College and University Books

Hanna, with a group of fantastic authors, have put together this wonderful book that can guide us through the many choices, challenges and changes we face in the future of Higher Education.

This book is a valuable resource for faculty and administrators who are involved in redefining learning, policies, and practices. Each powerful chapter focuses upon these choices and challenges that will guide us in building a new system of higher education.

The authors goal in writing this book is apparent in every chapter as he "assists the reader in developing a more complete understanding of how teaching and learning, knowledge generation and preservation, organizational design and evalulation, and leadership can all function together within a changing and increasingly competitive external environment to produce a new responsiveness and diversity within higher education". This, coupled with the information on advanced techologies for teaching and learning, makes this book one to read. It is a great book that will indeed enlighten you with the choices, challenges and changes necessary in Higher Education.

Higher Education in an Era of Digital Competition: Choices and Challenges
By: Donald E. Hanna & Associates

Higher Education in and Era of Digital Competition did an excellent job of explaining the current atmosphere of higher education. Although long, 347 pages, this book is very well organized and covers a wide range of topics, including emerging organizational models, leadership, and redefining faculty policies and practices. The overt theme of the book is to relate advances in technology to their current and future impact on Institutes of Higher Education from the perspective of the institution, the faculty, and the students. Yet, the book is also valuable for those entrepreneurs looking for opportunities and ventures in higher education.

Dr. Hanna presents the idea that universities need to evaluate, analyze, and evolve their current practices to reflect the current educational environment. Dr. Hanna has done an excellent job bringing together experts, such as Dr. Chris Dede a nationally recognized leader in Distributed Learning Environments, to contribute thoughts, views, and opinions to this book. The contributing authors did an excellent job of interweaving five main themes through out the book to organize and clarify the current educational situation. Furthermore, Dr. Hanna concludes the book with his opinions on educational impact as well as his proposed challenges to university administrators, faculty, and students.

This is one of the best books I've ever read related to technology in higher education. It surveys the entire field, looking at what is happening, analyzing it against sound educational theory and taking it to the future by asking the tough question of where will traditional higher education be if it doesn't adapt to the new millennium.

Although it's an easy book to read, it doesn't lend itself well to a summary review. Each chapter is unique, touching on different issues related to technology and innovation, such as change, organizational structure, leadership, ethics, faculty policies and practices and instructional design. Any of these chapters can easily be a book in itself. But in the breath of topics covered resides the book's greatest benefit, which is the ability to provide the reader with a "one-stop" understanding of the entire topic.

If you're interested in going beyond a survey of the field and are committed to changing the status quo, this book will help you navigate the basics of bringing technology to the classroom, dealing with resistance and staying motivated as a change agent for the future. It's most definitely a great book about a very important and timely topic.

The author presents a thorough analysis on the impact of the emergent world trends on higher education, clarifying the view for the institutions in the years to come. Emphasis is given on the following aspects as they challenge the global education in the 21st century:

1. Learning: Roles, Access, Emergent Approaches, Role of Technology and Assessment

2. Organizational Models: Design and evaluation, policies and practices

3. Leadership in the Knowledge Era

Learning

With the emergent digital era, the learning process undergoes reconsiderations that will shape our concept of education forever.

Access. Due to the improvements in the technological area, distances are being shortened making possible for more students to access education from different locations. This is demanding from higher education institutions to acquire and use technology efficiently in order to provide educational programs that reach out to students and are sensitive to cultural diversity.

Emergent Approaches.The following are some of the trends that are driving educational institutions to provide innovated educational experiences for their students:

· The constant and emergent changes worldwide are demanding from students and professionals continuous education or life long learning. According to the author, Americans could be changing careers six times during their professional lives.

· The improvements in communications capabilities are moving the market toward a global economy, which according to the author, will impact the continuous learning process worldwide. This will lead us toward a global learning community.

· Today it is not sufficient to acquire information. The learner must be able to appreciate and understand its meaning, in addition to be able to use it in problem solving situations.

· Emergent educational trends lead organizations to leave behind the traditional organizational approach.

· The increase of two-career families in America and single parents leave little time for students to enroll in traditional educational experiences, at the same time there is an increase in the pressure to learn and become better educated.

· The changing workplace is demanding new skills and abilities that ease people to work together in problem solving situations that requires critical analysis and a personal touch of creativity.

Three steps toward change in institutions in order to achieve effectiveness in the competitive era:

1. Identify the external trends that are forcing institutions toward change. 2. Study the forces that resist change. 3. Develop a rationale for organizational change considering the previous steps.

Higher education institutions should create effective learning environments under the emergent educational approaches and advances in technology. An effective learning experience should encompass an active and engaging process based upon a "constructivist" approach. According to this learning theory, supported by thinkers like John Dewey and Lev Vygotsky, is based on the construction of knowledge by the students allowing them to begin from their previous knowledge and experiences on the subject, being engaged in active and meaningful learning experiences in social activities in which reflection and metacognition will encourage personal, varied and unique outcomes.

