’s 81st episode.
Listeners to this episode might also be interested in:
How We Show Up: Reclaiming Family, Friendship, and Community by Mia Birdsong
Being Well in Academia: Ways to Feel Stronger, Safer and More Connected by Petra Boynton
Radical Friendship: Seven Ways to Love Yourself and Find Your People in an Unjust World by Kate Johnson
Dana’s conversation with Dr. Claire Renzetti about mentoring in academe
Dana’s episode on creating a mentor network
Christina’s conversation with Dr. Frank Martell about making a meaningful life through connection
You are smart and capable, but you aren’t an island, and neither are we. We reach across our mentor network to bring you experts on everything from how to finish that project, to how to take care of your beautiful mind. Wish we’d bring on an expert about something? DM us on Twitter: The Academic Life @AcademicLifeNBN Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/academic-life
Welcome to The Academic Life! In this episode you’ll hear about: Nancy Thayer’s path through college and graduate school, her work as a professor, how she hit a glass ceiling in academia, her decision to pursue writing as a full-time career, her life on an island off the coast of Massachusetts, and a discussion of the book Girls of Summer. Our guest is: Nancy Thayer, the New York Times bestselling author of Secrets in Summer, The Island House, The Guest Cottage, An Island Christmas, Nantucket Sisters, A Nantucket Christmas, Island Girls, Summer Breeze, Heat Wave, Beachcombers, Summer House, and Moon Shell Beach. Her books center on families and relationships: marriage and friendships, divorce and love, custody and step parenting, family secrets and private self-affirmation, the quest for independence and the normal human hunger for personal connections. Her work has been translated into German, Finnish, Hebrew, Russian, Turkish, French, Portuguese, Spanish, Dutch, Serbo-Croatian, Swedish, Danish, and Polish. She has a B.A. and M.A. in English literature from the University of Missouri at Kansas City. She was a Fellow at the Breadloaf Writers’ Conference. In 2015, she was awarded the Romantic Times Career Achievement Award for Mainstream Fiction. She has lived on Nantucket Island for over thirty years with her husband Charley Walters; her daughter is the novelist Samantha Wilde. You can find Nancy’s videos and photos of Nantucket Island life by following Nancy Thayer on Facebook, or Instagram. Today’s book is: Girls of Summer, a novel set on Nantucket, which explores themes about single parenting, female friendships, starting over after a divorce, opioid addiction, romance between older women and younger men, climate change, and rising waters. Our host is: Dr. Christina Gessler, co-producer of the Academic Life. She used to live on the same island as Nancy Thayer; they often met for lunch or coffees and talked all things books and writing and friendship and life. Listeners to this episode may also be interested in: --This article about Charley Walter’s work for Rolling Stone --The Rolling Stone music review referenced in the N magazine article --Stepping, by Nancy Thayer --Let it Snow, by Nancy Thayer --Nantucket Noel, the 2021 Hallmark Channel Christmas Movie based on Let It Snow by Nancy Thayer --Three Women at the Water’s Edge, by Nancy Thayer --Family Reunion, by Nancy Thayer --I’ll Take What She Has, by Samantha Wilde --The Business of Being a Writer, by Jane Friedman --This podcast about leaving academia --You can find the shark tracker referenced in this podcast here --The Marine Mammal Alliance Nantucket You are smart and capable, but you aren’t an island and neither are we. We reach across our mentor network to bring you podcasts on everything from how to finish that project, to how to take care of your beautiful mind. Wish we’d bring on an expert about something? DM us on Twitter: The Academic Life @AcademicLifeNBN. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/academic-life
Welcome to The Academic Life! In this episode you’ll hear: --how Maura Nevel Thomas became an expert in time-management skills --why you need to use your to-do list differently than you think --how to determine your priorities --why life-hacks don’t help --and why being productive and being busy aren’t the same thing. Today’s book is: From To-Do to Done: How to Go From Busy to Productive by Mastering Your To-Do List, by Maura Nevel Thomas. Trying to remember a bunch of details and tasks isn't the best use of your brainpower. By collecting all of your tasks in one place, you can reserve your mental energy for work that drives significant results, both in your professional life and your personal life. Rather than just another book on time management, Thomas helps you figure out and then focus on the things that matter to you, to feel more in control, less overwhelmed, and a greater sense of accomplishment now that you're focusing on what's important to you.
Our guest is: Maura Nevel Thomas, an award-winning international speaker and trainer on individual and corporate productivity and work-life balance, and the most widely-cited authority on attention management. Her proprietary Empowered Productivity™ System has been embraced by the likes of the U.S. Army, L’Oreal, and Dell. She is a TEDx Speaker, founder of Regain Your Time, author of five books, and was named a Top Leadership Speaker in Inc. Magazine. Maura is frequently featured in major business outlets including Business Insider, Fast Company, and Huffington Post, and she’s also a regular contributor to both Forbes and the Harvard Business Review, with articles there viewed over a million times. Follow her on Twitter @mnthomas. Our host is: Dr. Christina Gessler, co-producer of the Academic Life. She is a historian of women and gender. Listeners to this episode may also be interested in: --the links for the Brain-Dump PDF referenced in this podcast and directions for how to use it, which can be found on pages 18 and 19 in From To-Do to Done --Atomic Habits, by James Clear --Smart Change, by Art Markman --Attention Management: How to Create Success and Gain Productivity Every Day, by Maura Nevel Thomas -- The Happy Inbox, by Maura Nevel Thomas --The companion guide for From To-Do to Done: Download the guide now! You are smart and capable, but you aren’t an island and neither are we. We reach across our mentor network to bring you podcasts on everything from how to finish that project, to how to take care of your beautiful mind. Wish we’d bring on an expert about something? DM us on Twitter: The Academic Life @AcademicLifeNBN. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/academic-life
Welcome to The Academic Life! In this episode you’ll hear about: Dante Stewart’s path through college and into his current graduate school, playing football for Clemson, why former college athletes need to advocate for current student players’ rights, why he chose to go into the seminary at Emery, his grandmother, and a discussion of Shoutin’ in The Fire: An American Epistle. Our guest is: Dante Stewart, who is a graduate student, writer, and speaker. His voice has been featured on CNN, The Washington Post, Christianity Today, Sojourners, The Witness: A Black Christian Collective, Comment Magazine, and more. As an up and coming voice, he writes and speaks into the areas of race, religion, and politics. He received his B.A. in Sociology from Clemson University. He is currently studying at the Candler School of Theology at Emory University in Atlanta, Ga. He is the author of Shoutin’ in The Fire: An American Epistle. Our host is: Dr. Christina Gessler, co-producer of the Academic Life. She is a historian of women and gender. Listeners to this episode may also be interested in: --The Collected Autobiographies of Maya Angelou, by Maya Angelou --The poem Kitchenette Building, by Gwendolyn Brooks --Cables to Rage, by Audre Lorde --Notes of a Native Son, by James Baldwin --The Fire Next Time, by James Baldwin -- Between the World and Me, by Ta-Nehisi Coates --the Smithsonian Folkway’s recording of The World is Not A Pleasant Place to Be, by Nikki Giovanni --Salvation: Black People and Love, by bell hooks --What Moves at the Margin: Selected Nonfiction, by Toni Morrison --Breathe: A Letter To My Sons, by Imani Perry -- Dante Stewart’s articles referenced in this episode can be found here --The Candler School of Theology at Emory University: http://candler.emory.edu/index.html --Clemson College Athletics You are smart and capable, but you aren’t an island and neither are we. We reach across our mentor network to bring you podcasts on everything from how to finish that project, to how to take care of your beautiful mind. Wish we’d bring on an expert about something? DM us on Twitter: The Academic Life @AcademicLifeNBN. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/academic-life
Welcome to The Academic Life! In this episode you’ll hear about: Megan Fraser’s job collecting and curating a Punk Rock archive, her current work at the Research Institute for Contemporary Outlaws, the outreach necessary for inclusion, the ethics of acquisitions, the complexity of preservation concerns, and why not everything can be saved. Our guest is: Megan Hahn Fraser has worked as the Assistant Curator of Manuscripts at The New-York Historical Society, the Library Director at the Independence Seaport Museum in Philadelphia, Co-Head of Collection Management at UCLA Library Special Collections in Los Angeles, and the Vice President and Marcus A. McCorison Librarian at the American Antiquarian Society in Worcester, Mass. Currently, she and her husband, also an archivist, are working for the Research Institute for Contemporary Outlaws, a private collection of 20th century counter-culture materials based in Los Angeles. She received her Master of Information and Library Science (with a concentration in archives management) degree from Pratt Institute in 2000, and has an undergraduate degree in history from New York University. While at UCLA in 2014, Megan founded the Los Angeles Punk Rock Archive Collective, a group of archivists and others focused on acquiring collections from musicians, artists, and fans of the punk rock scene in Southern California. She has given presentations at the Society of American Archivists annual conference, the South by Southwest Festival, the L.A. as Subject Archives Bazaar, and the Legion of Steel Metalfest and Conference. She can be found on Twitter @mmhfraser, where she talks about archives, justice, and The Clash. Our host is: Dr. Christina Gessler, co-producer of the Academic Life. She is a historian of women and gender, and can often be found in an archive reading 19th century New England farm women’s diaries. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/academic-life
Welcome to The Academic Life! In this episode you’ll hear about: Bethany Johnson’s simultaneous journey through graduate school and motherhood, her struggles with infertility, the history of birth-care access, why Black women have worse maternal health outcomes, the consequences for pregnant people in a pregnancy-surveillance culture, and a discussion of the book You’re Doing it Wrong: Mothering, Media, and Medical Expertise. Today’s book is: You’re Doing it Wrong: Mothering, Media, and Medical Expertise by Bethany L. Johnson and Margaret M. Quinlan, which explores how new mothers face a barrage of confounding decisions. Whatever they “choose,” experts ranging from health practitioners to social media influencers tell them they’re making mistakes. Johnson and Quinlan draw from their own experiences, the history of mothering advice from the newspapers, magazines, doctors’ records and personal papers of the nineteenth-century to today’s websites and Instagram feeds. Johnson and Quinlan find surprising parallels between today’s mothering experts and their Victorian counterparts, and explore how social media pressures pregnant people, even as it offers social support. Our guest is: Bethany L. Johnson, a doctoral student in the history of science, technology and the environment at the University of South Carolina and an associate member to the graduate faculty and research affiliate faculty in the Department of Communication Studies at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. Her research examines medical technologies and public health policies as tools of institutional power from the 19th-century to the present, with a focus on epidemics and reproductive health. She has published in journals such as Health Communication, Women & Language, Departures in Critical Qualitative Research, Journal of Holistic Nursing, and Women's Reproductive Health. She is the co-author of You’re Doing it Wrong! Mothering, Media and Medical Expertise. Our host is: Dr. Christina Gessler, co-producer of the Academic Life. Listeners to this episode might also be interested in: --Dr. Quinlan and Bethany Johnson’s Medical “Humanities Mamas” articles for Psychology Today --Dr Quinlan and Bethany Johnson’s website, including their greeting cards for people experiencing infertility --This website by a pregnant graduate student --The Unequal Impact of Parenthood in Academia --Fixing Parental Leave: The Six Month Solution, by Gayle Kaufman --“Families Devalued: Black Academic Women and the Neoliberal Era’s Family Tariff,” in Lean Semesters, by Sekile M. Nzinga --I Had a Miscarriage, by Dr. Jessica Zucker --You’re the Only One I’ve Told: The Stories Behind Abortion, by Dr. Meera Shah --Our interview about gender-free childrearing You are smart and capable, but you aren’t an island and neither are we. We reach across our mentor network to bring you podcasts on everything from how to finish that project, to how to take care of your beautiful mind. Wish we’d bring on an expert about something? DM us on Twitter: The Academic Life @AcademicLifeNBN. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/academic-life
Welcome to The Academic Life! In this episode you’ll hear about: Dr. Dana Malone’s inspiration for researching in her own backyard, why she chose to do qualitative research for her dissertation and her first book, how she managed her insider/outside status, what bracketing is, using feminist research ethics, and how she dealt with gatekeepers. Our guest is: Dr. Dana M. Malone, a dynamic scholar-practitioner with a diverse portfolio of experiences in higher education. She specializes in the intersection of gender, sexuality, and religious identities as well as student success, assessment planning and program evaluation. Currently, Dr. Malone is an Independent Scholar, based in the Philadelphia area, writing, teaching, speaking, and working with institutions on a contract basis. She provides invited talks on her book, From Single to Serious: Relationships, Gender, and Sexuality on American Evangelical Campuses (Rutgers University Press), and she teaches in the M.Ed. in Higher Education Leadership and Social Justice Program at Bellarmine University. She is also the co-producer and co-host of The Academic Life channel. When she’s not engaging in the academic life, Dana can be found enjoying a good latte with family and friends, wandering the Jersey shore, and spending time on her yoga mat. Connect at danammalone.com. Our host is: Dr. Christina Gessler, co-producer of the Academic Life. Listeners to this episode may also be interested in: --From Single to Serious: Relationships, Gender, and Sexuality on American Evangelical Campuses by Dana M. Malone, published by Rutgers University Press --Research Design: Qualitative, Quantitative, and Mixed Methods Approach (5th ed) by John W. Creswell and J. David Creswell, published by SAGE --Qualitative Research and Evaluation Methods: Integrating Theory and Practice (4th ed) by Michael Quinn Patton, published by SAGE --Doing Feminist Research in Political and Social Science (2nd ed) by Brooke Ackerly and Jacqui True --Tufford, L. & Newman, P. (2010). Bracketing in Qualitative Research. Qualitative Social Work, 11(1), 80-96. DOI: 10.1177/1473325010368316 --Dr. Gessler and Dr. Malone’s conversation about sexuality on evangelical campuses: You are smart and capable, but you aren’t an island and neither are we. We reach across our mentor network to bring you podcasts on everything from how to finish that project, to how to take care of your beautiful mind. Wish we’d bring on an expert about something? DM us on Twitter: The Academic Life @AcademicLifeNBN. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/academic-life
Welcome to The Academic Life! In this episode you’ll hear about:
Professor David Smith’s path to becoming a chemistry professor
Why he’s passionate about making science inclusive and representational
His husband’s death
Being an academic and a single parent
How sharing stories about food and cooking dinner helps him process his grief
A discussion of his book Tw-eat: A Little Book with Big Feelings and Short Recipes for Very Busy Lives
Today’s book is: Tw-eat: A Little Book with Big Feelings and Short Recipes for Very Busy Lives, written by David Smith during the Covid lockdown. In it, Professor Smith tells the story of his husband Sam dying, leaving him a single parent to a young son. Cooking and a love of food have been helping them get through things together. Tw-eat is his first book, presenting 100 of his favorite recipes, many of which he has shared on Twitter. He believes cooking should be simple: a few clear instructions, a good picture of the finished dish, and dinner on the table with a minimum of effort. His recipes are presented in the simplest possible form, offering a fresh new approach to cooking. Alongside the recipes, he shares the story of his family, and explores the emotional resonance of what we eat.
Our guest is: Dave Smith is Professor of Chemistry at University of York, UK, where he carries out research into smart nanomaterials and nanomedicines, publishing around 200 papers. He is a passionate educator, giving outreach lectures to UK school students and through his own YouTube chemistry channel. Chemical and Engineering News named him as one of the Top 25 chemists to follow on Twitter, and he has received the Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC) Corday Morgan Award and a Higher Education Academy National Teaching Fellowship. He has written and lectured on the representation of LGBT+ scientists and was shortlisted for the Gay Times Barbara Burford Award for activist work representing LGBT+ individuals working in STEM. After the death of his husband from cystic fibrosis, Dave became a single parent, and has advocated for both carers and fathers in STEM. He is the author of Tw-eat: A Little Book with Big Feelings and Short Recipes for Very Busy Lives. Our host is: Dr. Christina Gessler, co-producer of the Academic Life. Listeners to this episode might also be interested in:
Tw-eat More: A Little Book with More Big Feelings and Short Recipes for Very Busy Lives by David K. Smith
Professor Smith’s research
Find the Good: Unexpected Life Lessons from a Small-Town Obituary Writer, by Heather Lende
Heal Yourself with Writing, by Catherine Ann Jones
Self-Care for Grief: 100 Practices for Healing During Times of Loss by Nneka M. Okana
This Will All Be Over Soon, by Cecily Strong
The NBN podcast on The Aftergrief
You are smart and capable, but you aren’t an island and neither are we. We reach across our mentor network to bring you podcasts on everything from how to finish that project, to how to take care of your beautiful mind. Wish we’d bring on an expert about something? DM us on Twitter: The Academic Life @AcademicLifeNBN. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/academic-life
Welcome to The Academic Life! In this episode you’ll hear about:
Andrea Laurent-Simpson’s path in and out of and back into graduate school
The story of her college dog, who became her family
Why she became interested in looking at her pets as family members
How her human kids reacted to her research project
What her in-person research taught her about human-animal interactions
Our book is: Just Like Family: How Companion Animals Joined the Household (NYU Press, 2021), which explores the expanding role of animals in what Dr. Laurent-Simpson calls “the multi-species family,” providing a window into a world where almost 95 percent of adults who share their homes with dogs and cats identify their animal companions as legitimate members of their families. She examines why and how these animals have increasingly become an important part of our households and in our lives, including as siblings to our existing children, as animal children themselves, and even as grandchildren, particularly as fertility rates decline and a growing number of younger couples choose to live a childfree lifestyle. Laurent-Simpson highlights how animals—and their place in our lives—have changed the structure of the American family in surprising ways. Our guest is: Dr. Andrea Laurent-Simpson, Research Assistant Professor and Lecturer in the department of sociology at Southern Methodist University. Her work engages identity theory, family and fertility, and human-nonhuman animal interaction. Her research uses original, qualitative, mixed methods data to examine how familial identities are impacted by human-nonhuman animal relationships; how household structure affects resulting identity formation; how this contributes to post-modern, cultural definitions of who or what counts as family; and how dropping fertility rates and delays of first birth characteristic of the second demographic transition aid in the emergence of a “multi-species” family post-1970’s in the U.S. Her newest project examines “pandemic” pets, family structure and health, and pet owner returns to work and school. Her work is award-winning and has appeared in Symbolic Interaction; Sociological Forum; Sociological Inquiry; Sociology of Health and Illness; and Sociological Spectrum. She is the author of Just Like Family: How Companion Animals Joined the Household. Our host is: Dr. Christina Gessler, co-producer of the Academic Life. Her college allowed her to live in a pet-dorm with her dog Riley; he quickly became the best friend of Ratty [the pet rat next door] and frenemy of Ivory [the neighboring dog who tried to steal his toys. Often.]. Listeners to this episode might also be interested in:
Arluke, Arnold and Andrew Rowan. (2020). Underdogs: Pets, People, and Poverty. Athens, GA: University of Georgia Press.
