Season 1: #7 - Bryan Alexander, Higher Ed Consultant and Futurist

Topics Discussed in this Episode:There is too much acceptance and fatalism around institutional politics in higher ed.The cultural history of the white middle class, which benefited from society's largesse, received much for free and thus didn't have the cultural experience of fighting or struggling for what they got.There is a racist aspect to the defunding of government institutions, where support has been removed as demographics have become less white. Submissive individualism is the white middle class's psychological formation. These phenomena have disabled post-1960s university activism. Another reason for the acceptance of institutional politics is the division of faculty into tenure-track and non-tenure-track faculty. Faculty have a professional obligation to do some kind of workplace democracy but have abandoned policymaking and the institution is weaker as a result. Service has been feminized, which has split service from institutional politics. There is routinization of administrative work that authorizes defeatism and localism around policy discussions.The white middle class default culture of academia simply does not want to engage in the conflict needed to create change.The student financial aid system is bigoted against new entrants - students of color, first generation students, students from low-income families - because it sets up different financial outcomes and a radicalized caste system between those who do not have to borrow and those who do.Debt-free college for all has to be the primary policy goal and tuition-free public education is the way to get there. Resources Discussed in this Episode:Johns Hopkins University PressChris NewfieldChris Newfield, Ivy and Industry: Business and the Making of the American University, 1880-1980Chris Newfield, Unmaking the Public University: The Forty-Year Assault on the Middle ClassChris Newfield, The Great Mistake: How We Wrecked Public Universities and How We can Fix Them"Limits of the Numerical: Higher Education in the Age of Metrics"Andrew Hartman, A War for the Soul of AmericaMichael M. Crow and William B. Dabars, The Fifth Wave: The Evolution of American Higher Education Music Credits: “Come Right Here” by Tendinite, licensed under a Creative Commons 4.0 CC-BY-NC-ND license

Topics Discussed in this Episode: Imposter syndrome is real and it's important to celebrate your successes. Only 5% of all college presidents are women of color. "Mesearch" is a strategic way to undertake research while looking towards long-term goals like joining higher education leadership. ACE is the foregoing professional association for higher education leaders in the United States. We need to have a conversation about public trust and higher education. What trust looks like in higher education varies based on race, socio-economic status, first generation college student status, and the intersections of these and other margins. Student loan debt impacts people of color differently than white students. Student loan debt impacts Black women significantly more than any other racial or gender group.We need to refine what the margins look like in higher education and the language we used. "Minority students" are not "minority students" -- they are part of historically minoritized groups. The American Dream does not look the same for all people and varies depending on race, class, gender, sexuality, and other margins within higher education, as well as the places where people's identities overlap. Student loan debt elimination is a critical conversation. Trust looks different for every single group. The public needs to articulate what they want from higher education. Higher education institutions need to examine whether they can meet the public's needs and what their goals are in meeting those needs. Intentional self-care is critical because racial battle fatigue is real. Systems of oppression weren't created overnight and won't be dismantled overnight, but we can recognize where our calling is to fight oppression.Resources Discussed in this Episode:Johns Hopkins University PressAmerican Council on EducationHoward University"Voices from the Field: Women of Color Presidents in Higher Education"ACE Women's NetworkSenator Elizabeth WarrenRace and Ethnicity in Higher Education (REHE)Moving the Needle: Advancing Women in Higher Education LeadershipTom Hockaday, University Technology Transfer: What Is It and How to Do It Music Credits: “Come Right Here” by Tendinite, licensed under a Creative Commons 4.0 CC-BY-NC-ND license.

