Results by title

715 books match the query 'Higher' and 22 start with h

cover of Hacking the Academy: New Approaches to Scholarship and Teaching from Digital Humanities

Hacking the Academy

New Approaches to Scholarship and Teaching from Digital Humanities

Daniel J. Cohen and Tom Scheinfeldt, Editors

University of Michigan Press, 2013

On May 21, 2010, Daniel J. Cohen and Tom Scheinfeldt posted the following provocative questions online:

“Can an algorithm edit a journal? Can a library exist without books? Can students build and manage their own learning management platforms? Can a conference be held without a program? Can Twitter replace a scholarly society?”

As recently as the mid-2000s, questions like these would have been unthinkable. But today serious scholars are asking whether the institutions of the academy as they have existed for decades, even centuries, aren’t becoming obsolete. Every aspect of scholarly infrastructure is being questioned, and even more importantly, being hacked. Sympathetic scholars of traditionally disparate disciplines are canceling their association memberships and building their own networks on Facebook and Twitter. Journals are being compiled automatically from self-published blog posts. Newly minted PhDs are forgoing the tenure track for alternative academic careers that blur the lines between research, teaching, and service. Graduate students are looking beyond the categories of the traditional CV and building expansive professional identities and popular followings through social media. Educational technologists are “punking” established technology vendors by rolling out their own open source infrastructure.

Here, in Hacking the Academy, Daniel J. Cohen and Tom Scheinfeldt have gathered a sampling of the answers to their initial questions from scores of engaged academics who care deeply about higher education. These are the responses from a wide array of scholars, presenting their thoughts and approaches with a vibrant intensity, as they explore and contribute to ongoing efforts to rebuild scholarly infrastructure for a new millennium.

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cover of Handbook of Engaged Scholarship: Contemporary Landscapes, Future Directions: Volume 1: Institutional Change

Handbook of Engaged Scholarship

Contemporary Landscapes, Future Directions: Volume 1: Institutional Change

Hiram E. Fitzgerald

Michigan State University Press, 2010

In the preface to the Handbook of Engaged Scholarship, Hiram Fitzgerald observes that the Kellogg Commission's challenge to higher education to engage with communities was a significant catalyst for action. At Michigan State University, the response was the development of "engaged scholarship," a distinctive, scholarly approach to campus-community partnerships.
     Engaged scholars recognize that community based scholarship is founded on an underpinning of mutual respect and recognition that community knowledge is valid and that sustainability is an integral part of the partnership agenda.
     In this two-volume collection, contributors capture the rich diversity of institutions and partnerships that characterize the contemporary landscape and the future of engaged scholarship. Volume One addresses such issues as the application of engaged scholarship across types of colleges and universities and the current state of the movement. Volume Two contains essays on such topics as current typologies, measuring effectiveness and accreditation, community-campus partnership development, national organizational models, and the future landscape.

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cover of Handbook of Engaged Scholarship: Contemporary Landscapes, Future Directions: Volume 2: Community-Campus Partnerships

Handbook of Engaged Scholarship

Contemporary Landscapes, Future Directions: Volume 2: Community-Campus Partnerships

Hiram E. Fitzgerald

Michigan State University Press, 2010

In the preface to the Handbook of Engaged Scholarship, Hiram Fitzgerald observes that the Kellogg Commission's challenge to higher education to engage with communities was a significant catalyst for action. At Michigan State University, the response was the development of "engaged scholarship," a distinctive, scholarly approach to campus-community partnerships.
Engaged scholars recognize that community based scholarship is founded on an underpinning of mutual respect and recognition that community knowledge is valid and that sustainability is an integral part of the partnership agenda.
In this two-volume collection, contributors capture the rich diversity of institutions and partnerships that characterize the contemporary landscape and the future of engaged scholarship. Volume One addresses such issues as the application of engaged scholarship across types of colleges and universities and the current state of the movement. Volume Two contains essays on such topics as current typologies, measuring effectiveness and accreditation, community-campus partnership development, national organizational models, and the future landscape.

