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Christina Gessler
A podcast for your academic journey—and beyond! Created and produced by Dr. Christina Gessler, the Academic Life podcast is inspired by today’s knowledge-producers around the world, working inside and outside the academy. Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/academic-life
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How to Finish Your Dissertation

How to Finish Your Dissertation

Welcome to The Academic Life! In this episode you’ll hear about: A process focused approach to completing a dissertation and other academic writing The function of a dissertation and how it’s often misunderstood The importance of the research question The shift from student to scholar How delaying writing saves time The differences between fast writing, editing, and proof-reading Our guests are: Dr. Sonja K. Foss and Dr. William Waters. Sonja and William are the coauthors of Destination Dissertation: A Traveler’s Guide to a Done Dissertation (Rowman & Littlefield). They offer writing retreats and present workshops at universities throughout the country on topics such as completing dissertations, publishing, and advisor advising and do individual coaching of scholars working on dissertations, articles, and books. Sonja K. Foss is a professor emeritus in the Department of Communication at the University of Colorado Denver. Her research and teaching interests are in contemporary rhetorical theory and criticism, feminist perspectives on communication, the incorporation of marginalized voices into rhetorical theory and practice, and visual rhetoric. She is the author or coauthor of the books Feminism in Practice, Gender Stories, Rhetorical Criticism, Contemporary Perspectives on Rhetoric, Inviting Transformation, Feminist Rhetorical Theories, and Women Speak. Dr. Foss earned her Ph.D. in communication studies from Northwestern University and previously taught at Ohio State University, the University of Oregon, the University of Denver, Virginia Tech, and Norfolk State University. William Waters is an associate professor in the Department of English at the University of Houston Downtown. His research and teaching interests are in writing theory and practice, the history of the English language, linguistics, and modern grammar. He was the managing editor of the book La Puerta: A Doorway into the Academy and has published several poems in national journals. Dr. Waters earned his Ph.D. in language and linguistics from the University of New Mexico and previously taught at Northwest Missouri State University; the University of Maine; University College in Galway, Ireland; and Cheongbuk National University in Korea. Our host is: Dr. Dana Malone, a scholar and practitioner energized by facilitating meaningful learning experiences for students and educators alike. She benefited from Destination Dissertation as a doctoral student and is excited to share it with The Academic Life audience. Listeners to this episode might also be interested in: Dissertations and Project Reports: A Step by Step Guide by Stella Cottrell (Bloomsbury) On Revision: The Only Writing that Counts by William Germano (Chicago UP) Your PhD Survival Guide: Planning, Writing, and Succeeding in Your Final Year by Katherine Firth, Liam Connell, and Peta Freestone (Routledge) How to Write a Better Thesis (3rd ed) by David Evans, Paul Gruba, and Justin Zobel (Springer) You are smart and capable, but you aren’t an island, and neither are we. We reach across our mentor network to bring you experts on everything from how to finish that project, to how to take care of your beautiful mind. Wish we’d bring on an expert about something? DM us on Twitter: The Academic Life @AcademicLifeNBN. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/academic-life
01:00:4617/02/2022
A Conversation with the Director of the Emerson Prison Initiative

A Conversation with the Director of the Emerson Prison Initiative

Welcome to The Academic Life! In this episode you’ll hear about: The Emerson College Prison Initiative The Bard Prison Initiative How students apply to, enroll in, and attend college while in prison Challenges faced by incarcerated students Engaging effectively with incarcerated students Our guest is: Dr. Mneesha Gellman, an Associate Professor of Political Science in the Institute for Liberal Arts and Interdisciplinary Studies at Emerson College, in Boston, MA, USA. her primary research interests include comparative democratization, cultural resilience, memory politics, and social movements in the Global South and the United States. She is the founder and Director of the Emerson Prison Initiative, which seeks to bring high quality liberal arts education to incarcerated students at Massachusetts Correctional Institute (MCI) at Concord, a men’s medium security prison. EPI follows the model of college-in-prison work led by the Bard Prison Initiative. Prior to joining the faculty at Emerson College, she was a Postdoctoral Fellow at the Centre for Global Cooperation Research in Duisburg, Germany. She holds a PhD in Political Science from Northwestern University, USA, and an MA in International Studies/Peace and Conflict Resolution from the University of Queensland, Australia. Our host is: Dr. Christina Gessler, a historian of women and gender, and the co-founder of the Academic Life on NBN. She is the daughter of a public defender. Listeners to this episode might also be interested in: Education Behind the Wall: Why and How We Teach in Prison [Brandeis University Press, 2022], by Mneesha The Alliance for Higher Education in Prison The Prison Policy Initiative This report from the ACLU The Sentencing Project Equal Justice Initiative The Emerson Prison Initiative (EPI) Emerson Prison Initiative (EPI) The Bard Prison Initiative Consortium for the Liberal Arts in Prison Democratization and Memories of Violence: Ethnic Minority Social Movements in Mexico, Turkey, and El Salvador by Dr. Mneesha Gellman The Skillful Teacher: On Technique, Trust, and Responsiveness in the Classroom by Stephen Brookfield You are smart and capable, but you aren’t an island and neither are we. We reach across our network to bring you experts about everything from how to finish that project, to how to take care of your beautiful mind. Wish we’d bring on an expert about something? DM us on Twitter: The Academic Life @AcademicLifeNBN. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/academic-life
53:0110/02/2022
I'm Possible: A Conversation with Tuba Professor Dr. Richard White

I'm Possible: A Conversation with Tuba Professor Dr. Richard White

Welcome to The Academic Life! In this episode you’ll hear about: Dr. White’s journey to earn a PhD in tuba The Baltimore School for the Arts The importance of having a village The hidden curriculum Why teaching and mentoring are equally important for educators to do A discussion of the book I’m Possible: A Story of Survival, A Tuba, and the Small Miracle of a Big Dream Today’s book is: I'm Possible: A Story of Survival, a Tuba, and the Small Miracle of a Big Dream (Flatiron Books, 2021), a memoir by Dr. Richard Antoine White. When he and his mother didn’t have a key to a room or a house, they had each other. Richard believed he could look after his mother, even as she struggled with alcoholism and sometimes disappeared, sending Richard into loops of visiting familiar spots until he could find her again. One night, when he almost died searching for her in the snow, he was taken in by his adoptive grandparents. When Richard joined the school band, he discovered a talent and a sense of purpose. He was accepted to the Baltimore School for the Arts, then to the Peabody, where he navigated racial and socioeconomic disparities as one of few Black students in his programs. Richard secured a coveted spot in a symphony orchestra and became the first African American to earn a doctorate in music for tuba performance. Our guest is: Dr. Richard Antoine White, a professor, mentor, and motivational speaker. He received his bachelor's degree at the Peabody Conservatory of Music, and his master's and doctoral degrees at Indiana University. Dr. White was principal tubist of the New Mexico Symphony Orchestra from 2004 until its untimely demise in 2011. He is now principal tubist of the Santa Fe Symphony and is in his tenth season as principal tubist of the New Mexico Philharmonic. He teaches at the University of Mexico, where he is associate professor of tuba/euphonium. He is the author of I’m Possible. Our host is: Dr. Christina Gessler, a historian of women and gender. Listeners to this episode might also be interested in: Information about the documentary referenced in this podcast and the film’s trailer Baltimore School for the Arts The Peabody Conservatory at Johns Hopkins University The Santa Fe Symphony The New Mexico Philharmonic Dr. White playing tuba You are smart and capable, but you aren’t an island and neither are we. We reach across our mentor network to bring you experts about everything from how to finish that project, to how to take care of your beautiful mind. Wish we’d bring on an expert about something? DM us on Twitter: The Academic Life @AcademicLifeNBN. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/academic-life
01:02:0903/02/2022
Your PhD Survival Guide: Succeeding in Your Final Year