The book discusses the basics for the following major constructivist approaches:

a. collaborative and cooperative learning b. problem based learning c. learning communities d. communities of practice

Technology. One of the major challenges of higher education institutions in the 21st century is the use of technology in effective ways to encourage the creation of knowledge based upon this theory, including the development and enhancement of virtual collaborative environments.

Assessment.The author differentiates between assessment and traditional evaluation methods, in terms of what they intend to determine about the learners progress. It is the belief of this author that the evaluation and assessment performed in class should "include strategies that value how students think as well as what they think." As the global learning communities enhances, more sophisticated evaluation strategies are needed. This will guide the educational process in accordance of standards of quality.

Organizational Models

"New forms of universities will emerge," in order to meet the demands of the new millennium.

Due to the learning demands, world trends and the emergent advances in technology that are characterizing the competitive professional area, new models will be considered in order to satisfy the educational needs of students, and professionals seeking continuing education. These will be conceived in new environments that promote alliances between universities world wide, organizations with global scope and impact, creation of institutions in which shorter certification or degree programs are based on specific competencies, and those in which technology is the foundation of the educational process.

Leadership in the Knowledge Era

The leader in the knowledge era must be highly motivated toward innovations and changing, eager to watch, understand and make decisions considering the dynamic nature of the world society in which we live. She ought to understand the meaning of the mission in her hands instead of seeing the final outcome as a monetary reward for her or the institution. According to the author the leader should: · encourage shared leadership. · be culturally sensitive. · demonstrate ability to keep up the pace with world trends. · have the necessary technological skills. · be capable of networking and developing and maintaining interpersonal relationships efficiently.

In addition to these, the leader should be aware that nowadays trends and changes will demand from leaders to consider the creation of new and modification of existing policies concerning the workplace and its personnel.

Finally, in moments in which technology is becoming an essential component in our lives, leaders in higher education institutions face unique challenges that will require new technical and human approaches toward the organization's model. With all the advances in technology, the leader ought to remember that values and human virtues are the foundation of any corporation.

Donald Hanna and his supporting authors have done a fine job illuminating some of the interesting aspects and issues of the growing technological world of higher ed. I enjoyed the organization of the book. It is a compilation of interesting essays on various topics, all of which are relevant to the online university.
I found Chapter 3-Advanced Technologies and Distributed Learning in Higher Education by Chis Dede to be facinating. This sort of vision and creativity to picture what is possible is essential in moving us forward into new and uncharted territory. Dede offers "vignettes" to illustrate creative uses of technology for distributed learning and visions of how technology may be used in the future. These sort of changes have the possibility to make substaintial changes to the higher education model.
Other chapters such as Chapter 8-Who Owns Knowledge in a Networked World? by John Tallman offer current practical knowledge. As a professional engaged in course development, it is valuable to become knowledgable regarding such issues. As questions and debates arise as to the equitable ownership and allocation of revenue from distance learning materials, it is important that faculty are well-versed in the applicable laws.
Chapters such as Chapter 10-Global Access to Learning: Gender, Poverty, and Race by Janet Poley address concerns of equity and ethics. It is essential that these conversations occur now during the development of digital learning. Some choices and decisions can not be undone. It's important that each twist and turn in the growing path of distance education is subjected to thoughtful consideration. The potential benefit to everyone is great. But also the potential to further alienate certain populations exists. Only through careful consideration can the appropriate foundation be laid to benefit all.
Overall, this book addresses some facinating and pressing issues in the growing world of distance education. There are many facets to consider and various points of view. Hanna's book is a great place to start the conversation.

This was my first experiece with Hundreds of Heads publishing. While it was not what I expected, the book is full of comments by other parents sharing what did and did not work for them. Topics covered include when to begin the application process, test scores, how to know when to back off, what do do when your child was not accepted, and much more. The book is easy to read and also includes many useful websites for parents. Just seeing me read the book helped get my daughter motivated.

Navigating the college admissions process can be much more difficult than you might imagine. So, why not let parents who've already done it give you a helping hand - make that hundreds of helping hands. The tips range from heartwarming to humorous to extremely helpful. They will enable you not only to survive, but to be successful while keeping your sanity intact. From deciding when to start looking for colleges through the separation process, this is the ultimate source book for parents. More than highly recommended!

This book doesn't give you a step by step process. I don't think anyone can do that because everyone's situation is different. What it does is provide you with wisdom from hundreds of real life experiences -- some mistakes and some successes. It's almost like having a support system of friends that are there to help you.