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cover of Head, Heart, and Hand: John Brown University and Modern Evangelical Higher Education

Head, Heart, and Hand

John Brown University and Modern Evangelical Higher Education

Rick Ostrander

University of Arkansas Press, 2018

Traveling evangelist John Brown believed that conventional colleges had become elitist and morally suspect, so he founded a small utopian college in 1919 to better combine evangelical Christianity and higher education. Historian Rick Ostrander places John Brown University in the long tradition of Christian education, but he also shows that evangelicalism had largely separated from mainstream higher education by the twentieth century. This engaging and objective history explores how John Brown University has adapted to modern American culture while maintaining its evangelical character. Brown set out to educate the poor, rural children of the Ozarks who had no other opportunity for schooling. He wanted to instill in them not only religious zeal but also his conception of what constituted significant work, namely manual labor. His concern with practical work is evident today in programs for broadcasting, engineering, teacher education, and business. His sons made academic excellence an institutional priority and gradually transformed the school into an accredited, respected liberal arts college. Head, Heart, and Hand deftly connects the story of John Brown University to the larger currents of American education and religion.
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cover of Health Extension: Community-Based Healthcare and the Future of Cooperative Extension

Health Extension

Community-Based Healthcare and the Future of Cooperative Extension

Cheryl L. Eschbach

Michigan State University Press, 2024

Health Extension: Community-Based Healthcare and the Future of Cooperative Extension explores innovation in extension health programs, engaged scholarship promoting research-based information in communities, and the evaluation and documentation of community programs and their impacts. This volume provides land-grant and university-based colleagues up-to-date information on using the Cooperative Extension System (CES) for community engagement in healthcare while also familiarizing those outside CES and the academy with a roadmap for improvement. The contributions of a diverse array of scholars challenge the status quo in extension programs by characterizing the introspection, understanding, creativity, partnerships, and leadership that will be required to improve lives and communities  in the twenty-first century. This perspective underscores the role of CES as foundational to the future of Health Extension and offers an alternative to approaches that utilize the CES as a model without the accompanying advantages of history, community embeddedness, and sustainability.
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cover of Heritage and Hate: Old South Rhetoric at Southern Universities

Heritage and Hate

Old South Rhetoric at Southern Universities

Stephen M. Monroe

University of Alabama Press, 2021

How southern universities continue to wrestle with the words and symbols that embody and perpetuate Old South traditions

The US South is a rhetorical landscape that pulsates with division, a place where words and symbols rooted in a deeply problematic past litter the ground and contaminate the soil. Stephen M. Monroe’s provocative study focuses on predominantly white southern universities where Old South rhetoric still reverberates, where rebel flags cast a shadow over attempts at racial harmony, school cheers to reinforce racial barriers, and student yearbooks to create and protect an oppressive culture of exclusion. Across the region, in college towns like Oxford, Mississippi; Athens, Georgia; and Tuscaloosa, Alabama—communities remain locked in a difficult, recursive, and inherently rhetorical struggle that wrestles with this troubling legacy.

Words, images, and symbols are not merely passive artifacts of southern history, Monroe argues, but formative agents that influence human behavior and shape historical events. Drawing on research from many disciplines, including rhetoric, southern studies, history, sociology, and African American studies, Monroe develops the concept of confederate rhetoric: the collection of Old South words and symbols that have been and remain central to the identity conflicts of the South. He charts examples of such rhetoric at work in southern universities from Reconstruction to the present day.

Tracing the long life and legacy of Old South words and symbols at southern universities, this book provides close and nuanced analysis of the rhetorical conflicts that have resulted at places like the University of Mississippi and the University of Missouri. Some conflicts erupted during the civil rights movement, when the first African American students sought admission to all-white southern universities and colleges, and others are brewing now, as African Americans (and their progressive white peers) begin to cement genuine agency and voice in these communities. Tensions have been, and remain, high.

