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Colleges and universities are among the most cherished institutions in American society—and also among the most controversial Yet affirmative action and skyrocketing tuition are only the most recent dissonant issues to emerge. Recounting the many crises and triumphs in the long history of American higher education, historian John Thelin provides welcome perspective on this influential aspect of American life.

In A History of American Higher Education, Thelin offers a wide-ranging and engaging account of the origins and evolution of America's public and private colleges and universities, emphasizing the notion of saga—the proposition that institutions are heirs to numerous historical strands and numerous attempts to address such volatile topics as institutional cost and effectiveness, admissions and access, and the character of the curriculum. Thelin draws on both official institutional histories and the informal memories that constitute legends and lore to offer a fresh interpretation of an institutional past that reaches back to the colonial era and encompasses both well-known colleges and universities and such understudied institutions as community, women's, and historically black colleges, proprietary schools, and freestanding professional colleges.

Thelin's lively history has particular relevance for a society still struggling to determine what constitutes a legitimate field of study, reminding readers that Harvard once used its medical school as a safe place to admit the sons of wealthy alumni who could not pass the undergraduate college admissions examination and that the University of Pennsylvania once considered the study of history, government, and economics unworthy of addition to the liberal arts curriculum. Thelin also addresses the role of local, state, and federal governments in colleges and universities, as well as the influence of private foundations and other organizations. And through imaginative interpretation of films, novels, and popular magazines, he illuminates the convoluted relationship between higher education and American culture. For anyone attempting to understand America's colleges and universities, A History of American Higher Education offers a much-needed challenge to conventional wisdom about how these institutions developed and functioned in the past..
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Drawing on a large body of empirical evidence, former Harvard President Derek Bok examines how much progress college students actually make toward widely accepted goals of undergraduate education. His conclusions are sobering. Although most students make gains in many important respects, they improve much less than they should in such important areas as writing, critical thinking, quantitative skills, and moral reasoning. Large majorities of college seniors do not feel that they have made substantial progress in speaking a foreign language, acquiring cultural and aesthetic interests, or learning what they need to know to become active and informed citizens. Overall, despite their vastly increased resources, more powerful technology, and hundreds of new courses, colleges cannot be confident that students are learning more than they did fifty years ago.

Looking further, Bok finds that many important college courses are left to the least experienced teachers and that most professors continue to teach in ways that have proven to be less effective than other available methods. In reviewing their educational programs, however, faculties typically ignore this evidence. Instead, they spend most of their time discussing what courses to require, although the lasting impact of college will almost certainly depend much more on how the courses are taught.

In his final chapter, Bok describes the changes that faculties and academic leaders can make to help students accomplish more. Without ignoring the contributions that America's colleges have made, Bok delivers a powerful critique--one that educators will ignore at their peril.

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This new edition of American Higher Education in the Twenty-First Century explores current issues of central importance to the academy: leadership, accountability, access, finance, technology, academic freedom, the canon, governance, and race. Chapters also deal with key constituencies -- students and faculty -- in the context of a changing academic environment.

While the contributors agree with critics who argue for ongoing reassessment of public institutions, they provide a more balanced perspective. They take issue with the "crisis" culture that has emerged among critics of current higher education practices, pointing out that higher education has faced challenges through its history.

By illuminating the complex interplay between institutions and external forces, the book provides a key to guide the endeavors of faculty, students, and administrative leaders. Fully revised and updated, the second edition includes a new chapter on higher education markets. Contributors include Philip G. Altbach, Michael J. Bastedo, Robert O. Berdahl, Robert Birnbaum, Mitchell J. Chang, Marc Chun, Melanie E. Corrigan, Eric L. Dey, Judith S. Eaton, Peter D. Eckel, Roger L. Geiger, Lawrence E. Gladieux, Patricia J. Gumport, Fred. F. Harcleroad, Sylvia Hurtado, D. Bruce Johnstone, Jacqueline E. King, Kofi Lomotey, Aims C. McGuinness Jr., Michael A. Olivas, Robert M. O'Neil, Gary Rhoades, Frank A. Schmidtlein, Sheila Slaughter, and Ami Zusman.

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Price: $19.85 [Notify me when price goes down.]

In this fast-paced and lively account, Jim Lang asks -- and mostly answers -- the questions that confront every new faculty member as well as those who dream of becoming new faculty members: Will my students like me? Will my teaching schedule allow me time to do research and write? Do I really want to spend the rest of my life in this profession? Is anyone awake in the backrow?

Lang narrates the story of his first year on the tenure track with wit and wisdom, detailing his moments of confusion, frustration, and even elation -- in the classroom, at his writing desk, during his office hours, in departmental meetings -- as well as his insights into the lives and working conditions of faculty in higher education today. Engaging and accessible, Life on the Tenure Track will delight and enlighten faculty, graduate students, and administrators alike.