We are in the thick of the college application process right now with our daughter just starting her senior year. This book has taken a lot of the stress out -- and put a great deal of the excitement back into getting her accepted to the right school for her!

I wish there was a book a like this for every phase, milestone and crucible moment that my kids will go through. This book will not reduce the your child's process of applying to and getting accepted to college, but parents can breath much easier knowing what to expect from so many others who have been through it before. The book is organized brilliantly and presents all sides of every issue, from when to start the process to how to handle getting the news. If only this book had been around when for own parents, who mostly relied on my high school counselor and whatever they remembered from their experiences 25 years earlier.

Advice from the heart ... the good, the bad and the ugly experiences of those who have already tread where you are about to go. No snobby neighbors, no competing colleagues, just hundreds of heads sharing their stories in easy-to-read snippets. It's a well-balanced presentation that allows you to benefit from the reflections of other parents who have already faced the challenges of kids, colleges and chaos. My college years are too far behind me to be relevant today, so this book was a much-needed wake-up call.

Student-friendly books are not easily found, but the Intern Files by Jamie Fedorko really fits the bill. Fedorko writes in such a way that you can picture yourself sitting down with him, having a beer, and learning about internships from him and his friends, who share their often tragic yet comical tales of the lessons learned the hard way.

While I differ on how you should spend your time when bored at work, wish he could have beefed up his networking section, and covered a few other topics, I still find the Intern Files an excellent resource for students new to the workforce.

I wholeheartedly agree with at least a dozen points...

1. Optimism, enthusiasm, and hard work payoff.
2. The philosophy that work can be good and even fun.
3. Confidence is important.
4. Don't limit job search options to only what you find in school.
5. Internships are an opportunity for career clarification and are never time wasted.
6. Interns have the power to make the most of an experience.
7. Networking is important.
8. Fitting in with what you're wearing is important.
9. Work comes first, and balancing socializing can be a tricky matter.
10. Companies may be a little clueless about what to do with you and often fail to tell you the back-story of an assignment.
11. Chances are you will feel bored at sometime, but you can find things to do.
12. Never burn bridges and always leave on a positive note.

Having experienced some not-so-good experiences, I especially appreciated this quote: "Consider the fact that things aren't always what they seem, and your bosses are all human too. And remember, you're an intern. Be patient--if nothing else, you'll learn how to handle your interns when you're the boss." It's a great reminder for when things are not going as well as hoped!

Review by Jengyee Liang, author of HELLO REAL WORLD! A Student's Approach to Great Internships, Co-ops, and Entry Level Positions

As a college student who will be in my first internship at this time next year, I really enjoyed this book. Jamie Fedoroko uses humor and his knowledge of internships to really tell you what to expect. Sure he used some advice that you could find in other job search/life on the job books, but some of his material, such as the stories from real life interns and how to find work to do when you have too much downtime, is fresh advice I have not seen anywhere else.

If you are currently an intern or are planning to intern in the near future, don't waste anymore time! Buy this book!

SO entertaining while also informative. Jamie Fedorko does a terrific job giving us all the dirt on the ins and outs of an internship. Also, LOVED the interview chapter with Alexis Feldman. Helpful, witty and cleaver. Highly recommend it to all!

I work at a Career Center in the Mid-Atlantic and we have an active internship program that is run through our office. Jamie Fedorko's book would be a great resource for any of our students who were willing to take the time to read it--I managed to breeze through most of it in just under two hours, even though (fossil that I am) I had to ask a younger colleague to "translate" some of the slang used.

I thoroughly enjoyed the irreverent tone & hip writing, though possibly some would be offended by the occasional profanity used. The advice offered was solid and right on target, though it would have been better had more of the examples of "real interns" been drawn from varied fields (many of them, probably Fedorko's college friends, were based in media/music/arts). Perhaps this will be changed with a future edition!

I also enjoyed Fedorko's final "real intern" story--his own--and am quite impressed to see a recent grad ('04) realizing his dream--to be a writer. Good going, Jamie, and keep up the good work!

It is rare you get to meet the man behind the mask. I was so fortunate, however, that I did get to meet Jamie Fedorko. Jamie has done a fantastic job with this book by doing one simple thing, he shares with you the wisdom he gained from being an typical everday Joe Average intern. Jamie genuinely wants students to learn the simple principles in his book so they don't have to hit the pot-holes he got stuck in.

Overall the book covers the basics on how to get, keep and excel in your internships. It is a guidebook and has what you would expect--dress codes, where to look for internships, how to handle office politics, leaving a lasting impression, etc. Because it is well written and has great stories it is able to hold a 20-year-olds attention for over 100 pages--not an easy task by any means. The best points are reflected on what he says about attitude and how to maintain a positive attitude in the midst of sometimes non-exciting internships and the second point is about relationships. If there is one takeaway from this book it would be that you need to build excellent relationships with those in your office (boss included) whether you hate the job, want a full time position or are like most students and have no clue.