Ultimately, Monroe offers hope and optimism, contending that if words and symbols can be used to damage and divide, then words and symbols can also be used to heal and unify. Racist rhetoric can be replaced by antiracist rhetoric. The old South can become new. While resisting naïve or facile arguments, Heritage and Hate ultimately finds the promise of progress within the tremendous power of language.

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cover of Hidden Tuition: An Insider's Guide to College Pricing and Financial Aid

Hidden Tuition

An Insider's Guide to College Pricing and Financial Aid

Phillip B. Levine

University of Chicago Press, 2026

The secret economics of maximizing college financial aid (and why it’s not as miserable as you think).

In the college admissions process, a terrifying unknown looms large: How much is this really going to cost? For prospective students and their families, there’s no easy answer. While college prices continue to rise, so do their promises of financial aid for qualified students. But who qualifies? And for how much? How can this monumental life decision be so utterly impossible to understand?

Hidden Tuition is an insider’s guide for navigating college financial aid to maximum effect and with (relatively) minimal pain. Economist and financial-aid expert Phillip B. Levine draws on his unique experience—including years of research in higher-education finance and work alongside admissions and financial-aid departments—to help readers first identify, then minimize, what they’ll actually pay for different types of colleges based on their circumstances. With expertise, clarity, and the warmth of someone who’s been through it, Levine details how students can find the hidden tuition costs in the opaque landscape of college pricing and financial aid. He explores topics that include:

  • Why college’s “sticker prices” are rarely what students pay—and how some actual prices are even going down
  • The best, worst, and most surprising deals for students with different financial resources
  • How to navigate financial aid for divorced and multi-residence households
  • Who really benefits from early decision
  • How the nature of scholarships and merit-based aid is often framed in misleading ways
  • The pros and cons of college savings accounts
  • When and how to get started on college financing
  • Why all student loans aren't the same (or aren't all that bad)

Debunking common myths and offering practical guidance for both families and individual students, Hidden Tuition makes a maddeningly imperfect process more manageable—and gives students a clearer path through one of life’s biggest financial decisions towards collegiate success.

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cover of Higher Education amid the COVID-19 Pandemic: Supporting Teaching and Learning through Turbulent Times

Higher Education amid the COVID-19 Pandemic

Supporting Teaching and Learning through Turbulent Times

Jessica Ostrow Michel

Rutgers University Press, 2024

The outbreak of COVID-19 caused unprecedented upheaval as countries across the globe raced to curb the already catastrophic spread of the disease while also planning for changes in every sector of society. In particular, the pandemic had a major effect on U.S. higher education, with most institutions pivoting to online teaching and forcing instructors and students adapt to a “new normal.” With so much uncertainty abounding, Higher Education amid the COVID-19 Pandemic documents first-hand experiences from faculty and students in order to help navigate the path to supporting teaching and learning in the wake of such turbulent times, and beyond. The essays in this volume contextualize the setting of higher education as the outbreak occurred, explore how faculty and students adapted their work-life (im)balance as they transitioned to distance learning, describe teaching and learning across institution types (such as community college, tribal college, historically black college and university), provide strategies for adjusting teaching based on discipline (such as art, biology, education), and look at emerging trends in the future of the professoriate. With essays from a diverse range of experts, this volume will serve as a comprehensive guide to many affected higher education communities.
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cover of Higher Education and Democracy: Essays on Service-Learning and Civic Engagement

Higher Education and Democracy

Essays on Service-Learning and Civic Engagement

Edited by John Saltmarsh and Edward Zlotkowski

Temple University Press, 2011

Higher Education and Democracy is a collection of essays written over the last ten years on how civic engagement in higher education works to achieve what authors John Saltmarsh and Edward Zlotkowsi consider to be the academic and civic purposes of higher education. These include creating new modes of teaching and learning, fostering participation in American democracy, the development and respect for community and civic institutions, and encouraging the constant renewal all of these dimensions of American life.