Canales, Alejandra. (2021). “SMU Sociologist’s Research Shows How Pets Have Become Part of the Family.” Dallas Morning News, August 23. Article here.
Grimm, David. (2014). Citizen Canine: Our Evolving Relationship with Cats and Dogs. New York, NY: Public Affairs.
Irvine, Leslie. (2004). If You Tame Me: Understanding Our Connection with Animals. Philadelphia, PA: Temple University Press.
Laurent-Simpson, Andrea. (2017). “They Make Me Not Want to Have a Child: Effects of Companion Animals on Fertility Intentions of the Childfree.” Sociological Inquiry 87(4):586-607. Article here.
Laurent-Simpson, Andrea. “All In the Family: The Modern Multispecies Household.” The Bark, August 2021. Article here.
This program model for “keeping pets with their people”
Animal Planet meets cats in pet dorms at Christina’s college
You are smart and capable, but you aren’t an island and neither are we. We reach across our mentor network to bring you podcasts on everything from how to finish that project, to how to take care of your beautiful mind. Wish we’d bring on an expert about something? DM us on Twitter: The Academic Life @AcademicLifeNBN. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/academic-life
Welcome to The Academic Life! In this episode you’ll hear about:
Dr. Liz Faber’s long road from completed PhD to dream job
Why academia said she was a failure
The financial reasons she worked two academic jobs at once
The importance of speaking out about pay-scale and departmental inequities
Putting kindness in the classroom
Why you have to define your own success
Our guest is: Dr. Liz W Faber, an Assistant Professor of English & Communication at Dean College. Her teaching and research interests include multimodal communication, science communication, representations of AI in science fiction, computer history, and gender/sexuality studies. She is the author of The Computer's Voice: From Star Trek to Siri (U. Minnesota Press, 2020) and the guest editor for the Popular Culture Studies Journal special issue on robots and labor. She can be found on Twitter (@lizwfab) or at her website (lizwfaber.com). Our host is: Dr. Christina Gessler, the co-producer of the Academic Life podcasts. Listeners to this episode might be interested in:
"Faculty Talk about Teaching at a Community College" by Dianne Finley and Sherry Kinslow
Academic Ableism by Jay Dolmage (U Michigan Press, 2017)
More than Machines? by Laura Voss (Columbia U Press, 2021)
Carleigh Brower’s work
The Computer's Voice: From Star Trek to Siri by Liz Faber (U. Minnesota Press, 2020)
Articles on robots and labor, ed by Dr. Liz Faber Popular Culture Studies Journal https://mpcaaca.org/the-
NEA article on the need for change
Inside Higher Ed examines contingent faculty wages
The Daily Beast finds making coffee pays more than being an adjunct
You are smart and capable, but you aren’t an island and neither are we. We reach across our mentor network to bring you podcasts. Wish we’d bring on a particular expert? DM on Twitter @AcademicLifeNBN. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/academic-life
Welcome to The Academic Life! In this episode you’ll hear about:
The field of reproductive health studies
The data on contraceptive access and effectiveness [even when used correctly]
Why we need to trust women
What happens when a pregnant person seeking an abortion is turned away
The long-term outcomes for people who have had abortions
The consequences for people denied abortions
A discussion of the book The Turnaway Study: Ten Years, a Thousand Women, and the Consequences of Having or Being Denied an Abortion
Today’s book is: The Turnaway Study, which asks what happens when a person seeking an abortion is turned away. Dr. Diane Greene Foster and a team of scientists, psychologists, epidemiologists, demographers, nurses, physicians, economists, sociologists, and public health researchers conducted a ten-year study on the outcomes of a thousand pregnant people across America, studying both those who received abortions, and those who were turned away. Dr. Foster analyzes impacts on mental and physical health, careers, and romantic relationships, offering the first data-driven examination of the negative consequences for pregnant people who are denied abortions. Our guest is: Dr. Diana Greene Foster, a professor and demographer who uses quantitative models and analyses to evaluate the effectiveness of family planning policies and the effect of unwanted pregnancy on women’s lives. She led the Turnaway Study in the US, and is collaborating with scientists on a Nepal Turnaway Study. Dr. Foster also worked on the evaluation of the California State family planning program, Family PACT, demonstrating the effectiveness of the program in reducing the incidence of unintended pregnancy and the effect of dispensing a one-year supply of contraception. Dr. Foster created a new methodology for estimating pregnancies averted based on a Markov model and a microsimulation to identify the cost-effectiveness of advance provision of emergency contraception. Our host is: Dr. Christina Gessler, co-producer of the Academic Life. She is a historian of women and gender. Listeners to this episode might be interested in:
American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists advocacy webpage
The Turnaway Study: Ten Years, a Thousand Women, and the Consequences of Having or Being Denied an Abortion, by Diana Greene Foster
Advancing New Studies in Reproductive Health
You’re Doing it Wrong: Mothering, Media, and Medical Expertise by Bethany L. Johnson and Margaret M. Quinlan
A discussion of the book You’re Doing it Wrong,
You are smart and capable, but you aren’t an island and neither are we. We reach across our mentor network to bring you podcasts on everything from how to finish that project, to how to take care of your beautiful mind. Wish we’d bring on an expert about something? DM us on Twitter: The Academic Life @AcademicLifeNBN. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/academic-life
Welcome to The Academic Life! In this episode you’ll hear about:
Why White professors need to teach about race and racism in their courses
The gap between “inside” and “outside” knowledge
How to effectively provide data in an atmosphere of strong emotions
Why having debates and discussing misinformation won’t work
The reasons students resist learning about race and racism
How to meet students where they are and help them cross the learning threshold
Today’s book is: Teaching About Race and Racism in the College Classroom: Notes from a White Professor (U West Virginia Press, 2019). Teaching about race and racism can be difficult. Students and instructors alike often struggle with strong emotions, and many have preexisting beliefs about race. It is important for students to learn how we got here and how racism is more than just individual acts of meanness. Students also need to understand that colorblindness is not an effective anti-racism strategy. Dr. Kernahan argues that you can be honest and unflinching in your teaching about racism while also providing a compassionate learning environment that allows for mistakes, and avoids shaming students. She provides practical teaching strategies to help instructors feel more confident, and differentiates between how white students and students of color are likely to experience the classroom, helping instructors provide a more effective learning experience for all students. Our guest is: Dr. Cyndi Kernahan, professor of psychology at the University of Wisconsin–River Falls. She is also the assistant dean for teaching and learning in the College of Arts and Sciences. Her research and writing are focused primarily on teaching and learning, including the teaching of race, inclusive pedagogy, and student success. She is the author of Teaching About Race and Racism in the College Classroom. Our host is: Dr. Christina Gessler, co-producer of the Academic Life. She is a historian of women and gender. Listeners to this episode might be interested in:
White Trash: The 400-Year Untold History of Class in America, by Nancy Isenberg
The Making of Asian America: A History, by Erika Lee
Teaching Black History to White People, by Leonard N. Moore
The Other Slavery: The Uncovered Story of Indian Enslavement in America, by Andres Resendez
Critical Race Theory: An Introduction, by Richard Delgado and Jean Stefancic
Why Are All The Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria, by B.D. Tatum
You are smart and capable, but you aren’t an island and neither are we. We reach across our mentor network to bring you podcasts on everything from how to finish that project, to how to take care of your beautiful mind. Wish we’d bring on an expert about something? DM us on Twitter: The Academic Life @AcademicLifeNBN. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/academic-life
Welcome to The Academic Life! In this episode you’ll hear about: the importance of normalizing failure in college, the emotional work involved with coming back from a failure, the role institutions have in resilience work, and the power of reflection for student success. Our guest is: Dr. Anna Sharpe, Associate Dean for Student Success at Berry College. Dr. Sharpe has spent the last six years reimagining academic success and support programming at Berry College. She has the privilege of leading an incredible team of five professional staff and over a hundred student employees working in the areas of academic success, first-year experience, accessibility, and retention. Holding a PhD in Geography from University of Kentucky, Dr. Sharpe also researches the interplay of race, politics, law, and land use, focusing on the southeastern coast, where she was born and raised. When she is not on Berry’s beautiful campus, you can find her with her husband and son--cooking, hiking, and making frequent trips to the coast Our host is: Dr. Dana M. Malone, the co-producer of the Academic Life podcasts. She is a higher education scholar and practitioner. Dana met Anna at the University of Kentucky, where they worked together with students in academic jeopardy and assisted them in reimagining and refocusing their college trajectories. Listeners to this episode might be interested in:
The Stanford Resilience Project: Stanford Resilience Project videos
Carol Dweck’s work: Carol Dweck’s TED Talk on the Power of Believing You Can Improve
Mindset: The New Psychology of Success by Carol Dweck
Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance by Angela Duckworth
From the National Resource Center for the First-Year Experience and Students in Transition, Promoting Belonging, Growth Mindset, and Resilience to Foster Student Success (Baldwin, A., et al.)
NBN Podcasts with Lisa Nunn on College Belonging
NBN Podcast with Lisa Nunn on Teaching First-Year and First-Generation Students:
Wish we’d bring on an expert about something? DM us on Twitter: The Academic Life @AcademicLifeNBN. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/academic-life
Welcome to The Academic Life! In this episode you’ll hear about:
Aviva Legatt’s journey into and through college
Why she became an Ivy League college admissions officer
What that job taught her about common application missteps
How to determine which school is right for you and show them you’re right for it
Month-by-month application checklist for high school seniors.
Our guest is: Dr. Aviva Legatt, who has been in the higher education field for over fifteen years. She is a faculty member in Organizational Dynamics at the University of Pennsylvania and at The Wharton School, teaching in-person and online through Coursera. She has a column in Forbes about issues affecting higher education, and is the author of Get Real and Get In: How to Get Into the College of Your Dreams by Being Your Authentic Self (St. Martin's Griffin, 2021). Our host is: Dr. Christina Gessler, co-producer of the Academic Life, who attended college on a writing scholarship. She chose the school for its pet policy, relationship with the natural environment, and faculty-student ratio. She is a historian of women and gender. Listeners to this episode might be interested in:
The Enlightened College Applicant: A New Approach to the Search and Admissions Process by Andrew Belasco and Dave Bergman
Fiske Guide to Colleges
College Admission Essentials: A Step-by-Step Guide to Showing Colleges Who You Are and What Matters to You by Ethan Sawyer
How To College :What To Know Before You Go (and When You’re There) by Andrea Malkin Brenner and Laura Hope Schwartz
Show Them You're Good: A Portrait of Boys in the City of Angels the Year Before College by Jeff Hobbs
The Merit Myth: How our Colleges Favor the Rich and Divide America by Anthony Carnevale, Peter Schmidt, and Jeff Strohl
A Discussion of the book How To College: What To Know Before You Go (and When You’re There)
A Discussion of the book Show Them You’re Good
You are smart and capable, but you aren’t an island and neither are we. We reach across our mentor network to bring you podcasts on everything from how to finish that project, to how to take care of your beautiful mind. Wish we’d bring on an expert about something? DM us on Twitter: The Academic Life @AcademicLifeNBN. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/academic-life
Welcome to The Academic Life. You are smart and capable, but you aren’t an island and neither are we. So we are reaching across our mentor network to bring you podcasts on everything from how to finish that project, to how to take care of your beautiful mind. Wish we’d bring on an expert about something? DM us on Twitter: The Academic Life @AcademicLifeNBN. In this episode you’ll hear about: Dr. Ginetta Candelario’s path from journalism-major-hopeful to sociologist, how her family history shaped her intellectual questions, what inspired her to return to Smith after campus racism drove her out, a model for building an intentional community, editing a journal dedicated to the scholarship and voices of women of color, and a discussion of Meridians: 20th Anniversary Reader. Our guest is: Dr. Ginetta Candelario, who is a faculty affiliate of the Latin American and Latina/o Studies Program, the Study of Women and Gender Program, and the Community Engagement and Social Change Concentration at Smith College. She is the founding vice president of the National Latin@ Studies Association, and a founding executive committee member of the New England Consortium for Latina/o Studies, and was appointed by the American Sociological Association to its Committee on Professional Ethics for 2017–20 and to the Finance Committee for 2021-2024. Dr. Candelario is widely published, serves on editorial boards, and is a peer reviewer. Her research interests include Dominican history and society, with a focus on national identity formation and women’s history; Blackness in the Americas; Latin American, Caribbean and Latina feminisms; Latina/o communities (particularly Cuban, Dominican and Puerto Rican); U.S. beauty culture; and museum studies. She has been a Fulbright Scholar in the Dominican Republic twice, and has been the editor of Meridians: feminism, race, transnationalism since July 2017. Our host is: Dr. Christina Gessler, the co-creator and co-producer of the Academic Life podcasts. She is a historian of women and gender. Listeners to this episode may be interested in:
Dr. Candelario’s Ted Talk
Meridians’ materials referenced in the podcast
Meridians' portal for submissions
Cien años de feminismos dominicanos, 1865-1965. Tomo I: El fuego detrás de las ruinas, 1865-1931. Co-edited by Ginetta Candalario, April J. Mayes, and Elizabeth Manley, Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic: Archivo General de la Nación, 2016.
Black Behind the Ears: Dominican Racial Identity from Museums to Beauty Shops, Durham: Duke University Press, December 2007.