We talk about how you have to do at least a few internships to make the most of your college investment in my book The Power of Focus for College Students. If you are smart enough to see the value in doing an internship, then you are likely smart enough to invest a few dollars and learn from Jamie how to do it right.

Happy interning!

This book is a wonderfully engaging, well-written autobiography; it also brings vividly to life a crucially-important part of recent US social history. Charles Halpern worked at the heart of an era of progressive change in law and society that started in the 1960s, and he stayed creatively active even throughout the subsequent period of reaction--which arguably has lasted down to the present day.

But Halpern's autobiography goes further even than providing a vivid, personal chronicle of our recent past. It also gives readers a present-day model of and incitement to progressive change-making. It models change-making as an intensely creative and imaginative activity, as it charts Halpern's succession of activities as an architect and leader of Center for Law and Social Policy, the nation's first public interest law firm; then as the designer and first dean of the CUNY Law School, an educationally and socially innovative institution that focused on public interest law; and ultimately as head of the progressive Nathan Cummings foundation. The scope and sheer variety of Halpern's constant, ongoing innovation and institutional invention is fascinating and even breathtaking.

At the same time, Halpern writes of what informs and grounds this unusual creativity. His book is also an account of intellectual and spiritual growth, as Halpern experiments with and incorporates contemplative practice in his life--drawing on it to sustain and empower him in his public career. Halpern then feeds back personal discovery back into institutional creativity, as he sets up a series of programs devoted to transforming intellectual and professional practice in a wide variety of fields--in law schools, colleges, universities, and social movements.

Making Waves and Riding the Currents takes a life well-lived and transforms it into a book that will interest, involve, inform and inspire generations of readers.

I highly recommend this engaging memoir, which is an inspiration and fast read. Charles Halpern graduated from Harvard and Yale, and parlayed a legal career into the first public interest law firm and law school. Upon discovering meditation, Mr. Halpern, incorporated his practice into his life's work. As a result of Halpern's efforts, oil pipelines were put in Alaskan soil sustainably, DDT was banned, public interest lawyers found their needed education, and graduates started influential environmental groups such as EarthJustice. The ripple of Halpern's positive wave continues, and you can catch it by reading Making Waves and Riding the Currents.

No matter what your political persuasion or your profession, this book is a great source of wisdom and insight. Beyond a fascinating history of the birth of public interest law, Charlie Halpern provides a deeply personal and affirming account of how to pursue one's ideals in a way that is nurturing of our deeper selves and respectful of others. A key lesson of this book is that it is not just what you stand or fight for, but who you are and how you act as you do it. By cultivating an awareness that allows a deeper wisdom to emerge, Charlie points to ways we all can contribute to the world in a way that contributes to far greater tolerance and balance, without compromising our effectiveness. And in the process, we also become healthier and more loving and also create a world that reflects this.

Making Waves and Riding Currents is a book that everyone should read. No soft tale here but a journey not unlike rafting white waters. Charles sees the real and the ideal, the what "could be and is not yet", takes time to grasp the whole, sees the way and then takes it. He combines courage, a genuine interest in life and a willingness to "live and learn" both on a professional and personal level. This is a story of major entrepreneurial ventures that impact our own lives, created and co-created, experienced and shared in ways allowing every one involved to learn, use their experience, as well as to question and relinquish old patterns, recognize blocks and crack open into wider realms of understanding and living that center on Wisdom. This book documents changes in thinking that have make our society more humane and just. This is not your usual "lawyer" story. This is speaks to everyone's potential to develop wisdom, played out large, and saying: Come on, you can do it! I can't stop thinking about what one life can do.

From the beginning of this tale of Charles Halpern's remarkable accomplishments, it was obvious that he was an intelligent, effective individual with many skills. But competent doesn't necessarily mean wise. Fortunately for us readers, interwoven with the story of his doing is the story of his psychological/spiritual development -- the story of his growth in wisdom and the integration of that wisdom into his many activities.

Halpern had the courage to place himself in a wide variety of challenging, often uncomfortable, growth-fostering situations. Too many to recount here, they included a winter camping adventure in the Adirondacks, a week-long vision quest based on Native American traditions that included many hours in a sweat lodge, and a five-day mindfulness meditation retreat led by Vietnamese Zen Buddhist monk Thich Nhat Hanh. This last was a watershed event, about which Halpern wrote: "The experience of extended meditation practice...awakened my interest in exploring the connection between meditation and wisdom. Could I undertake to practice wisdom, living the wise life that would generate wise actions and decisions? Could this be a new way to approach activism, to start from the place of wisdom and compassion rather than the place of anger and insistence on legal rights?"