Organized chronologically, the twenty-two essays in this volume provide "signposts" along the road in the journey of fulfilling the civic purposes of higher education. For the authors, service-learning is positioned as centrally important to the primary academic systems and structures of higher education, departments, disciplines, curriculum, and programs that are central to the faculty domain. Progressing from the general and the contextual to specific practices embodied in ever larger academic units, the authors conclude with observations on the future of the civic engagement movement.

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cover of Higher Education and the American Dream: Success and Its Discontents

Higher Education and the American Dream

Success and Its Discontents

Marvin Lazerson

Central European University Press, 2007

Marvin Lazerson (professor at the Central European University and the University of Pennsylvania) considers the successes of higher education in the USA and how this has also bred discontent. He traces the development of higher education from the last half of the twentieth century, and considers why the expansion occurred, how it became an industry, and the increasing role of education in job attainment, as well as problems like rising costs, debates about the economic worth of higher education, and the decline in its civic, moral, and intellectual purposes. He also discusses changes in governance to a more business-like model, the managerial imperatives colleges face, changes to curriculum and research, and reform.
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cover of Higher Ground: Ethics and Leadership in the Modern University

Higher Ground

Ethics and Leadership in the Modern University

Nannerl O. Keohane

Duke University Press, 2006

Nannerl O. Keohane is one of the most widely respected leaders in higher education. A political theorist who served as President of Wellesley College and Duke University, she has firsthand knowledge of the challenges facing modern universities: rising costs, the temptations of “corporatization,” consumerist students, nomadic faculty members, and a bewildering wave of new technologies. Her views on these issues and on the role and future of higher education are captured in Higher Ground, a collection of speeches and essays that she wrote over a twenty-year period.

Keohane regards colleges and universities as intergenerational partnerships in learning and discovery, whose compelling purposes include not only teaching and research but also service to society. Their mission is to equip students with a moral education, not simply preparation for a career or professional school.

But the modern era has presented universities and their leadership with unprecedented new challenges. Keohane worries about access to education in a world of rising costs and increasing economic inequality, and about threats to academic freedom and expressions of opinion on campus. She considers diversity as a key educational tool in our increasingly pluralistic campuses, ponders the impact of information technologies on the university’s core mission, and explores the challenges facing universities as they become more “global” institutions, serving far-flung constituencies while at the same time contributing to the cities and towns that are their institutional homes.

Reflecting on the role of contemporary university leaders, Keohane asserts that while they have many problems to grapple with, they will find creative ways of dealing with them, just as their predecessors have done.

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cover of Higher and Colder: A History of Extreme Physiology and Exploration

Higher and Colder

A History of Extreme Physiology and Exploration

Vanessa Heggie

University of Chicago Press, 2019

During the long twentieth century, explorers went in unprecedented numbers to the hottest, coldest, and highest points on the globe. Taking us from the Himalaya to Antarctica and beyond, Higher and Colder presents the first history of extreme physiology, the study of the human body at its physical limits. Each chapter explores a seminal question in the history of science, while also showing how the apparently exotic locations and experiments contributed to broader political and social shifts in twentieth-century scientific thinking.
 
Unlike most books on modern biomedicine, Higher and Colder focuses on fieldwork, expeditions, and exploration, and in doing so provides a welcome alternative to laboratory-dominated accounts of the history of modern life sciences. Though centered on male-dominated practices—science and exploration—it recovers the stories of women’s contributions that were sometimes accidentally, and sometimes deliberately, erased. Engaging and provocative, this book is a history of the scientists and physiologists who face challenges that are physically demanding, frequently dangerous, and sometimes fatal, in the interest of advancing modern science and pushing the boundaries of human ability.
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cover of Hip-Hop Civics: Connected Learning in the Rap Classroom