Salome by Julia Alvarez
Almanac of the Dead by Leslie Marmon Silko
Democracy in Chains by Nancy McClean
YouTube recording of the Meridians’ 20th anniversary celebration talks
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/academic-life
Welcome to The Academic Life. You are smart and capable, but you aren’t an island and neither are we. So we reached across our mentor network to bring you podcasts on everything from how to finish that project, to how to take care of your beautiful mind. Wish we’d bring on an expert about something? DM us your suggestion on Twitter: The Academic Life @AcademicLifeNBN. In this episode you’ll hear about: how Megan became an archivist, the unusual collections she works with, why archives can be intimidating, how historians and archivists work together, and archival etiquette tips for new researchers. Our guest is: Megan Hahn Fraser, who has worked as the Assistant Curator of Manuscripts at The New-York Historical Society, the Library Director at the Independence Seaport Museum in Philadelphia, Co-Head of Collection Management at UCLA Library Special Collections in Los Angeles, and the Vice President and Marcus A. McCorison Librarian at the American Antiquarian Society in Worcester, Mass. Currently, she is working for the Research Institute for Contemporary Outlaws, a private collection of 20th century counter-culture materials based in Los Angeles. She received her Master of Information and Library Science (with a concentration in archives management) degree from Pratt Institute in 2000, and has an undergraduate degree in history from New York University. While at UCLA in 2014, Megan founded the Los Angeles Punk Rock Archive Collective, a group of archivists and others focused on acquiring collections from musicians, artists, and fans of the punk rock scene in Southern California. She has presented at the Society of American Archivists annual conference, the South by Southwest Festival, the L.A. as Subject Archives Bazaar, and the Legion of Steel Metalfest and Conference. She can be found on Twitter @mmhfraser, talking about archives, justice, and The Clash. Our host is: Dr. Christina Gessler, the co-producer of the Academic Life podcasts, and a historian of women and gender. She has a small garden. Listeners to this episode might be interested in:
UCLA Library Special Collections Punk archive
Research Institute for Contemporary Outlaws on Instagram
For more information on how reliance on contingent labor is detrimental to the responsible stewardship of archives
American Historical Association open letter to National Archives and Records Administration and retraction
Society of American Archivists (SAA) Responds to the American Historical Association
Priceless: How I Went Undercover to Rescue the World's Stolen Treasures by Robert K. Wittman (2010)
Meetings with Remarkable Manuscripts: Twelve Journeys into the Medieval World by Christopher de Hamel (2017)
Standing in their own Light: African American Patriots in the American Revolution by Judith L. Van Buskirk (2017)
Indecent Advances: A Hidden History of True Crime and Prejudice Before Stonewall by James Polchin (2019)
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Welcome to The Academic Life. You are smart and capable, but you aren’t an island and neither are we, so we reached across our mentor network to bring you these podcasts. Wish we’d include a specific topic? DM suggestions on Twitter: The Academic Life @AcademicLifeNBN. In this episode you’ll hear about: how Black women contributed to America’s first freedom war, reading against the grain, rival geographies, fugitivity as an act of resistance, why we must center Black women’s voices, and a discussion of the book Running from Bondage. Our guest is: Dr. Karen Cook Bell, who is Associate Professor of History. Her areas of specialization include slavery, the Civil War and Reconstruction, and women’s history. Her scholarship has appeared in the Journal of African American History; Georgia Historical Quarterly; Passport; U.S. West-Africa: Interaction and Relations; Before Obama: A Reappraisal of Black Reconstruction Era Politicians; Converging Identities: Blackness in the Contemporary Diaspora; and Slavery and Freedom in Savannah. She has published Claiming Freedom: Race, Kinship, and Land in Nineteenth Century Georgia, which won the Georgia Board of Regents Excellence in Research Award; and Running from Bondage: Enslaved Women and Their Remarkable Fight for Freedom in Revolutionary America. She is editor of Southern Black Women’s Struggle for Freedom during the Civil War and Reconstruction; and a contributor for Black Perspectives. She is a former AAUW Dissertation Fellow. Today’s book is: Running from Bondage: Enslaved Women and Their Remarkable Fight for Freedom in Revolutionary America, which tells how enslaved women comprised one-third of all runaways, and the ways in which they fled or attempted to flee bondage during and after the Revolutionary War. Dr. Cook Bell's contribution to the study of slave resistance explores the individual and collective lives of these women and girls, and details about what led them to escape. She demonstrates that there two wars waged during the Revolutionary Era: a political revolution for independence from Great Britain and a social revolution for emancipation and equality in which Black women played an active role. Running from Bondage emphasizes the chances taken by these Black founding mothers and the important contributions they made to the cause of liberty. Our host is: Dr. Christina Gessler, the co-producer of the Academic Life podcasts, and a historian of women and gender. Listeners to this episode might be interested in:
Claiming Freedom: Race, Kinship, and Land in Nineteenth Century Georgia, by Karen Cook Bell
Closer to Freedom: Enslaved Women and Everyday Resistance in the Plantation South, by Stephanie Camp
“What Can We Learn from a Digital Database of Runaway Slave Advertisements,” International Social Science Review vol 76 no. (2001), by Tom Costa
Never Caught, by Erica Armstrong Dunbar
This interview on reclaiming lost voices with Dr. Erica Armstrong Dunbar
This interview about the social constructions of race with Dr. Brigette Fielder
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/academic-life
Welcome to The Academic Life. You are smart and capable, but you aren’t an island and neither are we. So, we reached across our mentor network to bring you podcasts on everything from how to finish that project, to how to take care of your beautiful mind. Wish we’d bring on an expert about something? DM us your suggestion on Twitter: The Academic Life @AcademicLifeNBN. In this episode you’ll hear: mentoring across academic careers from graduate students to seasoned faculty, optimal conditions for mentor-mentee relationships, mentoring scholars through the publishing process, and gender and power dynamics within academic mentoring. Our guest is: Dr. Claire M. Renzetti, Professor and Chair of Sociology and the Judi Conway Patton Endowed Chair for Studies of Violence Against Women at the University of Kentucky. She received a Ph.D. in Sociology from the University of Delaware, with specialties in criminology and the sociology of gender. For more than 40 years, Dr. Renzetti’s research has focused on the violent victimization experiences of socially and economically marginalized women and girls. She founded in 1995, and continues to edit, the peer-reviewed, international and interdisciplinary journal Violence Against Women, through Sage Publications. Dr. Renzetti is also the editor of the Gender and Justice book series for University of California Press; co-editor of the Interpersonal Violence book series for Oxford University Press, and editor of the Family and Gender-based Violence book series for Cognella. She has written or edited 26 books as well as numerous book chapters and journal articles based on her own research. She also studies the problem of domestic sex trafficking. Additionally, she conducts research on the effects of religiosity and religious self-regulation on intimate partner violence perpetration and victimization. She has held elected offices in several national and regional professional associations, including the American Sociological Association, the American Society of Criminology, the Society for the Study of Social Problems, and the Eastern Sociological Society. Her research and community service has been recognized with awards from the American Sociological Association, the American Society of Criminology, the Society for the Study of Social Problems, the University of Delaware, Artemis Center (Dayton, OH), and the YWCA of Dayton (OH). Your host is: Dr. Dana Malone, a higher education scholar and practitioner. Dana met Claire as a PhD student at the University of Kentucky, when one of Dana’s academic mentors introduced them. Listeners to this episode might be interested in:
Positive Academic Leadership: How to Stop Putting Out Fires and Start Making a Difference by Jeffrey L. Buller
Presumed Incompetent II: Race, Class, Power, and Resistance of Women in Academia edited by: Yolanda Flores Niemann, Gabriella Gutiérrez y Muhs, and Carmen G. González
NBN Podcast on Presumed Incompetent II
NBN Podcast on How to Create a Mentor Network
Claire Renzetti’s video series on academic publishing for the American Sociological Association (ASA).*Please note access requires an ASA membership
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/academic-life
Welcome to The Academic Life. You are smart and capable, but you aren’t an island and neither are we. So we reached across our mentor network to bring you podcasts on everything from how to finish that project, to how to take care of your beautiful mind. Wish we’d bring on an expert about something? DM us your suggestion on Twitter: The Academic Life @AcademicLifeNBN. In this episode you’ll hear about: Sue Stuart-Smith’s path from English major to psychiatrist, how she went from avoiding gardening to becoming an avid gardener, and a discussion of The Well-Gardened Mind: The Restorative Power of Nature. Our guest is: Sue Stuart-Smith, a prominent psychiatrist and psychotherapist. She is also an avid gardener. She took her degree in English literature at Cambridge before qualifying as a doctor. She worked in the National Health Service for many years, becoming the lead clinician for psychotherapy in Hertfordshire. She teaches at The Tavistock Clinic in London and is consultant to the DocHealth service. She is married to Tom Stuart-Smith, the celebrated garden designer. She is the author of The Well-Gardened Mind. Today’s book is: The Well-Gardened Mind: The Restorative Power of Nature, about the healing effects of gardening and its ability to decrease stress and foster mental well-being in our everyday lives. The garden is often seen as a refuge, a place to forget worldly cares, removed from the “real” life that lies outside. But when we get our hands in the earth we connect with the cycle of life in nature through which destruction and decay are followed by regrowth and renewal. Sue Stuart-Smith provides a new perspective on the power of gardening to change people’s lives. Our host is: Dr. Christina Gessler, the co-producer of the Academic Life podcasts, and a historian of women and gender. She has a small garden. Listeners to this episode might be interested in:
The Well-Gardened Mind: The Restorative Power of Nature, by Sue Stuart Smith
Therapeutic Landscapes: An Evidence-Based Approach to Designing Healing Gardens and Restorative Outdoor Spaces, by Clare Marcus and Naomi Sachs
The Profession and Practice of Horticultural Therapy, edited by Rebecca Haller and Karen Kennedy and Christine Capra
Ecotherapy: Theory, Research and Practice, edited by Martin Jordan and Joe Hinds
The Nature Fix: Why Nature Makes Us Happier, Healthier, and More Creative, by Florence Williams
Radical Compassion, by Tara Brach
The psychology podcast channel on NBN
The mindfulness podcast channel on NBN
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/academic-life
Welcome to The Academic Life. You are smart and capable, but you aren’t an island and neither are we. So we reached across our mentor network to bring you podcasts on everything from how to finish that project, to how to take care of your beautiful mind. Wish we’d bring on an expert about something? DM us your suggestion on Twitter: The Academic Life @AcademicLifeNBN. In this episode you’ll hear about: what a book proposal is and isn’t, why you have to write one, the importance of seeking the right “fit” for your manuscript, how to pitch a quirky book, the difference between a book’s topic and its argument, how to summarize your project in just one sentence, and a discussion of The Book Proposal Book: A Guide for Scholarly Authors (Princeton UP, 2021) Our guest is: Dr. Laura Portwood-Stacer, an experienced developmental editor and publishing consultant for academic authors. She is the author of The Book Proposal Book: A Guide for Scholarly Authors. You have to write a book proposal to get published, but most scholars receive no training on how to do so, and you may have never even seen a proposal before you’re expected to produce your own. The Book Proposal Book cuts through the mystery and guides you step by step through the process of crafting a compelling proposal and pitching it to university presses and other academic publishers. Whether you’re hoping to publish your first book or you’re a seasoned author with an unfinished proposal languishing on your hard drive, The Book Proposal Book provides honest, empathetic, and invaluable advice on how to overcome common sticking points and get your book published. It also shows why a well-conceived proposal can help lead to an outstanding book. Our host is: Dr. Christina Gessler, the co-producer of the Academic Life podcasts, and a historian of women and gender. Listeners to this episode might be interested in:
The Book Proposal Book: A Guide for Scholarly Authors, by Laura Portwood-Stacer
Dr. Portwood-Stacer’s Manuscript and Editing Workshops
Dr. Portwood-Stacer’s website
Handbook for Academic Authors, by Beth Luey
Writing and Publishing Your Book: A Guide for Experts in Every Field, by Melody Herr
From Dissertation to Book, by William Germano
The Chicago Manual of Style: The Essential Guide for Writers, Editors, and Publishers
Story Craft: The Complete Guide to Writing Narrative Nonfiction, by Jack Hart
The Business of Being a Writer, by Jane Friedman
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Welcome to The Academic Life. You are smart and capable, but you aren’t an island, and neither are we. So we reached across our mentor network to bring you podcasts on everything from how to finish that project, to how to take care of your beautiful mind. Wish we’d bring in an expert about something? DM us your suggestion on Twitter: The Academic Life @AcademicLifeNBN. In this episode you’ll hear about: Dr. Piña’s path through higher education, the importance of mentors and coaches in achieving personal and professional success, how he found his current job, some of the concerns of first gen and of working class students, student grief, the complexity of using campus resources in a pandemic, and what he’s hopeful about. Our guest is: Dr. Ulices Piña, an Assistant Professor of History at California State University, Long Beach. A native of Long Beach and a product of the California public school system, his teaching and research interests include Mexico, Modern Latin America, revolutions and social movements, and social activism. He is currently writing a book tentatively titled Rebellious Citizens: Democracy and the Search for Dignity in Revolutionary Mexico. The book places the roles of ordinary people in the country’s long fight for democracy, front and center, to tell the story of how they actively shaped the political process and struggled for equality and dignity in the decades following the Mexican Revolution of 1910. He also has a forthcoming article in the Journal of Social History titled “Rebellion at the Fringe: Conspiracy, Surveillance, and State-Making in 1920s Mexico. Our host is: Dr. Christina Gessler, a historian of women and gender. She heard Dr. Piña’s presentation about pandemic pedagogy lessons at the recent WAWH conference, and invited him to share this on the Academic Life. Listeners to this episode might be interested in:
H-LatAm
The History Teacher
Zapata and the Mexican Revolution by John Womack
Pedro Páramo by Juan Rulfo
The TV Series: Ted Lasso
The History Department at California State University Long Beach
The Latino Studies Channel on NBN
There’s a Revolution Outside, My Love: Letters from a Crisis edited by Tracy K. Smith and John Freeman
Resources for College Students Dealing With Grief
Resource List for First Gen Students
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Welcome to The Academic Life. You are smart and capable, but you aren’t an island, and neither are we. So we reached across our mentor network to bring you podcasts on everything from how to finish that project, to how to take care of your beautiful mind. Wish we’d bring in an expert about something? Email us at cgessler05[at]gmail.com or dr.danamalone[at]gmail.com Find us on Twitter: The Academic Life @AcademicLifeNBN. In this episode you’ll hear about: a student’s goal to study abroad during college, how she dealt with unexpected restrictions on becoming an international student during a pandemic, her transatlantic travels, living in a “bubble” in her new dorm, and what she’s hopeful about for her return to her American campus for her senior year. Our guest is: Emma Halfin, who is a junior at Case Western Reserve University (CWRU) majoring in Political Science and History and minoring in French. She is currently a visiting student at the University of Oxford in the UK studying history and politics and is looking forward to returning to CWRU in the fall for her senior year. Our host is: Dr. Christina Gessler, a historian of women, gender, and sexuality. Listeners to this episode might be interested in:
Woollacott, Angela, ‘“Khaki Fever” and its Control: Gender, Class, Age and Sexual Morality on the British Home Front in the First World War’, Journal of Contemporary History, 29/2 (1994), pp. 325-347
Giorgio Agamben, State of Exception (2003)
Hannah Arendt, The Origins of Totalitarianism (1951)
Jeanne Boydston, “Gender as a Question of Historical Analysis”, Gender and History 20/3 (2008)
The Visiting Student Program at the University of Oxford
American students studying abroad during the pandemic
International Students studying in America during the pandemic
The College of Arts and Sciences at Case Western Reserve University
Visa concerns for students studying abroad during the pandemic
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Welcome to The Academic Life. You are smart and capable, but you aren’t an island, and neither are we. So we reached across our mentor network to bring you podcasts on everything from how to finish that project, to how to take care of your beautiful mind. Wish we’d bring in an expert about something? Email us at cgessler05(at)gmail.com or dr.danamalone(at)gmail.com or find us on Twitter: The Academic Life @AcademicLifeNBN. In this episode you’ll hear about: reclaiming lost voices, recovering history, and a discussion of the book Never Caught: The Washington’s Relentless Pursuit of Their Runaway Slave, Ona Judge. Our guest is: Dr. Erica Armstrong Dunbar, a late eighteenth and early nineteenth-century scholar with a specialization in African American women’s history. From 2011 to 2018 she was the Inaugural Director of the Program in African American history at the Library Company of Philadelphia. She has written numerous articles, reviews, essays, and books including Never Caught, and has given scholarly talks across the country. She is the National Director of the Association of Black Women Historians (ABWH), and is the Charles and Mary Beard Distinguished Professor of History at Rutgers University. Our host is: Dr. Christina Gessler, a historian of women and gender. Listeners to this episode might be interested in:
Never Caught: The Washington’s Relentless Pursuit of Their Runaway Slave, Ona Judge by Erica Armstrong Dunbar
She Came to Slay: The Life and Times of Harriet Tubman by Erica Armstrong Dunbar
A Fragile Freedom: African American Women and Emancipation in the Antebellum City by Erica Armstrong Dunbar
Daina Ramey Berry and Erica Armstrong Dunbar, “The Unbroken Chain of Enslaved African Resistance and Rebellion.” In The Birth of a Nation: Nat Turner and the Making of a Movement, edited by N. Parker, 35-61. New York: Atria/Simon and Schuster, September 2016.
The Association of Black Women Historians http://abwh.org
The Program in African American History at the Library Company of Philadelphia
Dr. Armstrong’s website
The African-American studies channel on NBN
The History Department at the College of Arts and Sciences at Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey
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Welcome to The Academic Life. You are smart and capable, but you aren’t an island, and neither are we. So we reached across our mentor network to bring you podcasts on everything from how to finish that project, to how to take care of your beautiful mind. Wish we’d bring in an expert about something? Email us at dr.danamalone@gmail.com or cgessler05@gmail.com. Find us on Twitter: The Academic Life @AcademicLifeNBN. In this episode you’ll hear about: distinguishing between student abilities and academic skill sets, why the goal should not be making first-generation students more like continuing generation students, how to introduce yourself in a way that promotes student success, the mini-midterm, and other strategies to promote student success. Our guest is: Lisa M. Nunn, Ph.D., author of 33 Simple Strategies for Faculty: A Week-by-Week Resource for Teaching First-Year and First-Generation Students (Rutgers University Press, 2018) and Professor of Sociology at the University of San Diego. She is the Director of her campus' Center for Educational Excellence. She is also the author of College Belonging: How First-Year and First-Generation Students Navigate Campus Life as well as a book on high school students, Defining Student Success: The Role of School and Culture. She didn't grow up knowing that she would become a sociologist and she graduated college as a literature and theater major, still not knowing that she would become a sociologist. It was during her years with the Peace Corps in Limbaži, Latvia in her early twenties when she started to recognize how fascinating cultural ideas and social structures are. How they shape who we are, who we want to become, and how they also constrain the paths available to us to get there. She hasn't stopped thinking about or talking about these dynamics since. Your host is: Dr. Dana Malone, a higher education scholar and practitioner. She specializes in college student relationships, gender, sexuality, and religious identities as well as assessment planning. Dana enjoys engaging conversations, delicious food, practicing yoga, and wandering the Jersey shore. Listeners to this episode might be interested in:
College Belonging: How First-Year and First-Generation Students Navigate Campus Life by Lisa M. Nunn
Interview with Lisa Nunn on her book College Belonging.
Defining Student Success: The Role of School and Culture by Lisa Nunn
The Skillful Teacher: On Technique, Trust, and Responsiveness in the Classroom by Stephen Brookfield
Small Teaching Online: Applying Learning Science in Online Classes by Flower Darby and James Lang
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Welcome to The Academic Life. You are smart and capable, but you aren’t an island, and neither are we. So we reached across our mentor network to bring you podcasts on everything from how to finish that project, to how to take care of your beautiful mind. Wish we’d bring in an expert about something? Email us at cgessler05(at)gmail.com or dr.danamalone(at)gmail.com or find us on Twitter: The Academic Life @AcademicLifeNBN. In this episode you’ll hear about: Dr. Erica Bauermeister’s career journey out of academia, her move to Italy and back to the US, how she unexpectedly found herself renovating a house, and a discussion of the book House Lessons. Our guest is: Erica Bauermeister, who earned her PhD at the University of Washington. She was frustrated by the lack of women authors in the curriculum, and in response co-authored 500 Great Books by Women: A Reader’s Guide, and Let’s Hear it For The Girls. She taught writing and literature, got married and had children and left academia. She became a Realtor, moved to Italy, moved back to the US, continued writing, and then unexpectedly found herself renovating a house. Erica’s first novel was published as she was turning 50. Her books have been translated into more than 50 languages, been selected for Reese Witherspoon’s book club, and made the USA Today and NYT bestseller list. Our host is: Dr. Christina Gessler, a historian of women and gender. Christina once helped renovate a cottage on a small island off the coast of Massachusetts. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/academic-life
Welcome to The Academic Life. You are smart and capable, but you aren’t an island, and neither are we. So we reached across our mentor network to bring you podcasts on everything from how to finish that project, to how to take care of your beautiful mind. Wish we’d bring in an expert about something? DM us your suggestion on Twitter: The Academic Life @AcademicLifeNBN. In this episode you’ll hear about: Ros Pyne’s path through higher education, how she found her way to her current job, her role at Bloomsbury Publishers, what Open Access [OA] is and is not, how OA can democratize knowledge, and what she’s hopeful about. Our guest is: Ros Pyne, who is the Global Director of Research and Open Access at Bloomsbury Publishers. She has worked in academic publishing since 2007, initially as an editor, and for the last eight years in roles focusing on open access. She has a particular interest in bringing open access to long-form scholarship and to the humanities, and is the co-author of several reports on open access books. She holds a degree in English from the University of Cambridge, and an MA in early modern English literature from King’s College London. Our host is: Dr. Christina Gessler, a historian of women and gender. Listeners to this episode might be interested in:
Open access at Bloomsbury
Directory of Open Access Books
OAPEN OA Books Toolkit (for anyone interested in learning more about what open access books are and how they work)
Open Access Books Network (a free online network for people working on open access books or interested in getting involved)
Open Access and the Humanities (a 2014 book by an open access expert Martin Paul Eve that’s still an excellent primer on this topic)
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/academic-life
Welcome to The Academic Life. You are smart and capable, but you aren’t an island, and neither are we. So we reached across our mentor network to bring you podcasts on everything from how to finish that project, to how to take care of your beautiful mind. Wish we’d bring in an expert about something? Email us at cgessler05(at)gmail.com or dr.danamalone(at)gmail.com or find us on Twitter: The Academic Life @AcademicLifeNBN. In this episode you’ll hear about: gender and sex bias in medical school textbooks and in medical training and how that shows up in the ER, the work Dr. McGregor is doing to change that, and a discussion of the book Sex Matters: How Male-Centric Medicine Endangers Women’s Health and What We Can Do About It. Our guest is: Alyson J. McGregor MD, MA, FACEP. Dr. McGregor is a women’s health pioneer focusing on the concept of sex and gender difference in the delivery of acute medical care. She is an Associate Professor of Emergency Medicine at The Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University, and the co-founder and director for the Division of Sex and Gender in Emergency Medicine (SGEM) at Brown University’s Department of Emergency Medicine, and a co-founder for the national organization Sex and Gender Women’s Health Collaborative. Dr. McGregor’s research focus is on the effects that sex and gender have on emergent conditions. She has been an advocate for this model nationally, speaking widely to medical students and professionals and laypeople. She has written or co-written over sixty peer-reviewed publications in scientific journals on the topic of sex and gender as well as given a widely popular TEDx Talk, and authored and edited books. Our host is: Dr. Christina Gessler, a historian of women and gender. Listeners to this episode might be interested in:
Sex and Gender Women’s Health Collaborative Sex and Gender Women’s Health Collaborative.