Your PhD Survival Guide: Succeeding in Your Final Year

Welcome to The Academic Life! In this episode you’ll hear about: The hidden curriculum of the final year of the PhD program Writing your dissertation when you still have so much left to read about Why the final year of grad school is uniquely challenging How to determine if you should stay in your program or leave Why finishing your degree causes both relief and grief A discussion of the book Your PhD Survival Guide:Planning, Writing, and Succeeding in Your Final Year Our book is: Your PhD Survival Guide: Planning, Writing, and Succeeding in Your Final Year (Routledge, 2020). by Katherine Firth, Liam Connell, and Peta Freestone. Part of the 'Insider Guides to Success in Academia' series from Routledge, this book offers practical and realistic guidance to students. Written in short chapters, this book is designed as an accessible toolkit for final year doctoral students. Drawing on an understanding of the intellectual, professional, practical and personal elements of the doctorate to help readers gain insight into what it means to finish a PhD and how to get there, this book covers the common challenges and ways to resolve them. Written for students in all disciplines, and relevant to university systems around the world, this book expertly guides students through the final 6–12 months of the thesis. Our guest is: Dr. Katherine Firth, who manages the academic programs of a residential college at the University of Melbourne, Australia and founded the Research Insiders Blog which has been running since 2013. Our guest is: Dr. Liam Connell, who has worked in research training and education since the late 2000s. He works in research development at La Trobe University, Australia. Our host is: Dr. Christina Gessler, a historian of women and gender. Listeners to this episode might also be interested in: How to Fix your Academic Writing Trouble (Open University Press) by Inger Mewburn, Katherine Firth and Shaun Lehmann Being Well in Academia: Ways to Feel Stronger, Safe and More Connected by Petra Boynton A Field Guide to Grad School by Jessica Calarco Level Up Your Essays by Katherine Firth Katherine Firth, ‘Should a PhD be hard?’, Research Degree Insiders Peta Freestone, ‘Valuing your writing: making a time budget’ You are smart and capable, but you aren’t an island and neither are we. We reach across our mentor network to bring you experts about everything from how to finish that project, to how to take care of your beautiful mind. Wish we’d bring on an expert about something? DM us on Twitter: The Academic Life @AcademicLifeNBN. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/academic-life
53:5727/01/2022
Navigating the Two-Body Problem

Navigating the Two-Body Problem

Welcome to The Academic Life! In this episode you’ll hear about: What the two-body problem is Dr. Kelly Baker’s experience on the academic job market as a wife and mother How gender bias can play out in academic job searches Why the three-body problem is a more accurate framing of this issue How Kelly reimagined herself and her skill set for jobs outside the professoriate Kelly and Chris’s advice to other dual-career academic couples Our guests are: Dr. Kelly J. Baker and Dr. Chris Baker. Kelly is a religious studies Ph.D. and writer. She's the author of five books, including Sexism Ed: Essays on Gender and Labor in Academia, and the co-editor of Succeeding Outside the Academy with Joseph Fruscione. Her chapter, “What Would Your Poor Husband Do? Living with the Two-Body Problem” is the basis of this episode. Currently, she's the editor of Women in Higher Education and The National Teaching and Learning Forum. Chris has been a researcher and software developer in academia, industry, and government for over 20 years. Previously a scientist for the US Department of Energy, he developed software for the world’s largest supercomputers and published research in leading international journals. At ServiceMesh, and later CSC, Chris worked to streamline development and IT operations for numerous Fortune 1000 companies. After developing and leading the Nomad ecosystem team at HashiCorp, Chris joined Amazon Web Services as a Principal Engineer in the Core Container Technology group. Chris holds a Ph.D. in Computational Science from Florida State University. Our host is: Dr. Dana M. Malone, a higher education scholar and practitioner. She specializes in college student relationships, gender, sexuality, and religious identities as well as assessment planning. Dana enjoys engaging conversations, delicious food, practicing yoga, and wandering the Jersey shore. Listeners to this episode may also be interested in: The Freelance Academic by Katie Pryal Sexism Ed: Essays on Gender and Labor in Academia by Kelly J. Baker From PhD to Life Women in Higher Education Succeeding Outside the Academy: Career Paths beyond the Humanities, Social Sciences, and STEM, edited by Joseph Fruscione and Kelly J. Baker, The University Press of Kansas Dr. Frank Martela episode: Stop Chasing Happiness and Make a Meaningful Life You are smart and capable, but you aren’t an island, and neither are we. We reach across our mentor network to bring you podcasts on everything from how to finish that project, to how to take care of your beautiful mind. Wish we’d bring on an expert about something? DM us on Twitter: The Academic Life @AcademicLifeNBN. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/academic-life
55:0720/01/2022
A Conversation about Teaching While Nerdy

A Conversation about Teaching While Nerdy

Welcome to The Academic Life! In this episode you’ll hear about: The hidden curriculum of transforming yourself from student to teacher Accepting and embracing your nerdy/geeky/introverted self Challenges faced by introverted teachers Prep [for yourself, your syllabus, and your course] Engaging effectively with students A discussion of the book Geeky Pedagogy: A Guide for Intellectuals, Introverts, and Nerds Who Want to Be Effective Teachers Todays’ book is: Geeky Pedagogy: A Guide for Intellectuals, Introverts, and Nerds Who Want to Be Effective Teachers, a funny and pragmatic guide to the process of learning and relearning how to be an effective college teacher. It is the first college teaching guide that encourages faculty to embrace their inner nerd. Neuhaus eschews formulaic depictions of idealized exemplar teaching, instead inviting readers to join her in an engaging, critically reflective conversation about the vicissitudes of teaching and learning in higher education as a geek, introvert, or nerd. Written for the wonks and eggheads who want to translate their vast scholarly expertise into authentic student learning, Geeky Pedagogy is packed with practical advice and encouragement for increasing readers’ pedagogical knowledge. Our guest is: Dr. Jessamyn Neuhaus, a professor of popular culture, historian of gender, and scholar of teaching and learning, and a recipient of the SUNY Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Teaching. As an educational developer, she advocates for introverts in the college classroom. She is the author of Geeky Pedagogy: A Guide for Intellectuals, Introverts, and Nerds Who Want to Be Effective Teachers. You can learn more about her work and publications here https://geekypedagogy.com/about-jessamyn-neuhaus Our host is: Dr. Christina Gessler, an introvert who is probably geeky or nerdy or both. She is a historian of women and gender, and the co-founder of the Academic Life on NBN. Listeners to this episode might also be interested in: “The Damaging Myth of the Natural Teacher” by Beth McMurtrie in The Chronicle of Higher Education, vol 68, number 5, p. 13-21 Ungrading by Susan D. Blum The Skillful Teacher: On Technique, Trust, and Responsiveness in the Classroom by Stephen Brookfield Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World that Can’t Stop Talking by Susan Cain This discussion of effective teaching strategies Geeky Bonus Materials: A Bibliographic Essay from Dr. Neuhaus You are smart and capable, but you aren’t an island and neither are we. We reach across our mentor network to bring you experts about everything from how to finish that project, to how to take care of your beautiful mind. Wish we’d bring on an expert about something? DM us on Twitter: The Academic Life @AcademicLifeNBN. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/academic-life
01:07:4713/01/2022
Being Well in Academia: A Candid Conversation About Challenges and Connection