Hip-Hop Civics

Connected Learning in the Rap Classroom

Jabari M. Evans

University of Michigan Press, 2025

In Hip-Hop Civics, Jabari Evans demonstrates how Hip-Hop can be deployed in revamping formal civic education for Black and Brown youth. Based on an original ethnographic study of a Hip-Hop-based education program, the Songwriting and Production Program (SWP) administered by the Foundation of Music in two of Chicago’s lowest performing public schools, Evans argues that Hip-Hop culture is central to students’ lives and can be used as a vehicle for students to engage in civic practices and extract critical lessons about mainstream media, relational currency, identity development, and race/racism within the classroom. Through a compelling exploration of the SWP program, Evans contends that Hip-Hop should be part of formal education spaces and instruction, a conclusion he reaches through his understanding of how Hip-Hop impacted his own life, and by witnessing students discuss, write, and produce Hip-Hop music as part of the SWP program. 
 
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cover of History in My Life: A Memoir of Three Eras

History in My Life

A Memoir of Three Eras

Ivan T. Berend is Distinguished Research Professor at the History Department of the University of California Los Angeles.

Central European University Press, 2009

Ivan T. Berend is Distinguished Professor at the University of California Los Angeles, Director of the European Studies Program. He was one of the masterminds of regime change in Hungary. He made a career in Hungary as a university professor, Rector of the University of Economics (1973–79), and President of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences (1985–90). He was President of the International Committee of Historical Sciences (1995–2000), and Vice-President of the International Economic History Association (1986–1994). His research interests are the complex economic, social, ideological, and cultural history of Central and Eastern Europe in the 19th–20th century; economic modernization; problems of European backwardness; transition from state socialism to capitalism. He published and 26 books and more than 120 studies.

Before he became a professor at UCLA, Ivan Berend had survived five regime changes and two revolutions in Hungary, had been in prison and German concentration camp in 1944–45.

His memoir offers an interesting case study, a subjective addition to the “objective” historical works on Central and Eastern European state socialism. It describes the hard choices of intellectuals in a dictatorial state: 1. remain in isolation, concentrate on scholarly works, and exclude politics in your personal life; 2. be in opposition, criticize and unveil the regime, accept discrimination and exclusion; 3. remain within the establishment and work for reforming the country using legal possibilities to criticize the regime and to achieve changes from within.

Berend’s book raises basic historical questions and debates, compares East European and American higher education systems, and presents an eyewitness’ insights on life in the United States.

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cover of History of the University of Alabama: Volume One, 1818-1902

History of the University of Alabama

Volume One, 1818-1902

James Benson Sellers

University of Alabama Press, 1953

The definitive and authorized history of the University of Alabama's birth and first century

Step into the rich heritage of one of America’s most storied institutions with the History of the University of Alabama, Volume One 1818 – 1902 by James Sellers. This definitive volume captures the legends, triumphs, and traditions that shaped the Capstone’s first century. From its earliest days on the frontier to its rise as a modern research university, Sellers weaves a narrative that celebrates the people, places, and pivotal moments that define the University of Alabama’s proud legacy.

Among the most dramatic chapters is the interruption of campus life during the closing days of the Civil War, when Union troops burned the university to the ground—a devastating blow that tested resilience and sparked a remarkable rebirth. Through vivid storytelling and meticulous research, Sellers honors the people and milestones that built the Crimson legacy.

Beautifully written and meticulously researched, this book is perfect as a gift for alumni, fans, and collectors. Whether displayed on a coffee table or shared with a fellow member of the Crimson Tide family, this book is more than history. It’s a tribute to the spirit of Alabama. Own the legend. Share the legacy. Celebrate the spirit of the Capstone for generations to come.

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cover of History's Babel: Scholarship, Professionalization, and the Historical Enterprise in the United States, 1880 - 1940

History's Babel

Scholarship, Professionalization, and the Historical Enterprise in the United States, 1880 - 1940

Robert B. Townsend

University of Chicago Press, 2012

From the late nineteenth century until World War II, competing spheres of professional identity and practice redrew the field of history, establishing fundamental differences between the roles of university historians, archivists, staff at historical societies, history teachers, and others.
 
