Higher Education

Stop checking boxes. Start leading a quality transformation. If you are an institutional leader, academic dean or program leader facing an upcoming accreditation deadline, you know the feeling: a mix of anxiety, overwhelm, and the sinking suspicion that you are about to drown your faculty in hours of meaningless "box-checking." Across higher education, accreditation has devolved into a voluminous, exhausting documentation exercise that drains institutional resources without driving genuine quality improvement. It doesn’t have to be this way. In Accreditation Simplified: A Practical Guide for Educators, Dr. Amy M. Dykens leverages her extensive campus experience as a former faculty member, program leader, academic dean, and director of institutional research to dismantle the compliance trap. Having held nearly every role that touches the campus review cycle, Dr. Dykens delivers a refreshing, actionable roadmap to transform a high-stakes burden into a powerful catalyst for institutional excellence. This book skips dense, abstract theories of evaluation studies and gives you the exact tools, terminology, and strategies needed to lead accreditation confidently from day one. Built around the proprietary Accreditation, Simplified Framework™, you will master a streamlined, 6-step path to submission readiness. Why this book will change your accreditation leadership style: learn how to move the accreditation lead role from a high-pressure, isolating burden that feels like a life sentence into a manageable, sustainable part of regular work and planning that naturally develops your successors. Accreditation Simplified is not a passive compliance checklist—it is a practical field guide for educators. Purposefully designed to be read cover-to-cover or used as a spot reference guide, it arms you with the systematic organizational memory required to lead your next site visit with complete confidence.

Transdisciplinary Feedback in Higher Education: Feedback Practices to Promote Student Success Across the Disciplines in Higher Education covers a group of faculty at a small, public, comprehensive, Hispanic-serving university in west Texas who made a commitment to study effective feedback strategies and implement them in their courses across fourteen different disciplines. The faculty joined a learning community to discuss and implement high impact practices using ten feedback tools and strategies outlined by Riordan (2021). Twenty-two faculty share their unique experiences using effective feedback methodologies in over forty case studies with students in programs spanning across developmental education, biology, English, nursing, psychology, criminal justice, accounting, communication, history, political science, natural resource management, STEM, teacher education, and counseling. These case studies illustrate how each of the Riordan feedback strategies is effectively implemented, showcasing the resulting two-way exchange between the instructors and students in undergraduate and graduate courses. Drawing on their in-depth experiences, through these real world examples of feedback in higher education courses that have had a positive impact on students, authors Dr. Jeanne Qvarnstrom and Dr. Alicia M. Trotman provide insights into how meaningful feedback is framed and implemented in each discipline, using a customized approach to feedback to help readers identify the key feedback skills that are unique to each subject. Transdisciplinary Feedback in Higher Education: Feedback Practices to Promote Student Success Across the Disciplines in Higher Education is written primarily for faculty who know that feedback is important, but who also recognize that some types of feedback will be disregarded by the student. The purpose is to provide real world examples of feedback in higher education courses that have had a positive impact on students. Organized into three sections, in Part I of Transdisciplinary Feedback in Higher Education: Feedback Practices to Promote Student Success Across the Disciplines in Higher Education the authors explore instructor orientation to feedback, Part II highlights student orientation to feedback, and Part III illustrates the authors teaching the disciplinary tools as aligned with feedback strategies. While the tools and practices remain consistent, the implementation methods vary contextually to best meet the needs of the students in mastering the concepts of the disciplines. The reader gains a greater understanding of the ten feedback tools and practices from a transdisciplinary perspective. Each chapter ends with reflective questions for the reader and a reference list for future study. Effective feedback in higher education is a popular topic, but in Transdisciplinary Feedback in Higher Education: Feedback Practices to Promote Student Success Across the Disciplines in Higher Education, addresses a gap in research and offers examples from higher education. Transdisciplinary Feedback in Higher Education: Feedback Practices to Promote Student Success Across the Disciplines in Higher Education is dedicated to college and university instructors in various disciplines who recognize the power of feedback and want to learn more about effective forms of it. The book is well suited for faculty professional development initiatives, professional learning communities, and graduate programs in higher education and teacher education, making it an appropriate resource for both individual instructors and course adoption.