Meditation became a central focus in his life, and numerous retreats followed. To some extent facilitated by the Nathan Cummings Foundation of which he was now President, he met and got to know many of America and the world's foremost spiritual teachers. "Longtime meditators and respected teachers," he wrote, "gave me a new model for a way to be in the world--committed to serving others, cultivating wisdom, being open to changing themselves, and exposing their own vulnerability." Currently, Charles Halpern is Chair of The Center for Contemplative Mind and Society.

MAKING WAVES AND RIDING THE CURRENTS is a truly inspiring and uplifting book. It is the tale of a life marked by great accomplishment and developing wisdom, told with an engaging frankness about his own vulnerabilities by the man who has lived it.

Finally the book to popularize Yoruba culture has arrived! A MUST for any serious santero or babalawo, this is the New Testament of Santeria to Migene Gonzalez-Wippler's Old. Told by a master storyteller, this book explains traditional Yoruba society better than any dry text could. One learns through the eyes of the author as a child what polygamy is really like, about obscure herbs/ebbos, and how the language is really spoken. Buy it now.

Toyin Falola's "A Mouth Sweeter than Salt" is a memoir of the first 13 years of his life in Nigeria. Readers will find a fascinating account of his upbringing in an extended family which was Christian, but polygamous, influenced by English colonialism, but more by Yoruba tribal traditions. Fascinated by trains, he recklessly boarded one as an adventurous youth and found himself stranded in a far-away Muslim city, where he supported himself as a "stick-man" guiding a beggar who faked blindness. Returned to his family by benevolent postal workers, he subsequently aided his grandfather in trying - unsuccessfully - to combat the abuse of a poor farmer by corrupt and exploitive tribal leaders. All in all, this book affords insights into African childhood which will absorb the interest of anyone previously familiar only with American or European experience.

I just finished reading the masterpiece, A Mouth Sweeter Than Salt:An African Memoir, Toyin Falola, University of Michigan Press, 2004. This book is truly brilliant. It made me laugh, scream, and cringe. It is a superb combination of critical African oral discourse, brilliant analysis of modern African history, and lucid exploration of the making of the Nigerian state. I hope you will obtain your own copy and recommend it to others.

Olufemi Vaughan
Professor of African Studies & of History
Associate Dean, Graduate School
SUNY, Stony Brook
Stony Brook, NY 11794-4433

Growing up in Nigeria in the years around independence provides good material for a personal memoir. These must have been extraordinary times, full of hope and expectation for the emerging new country. For a growing teenager though, the issues were closer to home. Falola, well known scholar of African history, has used his personal experiences to create a rich innovative kind of memoir that combines his growing up during that time with events in his community and the country as a whole. The resulting book gives the reader vivid insight into a complex society with its intricate traditions, in particular those of the Yoruba culture. Falola writes an easy accessible style, often addressing the reader directly. He demonstrates his narrative skill and an ability to impart local events with gracefulness and humour. He demonstrates how the use of proverbs, idioms and traditional imagery has remained part of everyday discourse by interweaving sayings into his narrative. "A proverb is regarded as the 'horse' that carries words to a different level, investing them with meanings...".

Falola's account suggests that he was already at the age of 10 a curious youngster and an astute observer of people, relationships and events. His early fascination with trains led him to experiences beyond his age level that were to influence his standing in his family and community. After an unplanned train ride and its aftermath, that created upheaval in the family, he was transplanted to another branch of his family in a more rural sector of Ibadan, the city-state in Nigeria's south-western region. Not having taken notice of the hierarchical structure of his polygamous family, he realized only then which of his "mothers" is his birth mother. There he also learned to connect with the rich traditions of the local people who have maintained much closer links to their past than those in the urban centre. For example, children are given an additional name by the family, a praise name (oriki). This name should establish a link to a real or imaginary hero of the past. Such names should enhance the young person's deep character and his ambition to emulate the past bearer. Like a young detective he tracks an old woman, different from any he had seen in the neighbourhood. When he is finally confronted by her, the outcomes are an important lesson for his life and future. These early influences shape his thinking into his adult life.

While the chapters stand as independent stories or essays, they flow together easily as a portrait of a person in his time and place. He merges the memories of his childhood with his comprehension of circumstances as an adult. Understanding of his roots and the culture instilled in him led him to study the cultural traditions of the Yoruba people and the history of the land. His reflections on how the two religions, Islam and Christianity managed to co-exist with the rich African traditions are as pertinent today as they were during the sixties. So is his criticism of the trend among the younger generation to denigrate their own culture in the face of western influences. [Friederike Knabe]

Falola's memoir, A Mouth Sweeter Than Salt, is a "must read" for anyone seeking to gain deeper and serious insights into the mind of the true African child. The author gives the reader a breath taking, bird eye view of the cultural panorama of the Yoruba society, and the implications of growing up in its most complicated and sophisticated city of Ibadan. The uniqueness of this book lies in its ability to transcend academic and cultural boundaries. It is as good a history book as it is a novel; social scientists will find it valuable and educators will find it to be of great relavance. It is a story of life and of living. It is indeed a celebration of youth and its rites of passage. Humor, wit, and readability add color and lucidity to all pages of this book. Wild, weird, wide, and even scary at times, this is a memoir that will stand the test of time.