Being Well in Academia: A Candid Conversation About Challenges and Connection

Welcome to The Academic Life! In this episode you’ll hear about: The other hidden curriculum: the support and care strategies necessary for being well in academia Systemic and structural barriers Undiagnosed academic challenges, and personal traumas guest and host have faced Why we all need support How to support someone in tough times and why “help” needs to be customized the book Being Well in Academia: Ways to Fell Stronger, Safer and More Connected Our book is: Being Well in Academia: Ways to Fell Stronger, Safer and More Connected by Dr. Petra Boynton. Part of the 'Insider Guides to Success in Academia' series from Routledge, this book offers practical and realistic guidance to students and early-career researchers on wellbeing topics that really matter, but which often get overlooked. Being Well addresses many of the personal challenges of trying to remain in academia when you are in need of support [perhaps you’re finding your work, study or personal life challenging or overwhelming; are experiencing bullying, harassment or abuse; or your progress is being blocked by unfair, exploitative or precarious systems; or you want to support a friend or colleague who’s struggling]. Being Well in Academia provides resources and workable solutions to help you feel stronger, safer and more connected in what has become an increasingly competitive and stressful environment. Our guest is: Dr. Petra Boynton, a social psychologist and Agony Aunt who teaches and researches in International Healthcare. She specializes in addressing the safety and wellbeing of students and staff in academic settings. Our host is: Dr. Christina Gessler, a historian specializing in under-represented voices. As referenced in this episode, between December 2017 and early 2020 she survived a wildfire, a mudslide, lost five loved ones on by one, and then the pandemic hit. She coped by joining a poetry writing group for reluctant grief experts, asking friends to take her to a lot of movies, and spending time in nature. She believes everyone deserves support [inside and outside academia]. It was out of this belief this that she co-founded the Academic Life channel on NBN with Dr. Dana Malone in 2020; she and Dr. Malone serve as the co-producers and hosts. Listeners to this episode might also be interested in: The Unrecovery Star, referenced in this episode, found on page 78 and the Kvetching Circle and The Ring Theory, found on page 79 of Being Well in Academia Your PhD Survival Guide by Katherine Firth, Liam Connell, and Peta Freestone A Field Guide to Grad School by Jessica Calarco These videos and resources from Dr. Pooky Knightsmith. A discussion about natural disasters and poetry writing by Dr. Christina Gessler and her friend and neighbor, poet Jen Strube. You are smart and capable, but you aren’t an island and neither are we. We reach across our mentor network to bring you experts about everything from how to finish that project, to how to take care of your beautiful mind. Wish we’d bring on an expert about something? DM us on Twitter: The Academic Life @AcademicLifeNBN. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/academic-life
01:27:4106/01/2022
Find Your People: A Conversation About Meaningful Connections

Find Your People: A Conversation About Meaningful Connections

Welcome to The Academic Life! In this episode you’ll hear: How part of the hidden curriculum is the support networks you need to create for yourself; How you create that by “finding your people” and what qualities to look for in those people; Determining whether they belong in an advisor, mentor, thought partner, or academic friend role, and ways those relationships may transcend time and institutions; Barriers to making connections and to being authentic; And the importance of asking, “does this have my best interest at heart?” Dana’s personal examples of why we need to be intentional in community building. Our guest is: Dr. Dana Malone is a scholar and practitioner energized by facilitating meaningful learning experiences for students and educators alike. She loves connecting with kindred academic spirits and collaborating on inspiring projects. When she’s not having engaging conversations on The Academic Life channel, she writes, teaches, and works with institutions on a contract basis. Her specialty areas include student cultures, the intersection of gender, sexuality, and religious identities as well as student success and assessment and evaluation. Dana is the author of From Single to Serious. She counts herself fortunate to have made many meaningful connections that sustain her as she journeys through life and the academy. Our host is: Dr. Christina Gessler, a historian specializing in women and the environment, the writings of under-represented voices, and in public engagement with the humanities. She believes everyone deserves to have the support they need inside and outside academia. It was out of this belief this that she co-created and co-founded the Academic Life channel on NBN with Dr. Dana Malone in the summer of 2020. She and Dr. Malone work as the co-producers and hosts of the Academic Life. This is the channel’s 81st episode. Listeners to this episode might also be interested in: How We Show Up: Reclaiming Family, Friendship, and Community by Mia Birdsong Being Well in Academia: Ways to Feel Stronger, Safer and More Connected by Petra Boynton Radical Friendship: Seven Ways to Love Yourself and Find Your People in an Unjust World by Kate Johnson Dana’s conversation with Dr. Claire Renzetti about mentoring in academe Dana’s episode on creating a mentor network Christina’s conversation with Dr. Frank Martell about making a meaningful life through connection You are smart and capable, but you aren’t an island, and neither are we. We reach across our mentor network to bring you experts on everything from how to finish that project, to how to take care of your beautiful mind. Wish we’d bring on an expert about something? DM us on Twitter: The Academic Life @AcademicLifeNBN Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/academic-life
01:04:2930/12/2021
Dreaming of Leaving Academia to Write Full-time?

Dreaming of Leaving Academia to Write Full-time?

Welcome to The Academic Life! In this episode you’ll hear about: Nancy Thayer’s path through college and graduate school, her work as a professor, how she hit a glass ceiling in academia, her decision to pursue writing as a full-time career, her life on an island off the coast of Massachusetts, and a discussion of the book Girls of Summer. Our guest is: Nancy Thayer, the New York Times bestselling author of Secrets in Summer, The Island House, The Guest Cottage, An Island Christmas, Nantucket Sisters, A Nantucket Christmas, Island Girls, Summer Breeze, Heat Wave, Beachcombers, Summer House, and Moon Shell Beach. Her books center on families and relationships: marriage and friendships, divorce and love, custody and step parenting, family secrets and private self-affirmation, the quest for independence and the normal human hunger for personal connections. Her work has been translated into German, Finnish, Hebrew, Russian, Turkish, French, Portuguese, Spanish, Dutch, Serbo-Croatian, Swedish, Danish, and Polish. She has a B.A. and M.A. in English literature from the University of Missouri at Kansas City. She was a Fellow at the Breadloaf Writers’ Conference. In 2015, she was awarded the Romantic Times Career Achievement Award for Mainstream Fiction. She has lived on Nantucket Island for over thirty years with her husband Charley Walters; her daughter is the novelist Samantha Wilde. You can find Nancy’s videos and photos of Nantucket Island life by following Nancy Thayer on Facebook, or Instagram. Today’s book is: Girls of Summer, a novel set on Nantucket, which explores themes about single parenting, female friendships, starting over after a divorce, opioid addiction, romance between older women and younger men, climate change, and rising waters. Our host is: Dr. Christina Gessler, co-producer of the Academic Life. She used to live on the same island as Nancy Thayer; they often met for lunch or coffees and talked all things books and writing and friendship and life. Listeners to this episode may also be interested in: --This article about Charley Walter’s work for Rolling Stone --The Rolling Stone music review referenced in the N magazine article --Stepping, by Nancy Thayer --Let it Snow, by Nancy Thayer --Nantucket Noel, the 2021 Hallmark Channel Christmas Movie based on Let It Snow by Nancy Thayer --Three Women at the Water’s Edge, by Nancy Thayer --Family Reunion, by Nancy Thayer --I’ll Take What She Has, by Samantha Wilde --The Business of Being a Writer, by Jane Friedman --This podcast about leaving academia --You can find the shark tracker referenced in this podcast here --The Marine Mammal Alliance Nantucket You are smart and capable, but you aren’t an island and neither are we. We reach across our mentor network to bring you podcasts on everything from how to finish that project, to how to take care of your beautiful mind. Wish we’d bring on an expert about something? DM us on Twitter: The Academic Life @AcademicLifeNBN. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/academic-life
01:07:4923/12/2021
Scholarly Skills: Getting From To-Do to Done