Topics Discussed in this Episode:Katina's journey from comparative literature Ph.D. to advocate for transforming graduate education.The role of foundations in shaping scholarly fields.The need for graduate training to shift to be more intentional about what post-Ph.D. career paths might look like.The significance of professional associations for setting norms and expectations in disciplines, from adjunct wages to evaluation and dissemination of scholarship.Universities should receive enough public funding that they don't need to rely on private support.Private funding is not a solution to the challenges of higher ed today.The Mellon Foundation's shifting priorities to support community colleges and access oriented institutions is important to ensuring that private funding doesn't reinforce hierarchies and prestige.A key problem in discussing graduate education in careers is that the conversation gets separated from questions of equity, inclusion, and labor structures.Even institutions that prioritize access can be governed by structures that govern elite institutions, even when they don't serve the values of the institution.Failure to re-evaluate alignment of structures and values leads to status quo acceptance of everything from requirements for tenure and promotion to what a dissertation might look like to what graduate education and faculty careers look like.The importance of revisiting tenure and promotion criteria when strategic planning to ensure faculty are positioned to help with university goals.Within CUNY, as at many institutions, the structure of the institution becomes increasingly white and male in areas of more traditional prestige.The importance of the humanities for community college students at a time when vocational education is being emphasized.Hope can be understood as a discipline that we practice.Resources Discussed in this Episode:Johns Hopkins University PressFutures InitiativeCUNY Humanities AllianceHASTACCUNY Graduate Center's Master's Program in Digital HumanitiesAlfred P. Sloan FoundationScholars' LabBethany NowviskieAbby Smith RumseyMellon FoundationModern Language AssociationPutting the Humanities PhD to WorkDuke University PressKen WissokerMaggie DebeliusSusan BasallaSo What Are You Going to Do With That? Sara AhmedOn Being IncludedLuke WaltzerKaysi HolmanDavid OlanGraduate Education at Work in the WorldMelissa DeshieldsMicah GilmerFrontline SolutionsCathy DavidsonWhy Can't They Write? Killing the Five Paragraph Essay and Other Necessities Music Credits: “Come Right Here” by Tendinite, licensed under a Creative Commons 4.0 CC-BY-NC-ND license.

Topics Discussed in this Episode:Lavelle's recently published book The Blackademic Life: Academic Fiction, Higher Education, and the Black Intellectual .Lavelle's favorite Black academic novels, including The Mad Man, Erasure, Glyph, I'm Not Sidney Poitier, and The Chosen Place, The Timeless People.  Lavelle's motivation for writing the book and his journey.Responses to the book related to the current political climate and the current moment in higher education.How Lavelle used his acknowlegements as a space to address the experience of writing while working at a teaching-intensive institution.Historical changes to the experiences of Black academics and experiences in historically Black colleges and universities vs. predominantly white institutions.The biggest challenges facing Black scholars today and the role of allies in improving working conditions.Hope for the future of higher ed in Black Lives Matter and student activism.Resources Discussed in this Episode:Lavelle PorterThe Blackademic LIfe: Academic Fiction, Higher Education, and the Black IntellectualBlack PerspectivesCLAGS Center for LGBTQ studiesSamuel Delaney's The Mad ManPercival Everett's Erasure, Glyph, and I'm Not Sidney PoitierPaule Marshall's The Chosen Place, The Timeless PeopleIshmael Reed's Japanese By SpringKiese Laymon's Long DivisionKristina Quynn's piece in The Chronicle of Higher Ed Music Credits: “Come Right Here” by Tendinite, licensed under a Creative Commons 4.0 CC-BY-NC-ND license.

Topics Discussed in this Episode:Yves's unconventional path to the presidency via institutional research. The ability to influence mission and direction that the presidency offers. Insights from rural community colleges for the higher ed sector. Rural community colleges at the leading edge of future opportunities and challenges for society. The renewed interest in farming, sustainable agriculture, renewable energy, and food systems. The desire of the rising generation to be different stewards than prior generations. The importance of growing diversity in the pipeline to the presidency.Resources Discussed in this Episode:Yves Salomon-FernándezGreenfield Community CollegeFranklin County, MassachusettsRenewable Energy/Efficiency at GCCFarm and Food Systems at GCCMusic Credits: “Come Right Here” by Tendinite, licensed under a Creative Commons 4.0 CC-BY-NC-ND license.