Sex Matters: How Male-Centric Medicine Endangers Women’s Health and What We Can Do About It, by Alyson McGregor, MD
Sex and Gender in Acute Care Medicine, edited by Alyson J. McGregor
Dr. McGregor’s TedxTalk: Her TEDx talk, “Why Medicine Often Has Dangerous Side Effects for Women,”
Premed Prep: Advice From a Medical School Admissions Dean by Sunny Nakae
Gender and Our Brains, by Gina Rippon
The Medicine Channel on New Books Network
Feeling Medicine: How the Pelvic Exam Shapes Medical Training, by Kelly Underman
The Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University
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Welcome to The Academic Life. You are smart and capable, but you aren’t an island, and neither are we. So we reached across our mentor network to bring you podcasts on everything from how to finish that project, to how to take care of your beautiful mind. Wish we’d bring in an expert about something? Email us at cgessler05@gmail.com or dr.danamalone@gmail.com. Find us on Twitter: The Academic Life @AcademicLifeNBN. In this episode you’ll hear about: how Clair adapted to changes in her academic timeline, re-planned her wedding, and postponed taking the Bar exam due to the pandemic. Our guest is: Clair Wright Sumerfield, a fourth-year, dual-degree graduate student at the University of Denver. She is earning both a JD from Sturm College of Law and an MA is Art History & Museum Studies from the School of Art and Art History. She expects to graduate from both programs by fall 2021 and hopes to find a job that combines both fields. Originally from Illinois, Clair currently lives in Denver, Colorado with her husband and two cats and enjoys exploring Colorado’s beautiful scenery in her free time. Our host is: Dr. Christina Gessler, a historian of women, gender, and sexuality. Listeners to this episode might be interested in:
Center for Art Law
“Understanding Grief in the Age of the Covid-19 Pandemic”
Textile & Fashion Collection at the Denver Art Museum
“Alexander McQueen: Savage Beauty”
Alexander McQueen Savage Beauty (video)
Experimental Fashion: Performance Art, Carnival and the Grotesque Body by Francesca Granata
The Grotesque in Western Art and Culture: The Image at Play by Frances S. Connelly
Supporting Graduate Students in Times of Stress
Reflections on the downsides of remote work
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Welcome to The Academic Life. You are smart and capable, but you aren’t an island, and neither are we. So we reached across our mentor network to bring you podcasts on everything from how to finish that project, to how to take care of your beautiful mind. Wish we’d bring in an expert about something? Email us at cgessler05@gmail.com or dr.danamalone@gmail.com. Find us on Twitter: The Academic Life @AcademicLifeNBN. In this episode you’ll hear about: Karin Fischer’s job as a contributing writer for the Chronicle of Higher Education, how she researches stories about international students, what the pandemic means for her work and for the students she writes about, and what she’s hopeful about. Our guest is: Karin Fischer, a higher-education journalist with a focus on international education, American colleges’ activities overseas, the globalization of the college experience, and study abroad. Her work has appeared in the Chronicle of Higher Education, the New York Times, EdSource, the Washington Monthly, and University World News. Ms. Fischer is also a research associate at the Center for Studies in Higher Education at the University of California at Berkeley and an international education leadership fellow at the University at Albany. She is a recipient of the East-West Center’s Jefferson Fellowship for reporting in Asia and the International Reporting Project fellowship. Her work has been honored by the Education Writers Association, the National Press Foundation, and the Poynter Institute. Our host is: Dr. Christina Gessler, a historian of women, gender, and sexuality. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/academic-life
Welcome to The Academic Life. You are smart and capable, but you aren’t an island, and neither are we. So we reached across our mentor network to bring you podcasts on everything from how to finish that project, to how to take care of your beautiful mind. Wish we’d bring in an expert about something? Email us at cgessler05(at)gmail.com or dr.danamalone(at)gmail.com or find us on Twitter: The Academic Life @AcademicLifeNBN. In this episode you’ll hear about: the importance of expanding the boundaries of academic theory through interdisciplinary studies, why you need to build and acknowledge your own support network, the social construction of race and racism, and a discussion of the book Relative Races. Our guest is: Dr. Brigitte Fielder, an Associate Professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. She is (with Jonathan Senchyne) co-editor of Against a Sharp White Background: Infrastructures of African-American Print and author of Relative Races: Genealogies of Interracial Kinship in Nineteenth-Century America. Her work has been published in various journals and edited collections. She is currently writing a book on racialized human-animal relationships in the long nineteenth century, which shows how childhood becomes a key site for (often simultaneous) humanization and racialization. Our host is: Dr. Christina Gessler, a historian of women and gender. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/academic-life
Welcome to The Academic Life. You are smart and capable, but you aren’t an island, and neither are we. So we reached across our mentor network to bring you podcasts on everything from how to finish that project, to how to take care of your beautiful mind. Wish we’d bring in an expert about something? Email us at dr.danamalone@gmail.com or cgessler05@gmail.com. Find us on Twitter: The Academic Life @AcademicLifeNBN. In this episode you’ll hear about: how mentoring differs from friendship, common (mis)perceptions of how mentoring happens across the academy, what makes a great mentor, steps to take when connecting with a potential mentor, and how to construct your optimal “board of advisors.” Dr. Laura Gail Lunsford, author, scholar, speaker, consultant, and southerner. Dr. Lunsford is an expert in mentoring and leadership. She has written over 40 peer-reviewed articles, case studies and chapters on leadership and mentoring. She wrote the Handbook for Managing Mentoring Programs, co-edited the Sage Handbook of Mentoring, and co-authored Faculty Development in Liberal Arts Colleges. Funny and engaging, she consults with organizations on effective mentoring and coaching. Presently, she professes psychology at Campbell University, a beautiful liberal arts college in rural NC. Laura enjoys her Japanese Zen Garden, cycling, kayaking, and karate (and holds a black belt in Shoto kan) in addition to eating her husband’s cooking. A Rotarian, she also volunteers with the American Red Cross. Dr. Dana Malone, a higher education scholar and practitioner. She specializes in college student relationships, gender, sexuality, and religious identities as well as assessment planning. Dana enjoys delicious, healthy food, practicing yoga, and wandering the Jersey shore. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/academic-life
Welcome to The Academic Life. You are smart and capable, but you aren’t an island, and neither are we. So we reached across our mentor network to bring you podcasts on everything from how to finish that project, to how to take care of your beautiful mind. Wish we’d bring in an expert about something? Email us at cgessler05@gmail.com or dr.danamalone@gmail.com. Find us on Twitter: The Academic Life @AcademicLifeNBN. In this episode you’ll hear about: Maurice Wilson’s journey from the military to higher education, how he has pursued his dual interests in aviation and creative writing, and a discussion of his chapter in Learning from the Lived Experiences of Graduate Student Writers. Our guest is: Maurice Wilson, who considers himself the “Robin Hood” of academic literacy. Maurice develops and implements a comprehensive training program curriculum for writing center consultants at a large urban university. He is the administrator for a developmental writing program, and provides training and support for instructors and other writing groups. A career US Army aviator, Maurice taught basic and advanced composition and literature at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, and retired from military service following his stint as a graduate teaching fellow before moving into writing center administration. Maurice also teaches professional writing for Ed.D. students. His research interests include the diverse student voices in writing centers, the writing of military veterans, and HBCU writing programs. Our host is: Dr. Christina Gessler, a historian of women and gender. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/academic-life
Welcome to The Academic Life. You are smart and capable, but you aren’t an island, and neither are we. So we reached across our mentor network to bring you podcasts on everything from how to finish that project, to how to take care of your beautiful mind. Wish we’d bring in an expert about something? Email us at cgessler05@gmail.com or dr.danamalone@gmail.com. Find us on Twitter: The Academic Life @AcademicLifeNBN. In this episode you’ll hear about: how Jessica first began to learn Yiddish, what drew her to translation work, the importance of finding encouraging mentors and creating peer supports, what it means to be “contingent” faculty, and a discussion of her new book Diary of A Lonely Girl. Our guest is: Dr. Jessica Kirzane, who teaches Yiddish language as well as courses in Yiddish literature and culture. She received her PhD in Yiddish Studies from Columbia University in 2017. Dr. Kirzane is the Editor-in-Chief of In geveb: A Journal of Yiddish Studies. In addition, she has held several positions at the Yiddish Book Center: Translation Fellow in 2017-18, Pedagogy Fellow in 2018-19, and as an editor and contributor to the Teach Great Jewish Books site of the Yiddish Book Center. Her research interests include race, sex, gender, and regionalism in American Jewish and Yiddish literature and has published articles on the idea of rural America in Yiddish literature, interethnic romance in Yiddish periodicals, and lynching in American Yiddish literature. Most recently she has published a translation of Miriam Karpilove's The Diary of a Lonely Girl, or the Battle Against Free Love (Syracuse UP, 2020). Our host is: Dr. Christina Gessler, a historian of women and gender. Listeners to this episode might be interested in:
The Yiddish Book Center
“New York’s First-Time Women Voters” in Jewish Currents
“Freydl” in Columbia Journal
The Abandoned Book: A New Collection of Yiddish Translations.
To Tread on New Ground: Selected Hebrew Writings of Hava Shapiro. Ed. Carole Balin and Wendy Zierler (Wayne State University Press, 2014)
Have I Got a Story For You: More than a Century of Yiddish Fiction from the Forward. (Norton, 2016)
Diary of A Lonely Girl, or the Battle Against Free Love by Miriam Karpilove
In geveb: A Journal of Yiddish Studies.
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Welcome to The Academic Life. You are smart and capable, but you aren’t an island, and neither are we. So we reached across our mentor network to bring you podcasts on everything from how to finish that project, to how to take care of your beautiful mind. Wish we’d bring in an expert about something? Email us at cgessler@gmail.com or dr.danamalone@gmail.com. Find us on Twitter: The Academic Life @AcademicLifeNBN. In this episode you’ll hear about: how Sarah dealt with loneliness, worked as a teaching assistant from a tent her own backyard, and what the pandemic means for her dissertation, her timeline, and her funding. Our guest is: Sarah Paschal Gerenday is a PhD student in Earth Science at University of California Santa Barbara researching the use of recycled water for groundwater replenishment. She lives with a few friends and a dog in Santa Barbara. Our host is: Dr. Christina Gessler, a historian of women, gender, and sexuality. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/academic-life
Welcome to The Academic Life. You are smart and capable, but you aren’t an island, and neither are we. So we reached across our mentor network to bring you podcasts on everything from how to finish that project, to how to take care of your beautiful mind. Wish we’d bring in an expert about something? Email us at dr.danamalone@gmail.com or cgessler@gmail.com. Find us on Twitter: The Academic Life @AcademicLifeNBN. In this episode you’ll hear about: the three realms of college belonging, why “finding your place” is bad advice for first-gen students, how financial aid packages affect students’ experiences of belonging, “nice” and “not-so-nice” diversity, and the hypocrisy of white niceness on college campuses. Our guest is: Lisa M. Nunn, Ph.D., author of College Belonging: How First-Year and First-Generation Students Navigate Campus Life and Professor of Sociology at the University of San Diego. She is the Director of her campus' Center for Educational Excellence. She is also the author of 33 Simple Strategies for Faculty: A Week-by-Week Resource for Teaching First-Year and First-Generation Students as well as a book on high school students, Defining Student Success: The Role of School and Culture. She didn't grow up knowing that she would become a sociologist and she graduated college as a literature and theater major, still not knowing that she would become a sociologist. It was during her years with the Peace Corps in Limbaži, Latvia in her early twenties when she started to recognize how fascinating cultural ideas and social structures are. How they shape who we are, who we want to become, and how they also constrain the paths available to us to get there. She hasn't stopped thinking about or talking about these dynamics since. Your host is: Dr. Dana Malone, a higher education scholar and practitioner. She specializes in college student relationships, gender, sexuality, and religious identities as well as assessment planning. Dana enjoys engaging conversations, delicious food, practicing yoga, and wandering the Jersey shore. Listeners to this episode might be interested in:
33 Simple Strategies for Faculty: A Week-by-Week Resource for Teaching First-Year and First-Generation Students by Lisa M. Nunn
Defining Student Success: The Role of School and Culture by Lisa Nunn
The Cost of Inclusion: How Student Conformity Leads to Inequality on College Campuses by Blake R. Silver
The Privileged Poor: How Elite Colleges Are Failing Disadvantaged Students by Anthony Abraham Jack
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/academic-life
Welcome to The Academic Life. You are smart and capable, but you aren’t an island, and neither are we. So we reached across our mentor network to bring you podcasts on everything from how to finish that project, to how to take care of your beautiful mind. Wish we’d bring in an expert about something? Email us at cgessler@gmail.com or dr.danamalone@gmail.com. Find us on Twitter: The Academic Life @AcademicLifeNBN. In this episode you’ll hear about: the benefits and challenges of working remotely, being alt-ac, Hindu Studies, founding an online school, and the pandemic shutdowns in Canada. Our guest is: Dr. Raj Balkaran is a prolific independent scholar of Sanskrit narrative texts. He is the author of The Goddess and the King in Indian Myth (Routledge 2018), The Goddess and the Sun in Indian Myth (Routledge 2020) along with a number of articles and book chapters. Having taught comparative religion and mythology at the University of Toronto School of Continuing Studies for a decade, he now Tutors at the Oxford Centre for Hindu Studies where he also serves on the Centre’s Curriculum Development Board. Alongside his academic training, he has received extensive spiritual training as part of an oral tradition dedicated to the transmission of Indian wisdom teachings. Integrating his academic and spiritual training, he has founded the online School of Indian Wisdom where he designs and delivers original online courses centered on the practical life wisdom to be found in the philosophical, mythological and spiritual traditions of ancient India. Beyond teaching and research, Dr. Balkaran runs a thriving life consulting practice and hosts the New Books in Indian Religions podcast. Our host is: Dr. Christina Gessler, a historian of women and gender. Christina recently met Raj at a Zoom meeting for New Books Network channel hosts, and invited him to come on the Academic Life to share his pandemic perspective. Listeners to this episode might be interested in:
School of Indian Wisdom
Oxford Centre for Hindu Studies
The New Books in Indian Religion podcast
The Rāmāyaṇa of Vālmīki: An Epic of Ancient India, Volume I: Balakāṇḍa
The Rāmāyaṇa of Vālmīki: An Epic of Ancient India, Volume II: Ayodhyakāṇḍa
The Mahabharata, Volume 1: Book 1: The Book of the Beginning
The Mahabharata, Volume 2: Book 2: The Book of Assembly
In Praise of the Goddess: The Devimahatmya and Its Meaning
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/academic-life
Welcome to The Academic Life. You are smart and capable, but you aren’t an island, and neither are we. So we reached across our mentor network to bring you podcasts on everything from how to finish that project, to how to take care of your beautiful mind. Wish we’d bring in an expert about something? Email us at cgessler@gmail.com or dr.danamalone@gmail.com. Find us on Twitter: The Academic Life @AcademicLifeNBN. In this episode you’ll hear about: Dr. Bradley Shreve’s decision to leave academia after he became a parent; his job as the editor of Tribal College: Journal of American Indian Higher Education; what the American Indian Higher Education Consortium (AIHEC) does; and his work as a podcaster interviewing tribal elders. Our guest is: Dr. Bradley Shreve, the editor of Tribal College: Journal of American Indian Higher Education, the quarterly publication of the American Indian Higher Education Consortium (AIHEC). Previously, he taught history and chaired the Division of Social and Behavioral Sciences at Diné College, America’s first tribal college, which is located in the Navajo Nation. Bradley is the author of numerous articles, essays, and the book Red Power Rising: The National Indian Youth Council and the Origins of Native Activism (University of Oklahoma Press, 2011). Our host is: Dr. Christina Gessler, a historian of women and gender.
Listeners to this episode might be interested in:
TCJ
Tribal College Press
TCJ student magazine
Meditation on Ceremonies of Beginnings: The Tribal College and World Indigenous Nations Higher Education Consortium Poems, by Thomas Davis
The Pathfinders: Women Leaders in the Tribal College Movement
Remembering Diné College: Origin Stories of America’s First Tribal College
Red Power Rising: The National Indian Youth Council and the Origins of Native Activism by Bradley Shreve
A Conversation with Verna Fowler [Audio Podcast].