Scholarly Skills: Getting From To-Do to Done

Welcome to The Academic Life! In this episode you’ll hear: --how Maura Nevel Thomas became an expert in time-management skills --why you need to use your to-do list differently than you think --how to determine your priorities --why life-hacks don’t help --and why being productive and being busy aren’t the same thing. Today’s book is: From To-Do to Done: How to Go From Busy to Productive by Mastering Your To-Do List, by Maura Nevel Thomas. Trying to remember a bunch of details and tasks isn't the best use of your brainpower. By collecting all of your tasks in one place, you can reserve your mental energy for work that drives significant results, both in your professional life and your personal life. Rather than just another book on time management, Thomas helps you figure out and then focus on the things that matter to you, to feel more in control, less overwhelmed, and a greater sense of accomplishment now that you're focusing on what's important to you. Our guest is: Maura Nevel Thomas, an award-winning international speaker and trainer on individual and corporate productivity and work-life balance, and the most widely-cited authority on attention management. Her proprietary Empowered Productivity™ System has been embraced by the likes of the U.S. Army, L’Oreal, and Dell. She is a TEDx Speaker, founder of Regain Your Time, author of five books, and was named a Top Leadership Speaker in Inc. Magazine. Maura is frequently featured in major business outlets including Business Insider, Fast Company, and Huffington Post, and she’s also a regular contributor to both Forbes and the Harvard Business Review, with articles there viewed over a million times. Follow her on Twitter @mnthomas. Our host is: Dr. Christina Gessler, co-producer of the Academic Life. She is a historian of women and gender. Listeners to this episode may also be interested in: --the links for the Brain-Dump PDF referenced in this podcast and directions for how to use it, which can be found on pages 18 and 19 in From To-Do to Done --Atomic Habits, by James Clear --Smart Change, by Art Markman --Attention Management: How to Create Success and Gain Productivity Every Day, by Maura Nevel Thomas -- The Happy Inbox, by Maura Nevel Thomas --The companion guide for From To-Do to Done: Download the guide now! You are smart and capable, but you aren’t an island and neither are we. We reach across our mentor network to bring you podcasts on everything from how to finish that project, to how to take care of your beautiful mind. Wish we’d bring on an expert about something? DM us on Twitter: The Academic Life @AcademicLifeNBN. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/academic-life
52:0416/12/2021
Shoutin’ In the Fire: A Conversation with Graduate Student Dante Stewart

Shoutin’ In the Fire: A Conversation with Graduate Student Dante Stewart

Welcome to The Academic Life! In this episode you’ll hear about: Dante Stewart’s path through college and into his current graduate school, playing football for Clemson, why former college athletes need to advocate for current student players’ rights, why he chose to go into the seminary at Emery, his grandmother, and a discussion of Shoutin’ in The Fire: An American Epistle. Our guest is: Dante Stewart, who is a graduate student, writer, and speaker. His voice has been featured on CNN, The Washington Post, Christianity Today, Sojourners, The Witness: A Black Christian Collective, Comment Magazine, and more. As an up and coming voice, he writes and speaks into the areas of race, religion, and politics. He received his B.A. in Sociology from Clemson University. He is currently studying at the Candler School of Theology at Emory University in Atlanta, Ga. He is the author of Shoutin’ in The Fire: An American Epistle. Our host is: Dr. Christina Gessler, co-producer of the Academic Life. She is a historian of women and gender. Listeners to this episode may also be interested in: --The Collected Autobiographies of Maya Angelou, by Maya Angelou --The poem Kitchenette Building, by Gwendolyn Brooks --Cables to Rage, by Audre Lorde --Notes of a Native Son, by James Baldwin --The Fire Next Time, by James Baldwin -- Between the World and Me, by Ta-Nehisi Coates --the Smithsonian Folkway’s recording of The World is Not A Pleasant Place to Be, by Nikki Giovanni --Salvation: Black People and Love, by bell hooks --What Moves at the Margin: Selected Nonfiction, by Toni Morrison --Breathe: A Letter To My Sons, by Imani Perry -- Dante Stewart’s articles referenced in this episode can be found here --The Candler School of Theology at Emory University: http://candler.emory.edu/index.html --Clemson College Athletics You are smart and capable, but you aren’t an island and neither are we. We reach across our mentor network to bring you podcasts on everything from how to finish that project, to how to take care of your beautiful mind. Wish we’d bring on an expert about something? DM us on Twitter: The Academic Life @AcademicLifeNBN. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/academic-life
01:04:2207/12/2021
Underrepresented Groups in Archives: A Conversation About Ethics, Inclusion, and Acquisitions

Underrepresented Groups in Archives: A Conversation About Ethics, Inclusion, and Acquisitions

Welcome to The Academic Life! In this episode you’ll hear about: Megan Fraser’s job collecting and curating a Punk Rock archive, her current work at the Research Institute for Contemporary Outlaws, the outreach necessary for inclusion, the ethics of acquisitions, the complexity of preservation concerns, and why not everything can be saved. Our guest is: Megan Hahn Fraser has worked as the Assistant Curator of Manuscripts at The New-York Historical Society, the Library Director at the Independence Seaport Museum in Philadelphia, Co-Head of Collection Management at UCLA Library Special Collections in Los Angeles, and the Vice President and Marcus A. McCorison Librarian at the American Antiquarian Society in Worcester, Mass. Currently, she and her husband, also an archivist, are working for the Research Institute for Contemporary Outlaws, a private collection of 20th century counter-culture materials based in Los Angeles. She received her Master of Information and Library Science (with a concentration in archives management) degree from Pratt Institute in 2000, and has an undergraduate degree in history from New York University. While at UCLA in 2014, Megan founded the Los Angeles Punk Rock Archive Collective, a group of archivists and others focused on acquiring collections from musicians, artists, and fans of the punk rock scene in Southern California. She has given presentations at the Society of American Archivists annual conference, the South by Southwest Festival, the L.A. as Subject Archives Bazaar, and the Legion of Steel Metalfest and Conference. She can be found on Twitter @mmhfraser, where she talks about archives, justice, and The Clash. Our host is: Dr. Christina Gessler, co-producer of the Academic Life. She is a historian of women and gender, and can often be found in an archive reading 19th century New England farm women’s diaries. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/academic-life
01:08:4902/12/2021
About Maternal Health Studies: A Conversation with Bethany Johnson