Insightful reading for every Gator fan to appreciate the players and coaches who left their mark and influences on the Gator football program. Even some of the unflattering moments in history makes you appreciate where the program is today. The Wilbur Marshall chapter is a must read.

This is a great book for all Gators - easy to read and full of information about our football program.

My favorite chapters were on Steve Spurrier the player and Mr. Two Bits. Peter spells out why and how we got onto probation in the 1980s which I found very informative.

I found it to be a book I didn't want to put down. I would highly recommend all Florida Gators read this book!

Go Gators!

As a UF Alumni, I have kept track of Peter Kerasotis columns in the FL Today paper over the years. Now he has written a great book that is full of wonderful Gator stories and tradition.

It is a great book for any Gator Fan--young or old!

As a co-worker of Kerasotis for many years, I have long admired Pete's eloquent prose in Florida Today's sports section. He has a gift for spotting stories others miss and presenting them simply and surely.

When I first heard that Pete was writing this book, I told him I wanted to get a copy as soon as it was released, even though I have no connection to UF and am in fact an bigtime Ohio State fan. Having enjoyed Pete's writing for years, I was sure that I would enjoy the book even though I have never set foot in the Swamp.

I wasn't disappointed. Pete's substantial knowledge of Gator football was evident on every page. And one needn't be a Gator fan to enjoy the stories here. The tale of Mr. Two-Bits will resonate with the reader who feels that the fan loyalty and pageantry of the college game make it so much better than the NFL product. And the look at UF legend Wilber Marshall is one of the best profiles I've ever read of an athlete.

I highly recommend this book to anybody who loves college football. It is a must-have for any Gator fan's bookshelf.

I have had the honor and privilege of knowing Pete for many years and the pleasure of being able to ready his columns in Florida TODAY for many years.
His wit and writing style make for an easy and fun read and this collection provides anecdotes and inside Gator tales many of us have never read before.
Pete's book offers the insight of a beat reporter, which he has been, and the prose of a seasoned author, which he is.
It's a wonderful read for Gator fans everywhere! Thanks, Pete!

You could stumble into each class paying as much attention as possible, trying very hard to understand how to become a better teacher, reflecting after class upon what you did well and what you did not do well ... or you could read McKeachie's book and take all of his experience and that of his co-authors into your repertoire of teaching tips.

One could dread reading a book that talks too much about the details and administrative issues that may arise in teaching. One could also dread a book that speaks only about philosophical issues in teaching. One does not need to dread this book because it addresses both practical and philosophical matters but not in excruciating details. It is written by an intelligent group for intelligent readers and yet it is simple prose, not the pretentious academic jargon that I so often encounter.

I loved it and highly recommend it to all PhD students, junior faculty, and faculty teaching others how to teach.

On my instructional maiden voyage into the sea of communication, this text was my life vest. In 28 concise chapters, Wilbert McKeachie offers pearls of wisdom on everything from drafting a syllabus to dealing with excuses, and everything in between. His straightforward writing lends itself to quick reading and makes it a handy "flip-to" guide for refreshers.
Whether you're wrestling with a "discussion dominator" or trying to finesse responses from silent students, this book offers proactive approaches and solutions to unforeseen challenges.
Keeping things fresh and interesting for students and yourself makes the learning experience more enjoyable. Reading, attending workshops and talking to experienced faculty are some of the suggestions the author offers. As someone who used to teach natural resource seminars, I was pleased that he acknowledged the energizing power of an effective workshop. In addition, the text also offers tips on applying new changes learned in those courses to classes.
As any instructor worth their salt is aware, teaching is an ever-evolving process, that must be honed and refined to suit both instructor and student. For anyone adrift in some arena of college instruction, grabbing onto this 379 page text will prove a worthwhile undertaking.

This is a book on teaching that can be read straight through with useful information on all areas of teaching. This is a book that can also be used as a reference source. Having read many books on teaching, this is still the best.

This was one of the books I read in a "teaching college history" course I took at Indiana University. Prior to that I had taught two of my own courses and been an associate instructor for two more. I wish I had read this book prior to my teaching because it asks a lot of very good questions and gives suggestions that you can use in the classroom. The variety of courses that can be helped by such tips is endless -- even if you don't think your particular field could use a particular chapter or really has a particular issue I found reading it always helped me devise new strategies for teaching. This is not, however, a model of how to teach (could there ever be such a model?), you'll have to read and evaluate what may work for you for each particular class.