Native American Studies channel on NBN
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/academic-life
Welcome to The Academic Life. You are smart and capable, but you aren’t an island, and neither are we. So we reached across our mentor network to bring you podcasts on everything from how to finish that project, to how to take care of your beautiful mind. Wish we’d bring in an expert about something? Email us at cgessler@gmail.com or dr.danamalone@gmail.com. Find us on Twitter: The Academic Life @AcademicLifeNBN. In this episode you’ll hear about: the challenges Kaylah Marcello, a STEM graduate student at UC Davis, suddenly faced when she was having coffee with a friend in mid-March 2020 and her phone rang telling her that her son’s elementary school was closing down. She quickly realized she couldn’t work in the lab she was assigned to while homeschooling her son. Kaylah shares openly about her personal history, her mental health struggles, and why taking care of herself was crucial to taking care of her family and her own educational goals. Our guest is: Kaylah Marcello, a Microbiology PhD student at the University of California, Davis. Kaylah is researching cold tolerance genes that support photosynthesis in Antarctic cyanobacteria with Dr. Dawn Sumner. She has been a teaching assistant for in-person microbiology lab courses during the pandemic. Prior to pursuing a graduate education, she was a transfer student from the California Community College system to the UC system. She is passionate about science communication, educational outreach, mental health awareness and making academia more accessible to people who would otherwise not pursue it. She is a mother and an all-around science enthusiast, taking life one minute at a time. Our host is: Dr. Christina Gessler, a historian of women and gender. Listeners to this episode might be interested in:
Postpartum depression resources
California community colleges
Dr. Dawn Sumner Lab https://dysumner.faculty.ucdavis.edu/
Dr. Miriam Martin’s interview about her own graduate school experiences
Antarctic Cyanobacteria
UC Davis COVID testing initiative
Creating a support system in grad school
Discussions about the Mind and Mindfulness
Dr. Christina Gessler is a historian of women, gender, and sexuality. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/academic-life
Welcome to The Academic Life. You are smart and capable, but you aren’t an island, and neither are we. So we reached across our mentor network to bring you podcasts on everything from how to finish that project, to how to take care of your beautiful mind. Wish we’d bring in an expert about something? Email us at cgessler@gmail.com or dr.danamalone@gmail.com. Find us on Twitter: The Academic Life @AcademicLifeNBN. In this episode you’ll hear about: mental wellness services on campus, asking for help, embracing who you are, and why you need support to succeed at your life. Our guest is: Elisabeth Gonella, a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist who has worked in the mental health and spiritual counseling fields for over 25 years. The early years of her career were spent working primarily with adolescents in various institutional settings where she facilitated therapeutic wilderness programs, Gestalt based group therapy, expressive arts, and daily activities as a vehicle for self-reflection. She has received training in working with substance abuse and dually diagnosed clients in both in-patient and out-patient settings. Currently, Elisabeth is seeing clients in private practice and in a College Counseling and Psychological Services Department. Elisabeth develops curriculum for The Therapist Development Center assisting hundreds of interns to pass the MFT exams (both California and National). Since 2012, Elisabeth has served as an adjunct faculty member at Pacifica Graduate Institute. Elisabeth is a clinical member of both the American Association of Marriage and Family Therapists and the California Association of Marriage and Family Therapists. She is also a graduate of Community Choir Leadership Training and facilitates Community Singing in Santa Barbara, California to promote well-being through music. Our host is: Dr. Christina Gessler, a historian of women and gender. Listeners to this episode might be interested in:
Elisabeth’s website
Care of the Soul by Thomas Moore
The Gift of Therapy by Irvin Yalom, MD
The documentary film Finding Joe
Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi
Flow, the Ted Talk:
The Hero's Journey: Joseph Campbell on His Life and Work by Joseph Campbell
Acacia Counseling and Wellness
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Welcome to The Academic Life. You are smart and capable, but you aren’t an island, and neither are we. So we reached across our mentor network to bring you podcasts on everything from how to finish that project, to how to take care of your beautiful mind. Wish we’d bring in an expert about something? Email us at dr.danamalone@gmail.com or cgessler@gmail.com. Find us on Twitter: The Academic Life @AcademicLifeNBN. In this episode you’ll hear: the realities of completing a master’s program, initiating a job search, and transitioning into a new professional role during a pandemic; losses and silver linings around key milestones and traditions, the significance of physical spaces; lessons learned; and advice to other graduate students. Our guest is: Alex Schmied, M.S., an academic coordinator for Spectrum Scholars, a comprehensive college-to-career program for University of Delaware undergraduates on the autism spectrum. She supports students in obtaining their personal and academic success by providing holistic coaching sessions focused on executive functioning, academics, self-care, self-advocacy, social engagement, career exploration and interdependent living skills. Alex holds an M.S. in Higher Education Policy and Student Affairs from West Chester University and a B.S. in Public Health from Temple University, merging her two interests she loves identifying ways to support the whole student and focuses on wellbeing. She lives in Philadelphia, PA, a city she loves to explore. She prizes the time she spends with her friends, partner, family, and dogs. Your host is: Dr. Dana Malone, a higher education scholar and practitioner, with a background in student affairs. She specializes in college student relationships, gender, sexuality, and religious identities as well as assessment planning. Dana enjoys making (and, of course, eating) delicious, healthy food, practicing yoga, and wandering the Jersey shore. Listeners to this episode might be interested in:
Stacey Flower’s TEDx talk entitled, “The 5 People You Need to be Happy” Alex uses this when choosing “her circle” of people. The 5 People You Need To Be Happy | Stacey Flowers
Drew Dudley’s TEDx Talk on “Everyday Leadership” A reminder to celebrate the little moments! Everyday Leadership | Drew Dudley
“The Opposite of Loneliness” by Marina Keegan. Alex read this her senior year of undergrad when everything feels so uncertain. The author was the same age as Alex when she died in a car crash after graduating from Yale. The Opposite of Loneliness | Marina Keegan
The Opposite of Loneliness: Essays and Stories by Marina Keegan
NPR News Now Podcast and Inside Higher Ed. Alex uses these to stay informed as a new professional. NPR News Now Podcast & Inside Higher Ed
NASPA New Professionals and Graduate Students Knowledge Community and ACPA Graduate Students and New Professionals Community of Practice. It’s also important to get involved in your field. NASPA New Professionals & Graduate Students Knowledge Community & ACPA Graduate Students and New Professionals Community of Practice
Pedagogy of the Oppressed by Paulo Freire. This was a classic grad school read that really opened Alex’s eyes. Pedagogy of the Oppressed | Paulo Freire
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Welcome to The Academic Life. You are smart and capable, but you aren’t an island, and neither are we. So we reached across our mentor network to bring you podcasts on everything from how to finish that project, to how to take care of your beautiful mind. Wish we’d bring in an expert about something? Email us at cgessler@gmail.com or dr.danamalone@gmail.com. Find us on Twitter: The Academic Life @AcademicLifeNBN. In this episode you’ll hear about: Laura’s reasons for leaving academia, the path to her job at the American Historical Association, what the AHA is, how the insurrection on the US Capital on January 6th made historians “relevant”, and how historians continue to teach both inside and outside academia. Our guest is: Laura Ansley, who joined the AHA as managing editor in September 2019. She worked previously at the American Society of Civil Engineers as a journals production editor and was an editorial apprentice at the Omohundro Institute of Early American History and Culture. In her free time, she volunteers as managing editor of Nursing Clio, a website focusing on histories of gender and medicine. She holds an MA in history from the College of William & Mary and a BA in history and American studies from Case Western Reserve University. Her ORCID is https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0160-0190. Follow her on Twitter: @lmansley. Your host is: Dr. Christina Gessler, a historian of women, gender, and sexuality. Listeners to this episode might be interested in:
The American Historical Association
New Books in History
Omohundro Institute
Historians in Historic Times
Washington History Seminar
Essential Guide to Writing History: History Essays by Katherine Pickering Antonova
400 Souls: A Community History of African-America, 1619-2019 by Ibram X. Kendi, Editor
Leaving Academia by Christopher Caterine [which includes Laura’s story of leaving her PhD program]
Writing Your Journal Article in Twelve Weeks by Wendy Laura Belcher
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Welcome to The Academic Life. You are smart and capable, but you aren’t an island, and neither are we. So we reached across our mentor network to bring you podcasts on everything from how to finish that project, to how to take care of your beautiful mind. Wish we’d bring in an expert about something? Email us at cgessler@gmail.com or dr.danamalone@gmail.com. Find us on Twitter: The Academic Life @AcademicLifeNBN. In this episode you’ll hear about: the benefits of publishing with a smaller press, how scholarly books are marketed, and what to do if your book is rejected by a publisher. Our guest is: Mona Rosen Hamlin, who has been in the marketing field at Syracuse University for 22 years. For the last twelve she has been a marketing research analyst with the Syracuse University Press. She was a recipient of the Crystal Ball award for marketing and has won numerous sales awards in advertising. She resides in upstate New York with her husband and two dogs and is a very proud grandmother to five grandchildren. She loves traveling, reading, writing, spending time with friends and family, and watching the Syracuse Orange play football. Our host is: Dr. Christina Gessler, a historian of women and gender. Listeners to this episode might be interested in:
Syracuse University Press Resources for Authors
Syracuse University Press
When the Danube Ran Red
Moonfixer: The Basketball Journey of Earl Lloyd
Our Movie Houses
Four Letters to the Witness of My Childhood
The Value and Work of University Presses
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Welcome to The Academic Life. You are smart and capable, but you aren’t an island, and neither are we. So we reached across our mentor network to bring you podcasts on everything from how to finish that project, to how to take care of your beautiful mind. Wish we’d bring in an expert about something? Email us at cgessler05@gmail.com or dr.danamalone@gmail.com. Find us on Twitter: The Academic Life @AcademicLifeNBN. In this episode you’ll hear about: social justice, chronic illness, the importance of self-advocacy and a support network, and what it’s like graduating from college and then applying to graduate school during a pandemic. Our guest is Amy Sumerfield, who describes herself like this: I am a 23 year old cisgendered woman living in Loveland, Colorado. I was born in South Korea and lived with a foster family there until I was five months old. I was eventually adopted by my current family where I then grew up in Boulder, Colorado. I am more than privileged to have the upbringing that I did and I would not be here today if it wasn't for their constant support. Growing up as an adoptee was certainly hard to process, and especially as I grew older, I began to struggle greatly with my multi intersectionality. Not only was I confused about my identity at the time, but I was also learning to live with an autoimmune disease - Lupus. I was diagnosed with Lupus when I was 11 years old, and having to limit my activity in an extremely active town was difficult and only added to my idea that I didn't fit in. It took a lot of ups and mostly downs for me to learn how to cope, but I eventually came out on a better end. I received my degrees in Social Work and Sociology from Colorado State University in Fort Collins, Colorado in August 2020 and am currently applying for my Masters in School Counseling. My goals are to take not only my educational background, but my personal experiences as well, to help advocate and support children and families in need. Although I had a very positive environment growing up, I had my own struggles and everyone does. Especially as children, they are extremely vulnerable and impressionable and I believe this is the most important time of their lives as it sets the foundation for their future and beyond. Our host is: Dr. Christina Gessler, a historian of women and gender. She is Amy’s first cousin. Christina co-created the Academic Life channel with Dr. Dana Malone during the pandemic. Listeners to this episode might be interested in:
National Counsel for Adoption
Family Resources
Healthy Place: Mental Health Resources
The Lupus Initiative
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Welcome to The Academic Life. You are smart and capable, but you aren’t an island, and neither are we. So we reached across our mentor network to bring you podcasts on everything from how to finish that project, to how to take care of your beautiful mind. Wish we’d bring in an expert about something? Email us at cgessler@gmail.com or dr.danamalone@gmail.com. Find us on Twitter: The Academic Life @AcademicLifeNBN. In this episode you’ll hear: things you really need to know to navigate graduate school, why there’s a hidden curriculum, and a discussion of the book A Field Guide to Grad School. Our guest is: Dr. Jessica McCrory Calarco, an Associate Professor of Sociology at Indiana University in Bloomington. She is the author of A Field Guide to Grad School: Uncovering the Hidden Curriculum (Princeton, 2020), and Negotiating Opportunities: How the Middle Class Secures Advantages in Schools (Oxford 2018). Her research examines inequalities in education and family life, which she has written about for The New York Times, The Atlantic, Inside Higher Ed, and The Conversation. Our host is: Dr. Christina Gessler, a historian of women, gender, and sexuality. She sincerely wished she had had a guide to graduate school; the lack of one coupled with the ongoing mysteries of the hidden curriculum of her PhD program led her to create a mentorship program while still a student. She later co-created the Academic Life channel for NBN with Dr. Dana Malone. Listeners to this episode might be interested in:
A Field Guide to Grad School: Uncovering the Hidden Curriculum by Jessica McCrory Calarco
The Merit Myth by Anthony Carnevale, Peter Schmidt and Jeff Strohl
The Hidden Curriculum by Rachel Gable
Degrees of Difference: Reflections of Women of Color on Graduate School by Kimberly McKee and Denise Delgado, eds.
The Academic Life channel on New Books Network
Dr. Calarco’s graduate school advice here.
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Welcome to The Academic Life. You are smart and capable, but you aren’t an island, and neither are we. So we reached across our mentor network to bring you podcasts on everything from how to finish that project, to how to take care of your beautiful mind. Wish we’d bring in an expert about something? Email us at cgessler@gmail.com or dr.danamalone@gmail.com. Find us on Twitter: The Academic Life @AcademicLifeNBN. In this episode you’ll hear about: the importance of listening to yourself—even if that means leaving one grad school program to enter one in a totally different field, the difference between meditation and mindfulness, why silent meditation can be so challenging, and how to develop a meditation practice that has enough flexibility to work for you. At the end of this episode, Lori leads us in a 10 minute guided meditation. Our guest is: Lori Snyder, a meditation and yoga teacher, and a professional writer who founded the Writers Happiness Movement. Lori lives with her husband and her cat near the beach outside LA, all of which she loves. Your host is: Dr. Christina Gessler, a historian of women, gender, and sexuality. Christina supports her work-life balance with long walks in nature, and taking meditation classes. She met Lori six years ago, when she won the All-Voices Fellowship to attend Lori’s Splendid Mola writing retreat. They’ve been friends [and been to many retreats together] ever since. Listeners to this episode might be interested in:
Kindfulness, by Ajahn Brahm
Peace is Every Step, by Thich That Hanh
A Path with Heart: A Guide Through the Perils and Promises of Spiritual Life, by Jack Kornfield
Good Morning, I Love You: Mindfulness and Self-Compassion Practices to Rewire Your Brain for Calm and Clarity, by Shauna Shapiro
Links to Lori’s free online yoga and meditation classes are available through the Writers Happiness Movement.
Meditation Apps, like this one: Liberate - Black-owned meditation app that is a safe space for BIPOC and features BIPOC teachers and topics
Insight Timer
The Spiritual Practice and Mindfulness Channel on New Books Network
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Welcome to The Academic Life. You are smart and capable, but you aren’t an island, and neither are we. So we reached across our mentor network to bring you podcasts on everything from how to finish that project, to how to take care of your beautiful mind. Wish we’d bring in an expert about something? Email us at dr.danamalone@gmail.com or cgessler@gmail.com. Find us on Twitter: The Academic Life @AcademicLifeNBN. In this episode you’ll hear: reflections on the shutdown, the weight and tension involved in decision-making during this time, mental and soul exhaustion, centering the humanity in higher education work, and thoughts on what we’re taking out of this pandemic as a field. Our guest is: Dr. James (Jim) D. Breslin, PhD a higher education scholar, practitioner, and consultant who specializes in student success, academic support and advising, assessment, institutional effectiveness, and leadership and administration. He currently serves as the Assistant Provost for Assessment, Accreditation, and Institutional Effectiveness at Bellarmine University. Dr. Breslin has presented more than 70 conference sessions and published several peer-reviewed articles and book chapters on a variety of topics. He is engaged currently with research teams that range from developing new conceptual and practical frameworks for assessment to exploring the relationships between higher education professionals and peer educators. Dr. Breslin participates as an active citizen in the field of higher education and has consulted with institutions and organizations across the US and beyond. He has served on editorial boards for several peer-reviewed publications and in leadership roles in professional organizations, including his current roles as Director-elect of Professional Development on the ACPA Governing Board and Chair of the ACPA Assessment Oversight Task Force. Dr. Breslin has been recognized for his contributions to the field of higher education and most recently was named a Diamond Honoree by the American College Personnel Association Foundation. Your host is: Dr. Dana Malone, a higher education scholar and practitioner. Dana first met Jim in graduate school in their “Theories of College Student Development” course. Over the years, a kindred professional relationship – and friendship – developed, which includes working, presenting, and writing together as well as sharing drinks over Facetime. Listeners to this episode might be interested in:
Code Switch podcast.
Throughline podcast.
ACPA’s A Bold Vision Forward.
If anyone is interested in Dr. Breslin’s thoughts on pressing issues in higher ed just prior to COVID, check out Emerging Trends in Higher Education.
A recent read that stands out: Heavy: An American Memoir.
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Welcome to The Academic Life. You are smart and capable, but you aren’t an island, and neither are we. So we reached across our mentor network to bring you podcasts on everything from how to finish that project, to how to take care of your beautiful mind. Wish we’d bring in an expert about something? Email us at cgessler@gmail.com or dr.danamalone@gmail.com. Find us on Twitter: The Academic Life @AcademicLifeNBN. In this episode you’ll hear about: acquiring manuscripts, what editors do, and how the peer review process works. Our guest is: Rachael Levay, the acquisitions editor at University Press of Colorado and Utah State University Press. Your host is: Dr. Christina Gessler, a historian of women, gender, and sexuality. Listeners to this episode might be interested in:
The Business of Being a Writer by Jane Friedman
From Dissertation to Book by William Germano
Association of University Presses Subject Area Grid. These documents list every publishing subject area and which university presses have historically acquired in them and are still acquiring in them. It’s a fabulous research tool when thinking about which press to submit one’s work to.
Platypus: The Blog of the Humanities Common Team. “Rethinking Scholarly Communication: Open Peer Review” details a 2019 Twitter chat about what open peer review looks like currently and could look like in the future.
ASK UP: Authors Seeking Knowledge from University Presses. This Association of University Presses site offers answers to many common questions about finding a publisher, working through the process, and more.
A discussion of stylish academic writing
A discussion about university presses
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Welcome to The Academic Life. You are smart and capable, but you aren’t an island, and neither are we. So we reached across our mentor network to bring you podcasts on everything from how to finish that project, to how to take care of your beautiful mind. Wish we’d bring in an expert about something? Email us at dr.danamalone@gmail.com or cgessler@gmail.com. Find us on Twitter: The Academic Life @AcademicLifeNBN. In this episode you’ll hear: reflections on the shutdown, lessons learned, leading through change and ambiguity, impacts and challenges facing students, the future of higher education, and the distinctive nuances of a vocation versus a job. Our guest is: Dr. Zebulun Davenport, the Vice President for Student Affairs at West Chester University. He earned his Doctorate in Higher Education and Leadership from Nova Southeastern University, an M.Ed. in College Student Personnel Administration, and a B.S. in Communications/Public Relations from James Madison University. His contributions have advanced campus culture, organizational structure, and student success. Dr. Davenport has served as a Vice President for Student Affairs for three institutions and under his leadership, two of those divisions of student affairs have received Diverse Magazine’s the distinction of “Most Promising Places to Work.” His expertise includes student retention, outcomes assessment, strategic planning, and strategies for assisting first-generation college students. Dr. Davenport’s publications include co-authoring two books entitled First-Generation College Students – Understanding and Improving the Experience from Recruitment to Commencement; and Student Affairs Assessment, Evaluation, and Research: A Guidebook for Graduate Students and New Professionals, a chapter in an edited volume entitled The Student Success Conundrum, in B. Bontrager (Ed.), Strategic Enrollment Management: Transforming Higher Education; a chapter in an edited monograph entitled Creating Collaborative Conditions for Student Success in S. Whalen (Ed.), Proceedings of the 8th National Symposium on Student Retention 2012, and a chapter in the fourth edition of The Handbook of Student Affairs Administration in Jossey Bass 2016. He has presented at workshops for numerous public agencies; educational institutions; state, regional, and national conferences; as well as to thousands of college students and professionals throughout his career. Your host is: Dr. Dana Malone, a higher education scholar and practitioner with a background in student affairs. Dana has known Zeb for several years. His dynamic personality and ability to relate over what really matters in work and life sparked a kindred connection from their first meeting. Listeners to this episode might be interested in:
Working with Emotional Intelligence by Daniel Goleman
Five Dysfunctions of a Team by Patrick Lencioni
Multipliers: How the Best Leaders Make Everyone Smarter
by Liz Wiseman
Uncommon Candor: A Leader's Guide to Straight Talk
by Nancy K. Eberhardt
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Welcome to The Academic Life. You are smart and capable, but you aren’t an island, and neither are we. So we reached across our mentor network to bring you podcasts on everything from how to finish that project, to how to take care of your beautiful mind. Wish we’d bring in an expert about something? Email us at cgessler@gmail.com or dr.danamalone@gmail.com. Find us on Twitter: The Academic Life @AcademicLifeNBN. In this episode you’ll hear about: navigating academia, gender creative parenting, and a discussion of the book Raising Them. Our guest is: Dr. Kyl Myers, author of Raising Them: Our Adventure in Gender Creative Parenting. Kyl is a sociologist, parent, partner, professor, and advocate of gender creative parenting. Kyl’s work has been featured on social media, a TedX Talk, and in numerous articles. She can be found at raisingzoomer.com and at kylmyers.com. Your host is: Dr. Christina Gessler, a historian of women, gender, and sexuality. Listeners to this episode might be interested in:
TheybyParenting.com
Parenting Beyond Pink and Blue, by Christia Spears Brown
Gender Revolution, Documentary from National Geographic
Beyond the Gender Binary by Alok Vaid-Menon
Raising Them: Our Adventure in Gender Creative Parenting by Kyl Myers
Raising Baby Grey, video and story from The New Yorker
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Welcome to The Academic Life. You are smart and capable, but you aren’t an island, and neither are we. So we reached across our mentor network to bring you podcasts on everything from how to finish that project, to how to take care of your beautiful mind. Wish we’d bring in an expert about something? Email us at cgessler@gmail.com or dr.danamalone@gmail.com. Find us on Twitter: The Academic Life @AcademicLifeNBN. In this episode you’ll hear about: the paid and unpaid workload required of adjuncts, Dawn’s personal pandemic perspective as she had to suddenly pivot from teaching on campus to teaching online, the effect of the pivot on her students, and her love of film studies and why she’s hopeful for the future. Our guest is: Dawn Fratini, who has nearly twenty years adjunct teaching experience at the community college and college level. She is currently an adjunct professor at Chapman University’s Dodge College of Film and Media Arts where she teaches courses in Film History, Animation History, the Walt Disney Company, the Horror Genre and more. She hold an MFA in Screenwriting and is a PhD candidate at UCLA’s School of Film, Television and Digital Media. She researches technical labor in Hollywood and is currently completing her PhD dissertation, The Genies in the System: The Motion Picture Research Council, 1947-1960. Our host is: Dr. Christina Gessler, a historian of women, gender, and sexuality. Christina and Dawn are members of the Friday Morning Molas, a writing group founded during the pandemic. Christina is the co-creator the Academic Life channel for NBN with Dr. Dana Malone, a channel they started during the pandemic. Listeners to this episode might be interested in:
Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, Margaret Herrick Library, Digital Collections.