About Maternal Health Studies: A Conversation with Bethany Johnson

Welcome to The Academic Life! In this episode you’ll hear about: Bethany Johnson’s simultaneous journey through graduate school and motherhood, her struggles with infertility, the history of birth-care access, why Black women have worse maternal health outcomes, the consequences for pregnant people in a pregnancy-surveillance culture, and a discussion of the book You’re Doing it Wrong: Mothering, Media, and Medical Expertise. Today’s book is: You’re Doing it Wrong: Mothering, Media, and Medical Expertise by Bethany L. Johnson and Margaret M. Quinlan, which explores how new mothers face a barrage of confounding decisions. Whatever they “choose,” experts ranging from health practitioners to social media influencers tell them they’re making mistakes. Johnson and Quinlan draw from their own experiences, the history of mothering advice from the newspapers, magazines, doctors’ records and personal papers of the nineteenth-century to today’s websites and Instagram feeds. Johnson and Quinlan find surprising parallels between today’s mothering experts and their Victorian counterparts, and explore how social media pressures pregnant people, even as it offers social support. Our guest is: Bethany L. Johnson, a doctoral student in the history of science, technology and the environment at the University of South Carolina and an associate member to the graduate faculty and research affiliate faculty in the Department of Communication Studies at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. Her research examines medical technologies and public health policies as tools of institutional power from the 19th-century to the present, with a focus on epidemics and reproductive health. She has published in journals such as Health Communication, Women & Language, Departures in Critical Qualitative Research, Journal of Holistic Nursing, and Women's Reproductive Health. She is the co-author of You’re Doing it Wrong! Mothering, Media and Medical Expertise. Our host is: Dr. Christina Gessler, co-producer of the Academic Life. Listeners to this episode might also be interested in: --Dr. Quinlan and Bethany Johnson’s Medical “Humanities Mamas” articles for Psychology Today  --Dr Quinlan and Bethany Johnson’s website, including their greeting cards for people experiencing infertility  --This website by a pregnant graduate student --The Unequal Impact of Parenthood in Academia --Fixing Parental Leave: The Six Month Solution, by Gayle Kaufman --“Families Devalued: Black Academic Women and the Neoliberal Era’s Family Tariff,” in Lean Semesters, by Sekile M. Nzinga --I Had a Miscarriage, by Dr. Jessica Zucker --You’re the Only One I’ve Told: The Stories Behind Abortion, by Dr. Meera Shah --Our interview about gender-free childrearing You are smart and capable, but you aren’t an island and neither are we. We reach across our mentor network to bring you podcasts on everything from how to finish that project, to how to take care of your beautiful mind. Wish we’d bring on an expert about something? DM us on Twitter: The Academic Life @AcademicLifeNBN. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/academic-life
01:24:1018/11/2021
Wondering How to Design a Qualitative Study?

Wondering How to Design a Qualitative Study?

Welcome to The Academic Life! In this episode you’ll hear about: Dr. Dana Malone’s inspiration for researching in her own backyard, why she chose to do qualitative research for her dissertation and her first book, how she managed her insider/outside status, what bracketing is, using feminist research ethics, and how she dealt with gatekeepers. Our guest is: Dr. Dana M. Malone, a dynamic scholar-practitioner with a diverse portfolio of experiences in higher education. She specializes in the intersection of gender, sexuality, and religious identities as well as student success, assessment planning and program evaluation. Currently, Dr. Malone is an Independent Scholar, based in the Philadelphia area, writing, teaching, speaking, and working with institutions on a contract basis. She provides invited talks on her book, From Single to Serious: Relationships, Gender, and Sexuality on American Evangelical Campuses (Rutgers University Press), and she teaches in the M.Ed. in Higher Education Leadership and Social Justice Program at Bellarmine University. She is also the co-producer and co-host of The Academic Life channel. When she’s not engaging in the academic life, Dana can be found enjoying a good latte with family and friends, wandering the Jersey shore, and spending time on her yoga mat. Connect at danammalone.com. Our host is: Dr. Christina Gessler, co-producer of the Academic Life. Listeners to this episode may also be interested in: --From Single to Serious: Relationships, Gender, and Sexuality on American Evangelical Campuses by Dana M. Malone, published by Rutgers University Press --Research Design: Qualitative, Quantitative, and Mixed Methods Approach (5th ed) by John W. Creswell and J. David Creswell, published by SAGE --Qualitative Research and Evaluation Methods: Integrating Theory and Practice (4th ed) by Michael Quinn Patton, published by SAGE --Doing Feminist Research in Political and Social Science (2nd ed) by Brooke Ackerly and Jacqui True --Tufford, L. & Newman, P. (2010). Bracketing in Qualitative Research. Qualitative Social Work, 11(1), 80-96. DOI: 10.1177/1473325010368316 --Dr. Gessler and Dr. Malone’s conversation about sexuality on evangelical campuses:  You are smart and capable, but you aren’t an island and neither are we. We reach across our mentor network to bring you podcasts on everything from how to finish that project, to how to take care of your beautiful mind. Wish we’d bring on an expert about something? DM us on Twitter: The Academic Life @AcademicLifeNBN. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/academic-life
57:4811/11/2021
A Chemistry Professor Shares his Grief and his Favorite Recipes: A Conversation with David Smith

A Chemistry Professor Shares his Grief and his Favorite Recipes: A Conversation with David Smith

Welcome to The Academic Life! In this episode you’ll hear about: Professor David Smith’s path to becoming a chemistry professor Why he’s passionate about making science inclusive and representational His husband’s death Being an academic and a single parent How sharing stories about food and cooking dinner helps him process his grief A discussion of his book Tw-eat: A Little Book with Big Feelings and Short Recipes for Very Busy Lives Today’s book is: Tw-eat: A Little Book with Big Feelings and Short Recipes for Very Busy Lives, written by David Smith during the Covid lockdown. In it, Professor Smith tells the story of his husband Sam dying, leaving him a single parent to a young son. Cooking and a love of food have been helping them get through things together. Tw-eat is his first book, presenting 100 of his favorite recipes, many of which he has shared on Twitter. He believes cooking should be simple: a few clear instructions, a good picture of the finished dish, and dinner on the table with a minimum of effort. His recipes are presented in the simplest possible form, offering a fresh new approach to cooking. Alongside the recipes, he shares the story of his family, and explores the emotional resonance of what we eat. Our guest is: Dave Smith is Professor of Chemistry at University of York, UK, where he carries out research into smart nanomaterials and nanomedicines, publishing around 200 papers. He is a passionate educator, giving outreach lectures to UK school students and through his own YouTube chemistry channel. Chemical and Engineering News named him as one of the Top 25 chemists to follow on Twitter, and he has received the Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC) Corday Morgan Award and a Higher Education Academy National Teaching Fellowship. He has written and lectured on the representation of LGBT+ scientists and was shortlisted for the Gay Times Barbara Burford Award for activist work representing LGBT+ individuals working in STEM. After the death of his husband from cystic fibrosis, Dave became a single parent, and has advocated for both carers and fathers in STEM. He is the author of Tw-eat: A Little Book with Big Feelings and Short Recipes for Very Busy Lives. Our host is: Dr. Christina Gessler, co-producer of the Academic Life. Listeners to this episode might also be interested in: Tw-eat More: A Little Book with More Big Feelings and Short Recipes for Very Busy Lives by David K. Smith Professor Smith’s research Find the Good: Unexpected Life Lessons from a Small-Town Obituary Writer, by Heather Lende Heal Yourself with Writing, by Catherine Ann Jones Self-Care for Grief: 100 Practices for Healing During Times of Loss by Nneka M. Okana This Will All Be Over Soon, by Cecily Strong The NBN podcast on The Aftergrief  You are smart and capable, but you aren’t an island and neither are we. We reach across our mentor network to bring you podcasts on everything from how to finish that project, to how to take care of your beautiful mind. Wish we’d bring on an expert about something? DM us on Twitter: The Academic Life @AcademicLifeNBN. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/academic-life
51:2204/11/2021
Andrea Laurent-Simpson, "Just Like Family: How Companion Animals Joined the Household" (NYU Press, 2021)