Teaching Through Generational Traumas: Adaptive Practices to Combat Dissociation While Addressing the Impacts of Respectability offers a powerful and timely exploration of what it means to teach, learn, and thrive in higher education while navigating the weight of generational wounds. Written by historian and educator Detrice L. Roberts, this book blends personal reflection, scholarly research, and experience-based classroom practice to uncover how trauma, identity, and resilience shape today’s student experience. At its core, this book challenges the idea that education is only about transmitting knowledge. Instead, Roberts presents the classroom as a space of transformation where students must be equipped not only with intellectual tools but also the social and emotional skills necessary to face the complexities of modern life. Drawing on frameworks including Social and Emotional Learning (SEL), the VARK learning model, and culturally relevant pedagogy, Roberts simultaneously offers instructors and students pathways to recognize identity, manage emotions, and build meaningful and productive connections between past and present. There exists a culture of dissociation among students today, but they are more adaptive to learning that incorporates real world engagement that allows for them to actively participate in the learning process. Being able to differentiate instruction relies on our understanding of the types of learners that we have in our classroom and exploring the factors associated with why students are disconnected academically. These very factors can then be addressed and used to enhance student experiences and ability to learn through learner-defined curriculum development. Teaching Through Generational Traumas moves through layered themes reflecting Roberts’s dual perspective as both teacher and learner. Part I situates the conversation historically, acknowledging how generational traumas rooted in slavery, segregation, and systemic racism, continue to impact Black students in higher education. Part II explores the lived experience of respectability politics, dissociation, and the subtle pressures students face to perform identities that do not always align with their authentic selves. Part III shifts to pedagogical innovation, highlighting Roberts’s seven classroom practices: Socratic questioning, storytelling, critical pedagogy, SEL, opening rituals, culturally relevant teaching, and digital humanities. Each practice is illustrated through vivid classroom narratives, emphasizing how teaching strategies can nurture critical thinking while affirming student identity. In the final section, Roberts invites students, educators, and readers alike to consider methods of perpetual growth that extend beyond the classroom. She frames education not as a temporary pursuit, but as a lifelong journey of reflection, resilience, and meaning-making. The book closes with an Ode to the HBCU, honoring the historic and ongoing role of Historically Black Colleges and Universities as sites of cultural affirmation, intergenerational pride, and transformative education. Teaching Through Generational Traumas is a call to reimagine what education can be when it is rooted in empathy, awareness, and liberation. It speaks directly to faculty, administrators, and students at HBCUs and beyond, while also offering insights for those interested in the intersections of history, identity, and pedagogy. This book will resonate with readers who believe that classrooms should be communities of growth, reflection, and belonging. By weaving together scholarship, lived experience, and practical strategies, Roberts demonstrates how we can confront the challenges of dissociation, respectability, and trauma, and instead cultivate spaces where students and instructors learn, heal, and transform together.Perfect for courses such as: Foundations of Education; Teaching and Learning in Higher Education; Culturally Relevant Pedagogy / Multicultural Education; Trauma-Informed Teaching Practices (or Social and Emotional Learning in Schools); African American Educational History; African American History / African Diaspora Studies; Educational Leadership & Policy Studies; Sociology of Education / Education and Society

Scaffolding the Language of Power: An Apprenticeship in Writing the Dissertation in Practice extends the interactive and supportive approach of the original Scaffolding the Language of Power to the unique genre demands of the Dissertation in Practice (DiP), the capstone of the Project on the Education Doctorate (CPED)-aligned Education Doctorate. Like its predecessor, the book is grounded in three interconnected commitments: doctoral writing as social justice, as genre, and as scaffolding. However, in this edition, original author Kathryn Strom teams up with CPED Executive Director Jill Alexa Perry to reimagine that framework for scholarly practitioners with professional knowledge, practical wisdom, and contextual change agendas that are central to the work of the dissertation. The book’s unique design features stem from our understanding of the DiP as a distinct form of doctoral inquiry oriented toward understanding, improving, and leading change within a specific practice context and in service of particular communities. Accordingly, this volume emphasizes the dual-audience nature of the DiP: although