Academia Next

An unusually multifaceted approach to American higher education that views institutions as complex organisms, Academia Next offers a fresh perspective on the emerging colleges and universities of today and tomorrow.

From the renowned futurist, a look at how current trends will transform American higher education over the next twenty years. 2020 Most Significant Futures Work Award Winner, Association of Professional Futurists The outlook for the future of colleges and universities is uncertain. Financial stresses, changing student populations, and rapidly developing technologies all pose significant challenges to the nation's colleges and universities. In Academia Next, futurist and higher education expert Bryan Alexander addresses these evolving trends to better understand higher education's next generation. Alexander first examines current economic, demographic, political, international, and policy developments as they relate to higher education. He also explores internal transformations within postsecondary institutions, including those related to enrollment, access, academic labor, alternative certification, sexual assault, and the changing library, paying particularly close attention to technological changes. Alexander then looks beyond these trends to offer a series of distinct scenarios and practical responses for institutions to consider when combating shrinking enrollments, reduced public support, and the proliferation of technological options. Arguing that the forces he highlights are not speculative but are already in play, Alexander draws on a rich, extensive, and socially engaged body of research to best determine their likeliest outcomes. It is only by taking these trends seriously, he writes, that colleges and universities can improve their chances of survival and growth. An unusually multifaceted approach to American higher education that views institutions as complex organisms, Academia Next offers a fresh perspective on the emerging colleges and universities of today and tomorrow.

Argues that institutional change must accommodate women’s professional and personal life stages. Staging Women’s Lives in Academia demonstrates how ostensibly personal decisions are shaped by institutions and advocates for ways that workplaces, not women, must be changed. Addressing life stages ranging from graduate school through retirement, these essays represent a gamut of institutions and women who draw upon both personal experience and scholarly expertise. The contributors contemplate the slipperiness of the very categories we construct to explain the stages of life and ask key questions, such as what does it mean to be a graduate student at fifty? Or a full professor at thirty-five? The book explores the ways women in all stages of academia feel that they are always too young or too old, too attentive to work or too overly focused on family. By including the voices of those who leave, as well as those who stay, this collection signals the need to rebuild the house of academia so that women can have not only classrooms of their own but also lives of their own. Michelle A. Massé is Dean of the Graduate School, Professor of English and Women’s and Gender Studies at Louisiana State University, and President of the Women’s Caucus for the Modern Languages. She is the coeditor (with Katie J. Hogan) of Over Ten Million Served: Gendered Service in Language and Literature Workplaces, also published by SUNY Press. Now retired, Nan Bauer-Maglin was Professor of English at Borough of Manhattan Community College, City University of New York, and Academic Director of the City University of New York Baccalaureate for Unique and Interdisciplinary Studies. Her books include Final Acts: Death, Dying, and the Choices We Make (coedited with Donna Perry).

Social work educators (SWEs) are doers, thinkers, go-getters, troublemakers, movers, and shakers. In their efforts to convert difficult challenges into positive realities, they live through unique experiences and possess knowledge of lifespan development that qualifies them to be in "better shape" to explore the vicissitudes of aging and envision a rich life beyond the traditional limits of a career. With that said, large numbers of SWEs from the baby-boomer generation have departed from the academy while more wait in the wings; Alive After Academia provides practical information for these professionals navigating the latter stages of their careers. The book incorporates the reflections drawn from interviews with 39 SWEs, who share engaging stories of how their careers have prepared them for "The Next Chapter" (introduced as a more positive alternative to the term "retirement"), post-academic freedom, and new life appreciations. Extending beyond the focus of Spencer James Zeiger's Career Reflections of Social Work Educators, this text is a particularly useful resource for SWEs wishing to critically examine their life's work while learning from the experiences of veteran professionals.

Through a lens of self-care and wellbeing, this book shares stories of struggle and success from a diverse range of women in academia. Each story highlights how these women mitigated and overcame various barriers as part of their academic trajectory and provides practical strategies for maintaining self-care and wellbeing. Taken from lived experience, the autoethnographic narrative approach provides a deeper, personal understanding of the obstacles faced by women throughout an academic career and guidance on how these might be navigated in a way that avoids self-sacrificing. This collection goes further to illustrate the ways that higher education institutions can be more accommodating of the needs of women.