In History’s Babel, Robert B. Townsend takes us from the beginning of this professional shift—when the work of history included not just original research, but also teaching and the gathering of historical materials—to a state of microprofessionalization that continues to define the field today. Drawing on extensive research among the records of the American Historical Association and a multitude of other sources, Townsend traces the slow fragmentation of the field from 1880 to the divisions of the 1940s manifest today in the diverse professions of academia, teaching, and public history. By revealing how the founders of the contemporary historical enterprise envisioned the future of the discipline, he offers insight into our own historical moment and the way the discipline has adapted and changed over time. Townsend’s work will be of interest not only to historians but to all who care about how the professions of history emerged, how they might go forward, and the public role they still can play.
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cover of How Humans Learn: The Science and Stories behind Effective College Teaching

How Humans Learn

The Science and Stories behind Effective College Teaching

Joshua R. Eyler

West Virginia University Press, 2018

Even on good days, teaching is a challenging profession. One way to make the job of college instructors easier, however, is to know more about the ways students learn. How Humans Learn aims to do just that by peering behind the curtain and surveying research in fields as diverse as developmental psychology, anthropology, and cognitive neuroscience for insight into the science behind learning.

The result is a story that ranges from investigations of the evolutionary record to studies of infants discovering the world for the first time, and from a look into how our brains respond to fear to a reckoning with the importance of gestures and language. Joshua R. Eyler identifies five broad themes running through recent scientific inquiry—curiosity, sociality, emotion, authenticity, and failure—devoting a chapter to each and providing practical takeaways for busy teachers. He also interviews and observes college instructors across the country, placing theoretical insight in dialogue with classroom experience.

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cover of How We Came to Be: An Intellectual Genealogy of Chicano Scholars

How We Came to Be

An Intellectual Genealogy of Chicano Scholars

Edited by Teresa Córdova, Aída Hurtado, Francisco J. Hernández, Avelardo Valdez; Foreword by Juan González

University of Arizona Press, 2026

This work chronicles the lives and legacies of Chicana and Chicano scholars whose formative experiences in the Chicano Movement shaped the development of Chicano studies and transformed higher education. Originating from the Reuniónes de Colegas—gatherings of veteran scholars reflecting on their shared histories—the volume features sixteen essays organized into five thematic sections that explore the intersections of activism, scholarship, and institutional change.

The contributors document how grassroots organizing evolved into academic inquiry, leading to the creation of departments, student support systems, and policy reforms that advanced equity and representation in universities. Essays address how community-engaged research influenced urban planning, health advocacy, and cultural production, while also highlighting Indigenous and transnational epistemologies that redefined theoretical frameworks in Chicano studies. The volume concludes with reflections on academic leadership and the breaking of barriers by Chicana scholars in higher education administration.

Together, these essays offer a powerful intellectual history and a testament to a generation’s enduring commitment to social justice. How We Came to Be is both a scholarly archive and a call to action, preserving the legacy of those who built Chicano studies and inspiring future generations to continue the work of transformation within and beyond the academy.

Contributors

José Calderón

Gilberto Cárdenas

Teresa Carrillo

Teresa Córdova

Estevan Flores

Yvette G. Flores

Felipe Gonzales

Deena J. González

Francisco J. Hernández

Inés Hernández-Ávila

Francisco Hernández Vázquez

Aída Hurtado

Larry Trujillo

Avelardo Valdez

Carlos G. Vélez-Ibáñez

James Diego Vigil

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cover of How We Make Each Other: Trans Life at the Edge of the University