Andrea Laurent-Simpson, "Just Like Family: How Companion Animals Joined the Household" (NYU Press, 2021)

Welcome to The Academic Life! In this episode you’ll hear about: Andrea Laurent-Simpson’s path in and out of and back into graduate school The story of her college dog, who became her family Why she became interested in looking at her pets as family members How her human kids reacted to her research project What her in-person research taught her about human-animal interactions Our book is: Just Like Family: How Companion Animals Joined the Household (NYU Press, 2021), which explores the expanding role of animals in what Dr. Laurent-Simpson calls “the multi-species family,” providing a window into a world where almost 95 percent of adults who share their homes with dogs and cats identify their animal companions as legitimate members of their families. She examines why and how these animals have increasingly become an important part of our households and in our lives, including as siblings to our existing children, as animal children themselves, and even as grandchildren, particularly as fertility rates decline and a growing number of younger couples choose to live a childfree lifestyle. Laurent-Simpson highlights how animals—and their place in our lives—have changed the structure of the American family in surprising ways. Our guest is: Dr. Andrea Laurent-Simpson, Research Assistant Professor and Lecturer in the department of sociology at Southern Methodist University. Her work engages identity theory, family and fertility, and human-nonhuman animal interaction. Her research uses original, qualitative, mixed methods data to examine how familial identities are impacted by human-nonhuman animal relationships; how household structure affects resulting identity formation; how this contributes to post-modern, cultural definitions of who or what counts as family; and how dropping fertility rates and delays of first birth characteristic of the second demographic transition aid in the emergence of a “multi-species” family post-1970’s in the U.S. Her newest project examines “pandemic” pets, family structure and health, and pet owner returns to work and school. Her work is award-winning and has appeared in Symbolic Interaction; Sociological Forum; Sociological Inquiry; Sociology of Health and Illness; and Sociological Spectrum. She is the author of Just Like Family: How Companion Animals Joined the Household. Our host is: Dr. Christina Gessler, co-producer of the Academic Life. Her college allowed her to live in a pet-dorm with her dog Riley; he quickly became the best friend of Ratty [the pet rat next door] and frenemy of Ivory [the neighboring dog who tried to steal his toys. Often.]. Listeners to this episode might also be interested in: Arluke, Arnold and Andrew Rowan. (2020). Underdogs: Pets, People, and Poverty. Athens, GA: University of Georgia Press. Canales, Alejandra. (2021). “SMU Sociologist’s Research Shows How Pets Have Become Part of the Family.” Dallas Morning News, August 23. Article here. Grimm, David. (2014). Citizen Canine: Our Evolving Relationship with Cats and Dogs. New York, NY: Public Affairs. Irvine, Leslie. (2004). If You Tame Me: Understanding Our Connection with Animals. Philadelphia, PA: Temple University Press. Laurent-Simpson, Andrea. (2017). “They Make Me Not Want to Have a Child: Effects of Companion Animals on Fertility Intentions of the Childfree.” Sociological Inquiry 87(4):586-607. Article here. Laurent-Simpson, Andrea. “All In the Family: The Modern Multispecies Household.” The Bark, August 2021. Article here. This program model for “keeping pets with their people” Animal Planet meets cats in pet dorms at Christina’s college You are smart and capable, but you aren’t an island and neither are we. We reach across our mentor network to bring you podcasts on everything from how to finish that project, to how to take care of your beautiful mind. Wish we’d bring on an expert about something? DM us on Twitter: The Academic Life @AcademicLifeNBN. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/academic-life
01:09:1928/10/2021
Long Road to the Dream Job in Academia: A Conversation with Liz W. Faber

Long Road to the Dream Job in Academia: A Conversation with Liz W. Faber

Welcome to The Academic Life! In this episode you’ll hear about: Dr. Liz Faber’s long road from completed PhD to dream job Why academia said she was a failure The financial reasons she worked two academic jobs at once The importance of speaking out about pay-scale and departmental inequities Putting kindness in the classroom Why you have to define your own success Our guest is: Dr. Liz W Faber, an Assistant Professor of English & Communication at Dean College. Her teaching and research interests include multimodal communication, science communication, representations of AI in science fiction, computer history, and gender/sexuality studies. She is the author of The Computer's Voice: From Star Trek to Siri (U. Minnesota Press, 2020) and the guest editor for the Popular Culture Studies Journal special issue on robots and labor. She can be found on Twitter (@lizwfab) or at her website (lizwfaber.com). Our host is: Dr. Christina Gessler, the co-producer of the Academic Life podcasts. Listeners to this episode might be interested in: "Faculty Talk about Teaching at a Community College" by Dianne Finley and Sherry Kinslow Academic Ableism by Jay Dolmage (U Michigan Press, 2017) More than Machines? by Laura Voss (Columbia U Press, 2021) Carleigh Brower’s work The Computer's Voice: From Star Trek to Siri by Liz Faber (U. Minnesota Press, 2020)  Articles on robots and labor, ed by Dr. Liz Faber Popular Culture Studies Journal https://mpcaaca.org/the- NEA article on the need for change  Inside Higher Ed examines contingent faculty wages  The Daily Beast finds making coffee pays more than being an adjunct You are smart and capable, but you aren’t an island and neither are we. We reach across our mentor network to bring you podcasts. Wish we’d bring on a particular expert? DM on Twitter @AcademicLifeNBN. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/academic-life
59:1221/10/2021
A Conversation About Reproductive Health and Abortion Studies

A Conversation About Reproductive Health and Abortion Studies

Welcome to The Academic Life! In this episode you’ll hear about: The field of reproductive health studies The data on contraceptive access and effectiveness [even when used correctly] Why we need to trust women What happens when a pregnant person seeking an abortion is turned away The long-term outcomes for people who have had abortions The consequences for people denied abortions A discussion of the book The Turnaway Study: Ten Years, a Thousand Women, and the Consequences of Having or Being Denied an Abortion Today’s book is: The Turnaway Study, which asks what happens when a person seeking an abortion is turned away. Dr. Diane Greene Foster and a team of scientists, psychologists, epidemiologists, demographers, nurses, physicians, economists, sociologists, and public health researchers conducted a ten-year study on the outcomes of a thousand pregnant people across America, studying both those who received abortions, and those who were turned away. Dr. Foster analyzes impacts on mental and physical health, careers, and romantic relationships, offering the first data-driven examination of the negative consequences for pregnant people who are denied abortions. Our guest is: Dr. Diana Greene Foster, a professor and demographer who uses quantitative models and analyses to evaluate the effectiveness of family planning policies and the effect of unwanted pregnancy on women’s lives. She led the Turnaway Study in the US, and is collaborating with scientists on a Nepal Turnaway Study. Dr. Foster also worked on the evaluation of the California State family planning program, Family PACT, demonstrating the effectiveness of the program in reducing the incidence of unintended pregnancy and the effect of dispensing a one-year supply of contraception. Dr. Foster created a new methodology for estimating pregnancies averted based on a Markov model and a microsimulation to identify the cost-effectiveness of advance provision of emergency contraception. Our host is: Dr. Christina Gessler, co-producer of the Academic Life. She is a historian of women and gender. Listeners to this episode might be interested in: American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists advocacy webpage  The Turnaway Study: Ten Years, a Thousand Women, and the Consequences of Having or Being Denied an Abortion, by Diana Greene Foster Advancing New Studies in Reproductive Health You’re Doing it Wrong: Mothering, Media, and Medical Expertise by Bethany L. Johnson and Margaret M. Quinlan A discussion of the book You’re Doing it Wrong,  You are smart and capable, but you aren’t an island and neither are we. We reach across our mentor network to bring you podcasts on everything from how to finish that project, to how to take care of your beautiful mind. Wish we’d bring on an expert about something? DM us on Twitter: The Academic Life @AcademicLifeNBN. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/academic-life
01:08:3114/10/2021
Cyndi Kernahan, "Teaching about Race and Racism in the College Classroom: Notes from a White Professor" (West Virginia UP, 2019)