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Price: $10.69 [Notify me when price goes down.]

The Idea of a University is an eloquent defense of a liberal education which is perhaps the most timeless of all [Newman's] books and certainly the one most intellectually accessible to readers of every religious faith and of none . . . Only one who has read The Idea of a University in its entirety, especially the nine discourses, can hope to understand why its reputation is so high." —from the Introduction by Martin J. Svaglic.
Price: $16.50 [Notify me when price goes down.]

The brand new third installment of Douglas Adams's classic time travel tale, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy Tertiary Phase, is now available on audio. The long-awaited CD—which revives the BBC's popular radio series with this new six-part dramatization of Adams's book Life, the Universe and Everything—features 25 minutes of exclusive and previously unheard footage and features the author himself playing the role of Agrajag. The plot picks up where the second radio series left off: Arthur Dent and Ford Prefect escape from prehistoric Earth on a time-traveling sofa while a pack of homicidal robots blow up Lords Cricket Ground. Armed only with a rabbit bone, a worn dressing gown, and a spaceship that looks remarkably like an Italian bistro, Arthur embarks on an intergalactic journey to save the universe.

Several members of the original BBC Radio 4 cast reunited for this special audio production, including Simon Jones as Arthur Dent, Geoffrey McGivern as Ford Prefect, Susan Sheridan as Trillian, Mark Wing-Davey as Zaphod Beeblebrox, and Stephen Moore as Marvin the Paranoid Android. Richard Griffiths, Chris Langham, Joanna Lumley, and cricket commentators Fred Trueman and Henry Blofeld also star in this brilliant satire replete with incisive comedic wit..
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This revealing volume examines the current role and status of women in higher education -- and suggests a direction for the future. Judith Glazer-Raymo and other distinguished scholars and administrators assess the progress of women in academe using three lenses: the feminist agenda as a work in progress, growing internal and external challenges to women's advancement, and the need for active engagement with the challenges at hand.

Drawing on the latest research, the contributors explore issues faced by women as newly minted Ph.D.s, as faculty members, as administrators, and as academic leaders. They describe women's struggles with the multiple and often conflicting demands of productivity, accountability, family-work responsibility, and the subconscious "dance of identities" within a variety of cultural contexts.

Shedding light on the past, present, and future of women in higher education, this authoritative book concludes with recommendations for meeting new and ongoing gender challenges in the next decade.

Contributors: Ana M. Martínez Alemán, Boston College; Rita Bornstein, Rollins College; M. Kate Callahan, Temple University; Judith Glazer-Raymo, Teachers College, Columbia University; Steven Hubbard, New York University; Kimberley LeChasseur, Temple University; Amy Scott Metcalfe, University of British Columbia; Anna Neumann, Teachers College, Columbia University; Tamsyn Phifer, Teachers College, Columbia University; Becky Ropers-Huilman, University of Minnesota; Kathleen M. Shaw, Pennsylvania Department of Education; Sheila Slaughter, University of Georgia; Frances K. Stage, New York University; Aimee LaPointe Terosky, Teachers College, Columbia University; Caroline Sotello Viernes Turner, Arizona State University; Kelly Ward, Washington State University; Lisa Wolf-Wendel, University of Kansas

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Forty years ago, North Carolina's Elon College was struggling to attract students and remain solvent. Today Elon enrolls students from 46 states and 40 foreign countries. Since 1988, it has erected a new library, student center, football stadium, fitness center, and science facilities on its 500-acre campus. The number of applications has risen 40 percent since 1995, and SAT scores of incoming students have improved by 98 points. Elon has emerged as one of America's most desirable colleges.

How did this transformation happen? What can other colleges and universities learn from Elon's remarkable turnaround? Taking a new approach to the study of higher education, George Keller examines the decisions made by Elon's administration, trustees, and faculty to transform a school with a limited endowment into a top regional university. Using Elon as a case study, Keller sheds light on high-stakes competition among America's colleges and universities -- where losers face contraction or closure and winners gain money, talented students, and top faculty.

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This perceptive and cogent account draws on key data and firsthand observations to tell the story of the small college in America. Defined as institutions that enroll between 500 and 3,000 full-time students, small colleges number about six hundred in the United States. Many are thriving, while some -- whether through low enrollment, ballooning debt, or simple misfortune -- face uncertain futures.

Informed by his own experiences as a teacher and administrator, Samuel Schuman sketches the history and development of these institutions; then focuses on their current conditions and future possibilities. Administrators, faculty, and researchers will appreciate Schuman's insight into institutional choices and their consequences. Old Main is an essential book for anyone who shares Schuman's conviction that small colleges occupy a central place in American higher education.

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Price: $22.49 [Notify me when price goes down.]