How We Make Each Other

Trans Life at the Edge of the University

Perry Zurn

Duke University Press, 2025

Trans people have always lived in the cracks of institutions—and the university is no exception. In How We Make Each Other, Perry Zurn tells the stories of how trans people make and live their lives at the edges of the university in ways that sometimes lead to policy change but always leave participants and institutions different than they were before. Using the Five Colleges in Massachusetts as a case study, Zurn notes that Amherst College, Hampshire College, Mount Holyoke College, Smith College, and the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, have been at the forefront of developing trans-inclusive policies in higher education, often in response to student organizing. Zurn focuses on the stories of trans students, staff, faculty, and community members within and alongside these institutions, exploring how they have built themselves and each other. Drawing on official archives as well as over 100 interviews, Zurn shows how trans people in the Five Colleges have made history, forged resistance habits, and cultivated hope.
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cover of How to Study: Suggestions for High-School and College Students

How to Study

Suggestions for High-School and College Students

Arthur W. Kornhauser

University of Chicago Press, 1993

A complete guide for successful studying, How to Study is concise, practical, time-tested, and free of gimmicks. Designed originally for freshmen at the University of Chicago, this smart book has helped generations of students throughout the country improve their skills in learning quickly and effectively. It offers a no-nonsense plan of action filled with techniques, strategies, exercises, and advice for:

*Mastering rather than just memorizing material

*Learning the secrets of mental preparation before tackling difficult assignments or exams

*Strengthening skills for better reading, note taking, and listening

*Improving use of time in the classroom, the library, and at home

It offers a wealth of advice, from the commonsensical ("Never begin study immediately after eating" and "Check every tendency to daydream") to the more psychological ("Use your knowledge by thinking, talking, and writing about the things you are learning").

Thoroughly revised and updated, this powerful little book can help any motivated and capable student work smarter, not just harder, from high school through college.

When he wrote How to Study Arthur W. Kornhauser (1896-1990) was associate professor of business psychology at the University of Chicago.
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cover of Human Resources and Higher Education: Staff Report on the Commission on Human Resources and Advanced Education

Human Resources and Higher Education

Staff Report on the Commission on Human Resources and Advanced Education

John K. Folger

Russell Sage Foundation, 1970

This volume is concerned with the question of how the United States educates and utilizes its intellectually gifted youth. It examines the manpower system from the point of view of supply and demand. It brings a deep understanding of the set of interrelated forces that determine the education and utilization of trained manpower.
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cover of Hutchins' University: A Memoir of the University of Chicago, 1929-1950

Hutchins' University

A Memoir of the University of Chicago, 1929-1950

William H. McNeill

University of Chicago Press, 1991

The inauguration of Robert Maynard Hutchins as the fifth President of the University of Chicago in 1929 coincided with a drastically changed social and economic climate throughout the world. And Hutchins himself opened an era of tumultuous reform and debate within the University. In the midst of the changes Hutchins started and the intense feelings they stirred, William H. McNeill arrived at the University to pursue his education. In Hutchins' University he tells what it was like to come of age as a undergraduate in those heady times.

Hutchins' scathing opposition to the departmentalization of learning and his resounding call for reforms in general education sparked controversy and fueled debate on campus and off. It became a struggle for the heart and soul of higher education—and McNeill, as a student and then as an instructor, was a participant. His account of the university's history is laced with personal reminiscences, encounters with influential fellow scholars such as Richard McKeon, R. S. Crane, and David Daiches, and details drawn from Hutchins' papers and other archives.

McNeill sketches the interplay of personalities with changing circumstances of the Depression, war, and postwar eras. But his central concern is with the institutional life of the University, showing how student behavior, staff and faculty activity and even the Hyde Park neighborhood all revolved around the charismatic figure of Robert Maynard Hutchins—shaped by him and in reaction against him.

Successive transformations of the College, and the tribulations of the ideal of general or liberal education are central to much of the story; but the memoir also explores how the University was affected by such events as Red scares, the remarkably successful Round Table radio broadcasts, the
abolition of big time football, and the inauguration of the nuclear age under the west stands of Stagg Field in 1942.

In short, Hutchins' University sketches an extraordinarily vibrant period for the University of Chicago
and for American higher education. It will revive old controversies among veterans from those times, and may provoke others to reflect anew about the proper role of higher education in American society.
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