Topics Discussed in this EpisodeMany contingent faculty become adjuncts unwittingly because the topic has not been discussed frankly in the profession.States and state laws can prevent contingent faculty from unionizing.Contingent faculty are routinely put in a difficult position because they are underpaid and are not given the support they need to serve an increasingly vulnerable student population.New Faculty Majority was established as a new kind of advocacy organization, working alongside but distinctly from unions and professional organizations.Social media played a significant role in New Faculty Majority, for community building and having a voice.Higher ed has spent a lot time ignorant and in denial of the adjunct labor problem.We are starting to see solidarity from tenured faculty and administrators, so attitudes are changing.Tenure for the Common Good is an important organization that raises awareness of contingent faculty issues.Faculty can be resistant to thinking about academic work as work and thinking of themselves as being in solidarity with other workers in the economy.How tenure-track faculty can support contingent faculty is a controversial question, as there are those within the movement who want to make sure their voices are heard.Contingent faculty have few resources--in terms of financial resources, time, and energy--which tenured faculty do have.Advancing the profession must, by definition, entail advocating for the most vulnerable members of the profession.Tenure-track faculty must educate themselves on labor issues.Tenure line faculty can also support contingent faculty when they apply for unemployment by helping contingent faculty prove to state unemployment agencies that they don't have reasonable assurance of continued employment.Tenure line faculty could organize a national walkout and build solidarity around that expression of risk.People working in higher education are fundamentally decent and have a role to play in society, preserving and protecting democracy.If we can make better connections with what's happening outside the academy, there are opportunities to make a difference and to transform the academy.Resources Discussed in This EpisodeJohns Hopkins University PressNew Faculty MajorityAssociation of American Colleges and UniversitiesAmerican Conference of Academic DeansTenure for the Common GoodCarolyn BetenskyAssociation of American University ProfessorsOne Faculty Campaign

Topics Discussed in this EpisodeMentors often see paths for us before we see them for ourselves.What is Black Girl Magic?Graduate students often do not know what they are getting into, and the community built around Black Girl Does Grad School has helped Black women undergraduates and Black women graduate students find information and support.Like Black Girl Does Grad School, Contingent Magazine is creating a space to publish voices that are marginalized by higher education.We need more spaces for people that the academy refuses to make space for--and creating our own spaces is critical.The importance of having supportive advisors and mentors.The inspiring work of Ethnic Studies Rise in demonstrating the importance of ethnic studies.The frustration that tenure committees fail to recognize why scholarship in ethnic studies matters.Graduate student unionization efforts are taking place across the country, not just at high-profile institutions like Harvard.There is no reason why graduate students should not be given living wages and adequate healthcare.Universities are not providing appropriate pedagogical training for graduate students, and that must change.Prestige cultures clash with equity, diversity, and inclusion initiatives, rather than recognizing that diversity is a necessary pre-condition to quality.Black graduate students and graduate students of color are the people who have the ability to change the system and are unstoppable.While there are downsides to the internet, there can be pockets of freedom and liberation there too.Reading--particularly new writing in conversation with those of the ancestors--helps us understand that we are in a lineage, and that if we have found ways through problems in the past, we will again.Resources Discussed in this EpisodeJohns Hopkins University PressRavynn StringfieldClaudrena HaroldAndra Gillespie#BlackGirlMagicBlack Girl Does Grad SchoolContingent MagazineMark ReyesBill BlackErin BartramLiz LoshHarvard graduate student unionizationEthnic Studies Rise#LorgiaFestJessica Marie JohnsonAudre LordeAlice Walker

Topics Discussed in this Episode:Kathleen's career moves from faculty at Pomona College to Associate Executive Director at the Modern Language Association (MLA) to faculty and administrator at Michigan State University.Putting ideas related to publishing and scholarly communication into place on a national scale in her role at MLA.Working with institutions that are interested in implementing lessons from Generous Thinking in their strategic plans.Working with faculty to explore the possibilities for how their work might contribute to a richer, more open public sphere.When re-evaluating reappointment, promotion, and tenure guidelines, thinking about public engagement first rather than as a separate outreach category.The rise of the #GenerousThinking movement on Twitter as people share their stories on how they have implemented generous thinking in their work and personal lives.The HuMetricsHSS initiative focused on rethinking prestige economies of academia and thinking about how values like openness could be incorporated into assessment.Using generous thinking as an approach to creating equity and expanding opportunity for others in the academy.There is no quality without equality.Resources Discussed in this Episode:Johns Hopkins University PressKathleen FitzpatrickDigital Humanities at Michigan State UniversityModern Language AssociationPlanned Obsolescence (NYU Press)Generous Thinking (Johns Hopkins University Press)#GenerousThinkingNicky AgateHuMetricsHSSChris Long at MSUHannah Alpert-AbramsMusic Credits: “Come Right Here” by Tendinite, licensed under a Creative Commons 4.0 CC-BY-NC-ND license.