students write to their committee first, DiP work simultaneously needs to serve a practitioner/professional community. To achieve that, for example, scaffolds for organization, headings, and topic sentences are framed not only as tools for writing, but also for producing writing that is accessible to multiple audiences beyond academia. Second, the book maintains a practice-to-improvement arc, reminding readers throughout that their writing is building toward something that they will be implementing, evaluating, and acting on. Third, the book is written to honor the highly contextual nature of the DiP, helping writers achieve the specificity needed to make local work understandable and transferable to readers in other settings. Finally, the volume explicitly affirms a scholar-practitioner identity, positioning professional knowledge in dialogue with scholarly knowledge rather than as something requiring academic legitimization. These design features support readers while guiding them to complete the specific tasks of the dissertation in practice, which includes articulating a problem of practice grounded in organizational urgency and stakeholder impact; constructing a review of scholarly and professional knowledge; and using that literature to create a theory of action and contextual plan of intervention. The book focuses on applied research, with specific guidance for three methodologies most common to CPED-aligned programs, Action Research, Improvement Science, and Program/Practice Evaluation. As in the original volume, each chapter follows a carefully sequenced structure that includes warm-up reflections, explicit instruction in the genre's linguistic moves, annotated modeling, and scaffolded exercises that build systematically toward independent writing. Many examples are drawn from CPED-aligned dissertations, giving readers models that reflect the scholarship of practice central to their own doctoral work. Ultimately, the book provides an affirmative apprenticeship that honors practitioners' existing expertise while making visible the often-hidden rules of academic writing, helping scholarly practitioners build confidence in their writing and facilitating the dissemination of impact in service of local change.This title is part of a series--the first volume, Scaffolding the Language of Power: An Apprenticeship in Doctoral Level Writing and the Companion Workbook are available as a bundle. 

What does it mean for a school of education to advance justice and equity? Is it enough for its mission statement to include words like “justice” and “democracy,” to offer signature programs about justice, or for there to be a critical mass of scholars who write on this topic? Since its formation in 2016, Education Deans for Justice and Education (EDJE), a group of more than 400 education deans and leaders from large and small institutions, has been grappling with what it means to advance — as well as to trouble — justice and equity in and through our schools of education and education systems more broadly. Leading on the EDGE brings together ten chapters, along with an introduction and conclusion, written by deans and leaders from a diverse set of institutions across the United States. These leaders have implemented ideas that support an equity stance in their institutions using the EDJE Framework for Assessment and Transformation, an instrument designed for this purpose. As leaders of schools of education, many of us constantly ask: how can we transform our institutions in meaningful ways to foster justice and equity? What actions can we take that go beyond the essentials of revising the curriculum or diversifying our faculty, staff, and students? How can we take a holistic approach to the transformation of all aspects of our institutions, our governance structures, fundraising strategies, and external relationships with communities? We are living and working in precarious times with justice-oriented work at universities threatened at the federal level with possible serious ramifications at both public and private universities. With diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) programs, affirmative action measures, and equal opportunity policies under attack, university leaders committed to actions that support equity and access in their institutions require resources to support their work. Many initiatives that claim to address issues of justice and equity focus solely on curriculum and pedagogy. This Framework addresses all of the major areas in a school including admissions, hiring, development, budget priorities, community engagement, the support of faculty, staff, and students of color, as well as curriculum and pedagogical practices. The Framework was written by a large and varied group of people with great expertise and experience, who came together several times to pool their knowledge and resources. Through Leading on the EDGE, the authors tell complex and varied stories. While in some institutions, faculty quickly embraced ideas for focusing on justice and equity, other faculties were more reluctant. The stories in this volume reflect moments of vulnerability as well as strength. Authors reflect on the issues and challenges that arose from this work, how they adapted the Framework for their unique contexts and goals, how they got started, challenges they