UCLA Oral History Digital Collection.
Media History Digital Archive.
The Internet Archive.
Aca-Media podcast of the Society of Cinema and Media Studies, which looks at a variety of issues in the field, including teaching during the pandemic.
Teaching Media, which hosts an online journal on media pedagogy, and also serves as open source for sharing teaching ideas and resources.
SCMS Precarious Labor Organization. "The Precarious Labor Organization provides community and advocacy for the Society’s members who are in positions without job security or a clear route to promotion and advancement."
SCMS. "The Society for Cinema and Media Studies is the leading scholarly organization in the United States dedicated to promoting a broad understanding of film, television, and related media through research and teaching grounded in the contemporary humanities tradition.”
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Welcome to The Academic Life. You are smart and capable, but you aren’t an island, and neither are we. So we reached across our mentor network to bring you podcasts on everything from how to finish that project, to how to take care of your beautiful mind. Wish we’d bring in an expert about something? Email us at cgessler@gmail.com or dr.danamalone@gmail.com. Find us on Twitter: The Academic Life @AcademicLifeNBN. In this episode you’ll hear: what you need to know before you go, the talk you need to have with your family and friends before you leave for school, what to do when you get there, and a discussion of the book How to College. Our guest is: Lara Hope Schwartz, the co-author of How To College. She has served as a Faculty Fellow at American University’s Center for Teaching, Research, and Learning. She teaches at American University’s School of Public Affairs, and serves as Honors Program Director. Previously, Lara was Director of Strategic Engagement at the American Constitution Society for Law & Policy, Courts Matter director at Media Matters, Legal Director at the Human Rights Campaign, and Vice President of External Affairs at the American Association of People with Disabilities. She earned her Juris Doctor Cum Laude from Harvard Law School and her AB in English and American Literature Magna Cum Laude from Brown University. Our guest is: Andrea Malkin Brenner, PhD, the co-author of How To College. She was a faculty member in the Department of Sociology at American University for 20 years, and directed the University College program. She created the American University Experience (AUx) Program, a mandatory full-year course that serves as a college transition course, and a cross-cultural communication class. She holds a BA in Sociology from Brandeis University, an MA in Curriculum, Instruction and Administration in Higher Education from Boston College, and a PhD in Sociology from American University. She currently consults with colleges that wish to create their own first-year transitions courses. Your host is: Dr. Christina Gessler, a historian of women, gender, and sexuality. She specializes in decoding diaries written by rural women in 19th century America. Listeners to this episode might be interested in:
How to College: What to Know Before You Go and When You’re There, by Andrea Malkin Brenner and Lara Hope Schwartz
What Parents Should do to Help Students Prepare for The First Year of College
https://www.pennlive.com/opini... Lara Schwartz and Andrea Brenner virtual interactive workshop focused on building college learning communities where open, respectful, and collaborative communication can flourish.
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Welcome to The Academic Life. You are smart and capable, but you aren’t an island, and neither are we. So we reached across our mentor network to bring you podcasts on everything from how to finish that project, to how to take care of your beautiful mind. Wish we’d bring in an expert about something? Email us at cgessler@gmail.com or dr.danamalone@gmail.com. Find us on Twitter: The Academic Life @AcademicLifeNBN. In this episode you’ll hear about: the steps to creating a writing career after college; the children’s book market; the difference between a pitch, a hook, a logline, and a synopsis; the importance of building a support network; and a discussion of the book Premeditated Myrtle. Our guest is: Elizabeth C. Bunce, the author of the Myrtle Hardcastle mystery book series. Elizabeth’s books are inspired by real places and cultures of the past, often with otherworldly or magical elements. She has been writing for as long as she can remember, and has always been interested in literature, folklore, history, and culture. She studied English and anthropology in college. When she’s not writing, she’s usually making something—cosplay, needlework, historical costuming, quilting—but not cooking. Your host is: Dr. Christina Gessler, a historian of women, gender, and sexuality. She specializes in decoding diaries written by rural women in 19th century America. She belongs to a critique group for children’s book writers, and has been an active member of SCBWI for over a decade. When she’s not reading, writing, podcasting, or teaching, she can be spotted taking walks along the shore and working on her nature photography. She seldom cooks. Listeners to this episode might be interested in:
Premeditated Myrtle by Elizabeth Bunce
Wired for Story by Lisa Cron
The Magic Words: Writing Great Books for Children and Young Adults by Cheryl Klein
Book in a Month by Victoria Lynn Schmidt
Stealing Hollywood: Screenwriting Tricks for Authors by Andrea Sokoloff
The Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators
The Highlights Foundation
The Vermont College of Fine Arts MFA in Writing for Children and Young Adults
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Welcome to The Academic Life. You are smart and capable, but you aren’t an island, and neither are we. So we reached across our mentor network to bring you podcasts on everything from how to finish that project, to how to take care of your beautiful mind. Wish we’d bring in an expert about something? Email us at cgessler@gmail.com or dr.danamalone@gmail.com. Find us on Twitter: The Academic Life @AcademicLifeNBN. In this episode you’ll hear: the different perspectives of three students sharing the same house in a small Oregon town during the pandemic, how all of their academic plans have been affected, why eliminating the SAT and standardized tests might increase college application rates, what’s helping them each get through the pandemic, and what gives them all hope for their futures. Our first guest is: Will Sumerfield, a junior at UC San Diego studying Cognitive Science and Computer Science, with a goal to achieve a Doctorate in Machine Learning. He is now taking classes remotely from his family’s home in Oregon, trying to decide if he’ll return to campus for his senior year of college, and what the pandemic means for his graduate school plans. Our next guest is: Branislav Petrovic, a water polo player from Serbia who came to Oregon as a foreign exchange student planning to spend his senior year at an in-person American high school, seeing how Americans really live, and applying to colleges, but has had to change nearly all of those plans. Our final guest is: Olivia Sumerfield, the president of her senior class, now taking her classes online, applying to colleges she’s never been able to visit, preparing for her future as a doctor, and wondering about the merits of taking a gap year. Your host is: Dr. Christina Gessler, a historian of women, gender, and sexuality. Christina supports her pandemic-life well-being by working on her photography, taking long walks in nature, and going to [online] meditation class. Will and Olivia are her cousins. Listeners to this episode might be interested in:
Excelling in College: Strategies for Success and Reducing Stress by Jeffrey Kottler
Failure to Disrupt: Why Technology Alone Can’t Transform Education by Justin Reich
Learning Innovation and the Future of Higher Ed
What Students Really Think About Online Learning
Online Learning and the Pandemic Impact
International Cultural Exchange Services
The Geisel Library at UCSD
Call of Cthulhu (Video Game)
Cognitive Science at UCSD
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Welcome to The Academic Life. You are smart and capable, but you aren’t an island, and neither are we. So we reached across our mentor network to bring you podcasts on everything from how to finish that project, to how to take care of your beautiful mind. Wish we’d bring in an expert about something? Email us at cgessler@gmail.com or dr.danamalone@gmail.com. Find us on Twitter: The Academic Life @AcademicLifeNBN. In this episode you’ll hear: about Dr Bikman’s unconventional path to pursuing degrees in science, why scientists need to do a postdoc, what it means to have your own lab, the important role of insulin in the body, and a discussion of the book Why We Get Sick: The Hidden Epidemic at the Root of Most Chronic Disease--And How to Fight It (Benbella Books, 2020). Our guest is: Dr. Benjamin Bikman, associate professor of Physiology & Developmental Biology at BYU, where he has his own lab and is currently exploring the contrasting roles of insulin and ketones as key drivers of metabolic function. He frequently publishes his research in peer-reviewed journals and presents at international science meetings. He lives in Utah with his wife and children, and strongly believes in the importance of a work-life balance. Your host is: Dr. Christina Gessler, a historian of women, gender, and sexuality. She specializes in decoding diaries written by rural women in 19th-century America. She supports her work-life balance by taking long walks, and making time for her loved ones. Listeners to this episode might be interested in:
Why We Get Sick by Benjamin Bikman
Big Fat Surprise by Nina Teicholz
Getting the Most Out of Your Postdoc
Determine Whether A STEM Major Is The Right Choice
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Welcome to The Academic Life. You are smart and capable, but you aren’t an island, and neither are we. So we reached across our mentor network to bring you podcasts on everything from how to finish that project, to how to take care of your beautiful mind. Wish we’d bring in an expert about something? Email us at dr.danamalone@gmail.com or cgessler@gmail.com. Find us on Twitter: The Academic Life @AcademicLifeNBN. In this episode you’ll hear: key characteristics of administrative and faculty roles, ideas about administrative leadership versus management, questions to consider if you’re on the fence about which route to pursue, lessons learned, and ways to cultivate collaborative and supportive working relationships in either role. Our guest is: Dr. Karin Lewis, an associate professor in the Teaching and Learning Department in the College of Education and P-16 Integration at the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (UTRGV). She teaches undergraduate, graduate, and doctoral courses in cognition, learning, and human development, writing for inquiry, and diversity, equity, and inclusion, and she mentors doctoral students in their scholarship. She has an extensive network of colleagues and scholars as Past-Chair of the UTRGV Women’s Faculty Network and President-Elect of the UTRGV Faculty Senate with a demonstrated record of collegial collaboration and leadership among her colleagues across the university, as well as nationally. She brings experience as a peer reviewer and editor for several publishers and academic journals, as well as professional conferences, such as AERA. She demonstrates a steadfast commitment to productive collaboration, an ethic of care, social justice, and culturally responsive transformative pedagogies, with expertise in qualitative research methodologies. Prior to joining the faculty at UTRGV, for nine years Karin served as Assistant Provost of Undergraduate Education and Executive Director of the Department of Academic Enhancement at the University of Kentucky. Your host is: Dr. Dana Malone, a higher education scholar and practitioner. Dana first met Karin as a doctorate student at the University of Kentucky when Karin hired her as a graduate TA to teach courses offered out of Academic Enhancement. Listeners to this episode might be interested in:
Brown, B. (2018). Dare to Lead: Brave Work. Tough Conversations. Whole Hearts. Random House Books.
Covey, S. (2013). 7 Habits of Highly Effective People: Powerful Lessons in Personal Change. Simon & Schuster.
Gordon, J. (2017). The Power of Positive Leadership: How and Why Positive Leaders Transform Teams and Organizations and Change the World. John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Sinek, S. (2011). Start with Why: How Great Leaders Inspire Everyone to Take Action. Penguin Group.
The work of Dr. Wayne Dyer, Coach John Wooden, and Maya Angelou, as well as the Positive Psychology Center at the University of Pennsylvania
Podcasts: Unlocking Us, Dr. Brené Brown; Dare to Lead, Dr. Brené Brown; Super Soul Conversations, Oprah Winfrey and The Happiness Lab, Dr. Laurie Santos
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/academic-life
Welcome to The Academic Life. You are smart and capable, but you aren’t an island, and neither are we. So we reached across our mentor network to bring you podcasts on everything from how to finish that project, to how to take care of your beautiful mind. Wish we’d bring in an expert about something? Email us at dr.danamalone@gmail.com or cgessler@gmail.com. Find us on Twitter: The Academic Life @AcademicLifeNBN. In this episode you’ll hear: realities of the shutdown with two young children; the internal reckoning when things beyond our control force a change in course, timeline adjustments and impacts on research as well as lessons learned and finding beauty in life amidst deep challenges. Our guest is: Brooke Lombardi, M.S., a social worker and Ph.D. candidate at The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Brooke researches perinatal health, specializing in the intersection of sexual victimization and the perinatal health care needs of women. Her dissertation is focused on the connection between lifetime experiences of sexual victimization and perinatal mental health disorders, such as PTSD, depression, and anxiety. She has co-authored papers related to perinatal health, human trafficking, and substance misuse in the perinatal period. Brooke is also a birth doula, adjunct faculty member at Elon University, partner, and mother to two. Your host is: Dr. Dana Malone, a higher education scholar and practitioner. Dana met Brooke as a live-in Resident Director (RD) and Brooke was an undergraduate Resident Assistant (RA) on staff. They stayed connected after Brooke graduated, and over several years, a beautiful friendship unfolded. Listeners to this episode might be interested in:
Inside Higher Ed article: “Surviving the Pandemic as Grad Student Parents”
The Chronicle of Higher Education article: “Covid-19 and the Academic Parent”
Inside Higher Ed article: “A Double Whammy For Student Parents”
Institute for Women’s Policy Research report, Student Parents in the Covid-19 Pandemic: Heightened Need and Imperative for Strengthened Support
Interview with authors of You’re Doing it Wrong: Mothering, Media, and Medical Expertise (RUP) on NBN Gender Channel
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/academic-life
Welcome to The Academic Life. You are smart and capable, but you aren’t an island, and neither are we. So we reached across our mentor network to bring you podcasts on everything from how to finish that project, to how to take care of your beautiful mind. Wish we’d bring in an expert about something? Email us at dr.danamalone@gmail.com or cgessler@gmail.com. Find us on Twitter: The Academic Life @AcademicLifeNBN. In this episode you’ll hear about a new, versatile resource for women associate professors, flipping the script on the mid-career stage, finding joy in the work and taking stock of priorities, as well as the importance of building a personalized mentor group. Our guest is: Dr. Vicki Baker, recognized as a “Top 100 Visionary” in Education by the Global Forum for Education and Learning. Vicki is at the forefront of innovation and strategy in faculty and leadership development. As a faculty member herself and Fulbright Specialist Alumna her goal is to help faculty members and colleges and universities thrive. Vicki is the author of Charting Your Path to Full: A Guide for Women Associate Professors, lead editor of Success After Tenure: Supporting Mid-Career Faculty, and co-author of Faculty Development in Liberal Arts Colleges. Her work has been featured in national and international media outlets including WalletHub, Times Higher Education, Hechinger Report, Wall Street Journal, The Atlantic, USA Today, New York Times, Chronicle of Higher Education, and the Huffington Post. She regularly consults with industry and higher education institutions on the topics of leadership, faculty development, change management, and mentoring. Vicki enjoys spending time with her husband, two children, and their dog. She participates in interval training three days a week and is an avid reader. Your host is: Dr. Dana Malone, a higher education scholar and practitioner. She specializes in college student relationships, gender, sexuality, and religious identities as well as assessment planning. Dana enjoys delicious, healthy food, practicing yoga, and wandering the Jersey shore. Listeners to this episode might be interested in: (1) Dr. Vicki Baker’s website with Co-Founder Dr. Laura Lunsford (mentoring and leadership development expert) for additional resources and services we offer. Lead Mentor Develop LLC (2) Great new book out by Pam Eddy & Elizabeth Kirby, Leading for Tomorrow (3) Another excellent book by Rena Seltzer, The Coach's Guide for Women Professors (4) Women in Academe Series by Jeanie K Allen (5) Seminal work in this area by the late Kelly Ward and Lisa Wolf-Wendel, Academic Motherhood: How Faculty Manage Work and Family Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/academic-life
Welcome to The Academic Life. You are smart and capable, but you aren’t an island, and neither are we. So we reached across our mentor network to bring you podcasts on everything from how to finish that project, to how to take care of your beautiful mind. Wish we’d bring in an expert about something? Email us at cgessler@gmail.com or dr.danamalone@gmail.com. Find us on Twitter: The Academic Life @AcademicLifeNBN. In this episode you’ll hear about: the role of community colleges in higher education and in their local communities, the Rural Community College Alliance, and being a first generation college student. Our guest is: Dr Penny Wills, the President of Rural Community College Alliance. Your host is: Dr. Christina Gessler, a historian of women, gender, and sexuality. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/academic-life
Welcome to The Academic Life. You are smart and capable, but you aren’t an island, and neither are we. So we reached across our mentor network to bring you podcasts on everything from how to finish that project, to how to take care of your beautiful mind. Wish we’d bring in an expert about something? Email us at cgessler@gmail.com or dr.danamalone@gmail.com. Find us on Twitter: The Academic Life @AcademicLifeNBN. In this episode you’ll hear about: the need for diversity and inclusion in campus organizations, what it means to do The Work, and a discussion of the book The Token. Our guest is: Crystal Byrd Farmer, an engineer turned educator. She is the author of The Token: Common Sense Ideas for Increasing Diversity in Your Organization. Your host is: Dr. Christina Gessler, a historian of women, gender, and sexuality. She reinterprets the historical narrative in both traditional and creative forms. Listeners to this episode might be interested in:
The Color of Law: A Forgotten History of How Our Government Segregated America by Richard Rothstein
Me and White Supremacy: Combat Racism, Change the World, and Become a Good Ancestor by Layla Saad
Why Are All the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria? And Other Conversations About Race by Beverly Tatum
College Presidents and the Struggle for Black Liberation by Eddie Cole.