This text provides college faculty with strategies to become a better instructor and to deal with the challenges of the profession.

Creating objectives, test design, learner goals, lecture formats, teaching to a diverse audience, grading, handling suspected cheaters - you name it and it is in there.

I believe it will be beneficial to any college instructor regardless of size of school. I teach at a small school and the text, though maybe slanted a bit toward the experience at the large research university, was tremendously helpful to me.

The book is easy to read. I have incorporated a lot of the strategies into this fall semester.

Jennifer Washburn's investigation inside U.S. universities is disturbing. She paints a portrait of colleges that have forgotten their primary mission and societal role. That is upsetting enough for readers who cherish fond memories of free-thinking college days, but its implications reach far wider. She cites restraints on free inquiry and free speech that should alarm civil libertarians. Her reports of far-reaching attempts to generate profit through patents and technology transfers should concern businesspeople. The most perturbing element of Washburn's analysis covers how drug and medical trials have changed, as their control has shifted from the impartial hand of traditional science to the vested authority of pharmaceutical companies. She even implies that anyone using a drug developed in such trials is at risk. The issues in higher education are so sweeping that, at times, Washburn's treatment is more a foreboding sketch than a complete analysis. That aside, We recommend it to anyone interested in a well-articulated, strong point of view about higher education, or anyone who follows the issues involved in having a well-functioning civic society, including quality higher education.

This has to be one of the saddest books I've read in a while. It's beautifully ironic. This book comes along and laments of the conflicts of interests with the marriage of universities and business while I am learning to embrace that I can love to have money.

I graduated from the University of Southern California and had a sense that something was amiss in the university system. Back then, I saw a university that catered strongly to the football program and felt like I was getting the scraps. The football program brought in the money and with the latest successes some immeasurable advertising.

However, there was an uneasy truce of advancing education and earning money. A university gets all excited about a new corporate sponsor giving millions to a department. But what if the corporate sponsor stipulates that the money be spent on research for the advancement of the sponsor's own products? Or that any breakthroughs from the research would be considered the assets of the sponsor's? And what happens when a professor mentoring graduate students is an owner of a private company?

In the former scenario, the research would have a STRONG affinity toward saying something positive about the sponsor's product. What department would say something bad about their sponsor even if research says so? There's statistics that would be some bias. In the second scenario, the spirit of research/education in a university environment is stymied and looks more like competing departments in a business or competing businesses. Instead of open sharing of ideas at the local coffeehouse, students are making fake notes to disguise their research from each other. In the final scenario, we may have a professor who only supports a thesis that supports his stock portfolio.

I recommend the book for anyone who is in the process of higher education or thinking of going in that direction. It could turn your head. There's a whole lot of research and data in this book that began to numb my brain. I give the book 4 stars because it was difficult to read - perhaps more because of the revelation of the corruption of higher education. It will make a lot of you sick.

Jennifer Washburn has written the most important book about the impact of corporate culture on higher education since Thorstein Veblen's 1918 classic,The Higher Learning in America. Over the past quarter-century, Washburn shows, our leading universities have quietly allowed themselves to be transformed into "patent factories" generating income for the campuses and their corporate backers. The ability of faculty to produce basic knowledge has been compromised by the competitiveness, secrecy, and profit-seeking that characterize private sector (as opposed to traditional academic) research. Because they are less lucrative than the patent-generating disciplines, the social sciences and humanities have been downgraded. Emphasis on teaching, which is expensive and unrelated to patentable research, has diminished. Conflict of interest has run rampant. Washburn devoted the better part of a decade to research for this book, which is a model of investigative journalism. Indeed, I know of no more important study of the American university in print.
John Broesamle
Professor Emeritus of History
California State University, Northridge

A great book! It's a pointed critique of how universities have lost their way by involving themselves too closely with the business world. The author does a great job of weaving interviews, anecdotes, history, and economics together.

It reminds me of Fast Food Nation: with both books I had to stop reading several times along the way--not because I didn't enjoy it, but simply to keep from getting too angry. (A complement to the authors in both cases!) Although I was able to quit eating fast food altogether, I won't be able to give up my relationship with higher ed...

So I can only hope that students, parents, university administrators, scientists, government regulators and business executives read this book--and demand changes.