encountered, initial outcomes, how the work can be translated to other settings within the university and in other educational settings, and provide concrete strategies for their colleagues. At a time when education leaders are under attack, Leading on the EDGE provides concrete ideas and strategies for taking a stand and proclaiming a commitment to the transformative work of justice and equity in higher education. Chapters of Leading on the EDGE are conveyed in a variety of genres and styles: some are organized as case studies, others are more similar to reflective essays; some focus on assessment of the institution or school’s focus on equity and justice, while others turn their attention to how programs were implemented, including those results; some are written in a more traditional academic style while others more autobiographical, dialogical, or even artful.Perfect for courses such as: Higher Education Administration, Educational Leadership, Multicultural Education, Foundation of Education, Educational Policy, Race and Education, Research Methods, Social Justice Education, Organizational Management (in Education)

Higher education in the United States appears to be in trouble. Much of the American public sees colleges and universities as disengaged, elitist, not open to new or alternative ideas, something to be escaped—not to mention expensive, unproductive, out of touch, unaccountable, oblivious to their own failings, and increasingly irrelevant. There are many in our society who are promoting a vision of higher education that uses these perceptions to call into question the role of colleges and universities in our democracy. But on the author’s campus of Augsburg University and on campuses across the country, in our neighborhoods, and wherever our alumni live and work, the author sees just the opposite. He sees students who view education as a gift that carries with it a responsibility to give back. He sees faculty and staff committed to the vision that students receive a three-dimensional education—an education that equips them to make a living, make a life, and build community. He sees alumni and neighbors who care about each other and the world, and who are working each and every day to support a just and inclusive democracy. For those of us who believe in the public purposes of higher education, we live in the tension between negative perceptions of our worth and the reality of what we do everyday on the ground to support social mobility, economic well-being, and a robust common life. In the context of that tension, Paul Pribbenow believes that there is a moral claim on those of us who lead colleges and universities to step forward with an alternative story. At a time when higher education is often characterized as a private, transactional good, we are called to articulate a vision that challenges the prevailing narrative and makes a moral case for higher education as an engine for a robust, pluralistic democracy. In more than two decades as a university president, he has sought to advance that case. To illustrate how, he will use the story of Jacob wrestling with the angel as depicted in the book of Genesis. A reminder of how the story unfolds. The same night he got up and took his two wives, his two maids, and his eleven children, and crossed the ford of the Jabbok. He took them and sent them across the stream, and likewise everything that he had. Jacob was left alone; and a man wrestled with him until daybreak. When the man saw that he did not prevail against Jacob, he struck him on the hip socket; and Jacob’s hip was put out of joint as he wrestled with him. Then he said, “Let me go, for the day is breaking.” But Jacob said, “I will not let you go, unless you bless me.” So he said to him, “What is your name?” And he said, “Jacob.” Then the man said, “You shall no longer be called Jacob, but Israel, for you have striven with God and with humans, and have prevailed.” Then Jacob asked him, “Please tell me your name.” But he said, “Why is it that you ask my name?” And there he blessed him. So Jacob called the place Peniel, saying, “For I have seen God face to face, and yet my life is preserved.” The sun rose upon him as he passed Penuel, limping because of his hip. Pribbenow’s argument, and sincere belief, is that higher education is about learning to wrestle with ideas, values, and relationships that demand our attention. He believes that students must learn to see the topics they wrestle with not as obstacles to overcome or defeat, but as “angels” that demand respect and thoughtful attention. The purpose of this vision of education is like it was for Jacob: to be named and claimed as those called to meaning and purpose in the world. And like Jacob who became Israel, wrestling with angels leaves students wounded, vulnerable, humbled—and also equipped for the work they are called to do - to thrive as neighbors, professionals, and citizens.Perfect for courses such as: Ethics and Higher Education; Higher Education Leadership; Education and Democracy; Leading Faith-Based Colleges and Universities; The State of Higher Education in America; Student Success and Academic Belonging