Seeing White podcast series from Scene on Radio
AWARE-LA. White Anti-Racist Culture Building Toolkit
Dismantling Racism Workbook
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/academic-life
Welcome to The Academic Life. You are smart and capable, but you aren’t an island, and neither are we. So we reached across our mentor network to bring you podcasts on everything from how to finish that project, to how to take care of your beautiful mind. Wish we’d bring in an expert about something? Email us at cgessler@gmail.com or dr.danamalone@gmail.com. Find us on Twitter: The Academic Life @AcademicLifeNBN. In this episode you’ll hear about: why pursuing happiness won’t make you happy [but pursuing meaning can make you happier], why doing three random acts of kindness improves your mood, and discussion of the book A Wonderful Life: Insights on Finding A Meaningful Existence. Our guest is: Dr. Frank Martela, a professor at Aalto University in Helsinki. He finds meaning in family life, good conversations, friendships, and being a scholar. He is a philosopher and researcher of psychology specializing in studying the meaning of life, and is the author of A Wonderful Life. Your host is: Dr. Christina Gessler, a historian of women, gender, and sexuality. She reinterprets the historical narrative in both traditional and creative forms. She finds meaning in her personal life, her research, and in nature. She supports her work-life balance with long walks and her photography, which you can find here. Listeners to this episode might be interested in:
A Wonderful Life: Insights on Finding A Meaningful Existence by Frank Martela
Donna Freitas, The Happiness Effect: How Social Media is Driving a Generation to Appear Perfect at Any Cost.
Find the Good by Heather Lende
The Power of Meaning by Emily Esfahani Smith
Sue Stuart-Smith, The Well-Gardened Mind: The Restorative Power of Nature.
The Ethics of Authenticity by Charles Taylor
The Outsider by Colin Wilson
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/academic-life
Welcome to The Academic Life. You are smart and capable, but you aren’t an island, and neither are we. So we reached across our mentor network to bring you podcasts on everything from how to finish that project, to how to take care of your beautiful mind. Wish we’d bring in an expert about something? Email us at cgessler@gmail.com or dr.danamalone@gmail.com. Find us on Twitter: The Academic Life @AcademicLifeNBN. In this episode you’ll hear about: why there aren’t enough jobs in academia for the number of PhDs who want them, what a “tenure-trap” is, why you might be happier in a job outside academia, and discussion of the book Leaving Academia: A Practical Guide. Our guest is: Dr. Christopher Caterine. He is a communications strategist, writer, and career coach. Since leaving academia, he has helped many graduate students and scholars find satisfying work in new arenas. Your host is: Dr. Christina Gessler, a historian of women, gender, and sexuality. She reinterprets the historical narrative in both traditional and creative forms. She supports her work-life balance with long walks and her love of photography, which you can find here. Listeners to this episode might be interested in:
Leaving Academia: A Practical Guide by Christopher Caterine
Succeeding Outside the Academy by Kelly Baker
So What Are You Going to Do with That? by Susan Basalla and Maggie Debelius
The Graduate School Mess by Lenny Cassuto
Going Alt-Ac: A Guide to Alternative Academic Careers
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/academic-life
Welcome to The Academic Life. You are smart and capable, but you aren’t an island, and neither are we. So we reached across our mentor network to bring you podcasts on everything from how to finish that project, to how to care for your beautiful mind. Wish we’d bring in an expert about something? Email us at dr.danamalone@gmail.com or cgessler@gmail.com. Find us on Twitter: The Academic Life @AcademicLifeNBN. In this episode you’ll hear: differences between trade books and monographs, how to translate academic scholarship for wider audiences, risks and rewards of writing for trade, and trade books as a means to address justice issues related to access to knowledge and audience hierarchies. Our guest is: Dr. Donna Freitas, a longtime researcher and scholar on topics related to sex on campus, Title IX, and sexual assault. She has spoken about her work at more than 200 colleges and universities across the United States. Donna is also the author of many books, both fiction and nonfiction, among them, Consent on Campus: A Manifesto (Oxford University Press) and Consent: A Memoir of Unwanted Attention (Little, Brown). She has appeared on NPR, The Today Show, and many other radio and news programs to talk about her research, and her work has been published in The New York Times, The Washington Post, and The Wall Street Journal among other places. Her novel, The Nine Lives of Rose Napolitano will be published in April 2021 by Pamela Dorman Books/Viking in over twenty countries and languages. She lives in Brooklyn. Your host is: Dr. Dana Malone, a higher ed scholar and practitioner. Dana was a follower and admirer of Donna’s work for many years and had the good fortune to connect with her in person when Donna served as a reviewer for Dana’s book, From Single to Serious (Rutgers UP). Things that make Dana’s heart happy include making delicious, healthy food, yoga, and wandering the coastline of the Jersey shore. Listeners to this episode might be interested in:
Freitas, D. (2017). The Happiness Effect: How Social Media is Driving a Generation to Appear Perfect at Any Cost. Oxford University Press.
Freitas, D. (2010). Sex and the Soul: Juggling Sexuality, Spirituality, Romance, and Religion on America’s College Campus. Oxford University Press.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/academic-life
Welcome to The Academic Life. You are smart and capable, but you aren’t an island, and neither are we. So we reached across our mentor network to bring you podcasts on everything from how to finish that project, to how to take care of your beautiful mind. Wish we’d bring in an expert about something? Email us at cgessler@gmail.com or dr.danamalone@gmail.com. Find us on Twitter: The Academic Life @AcademicLifeNBN. In this episode you’ll hear about: navigating academia as a STEM student, getting pregnant and parenting while still a student, and difficult decisions about dropping out or staying in academia. Our guest is: Dr. Miriam Martin, an Assistant Professor of Teaching at the University of California, Davis. She teaches high-enrollment lecture and laboratory courses and specializes in learner-focused teaching practices that promote deep learning and an inclusive, equitable learning environment. Prior to teaching at UC Davis, she taught at several community colleges and also brought science experiments into elementary schools as a volunteer. She is the mother of two children and a pun-loving microbe-enthusiast. She invites you to follow up on our conversation through Twitter (@MicrobialGurl) or LinkedIn. Your host is: Dr. Christina Gessler, a historian of women, gender, and sexuality. She is an independent scholar, and the co-creator of the Academic Life channel on New Books Network. Listeners to this episode might be interested in:
“What matters in a PhD adviser? Here’s what the research says”
“How to survive grad school with a family”
“Lactation Support Program”
“A repository of peer-reviewed research and resources discussing the challenges facing white women and men and women of color in science”
PhD Balance (Twitter @PhD_Balance)
The Versatile PhD (Twitter @VersatilePhD)
“Life in extreme heat” (about the heat-loving microbes in Yellowstone National Park)
“Stalking Caulobacter”
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/academic-life
Welcome to The Academic Life. You are smart and capable, but you aren’t an island, and neither are we. So we reached across our mentor network to bring you podcasts on everything from how to finish that project, to how to take care of your beautiful mind. Wish we’d bring in an expert about something? Email us at dr.danamalone@gmail.com or cgessler@gmail.com. Find us on Twitter: The Academic Life @AcademicLifeNBN. In this episode you’ll hear: an overview of the publishing process (from the author side), what makes a strong proposal, common mistakes to avoid when approaching a university press, and advice for both aspiring and seasoned authors. Our guest is: Kimberly Guinta, Editorial Director at Rutgers University Press. In addition to managing the editorial program for the press, she is responsible for acquiring books in the areas of Anthropology, Women’s and Gender Studies, and Caribbean and Latin American Studies. Kim arrived at Rutgers University Press in 2015 from Routledge, where she spent 15 years acquiring in U.S. and Latin American History. Your host is: Dr. Dana Malone, a higher ed scholar and practitioner. She specializes in relationships, gender, sexuality, and religious identities as well as assessment planning. Dana met Kim Guinta in 2015 when Kim served as the acquiring editor for Dana’s book, From Single to Serious. Things that make Dana’s heart happy include making delicious, healthy food, doing yoga, having inspiring conversations, and wandering the coastline of the Jersey shore. Listeners to this episode might be interested in:
Ask UP
Publishing programs in NYC:
Pace University
NYU
Columbia
Rachel Toor, The Chronicle of Higher Education, columns on publishing
From Dissertation to Book (2nd ed.) by William Germano
Getting it Published: A Guide for Scholars and Anyone Else Serious about Serious Books (3rd ed.) by William Germano
Revising Your Dissertation: Advice from Leading Editors (updated ed.) by Beth Luey
Handbook for Academic Authors (5th ed.) by Beth Luey
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/academic-life
Welcome to The Academic Life. You are smart and capable, but you aren’t an island, and neither are we. So we reached across our mentor network to bring you podcasts on everything from how to finish that project, to how to take care of your beautiful mind. Wish we’d bring in an expert about something? Email us at cgessler@gmail.com or dr.danamalone@gmail.com. Find us on Twitter : The Academic Life @AcademicLifeNBN. In this episode you’ll hear: about the limits and the breadth of the first amendment, what to do when your free speech rights are violated, why having “free speech zones” on campus doesn’t work, and what you can do when someone else’s free speech is hurtful or offensive. Our guest is Will Creeley, legal director of The Foundation for Individual Rights in Education. Will began defending student and faculty rights for FIRE in 2006 after graduating from New York University School of Law, where he served as an associate executive editor for the New York University Law Review. He is a member of the First Amendment Lawyers Association and serves as Co-Chair of the Education Subcommittee of the American Bar Association’s Section of Administrative Law and Regulatory Practice. Your host is Dr. Christina Gessler, a historian of women, gender, and sexuality. She specializes in decoding diaries written by rural women in the 19th century. She credits her ability to read nearly-illegible things to a childhood spent trying read her dad’s handwriting. Christina’s dad was a public defender; human rights and how to defend them was dinner table talk nightly. Listeners to this episode might be interested in:
First Things First: A Modern Coursebook on Free Speech Fundamentals, by Ronald K.L. Collins, Will Creeley, David L. Hudson Jr., and Jackie Farmer.
"How to Respond to Richard Spencer," by Will Creeley, The New York Times (Oct. 19, 2017).
Jim Crow Campus: Higher Education and the Struggle for a New Southern Social Order, by Joy Ann Williamson-Lott.
"Fighting for Free Speech on America’s Campuses," by Cecilia Capuzzi Simon, The New York Times (Aug. 1, 2016).
FIRE's Tips for Student Activism
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Welcome to The Academic Life. You are smart and capable, but you aren’t an island, and neither are we. So we reached across our mentor network to bring you podcasts on everything from how to finish that project, to how to take care of your beautiful mind. Wish we’d bring in an expert about something? Email us at cgessler@gmail.com or dr.danamalone@gmail.com. Find us on Twitter: The Academic Life @AcademicLifeNBN. In this episode you’ll hear: about being an imbedded journalist, the senior years of kids in LA, the importance of mentors and college counselors at school, some challenges and obstacles of getting to college, and a discussion of the book Show Them You’re Good. Our guest is: Jeff Hobbs, the author of Show Them You’re Good. Jeff graduated with a BA in English language and literature from Yale in 2002. He is also the author of The Short and Tragic Life of Robert Peace; and The Tourists. He lives in Los Angeles with his wife and two children. Your host is: Dr. Christina Gessler, a historian of women, gender, and sexuality. She specializes in decoding diaries written by rural women in the 19th century. She chose her college because it 1) had great academic programs, 2) offered her great funding, 3) was on the beach, and 4) allowed pets to live in the dorms. It was the right choice for her. Listeners to this episode might be interested in:
Substitute by Nicholson Baker
Quiet by Susan Cain
Raising Cain by Dan Kindlon, PhD and Michael Thompson, PhD
Raising Victor Vargas, a film directed by Peter Sollet
Just Like Us by Helen Thorpe
Yale's Invisible Price Tags -- Yale Daily News article by Carlos Rodriguez
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/academic-life
Welcome to The Academic Life. You are smart and capable, but you aren’t an island, and neither are we. So we reached across our mentor network to bring you podcasts on everything from how to finish that project, to how to take care of your beautiful mind. Wish we’d bring in an expert about something? Email us at cgessler@gmail.com or dr.danamalone@gmail.com. Find us on Twitter: The Academic Life @AcademicLifeNBN. In this episode you’ll hear about: board games, Edge House, how to rethink “failure” with the replacement word “successandfailure”, facing our fears by asking for what we need, and a discussion of the book How to Human. Our guest is: Alice Connor, the author of How to Human: An Incomplete Manual for Living in a Messed-Up World. She is an Episcopal priest, a college chaplain, and runs Edge House. Alice is a certified enneagram teacher and a stellar pie-maker. She lives for challenging conversations and has a high tolerance for awkwardness. She lives with her husband, two kids and a dog. Your host is: Dr. Christina Gessler, a historian of women, gender, and sexuality. She specializes in decoding diaries written by rural women in the 19th century. Her favorite board game is a version of Sorry! she invented with her dad long ago [directions provided in this episode.]. Christina seeks the extraordinary in the ordinary, writes poems about small relatable moments, and takes many photos in nature. Listeners to this episode might be interested in:
Enneagram Transformations by Don Riso
The Sparrow by Mary Doria Russell
“The Importance of Stupidity in Scientific Research” in Journal of Cell Science by Martin A Schwartz
“The Guest House” poem by Rumi
Brene Brown’s TED Talk on vulnerability (not the one on shame)
The How To Human Study Guide (free download, on Fortress Press website)
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/academic-life
Welcome to The Academic Life. You are smart and capable, but you aren’t an island, and neither are we. So we reached across our mentor network to bring you podcasts on everything from how to finish that project, to how to take care of your beautiful mind. Wish we’d bring in an expert about something? Email us at cgessler@gmail.com or dr.danamalone@gmail.com. Find us on Twitter : The Academic Life @AcademicLifeNBN. In this episode you’ll hear: disaster stories, finishing a book project, poetry, and what resilience is and isn’t. Our guest is: Jennifer Strube, a writer, educator, and licensed therapist who loves chronicling life's stories. After three master's degrees and a decade of teaching, she relocated west from New York City in search of open sky. An avid believer in the wild places, her work highlights the spaces that wake one up—the byroads of travel, the subtlety of everyday grace, and that impetuous ache called love. She is the author of the poetry book Wild Everything, discussed in this episode. Your host is: Dr. Christina Gessler, a historian of women and gender. She specializes in decoding diaries written by rural women in the 19th century. She credits her ability to read nearly-illegible things to a childhood spent trying read her dad’s handwriting. She reinterprets traditional narratives through her blogs, podcasts, essays, photography, and poetry. She met Jen at a community supper c.2014 and they’ve been friends ever since. Their county has faced three disasters—the Thomas Fire, a deadly debris flow, and the Covid-19 outbreak—in the last three years. Somehow, Jen and Christina are both still here. Christina supports her resilience by taking photos in nature, which you can find here. Listeners to this episode might be interested in:
Tribe: On Homecoming and Belonging by Sebastian Junger
Bird by Bird by Anne Lamott
The Blessing of a B-Minus by Dr. Wendy Mogel
Why I Wake Early by Mary Oliver
Wild Everything by Jennifer Strube
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Welcome to The Academic Life. You are smart and capable, but you aren’t an island, and neither are we. So we reached across our own mentor networks to bring you podcasts on everything from how to finish that project, to how to take care of your beautiful mind. Wish we’d bring in an expert about something? Email us at cgessler@gmail.com or dr.danamalone@gmail.com. Find us on Twitter : The Academic Life @AcademicLifeNBN. In this episode you’ll hear: what happens when graduate school doesn’t go as you’d planned, and what happens to your degree and your career if you leave school before you complete your PhD. Our guest is: Rev. Rebecca Duke-Barton, a United Methodist pastor. She has a Master of Divinity from Wesley Theological Seminary, and was A.B.D. at Emory University before leaving the program. She has taught at Andrew College, and served as pastor in four United Methodist Churches. She also serves as president of the Georgia United Methodist Commission on Higher Education & Collegiate Ministry. Your host is: Dr. Christina Gessler, a historian. She specializes in diaries written by rural women in the 19th century. She credits her ability to read nearly-illegible things to her childhood spent trying read her dad’s handwriting. In high school she was trained in peer mentor programs; as an undergrad she worked in her campus Writing Center; while pursuing her Ph.D. she developed and ran a Mentor Program for graduate students. She met Rev. Rebecca Duke-Barton when they were both graduate students, and they’ve been friends ever since. Christina supports her work-life balance by taking photos in nature, which you can find at here. Listeners to this episode might be interested in:
Me, Myself, and Bob: A True Story About Dreams, God, and Talking Vegetables by Phil Vischer
Leaving Church: A Memoir of Faith by Barbara Brown Taylor
Let Your Life Speak: Listening for the Voice of Vocation by Parker Palmer
The Gifts of Imperfection by Brene Brown
CareerShifters
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/academic-life
Welcome to The Academic Life. You are smart and capable, but you aren’t an island, and neither are we. So we reached across our mentor network to bring you podcasts on everything from how to finish that project, to how to take care of your beautiful mind. Wish we’d bring in an expert about something? Email us at cgessler@gmail.com or dr.danamalone@gmail.com. Find us on Twitter: The Academic Life @AcademicLifeNBN. In this episode you’ll hear about: dating, sex and single students on evangelical campuses, and a discussion of the book From Single to Serious. Our guest is: Dr. Dana M. Malone. She a higher ed scholar and practitioner energized by facilitating meaningful learning experiences for students and educators alike. Currently an Independent Scholar, she writes, teaches, and works with institutions on a contract basis. Her specialty areas include student cultures, the intersection of gender, intimate relationships, and religious identities as well as student success, assessment planning, and program evaluation. She’s the co-host of The Academic Life channel on New Books Network. She supports her work-life balance by making delicious healthy foods, spending time at the Jersey Shore, and doing yoga. Your host is: Dr. Christina Gessler, a historian of women, gender, and sexuality. She met Dana Malone when she interviewed her for the NBN Gender Channel about her new book From Single to Serious. They stayed in touch after the interview, and over the following weeks worked together to develop and launch The Academic Life channel for NBN. They have been friends and TAL co-hosts ever since. Christina supports her work-life balance with long daily walks, and her love of photography, which you can find on Getty Images/iStock, and in galleries, and here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/academic-life
Welcome to The Academic Life. You are smart and capable, but you aren’t an island, and neither are we. So we reached across our mentor network to bring you podcasts on everything from how to finish that project, to how to take care of your beautiful mind. Wish we’d bring in an expert about something? Email us at cgessler@gmail.com or dr.danamalone@gmail.com. Find us on Twitter: The Academic Life @AcademicLifeNBN. In this episode you’ll hear: about the process of researching a current event, the history of policing in the US, what “defund the police” means, the importance of mentors, challenges of demonstrating safely, and a discussion of the book Hands Up Don’t Shoot. Our guest is: Jennifer E. Cobbina, the author of Hands Up Don’t Shoot. She is an Associate Professor in the School of Criminal Justice at Michigan State University. Her primary research focuses on the issue of corrections, prisoner reentry and the understanding of recidivism and desistance among recently released female offenders. Her second primary research area is centered on examining how race, gender, and neighborhood context impact victimization risks among minority youth.Dr. Cobbina’s work appears in a number of top criminology journals, such as Criminology, Justice Quarterly, Crime and Delinquency, Criminal Justice & Behavior, British Journal of Criminology, and Journal of Drug Issues. She currently serves as the co-chair for the ASC Division on People of Color and Crime. She is on the editorial board of the scholarly journals Justice Quarterly, Journal of Crime & Justice, and Sociology Compass: Crime and Deviance Section. Your host is: Dr. Christina Gessler, a historian of women, gender, and sexuality. Listeners to this episode might be interested in:
Alexander, Michelle. The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness. New York: New Press.