Over the past twenty years a flash flood of books has appeared which are critical of the intrusion of business models into the University. Washburn's book is striking the same vein - a cynic might sneer that the debate is beginning to have a 'burnt over' look to it. However, Washburn's book is unique in several respects. In the first instance it is very well written, well-paced, and the narrative fairly gallops along. Secondly, the examples of corporate contamination that she focuses on clearly illuminate the ambiguities that the University is prepared to live with, well at least the ambiguities that an Administration will live with. Moreover, Washburn identifies the tension between good old professor X receiving his state salary and good old entrepreneur professor X receiving huge sums of money from his privileged access to the social capital floating in the University environment. There are several very telling quotes from academics who believe it unwise to speak about their research too publicly lest a 'colleague' harness it to his or her own commercial enterprise. Thirdly, Washburn is balanced in her analysis. While acknowledging that corporatism can threaten many traditional values in the University, she is phelgmatic enough to acknowledge that some level of corporatism is both desirable and unavoidable (Roger Geiger in his book 'Knowledge and Money' refers to this nexus as the 'paradox of the marketplace'). The dilemma for Washburn and all who wish to espouse a both/and position on Business and the University, rather than an either/or position, is how to turn a seemingly sensible policy into a set of sensible procedures. Almost all books in this genre grudgingly accept the policy but few have ever laid out procedures to make it credible. Washburn goes some way towards closing the circle here (for instance, her proposal for an ammended Bayh-Dole Act and the setting up of specialist research contact points for industry). In conclusion then, Washburn's book is more grounded in the realities of the political economy than most. This is a debate that won't end soon. Every age has looked to the fruits of knowledge and discovery to oil the wheels of commercial progress. In the past much of this debate was hidden or disdained largely because participation in the University was for the elite - meaning those that had some money in their background. The opening of education and communication in the past thirty years however and the rapid growth of economies due to globalisation has created a new set of arguments to toss into the debate. Washburn's book is part of this new movement. A welcome breadth of fresh air.

This guide was invaluable as our son searched for a school he knew he would be welcome in. We used various guides to narrow and refine our search for a school. This guide definitely played a significant role in our son's choice of schools, and he was very pleased to end up being admitted to the Advocate College Guide's #1 rated school: the University of Pennsylvania.

I am lucky enough to go to a school which made the Top 100 and am quoted in the synopsis of my school. As co-president of our Undergraduate Gay-Straight Alliance, I plan to use this book to bring to the administration's attention areas in which the school is lacking and work to improve those areas. The book also has a lot of information for High School students selecting a college, administrators at colleges looking to better support LGBT students, and student leaders looking for help in planning events. If you are at all involved in higher education and want to make your school better for LGBT students, buy this book, read it, and loan it to everyone you know.

This guide is obviously the first of its kind, and the author did a great job on researching various schools and providing useful information which comes from faculty and students. However, because the author's attempt to balance the schools between geographical regions, some schools were left out. For instance, the top 20 are not actually the supposedly most friendly ones, but the most friendly ones in each region. Also, like other college guides, too many schools were crammed into one small book, but I guess I can't really complain, since every single college guide was like this. Overall, it's defenitely a great college guide, and a great progress for LGBTQ students.

This books time had come years ago, and I am SO glad to see that it is finally here. Alas, it's too late for me as a college graduate, but I like to know that future college students will know what to look for when picking a colle or university. This is a must for any HS guidance councelor or therapist or doctor or...well...anyone! It's a great tool and easy to use and understand!

This book is great for those looking at their university of choice and administraitions to see what they need to do for their LGBT students. As someone stated before, I wish this information was available years ago. However, it will help me as I research the university I plan to work in as an administrator or academic.

Unlike many college guides, this one presents students' impressions of their campuses as well as the most pertinent statistics and facts about each school. This makes for a good read, one that high school students should find user friendly and engaging. This shouldn't be the only guide that students refer to, but it goes a long way in personalizing the whole college search process and helping students discover which attributes are important to them in deciding where they will feel most comfortable during their college years.

I purchased this book at the NACAC conference in Seattle. What a great book! The Prowler gives its readers a new way to view colleges and universities. I highly recommend it as an adjunct for parents and high school students as they embark on the students' college quest.

This book is written by students for students and provides excellent details of what's happening on college campuses. It is a must read for any student applying to college.

As a private college counselor I find the Big Book of Colleges to be a valuable tool. It is up to date, insightful and honest information from the very students who live at that college. Even though I supply my office with the guides, my clients end up going out and purchasing them so they can share the information with family and friends. What a "fun" way to learn and discover more even before you visit!

WARNING: this is not your typical college guide book! And, when it is written by students for students, that's a good thing. While there's no doubt that college-searching students need a guidebook with facts, figures and statistics, a book that puts "flesh on the bones" of a potential college experience is equally important. This is the prospective college student's anecdotal guidebook on subjects: such as "Nightlife, Greek Life, Guys, Girls, and Drug Scene". Basics are also included, but what the students will sit around to read and discuss are the four or five quotes on various topics including "Academics, Local Atmosphere, Safety and Security", etc. It is the quotes by each college's current students that give this one-of-a-kind guidebook its power. My students Love this book.

Neil Clark
Dean of College Counseling and Guidance
The Walker School
Marietta, Georgia