Hidden in Plain Sight: Women in Educational Leadership is an essential resource that examines the experiences, challenges, and achievements of women leading in higher education. Written for current and aspiring women academic leaders, it provides the tools, insights, and support needed to navigate this complex terrain successfully. Hidden in Plain Sight addresses a striking paradox: while many accomplished women hold academic leadership positions, they often remain invisible within their own institutions. Despite occupying roles of authority, women leaders frequently find themselves overlooked, unrecognized, and unheard. This contradiction exposes the gap between institutional claims that leadership is gender-neutral and the reality women face daily in academic settings. Drawing on demographic data, statistical trends, and evidence-based practices, this textbook offers practical guidance grounded in real experience. Readers will find case studies, personal anecdotes, and actionable strategies for advancing in academic leadership while maintaining personal integrity and well-being. The book explores various leadership approaches and identifies common pitfalls, equipping readers with knowledge to navigate challenges effectively. Hidden in Plain Sight serves as both mirror and map—reflecting the realities women leaders experience while charting pathways forward. It empowers current leaders to advocate for themselves and their institutions while inspiring the next generation to pursue academic leadership with eyes wide open and strategies firmly in hand. This is the guidebook for women determined to lead authentically, effectively, and sustainably in higher education. The book is written about and for women in leadership positions, and for women interested in educational leadership within the academy. It will also be of interest to college, university and public libraries; individuals including scholars in the discipline; and it can serve as a critical textbook in a variety of Leadership classes in undergraduate and graduate programs.Perfect for courses such as: Women and Leadership; Higher Education Administration; Gender Studies in Education; Educational Leadership and Policy; Sociology of Higher Education; Feminist Theory and Practice; Women's Studies Capstone Seminar; Organizational Behavior in Education; Diversity and Inclusion in Higher Education; Professional Development for Graduate Students

Food, and the context surrounding it, frames much of our lives. Our culinary experiences are imbued with our physical, social, spiritual, and cultural identities. However, for many, food practices are alienating because certain culinary practices are privileged, while others are marginalized, especially in higher education spaces. Simply having access to safe and affirming food, drink, and dining spaces on campus and at off-campus events is a right that every student and faculty member should be able to enjoy. A Culinary Approach to Inclusion and Belonging in Higher Education is a new and innovative book that is unique in that it examines food as a social justice and inclusion issue. For some, religious traditions guide the consumption of only certain foods, accompanied by various periods of fasting and other important contexts around eating. Examples include the Jewish kashrut, a mandate on preparing and eating kosher food, and the Muslim halal and Ramadan, with daytime fasting. This extends off campus as well, to events and conferences that feature alcohol, which excludes those who choose or need to abstain. For those with medical conditions such as celiac disease (gluten-free), the absence of specific ingredients and foods is a medical necessity. For autistic students, or for queer and transgender people, the physical layout and social expectations of dining cause stress and isolation. International students lack a sense of belonging when the culinary decisions on a campus exclude familiar foods or settings, rendering a sense of invisibility for the students. Finally, we can look at Food Philosophy, how we think and what we believe about food, as similar to the field of Ethnic Studies, with an examination of who is included, excluded, and the need for transformation of the culinary system. Through its nine chapters, this book is designed to weave together explanatory material on various culinary needs with stories of challenges and successes in meeting the needs of those who live on, work on, or visit campuses. It highlights the need for identity-affirming culinary experiences that create a sense of inclusion and belonging. A Culinary Approach to Inclusion and Belonging in Higher Education is a great resource for researchers in cultural studies. In addition, it is an effective teaching tool for a variety of curriculum studies classes.Perfect for courses such as: Educational Leadership; Food Studies; Foundations of Education; Higher Education; Multicultural Education; Student Affairs