Butler, P. Chokehold: Policing Black Men. New York: The New Press.
Brunson, Rod K. 2007. “‘Police Don't Like Black People’: African American Young Men's Accumulated Police Experiences.” Criminology &Public Policy. 6:71-102.
Jones, Nikki. The Chosen Ones.
Norris, Zach. We Keep Us Safe: Building Secure, Just, and Inclusive Communities. Boston, Beacon Press.
Rios, V. Punished: Policing the Lives of Black and Latino Boys. New York: NYU Press.
Ritchie, A. J. Invisible No More: Police Violence Against Black Women and Women of Color. Boston, MA: Beacon Press.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/academic-life
Welcome to The Academic Life. You are smart and capable, but you aren’t an island, and neither are we. So we reached across our mentor network to bring you podcasts on everything from how to finish that project, to how to take care of your beautiful mind. Wish we’d bring in an expert about something? Email us at cgessler@gmail.com or dr.danamalone@gmail.com. Find us on Twitter: The Academic Life @AcademicLifeNBN. In this episode you’ll hear: studying the brain, women in STEM, your inner limiter, gender bias in the scientific method, and a discussion of the book Gender and The Brain. Our guest is: Gina Rippon, author of Gender and Your Brain. She is a British neuroscientist, feminist, and an honorary professor of cognitive neuroimaging at the Aston Brain Centre, Aston University in Birmingham, England. In 2015 she was made honorary fellow of the British Science Association. Rippon has also sat on the editorial board of the International Journal of Psychophysiology, and is a member of the European Union Gender Equality Network, belongs to WISE and ScienceGrrl, and the Inspiring the Future initiative. Your host is: Dr. Christina Gessler, a historian of women, gender, and sexuality. She specializes in decoding diaries written by rural women in the 19th century. She seeks the extraordinary in the ordinary, writes poems about small relatable moments, and takes many photos in nature. Listeners to this episode might be interested in:
Blakemore, S.J. Inventing Ourselves: The Secret Life of the Teenage Brain.
Hines, M. Brain Gender.
Jarrett, C. Great Myths of the Brain.
Joel, D. and Vikhanski, L. Gender Mosaic: Beyond the Myth of the Female Brain.
Matthew D. Lieberman. Social: Why Our Brain are Wired to Connect.
Mitchell, K.J. Innate: How the Wiring of Our Brains Shapes Who We Are.
Rippon, G 2019. TedX talk: A Gendered World Makes a Gendered Brain: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2s1hrHppl5E
Schiebinger, L. The Mind Has No Sex?: Women in the Origins of Modern Science.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/academic-life
Welcome to The Academic Life. You are smart and capable, but you aren’t an island, and neither are we. So we reached across our mentor network to bring you podcasts on everything from how to finish that project, to how to take care of your beautiful mind. Wish we’d bring in an expert about something? Email us at cgessler@gmail.com or dr.danamalone@gmail.com. Find us on Twitter: The Academic Life @AcademicLifeNBN. In this episode you’ll hear: about writing personal essays both online and in print, disability as a constructed cultural barrier, and a discussion of the book Sitting Pretty [a collection of personal essays]. Our guest is: Rebekah Taussig, the author of Sitting Pretty. She is a Kansas City writer and a teacher. She earned a PhD in Creative Nonfiction and Disability Studies from the University of Kansas. She is interested in the powerful connection between the cultural narratives we tell and the world we live in, from physical spaces and economic opportunities to social roles and interpersonal relationships. She writes personal essays that participate in the stories being told about disability. Your host is: Dr. Christina Gessler, a historian of women, gender, and sexuality. She specializes in decoding diaries written by rural women in the 19th century. She credits her ability to read nearly-illegible things to a childhood spent trying read her dad’s handwriting. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/academic-life
Welcome to The Academic Life. You are smart and capable, but you aren’t an island, and neither are we. So we reached across our mentor network to bring you podcasts on everything from how to finish that project, to how to take care of your beautiful mind. Wish we’d bring in an expert about something? Email us at cgessler@gmail.com or dr.danamalone@gmail.com. Find us on Twitter: The Academic Life @AcademicLifeNBN. In this episode you’ll hear about: finding elusive primary resources, following the intersections of women’s lives, how to write biography, what to do with the research you can’t fit in your book, and a discussion of the book Sophonisba Breckinridge: Championing Women's Activism in Modern America. Our guest is: Anya Jabour, Regents Professor of History at the University of Montana. Her books include Topsy-Turvy: How the Civil War Turned the World Upside Down for Southern Children and Scarlett's Sisters: Young Women in the Old South. She is the author of Sophonisba Breckinridge: Championing Women's Activism in Modern America. Your host is: Christina Gessler, a historian of women, gender, and sexuality. She’s run mentor programs, worked in museum education, evaluated history grants for government funded education programs, and taught writing and women’s history. She also decodes the diaries left behind by 19th century New England farm women. She is the co-producer of the Academic Life channel. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/academic-life
Welcome to The Academic Life. You are smart and capable, but you’re not an island, and neither are we. So, we are reaching across our own contacts – and beyond - to bring you podcasts on everything from how to finish that project to how to take care of your beautiful mind. Want to hear a particular expert or topic? Email your ideas to cgessler@gmail.com or dr.danamalone@gmail.com or DM us on Twitter @AcademicLifeNBN. In this episode, you’ll hear: a discussion of the book Presumed Incompetent and Presumed Incompetent II; the intersecting roles of race, gender and class for academic women of color; structural inequalities; and the barriers to being hired and getting tenure. Our guests are: Dr. Yolanda Flores Niemann, who is the Interim Chair and Professor of the Department of Psychology at University of North Texas. And Dr. Gabriella Gutiérrez y Muhs, who is the Theilene Pigott McCone Chair for the Humanities and professor of modern languages and women studies in the Women, Gender and Sexuality Studies Department at Seattle University. They are co-editors of Presumed Incompetent: The Intersections of Race and Class for Women in Academia, and of Presumed Incompetent II: Race, Class, Power, and Resistance of Women in Academia. Your host is: Dr. Christina Gessler, a historian of women and gender and sexuality. Listeners to this episode may also be interested in:
Barlow, F. K. and Sibley, C.G. The Cambridge Handbook of The Psychology of Prejudice, Concise Student Edition.
Boyd, Beth, Caraway, S. Jean, Niemann, Yolanda Flores, Eds. Surviving and Thriving in Academia: A Guide for Members of Marginalized Groups.
Caroline Kieu-Linh Valverde. "Fight the Tower: A Call to Action for Women of Color in Academia," Seattle Journal for Social Justice: Vol. 12 : Iss. 2 , Article 5.
Niemann, Y.F., & Carter, C. Microaggressions in the Classroom.
Njie-Carr, V. P. S. Niemann, Y.F., & Sharps, P. W. Eds. Disparities in the Academy: Accounting for the Elephant.
Kimberly D. McKee and Denise A. Delgado, Eds. Degrees of Difference: Reflections of Women of Color on Graduate School.
Kerry Ann Rockemore and Tracey Laszloffy, Eds. The Black Academic's Guide to Winning Tenure-Without Losing Your Soul.
Takaki, R. A Different Mirror: A History of Multicultural America (Revised Edition).
Vest, Jennifer Lisa. "What Doesn't Kill You: Existential Luck, Postracial Racism, and The Subtle and Not So Subtle Ways the Academy Keeps Women of Color Out," Seattle Journal for Social Justice: Vol. 12 : Iss. 2 , Article 7.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/academic-life
Welcome to The Academic Life. You are smart and capable, but you aren’t an island, and neither are we. So we reached across our mentor network to bring you podcasts on everything from how to finish that project, to how to take care of your beautiful mind. Wish we’d bring in an expert about something? Email us at cgessler@gmail.com or dr.danamalone@gmail.com. Find us on Twitter: The Academic Life @AcademicLifeNBN. In this episode you’ll hear about: how doing research is like being a detective; when you have to get off the internet and go do field work; why the person known as “the first” usually wasn’t the first; and a discussion of the book Remembering Lucille. Our guest is: Polly E. Bugros McLean, associate professor of media studies at the University of Colorado Boulder, where she has served as director of Women and Gender Studies and as the faculty associate to the Chancellor. She is the recipient of numerous awards and honors, including the Chancellor’s Committee on Women Award, the Chancellor’s Equity and Excellence Award, Robert L. Stearns Award, the Edward R. Murrow Award for teaching excellence, and the Best Should Teach Gold Award. In 1999 and 2000 she was a Senior Fulbright Scholar to the University of Namibia. She is the author of Remembering Lucille. Your host is: Dr. Christina Gessler, a historian of women, gender, and sexuality. She reinterprets the historical narrative in both traditional and creative forms. She finds meaning in her personal life, her research, and in nature. She supports her work-life balance with long walks and her photography, which you can find here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/academic-life
Welcome to The Academic Life. You are smart and capable, but you aren’t an island, and neither are we. So we reached across our mentor network to bring you podcasts on everything from how to finish that project, to how to take care of your beautiful mind. Wish we’d bring in an expert about something? Email us at cgessler@gmail.com or dr.danamalone@gmail.com. Find us on Twitter : The Academic Life @AcademicLifeNBN. In this episode you’ll hear: about putting your personal story onto the page, choosing between fiction and memoir to find your story’s true voice, getting an MFA, the importance of having a good mentor, navigating the stories of others that intersect yours, creating beauty out of trauma, grief, BLM, and a discussion of the book The Names of All the Flowers. Our guest is: Melissa Valentine, author of The Names of All the Flowers. She is a writer from Oakland, CA. She earned her BA from Sarah Lawrence College and her MFA in creative writing from Mills College. She has been a fellow at the San Francisco Writers' Grotto, and her work has appeared in Jezebel, Guernica, Apogee Journal, and others. Her writing has received honorable mention from Glimmer Train, and the Ardella Mills Non-fiction Award. She works as an editor, and currently lives in Brooklyn, NY. Your host is: Dr. Christina Gessler, a historian of women, gender, and sexuality. Listeners to this episode might be interested in:
The New Jim Crow by Michelle Alexander
The Fire Next Time by James Baldwin
Between the World and Me by Ta Nehisi Coates
Create Dangerously by Edwidge Danticat
The Purpose of Power by Alicia Garza
Dust Tracks On a Road by Zora Neale Hurston
Soldier by June Jordan
Sister Outsider by Audre Lorde
The Source of Self-Regard by Toni Morrison
Men We Reaped by Jesmyn Ward
"How Racism Makes Us Sick" [TedTalk]
"How Childhood Trauma Affects Health Across A Lifetime" [TedTalk]
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/academic-life
Welcome to The Academic Life. You are smart and capable, but you aren’t an island, and neither are we. So we reached across our mentor network to bring you podcasts on everything from how to finish that project, to how to take care of your beautiful mind. Wish we’d bring in an expert about something? Email us at cgessler@gmail.com or dr.danamalone@gmail.com. Find us on Twitter: The Academic Life @AcademicLifeNBN. In this episode you’ll hear: about getting an MFA in nonfiction, conducting research for your book, confronting your privilege, the fight to remove a campus monument, and a discussion of the book Down Along With That Devil’s Bones. Our guest is: Connor Towne O’Neill, the author of Down Along With That Devil’s Bones. He is a graduate of Vassar College, and earned an MFA from the University of Alabama. He teaches at Auburn University, and is a producer on the NPR podcast White Lies. Your host is: Dr. Christina Gessler, a historian of women, gender, and sexuality. She specializes in decoding diaries written by rural women in the 19th century, and is the co-creator of The Academic Life podcast series on New Books Network. Listeners to this episode might be interested in:
The Half Has Never Been Told by Edward Baptist
Race and Reunion by David Blight
“Applying Critical Race and Memory Studies to University Place Naming Controversies: Toward a Responsible Landscape Policy” by Jordan Brasher, Derek Alderman, and Joshua Inwood
“Landscape Fairness: Removing Discrimination from the Built Environment” by Stephen Clowney
White Fragility: Why It’s So Hard For White People To Talk About Racism by Robin DiAngelo
Memorial Mania by Erika Doss
Stony the Road by Henry Louis Gates
Nathan Bedford Forrest by Jack Hurst
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/academic-life
Welcome to The Academic Life. You are smart and capable, but you aren’t an island, and neither are we. So we reached across our mentor network to bring you podcasts on everything from how to finish that project, to how to take care of your beautiful mind. Wish we’d bring in an expert about something? Email us at cgessler@gmail.com or dr.danamalone@gmail.com. Find us on Twitter: The Academic Life @AcademicLifeNBN. In this episode you’ll hear about: the persistent lack of equality in educational access, why feminist schools are necessary, and a discussion of the book How Girls Achieve. Our guest is: Sally A. Nuamah, the author of How Girls Achieve. She is a scholar, activist, and filmmaker. She has received numerous awards, including the Gates Millennium scholarship and the Black Women Organized for Political Action’s Under 40 Award in Education, and was selected a Change-Maker by the White House. She began the TWII Foundation to provide funding for girls striving to be first in their families to go to college. She was named a postdoctoral fellow at Princeton University and a Women and Public Policy fellow at the Harvard Kennedy School. She is currently Assistant Professor at the Sanford School of Public Policy at Duke University. Your host is: Dr. Christina Gessler, a historian of women, gender, and sexuality. Listeners to this episode might be interested in:
What works by Iris Bohnet
Teaching Girls: How Teachers and Parents Can Reach Their Brains and Hearts, by P. K. Kuriloff, S. H. Andrus, and C. E. Jacobs
We Want to do More than Survive by Bettina Love
Push Out by Monique Morris
How Girls Achieve by Sally Nuamah
HerStory, a documentary about girls and education in Ghana
Clapping with One Hand: Sally Nuamah at TEDx
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/academic-life
Welcome to The Academic Life. You are smart and capable, but you’re not an island, and neither are we. So, we are reaching across our own contacts – and beyond - to bring you podcasts on everything from how to finish that project to how to take care of your beautiful mind. Want to hear a particular expert or topic? Email your ideas to cgessler@gmail.com or dr.danamalone@gmail.com. Find us on Twitter @AcademicLifeNBN. In this episode you’ll hear: author Beth Pickens discuss Your Art Will Save Your Life, and wisdom on why you need to preserve your artistic practice, and what to do with what blocks you. Our guest is: Beth Pickens, a Los Angeles-based consultant for artists and arts organizations and the author of Your Art Will Save Your Life. She has a Master’s degree in Counseling Psychology, and provides career consultation, grant writing, fundraising, and financial, project, and strategic planning services for artists and arts organizations in the U.S. She teaches at the California Institute of the Arts School of Theater, and specializes in supporting queer and trans artists, women, and artists of color. Your host is: Dr. Christina Gessler, a historian of women and gender. She specializes in decoding diaries written by rural women in the 19th century. She credits her ability to read nearly-illegible things to a childhood spent trying read her dad’s handwriting. She reinterprets traditional narratives in her blogs, podcasts, essays, photography, and poetry. Christina supports her artistic practice by taking daily photos in nature, which she posts at: https://www.facebook.com/themeditationwalks/ Listeners to this episode might be interested in:
Big Friendship by Aminatou Sow and Ann Friedman
Art INC. by Lisa Congdon
Find Your Artistic Voice: The Essential Guide to Working Your Creative Magic by Lisa Congdon
How To Do Nothing: Resisting the Attention Economy by Jenny Odell
Art & Fear: Observations On the Perils (and Rewards) of Artmaking by David Bayles and Ted Orland
How to Break Up with Your Phone by Catherine Price
Make Your Art No Matter What: Moving Beyond Creative Hurdles by Beth Pickens (out April 6 on Chronicle Books)
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/academic-life
Welcome to The Academic Life. You are smart and capable, but you’re not an island, and neither are we. So, we are reaching across our own contacts – and beyond - to bring you podcasts on everything from how to finish that project to how to take care of your beautiful mind. Want to hear a particular expert or topic? Email your ideas to cgessler@gmail.com or dr.danamalone@gmail.com or DM us on Twitter @AcademicLifeNBN. In this episode, you’ll hear: our paths to college and graduate school, and the instructive moments along the way, why you might need a mentor (or two or three) to accomplish your goals, and how this channel offers a virtual community for your journey – in, out, or through – academia. Your co-host is: Dr. Dana Malone, a scholar and practitioner energized by facilitating meaningful learning experiences for students and educators alike. She loves connecting with kindred academic spirits, like Christina, and collaborating on inspiring projects. When she’s not having engaging conversations on TAL podcast, she writes, teaches, and works with institutions on a contract basis. Her specialty areas include student cultures, the intersection of gender, sexuality, and religious identities as well as student success, assessment and evaluation, and strategic planning. She provides invited talks on her book, From Single to Serious. Dana is also known for kitchen dance parties, wandering the Jersey shore, and crushing hills on her spin bike. Check out more: www.danammalone.com. Your other co-host is: Dr. Christina Gessler, a historian. She specializes in decoding diaries written by rural women in the 19th century. She credits her ability to read nearly-illegible things to a childhood spent trying read her dad’s handwriting. In high school she was trained in peer mentor programs; as an undergrad she worked in her campus Writing Center; while pursuing her Ph.D. she developed and ran a Mentor Program for graduate students. She enjoys presenting history in nontraditional forms, like creating photography exhibits about the fields and farms that are no longer in use, and nonfiction poems about the intersection of nature and history. She met Dr. Dana Malone when she interviewed her for an episode on the NBN Gender Channel, and they’ve been friends ever since. Christina supports her work-life balance by taking photos in nature, which you can find at: https://www.facebook.com/themeditationwalks/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/academic-life