Cyndi Kernahan, "Teaching about Race and Racism in the College Classroom: Notes from a White Professor" (West Virginia UP, 2019)

Welcome to The Academic Life! In this episode you’ll hear about: Why White professors need to teach about race and racism in their courses The gap between “inside” and “outside” knowledge How to effectively provide data in an atmosphere of strong emotions Why having debates and discussing misinformation won’t work The reasons students resist learning about race and racism How to meet students where they are and help them cross the learning threshold Today’s book is: Teaching About Race and Racism in the College Classroom: Notes from a White Professor (U West Virginia Press, 2019). Teaching about race and racism can be difficult. Students and instructors alike often struggle with strong emotions, and many have preexisting beliefs about race. It is important for students to learn how we got here and how racism is more than just individual acts of meanness. Students also need to understand that colorblindness is not an effective anti-racism strategy. Dr. Kernahan argues that you can be honest and unflinching in your teaching about racism while also providing a compassionate learning environment that allows for mistakes, and avoids shaming students. She provides practical teaching strategies to help instructors feel more confident, and differentiates between how white students and students of color are likely to experience the classroom, helping instructors provide a more effective learning experience for all students. Our guest is: Dr. Cyndi Kernahan, professor of psychology at the University of Wisconsin–River Falls. She is also the assistant dean for teaching and learning in the College of Arts and Sciences. Her research and writing are focused primarily on teaching and learning, including the teaching of race, inclusive pedagogy, and student success. She is the author of Teaching About Race and Racism in the College Classroom. Our host is: Dr. Christina Gessler, co-producer of the Academic Life. She is a historian of women and gender. Listeners to this episode might be interested in: White Trash: The 400-Year Untold History of Class in America, by Nancy Isenberg The Making of Asian America: A History, by Erika Lee Teaching Black History to White People, by Leonard N. Moore The Other Slavery: The Uncovered Story of Indian Enslavement in America, by Andres Resendez Critical Race Theory: An Introduction, by Richard Delgado and Jean Stefancic Why Are All The Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria, by B.D. Tatum You are smart and capable, but you aren’t an island and neither are we. We reach across our mentor network to bring you podcasts on everything from how to finish that project, to how to take care of your beautiful mind. Wish we’d bring on an expert about something? DM us on Twitter: The Academic Life @AcademicLifeNBN. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/academic-life
52:2107/10/2021
The Role of “Failure” in Student Success

The Role of “Failure” in Student Success

Welcome to The Academic Life! In this episode you’ll hear about: the importance of normalizing failure in college, the emotional work involved with coming back from a failure, the role institutions have in resilience work, and the power of reflection for student success. Our guest is: Dr. Anna Sharpe, Associate Dean for Student Success at Berry College. Dr. Sharpe has spent the last six years reimagining academic success and support programming at Berry College. She has the privilege of leading an incredible team of five professional staff and over a hundred student employees working in the areas of academic success, first-year experience, accessibility, and retention. Holding a PhD in Geography from University of Kentucky, Dr. Sharpe also researches the interplay of race, politics, law, and land use, focusing on the southeastern coast, where she was born and raised. When she is not on Berry’s beautiful campus, you can find her with her husband and son--cooking, hiking, and making frequent trips to the coast Our host is: Dr. Dana M. Malone, the co-producer of the Academic Life podcasts. She is a higher education scholar and practitioner. Dana met Anna at the University of Kentucky, where they worked together with students in academic jeopardy and assisted them in reimagining and refocusing their college trajectories. Listeners to this episode might be interested in: The Stanford Resilience Project: Stanford Resilience Project videos Carol Dweck’s work: Carol Dweck’s TED Talk on the Power of Believing You Can Improve Mindset: The New Psychology of Success by Carol Dweck Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance by Angela Duckworth From the National Resource Center for the First-Year Experience and Students in Transition, Promoting Belonging, Growth Mindset, and Resilience to Foster Student Success (Baldwin, A., et al.) NBN Podcasts with Lisa Nunn on College Belonging NBN Podcast with Lisa Nunn on Teaching First-Year and First-Generation Students:  Wish we’d bring on an expert about something? DM us on Twitter: The Academic Life @AcademicLifeNBN. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/academic-life
01:01:3030/09/2021
Aviva Legatt, "Get Real and Get In: How to Get Into the College of Your Dreams by Being Your Authentic Self" (St. Martin's Griffin, 2021)

Aviva Legatt, "Get Real and Get In: How to Get Into the College of Your Dreams by Being Your Authentic Self" (St. Martin's Griffin, 2021)

Welcome to The Academic Life! In this episode you’ll hear about: Aviva Legatt’s journey into and through college Why she became an Ivy League college admissions officer What that job taught her about common application missteps How to determine which school is right for you and show them you’re right for it Month-by-month application checklist for high school seniors. Our guest is: Dr. Aviva Legatt, who has been in the higher education field for over fifteen years. She is a faculty member in Organizational Dynamics at the University of Pennsylvania and at The Wharton School, teaching in-person and online through Coursera. She has a column in Forbes about issues affecting higher education, and is the author of Get Real and Get In: How to Get Into the College of Your Dreams by Being Your Authentic Self (St. Martin's Griffin, 2021). Our host is: Dr. Christina Gessler, co-producer of the Academic Life, who attended college on a writing scholarship. She chose the school for its pet policy, relationship with the natural environment, and faculty-student ratio. She is a historian of women and gender. Listeners to this episode might be interested in: The Enlightened College Applicant: A New Approach to the Search and Admissions Process by Andrew Belasco and Dave Bergman Fiske Guide to Colleges College Admission Essentials: A Step-by-Step Guide to Showing Colleges Who You Are and What Matters to You by Ethan Sawyer How To College :What To Know Before You Go (and When You’re There) by Andrea Malkin Brenner and Laura Hope Schwartz Show Them You're Good: A Portrait of Boys in the City of Angels the Year Before College by Jeff Hobbs The Merit Myth: How our Colleges Favor the Rich and Divide America by Anthony Carnevale, Peter Schmidt, and Jeff Strohl A Discussion of the book How To College: What To Know Before You Go (and When You’re There)  A Discussion of the book Show Them You’re Good You are smart and capable, but you aren’t an island and neither are we. We reach across our mentor network to bring you podcasts on everything from how to finish that project, to how to take care of your beautiful mind. Wish we’d bring on an expert about something? DM us on Twitter: The Academic Life @AcademicLifeNBN. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/academic-life
52:1423/09/2021
Ginetta Candelario on Feminism, Race, and Transnationalism