Topics Discussed in this Episode:Higher ed is dying and being dismantled while the same people doing the dismantling are also guarding and maintaining it.Traditional markers of higher ed -- 15-week semesters, discipline-based departments, seat time, competition, and tenure -- do not work for most faculty or students.The significance of reframing education through the lens of human development.How difficult university policies make the disability accommodation process for staff and faculty.The possibility of doing the work we care about outside of our institutions or job descriptions.The need for the walls of higher education to be more permeable.Universities as systems and institutions that become forces against critique or dissent.The tension between changing a system while also maintaining the system.Doing radical work in the academy and fighting for equity and justice has risks.The way institutions fail their students by failing to create infrastructure for their social and emotional well-being.The importance of recognizing that higher education is more than classroom teaching.Our guests are the people who keep making change, keep fighting in spite of the challenges they encounter.This season was also about the power of friendship, connection, and collaboration.Our guests for next season are Chris Newfield, Yves Salomon-Fernández, Kathleen Fitzpatrick, Ashley Gray, Ravynn Stringfield, Lavelle Porter, Katina Rogers, and Maria Maisto.We welcome recommendations for guests for Season 3.Resources Discussed in this Episode:Boston University Wheelock College of Education & Human DevelopmentKatie Rose Guest PryalKatie Rose Guest Pryal, Life of the Mind, InterruptedPaula KrebsPaula Krebs, Teaching at Teaching Intensive InstitutionsSchuyler EspritSchuyler Esprit, Create CaribbeanAlex GilAlex Gil, Rikers Story BotKelly J. BakerKelly J. Baker, Sexism EdRoopika Risam, "Academic Generosity, Academic Insurgency"Katerina Gonzalez SeligmannRaj ChettyEthnic Studies RiseLorgia García-Peña#LorgiaFestLee Skallerup Bessette Bryan AlexanderBryan Alexander, Academia NextChris NewfieldYves Salomon-FernándezKathleen FitzpatrickKathleen Fitzpatrick, Generous Thinking: A Radical Approach to Saving the UniversityAshley GrayAmerican Council on Education's Women's NetworkAmerican Council on Education's Moving the Needle InitiativeRavynn StringfieldBlack Girl Does Grad SchoolLavelle PorterLavelle Porter, The Blackademic LifeKatina RogersKatina Rogers, Putting the Humanities PhD to WorkMaria Maisto

Topics Discussed in this Episode:The next generation of higher education and the future of where colleges and universities could go.Sustainability as the biggest challenge for universities today.The financial pressure that higher ed institutions are under, which is exacerbated by rising discounting rates, funding cuts to public higher ed, and student debt.The challenges of the adjunctification of faculty and of cultural and political skepticism towards higher education.Anxiety produced by escalating income and wealth inequality in the U.S.and the role that higher ed plays in contributing to that divide.The shrinking middle class in the U.S. and how higher ed might no longer be the gateway to greater economic and professional success due to increasing debt and changes to work (e.g. automation).The ways in which higher education is still viewed as a luxury for a segment of the U.S. population.Preserving the cultural identity of an institution undergoing a merger and/or closure.Whether we have too many colleges and universities in the U.S. and if mergers and closures are efficient ways to deal with a declining population of traditional college-aged students.The unpopularity of considering the option of planning for smaller enrollments.Optimism for the future of higher ed through internationalization, open education, and online technology.Resources Discussed in this Episode:Bryan AlexanderCentenary CollegeNITLEAcademia NextMusic Credits: “Come Right Here” by Tendinite, licensed under a Creative Commons 4.0 CC-BY-NC-ND license.