Learning to See the University: Power, Practice, and Improvement in Academic Systems is a sharp and reflective exploration of power, policy, and survival in modern higher education. Written in the spirit of Niccolò Machiavelli’s The Prince, the book translates political realism into the everyday governance of universities, where authority operates through committees, budgets, rankings, accreditation, and carefully managed narratives rather than formal command. Neither parody nor exposé, Learning to See the University offers a clear-eyed account of how universities function beneath the language of shared governance and collegiality. Drawing on systems thinking and Improvement Science, it explains why reforms stall, why innovation must often appear as continuity, and why leadership in higher education is shaped more by timing, incentives, and legitimacy than by vision alone. Structured as a modern adaptation of Machiavelli, each chapter reimagines concepts such as virtù, fortuna, fear, reputation, and loyalty within the academic ecosystem. Departments emerge as semi-sovereign fiefdoms, committees as instruments of stability, rankings as tools of perception, and crises as catalysts for change. The tone is accessible, wry, and reflective. Humor provides distance without cynicism, allowing readers to recognize familiar institutional patterns while gaining clarity rather than frustration. New administrators will find a survival guide; experienced leaders will recognize a mirror. Intended for provosts, deans, department chairs, and graduate students in higher education leadership, Learning to See the University is suited for doctoral programs, leadership seminars, and administrative retreats. Ultimately, it is not a guide to manipulation, but an argument for realism with conscience—and for leading universities with wisdom, restraint, and integrity.Perfect for courses such as: Higher Education Leadership; College and University Administration; Higher Education Policy and Politics; Institutional Research and Effectiveness; Strategic Planning in Higher Education; Change and Innovation in Higher Education; Finance and Budgeting in Higher Education; Higher Education Law and Ethics; Leadership Theory in Education; Organizational Theory in Education; Systems Thinking and Improvement in Higher Education

Recipes of Motherhood: Families, Communities, and the Power of Food Narratives delves into the powerful connections between food, culture, and motherhood within the demanding context of higher education. This thought-provoking volume, edited by Mila Zhu and Sarah Morrison, brings together diverse voices of academic mothers who share how food practices shape, sustain, and empower their lives as they navigate the complex terrain of career, family, and cultural identity. Drawing from personal narratives, case studies, and interdisciplinary research, Recipes of Motherhood illuminates the ways in which food serves as more than sustenance; it becomes a source of resilience, a tool for community-building, and a means of preserving cultural heritage. The academic mothers in this volume reveal how food acts as a metaphor and medium for navigating life’s challenges, allowing them to bridge their personal and professional identities. From adapting family recipes to sharing meals that create community, each story uncovers the unique strategies academic mothers use to sustain themselves and those around them in an environment that can often feel isolating. Grounded in feminist theory, food studies, and cultural memory, this book highlights how food stories are deeply intertwined with questions of gender, tradition, and self-identity. Chapters explore themes such as the symbolic role of food in cultural heritage, food as a form of resistance to institutional expectations, and culinary traditions as a way to build solidarity among women in academia. Through these narratives, Recipes of Motherhood provides a nuanced understanding of how food can act as both a grounding force and a form of empowerment in academic mothers’ lives. With its interdisciplinary approach, the book appeals not only to scholars in cultural studies, food studies, and gender studies but also to students, educators, and anyone interested in the transformative power of food. Readers will find in these pages a rich tapestry of stories that inspire, educate, and challenge traditional ideas about motherhood and academia. Perfect for academic courses and personal reading alike, the volume offers insight into how food serves as a vital element in the journey of academic mothers, helping them navigate the intersections of personal identity, professional resilience, and cultural expression. This volume invites readers to savor the complexities of academic motherhood through the lens of food and to consider how everyday acts of cooking and sharing meals can hold deep significance in our lives and our communities. Whether you are a mother, an educator, or simply someone interested in the stories that food can tell, Recipes of Motherhood is a captivating exploration of how culinary practices shape our relationships, our work, and our sense of self. Join us in celebrating the resilience, creativity, and heritage of academic mothers whose food stories nourish not only their families but also the broader academic community.Perfect for courses such as: Gender Studies / Women’s Studies – Motherhood and Identity; Food Studies – Cultural Narratives in Food Practices; Education Studies – Women in Academia: Challenges and Resilience; Sociology – Family and Society: Gender Roles and Cultural Heritage; Anthropology – Food, Culture, and Identity; Cultural Studies – Folklore, Tradition, and Modern Identities; Parenting and Family Studies – Motherhood and Work-Life Balance; Interdisciplinary Studies – Food as Narrative and Social Practice; Feminist Theory – Intersectionality of Motherhood, Career, and Culture; Psychology of Women – Resilience and Identity in Motherhood