Although difficult, change in academic structures is necessary today, especially in fast-changing fields today such as biology, computing, management, the social sciences, and others. This includes changes within existing organizations as well as creation of new structures and reorganizations or eliminations of older ones. This narrative attempts first to document the historical rise of an organization, Georgia Tech’s College of Computing, that has touched and successfully changed the lives of thousands of people. Second, it aims to identify and explicate some of what has led to this widely acknowledged success. The book provides a chronological narrative that highlights major changes taken under each successive leader. These changes have built on one another, knowingly or otherwise, to create a growing organization that rivals in size and prominence longer established parts of the university. The case study, while of an academic organization focused on computing, provides general lessons applicable almost anywhere. Topics and features: Discusses the nature and uses of visions, both general and specific Shows how visions can be used to drive specific actions and resource allocations Illustrates the choice and use of enduring organizational principles Outlines a simple strategic-planning method and its application Indicates results of this overall approach This book will be of interest to anyone interested in organizational change, especially in academia, and to those interested in Georgia Tech. It will also appeal to policymakers in education, government, and industry; as well as anyone interested in the historical growth of the computing milieu broadly. Peter A. Freeman was Founding Dean and Professor in the College of Computing at Georgia Tech from 1990 to 2002. Today he is an Emeritus Dean and Professor.

Planning for a Career in Biomedical and Life Sciences:Learn to Navigate a Tough Research Culture by Harnessing the Power of Career Building, Second Edition, presents useful information, insights and tips to those pursuing a career in the biomedical and life sciences. The book focuses on making educated choices during schooling, training, and the job search in both the academic and non-academic sectors. The book's premise lies in the notion that if users understand the full path of a career in either the biomedical or life science fields, they can proactively plan their career, recognize any opportunities that present themselves, and be well prepared to address important aspects of their own professional development. Topics include choosing a training path, selecting the best supervisor/mentor, and negotiating a job offer. Updates to this edition include an outline of core competencies to achieve success, how to build soft skills and tailor them to specific job opportunities, and how to increase collaborations across disciplines. Additionally, coverage on issues around diversity, health, wellness and work/life balance are expanded. This book is a valuable resource for undergraduate, graduate, medical and postdoctoral students in the biomedical and life sciences, as well as academic faculty and advisors. Revised and updated to address dealing with student failure and rejection and developing resilience Provides strategies on evaluating biomedical and life sciences education and professional development opportunities in a thorough and systematic fashion Discusses possible pitfalls and offers insight into how to navigate successfully at various points of a scientist’s career Offers valuable advice on how to make the best choices for yourself at any stage in your career and how to choose supervisors and mentors who will support your career goals

The definitive career guide for grad students, adjuncts, post-docs and anyone else eager to get tenure or turn their Ph.D. into their ideal job Each year tens of thousands of students will, after years of hard work and enormous amounts of money, earn their Ph.D. And each year only a small percentage of them will land a job that justifies and rewards their investment. For every comfortably tenured professor or well-paid former academic, there are countless underpaid and overworked adjuncts, and many more who simply give up in frustration. Those who do make it share an important asset that separates them from the pack: they have a plan. They understand exactly what they need to do to set themselves up for success. They know what really moves the needle in academic job searches, how to avoid the all-too-common mistakes that sink so many of their peers, and how to decide when to point their Ph.D. toward other, non-academic options. Karen Kelsky has made it her mission to help readers join the select few who get the most out of their Ph.D. As a former tenured professor and department head who oversaw numerous academic job searches, she knows from experience exactly what gets an academic applicant a job. And as the creator of the popular and widely respected advice site The Professor is In, she has helped countless Ph.D.’s turn themselves into stronger applicants and land their dream careers. Now, for the first time ever, Karen has poured all her best advice into a single handy guide that addresses the most important issues facing any Ph.D., including: -When, where, and what to publish -Writing a foolproof grant application -Cultivating references and crafting the perfect CV -Acing the job talk and campus interview -Avoiding the adjunct trap -Making the leap to nonacademic work, when the time is right The Professor Is In addresses all of these issues, and many more.