Ginetta Candelario on Feminism, Race, and Transnationalism

Welcome to The Academic Life. You are smart and capable, but you aren’t an island and neither are we. So we are reaching across our mentor network to bring you podcasts on everything from how to finish that project, to how to take care of your beautiful mind. Wish we’d bring on an expert about something? DM us on Twitter: The Academic Life @AcademicLifeNBN. In this episode you’ll hear about: Dr. Ginetta Candelario’s path from journalism-major-hopeful to sociologist, how her family history shaped her intellectual questions, what inspired her to return to Smith after campus racism drove her out, a model for building an intentional community, editing a journal dedicated to the scholarship and voices of women of color, and a discussion of Meridians: 20th Anniversary Reader. Our guest is: Dr. Ginetta Candelario, who is a faculty affiliate of the Latin American and Latina/o Studies Program, the Study of Women and Gender Program, and the Community Engagement and Social Change Concentration at Smith College. She is the founding vice president of the National Latin@ Studies Association, and a founding executive committee member of the New England Consortium for Latina/o Studies, and was appointed by the American Sociological Association to its Committee on Professional Ethics for 2017–20 and to the Finance Committee for 2021-2024. Dr. Candelario is widely published, serves on editorial boards, and is a peer reviewer. Her research interests include Dominican history and society, with a focus on national identity formation and women’s history; Blackness in the Americas; Latin American, Caribbean and Latina feminisms; Latina/o communities (particularly Cuban, Dominican and Puerto Rican); U.S. beauty culture; and museum studies. She has been a Fulbright Scholar in the Dominican Republic twice, and has been the editor of Meridians: feminism, race, transnationalism since July 2017. Our host is: Dr. Christina Gessler, the co-creator and co-producer of the Academic Life podcasts. She is a historian of women and gender. Listeners to this episode may be interested in: Dr. Candelario’s Ted Talk Meridians’ materials referenced in the podcast Meridians' portal for submissions Cien años de feminismos dominicanos, 1865-1965. Tomo I: El fuego detrás de las ruinas, 1865-1931. Co-edited by Ginetta Candalario, April J. Mayes, and Elizabeth Manley, Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic: Archivo General de la Nación, 2016. Black Behind the Ears: Dominican Racial Identity from Museums to Beauty Shops, Durham: Duke University Press, December 2007. Salome by Julia Alvarez Almanac of the Dead by Leslie Marmon Silko Democracy in Chains by Nancy McClean YouTube recording of the Meridians’ 20th anniversary celebration talks Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/academic-life
01:00:0916/09/2021
Archival Etiquette: What To Know Before You Go

Archival Etiquette: What To Know Before You Go

Welcome to The Academic Life. You are smart and capable, but you aren’t an island and neither are we. So we reached across our mentor network to bring you podcasts on everything from how to finish that project, to how to take care of your beautiful mind. Wish we’d bring on an expert about something? DM us your suggestion on Twitter: The Academic Life @AcademicLifeNBN. In this episode you’ll hear about: how Megan became an archivist, the unusual collections she works with, why archives can be intimidating, how historians and archivists work together, and archival etiquette tips for new researchers. Our guest is: Megan Hahn Fraser, who has worked as the Assistant Curator of Manuscripts at The New-York Historical Society, the Library Director at the Independence Seaport Museum in Philadelphia, Co-Head of Collection Management at UCLA Library Special Collections in Los Angeles, and the Vice President and Marcus A. McCorison Librarian at the American Antiquarian Society in Worcester, Mass. Currently, she is working for the Research Institute for Contemporary Outlaws, a private collection of 20th century counter-culture materials based in Los Angeles. She received her Master of Information and Library Science (with a concentration in archives management) degree from Pratt Institute in 2000, and has an undergraduate degree in history from New York University. While at UCLA in 2014, Megan founded the Los Angeles Punk Rock Archive Collective, a group of archivists and others focused on acquiring collections from musicians, artists, and fans of the punk rock scene in Southern California. She has presented at the Society of American Archivists annual conference, the South by Southwest Festival, the L.A. as Subject Archives Bazaar, and the Legion of Steel Metalfest and Conference. She can be found on Twitter @mmhfraser, talking about archives, justice, and The Clash. Our host is: Dr. Christina Gessler, the co-producer of the Academic Life podcasts, and a historian of women and gender. She has a small garden. Listeners to this episode might be interested in: UCLA Library Special Collections Punk archive Research Institute for Contemporary Outlaws on Instagram For more information on how reliance on contingent labor is detrimental to the responsible stewardship of archives American Historical Association open letter to National Archives and Records Administration and retraction Society of American Archivists (SAA) Responds to the American Historical Association Priceless: How I Went Undercover to Rescue the World's Stolen Treasures by Robert K. Wittman (2010) Meetings with Remarkable Manuscripts: Twelve Journeys into the Medieval World by Christopher de Hamel (2017) Standing in their own Light: African American Patriots in the American Revolution by Judith L. Van Buskirk (2017) Indecent Advances: A Hidden History of True Crime and Prejudice Before Stonewall by James Polchin (2019) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/academic-life
01:13:3809/09/2021
Karen Cook Bell, "Running from Bondage: Enslaved Women and Their Remarkable Fight for Freedom in Revolutionary America" (Cambridge UP, 2021)

Karen Cook Bell, "Running from Bondage: Enslaved Women and Their Remarkable Fight for Freedom in Revolutionary America" (Cambridge UP, 2021)

Welcome to The Academic Life. You are smart and capable, but you aren’t an island and neither are we, so we reached across our mentor network to bring you these podcasts. Wish we’d include a specific topic? DM suggestions on Twitter: The Academic Life @AcademicLifeNBN. In this episode you’ll hear about: how Black women contributed to America’s first freedom war, reading against the grain, rival geographies, fugitivity as an act of resistance, why we must center Black women’s voices, and a discussion of the book Running from Bondage. Our guest is: Dr. Karen Cook Bell, who is Associate Professor of History. Her areas of specialization include slavery, the Civil War and Reconstruction, and women’s history. Her scholarship has appeared in the Journal of African American History; Georgia Historical Quarterly; Passport; U.S. West-Africa: Interaction and Relations; Before Obama: A Reappraisal of Black Reconstruction Era Politicians; Converging Identities: Blackness in the Contemporary Diaspora; and Slavery and Freedom in Savannah. She has published Claiming Freedom: Race, Kinship, and Land in Nineteenth Century Georgia, which won the Georgia Board of Regents Excellence in Research Award; and Running from Bondage: Enslaved Women and Their Remarkable Fight for Freedom in Revolutionary America. She is editor of Southern Black Women’s Struggle for Freedom during the Civil War and Reconstruction; and a contributor for Black Perspectives. She is a former AAUW Dissertation Fellow. Today’s book is: Running from Bondage: Enslaved Women and Their Remarkable Fight for Freedom in Revolutionary America, which tells how enslaved women comprised one-third of all runaways, and the ways in which they fled or attempted to flee bondage during and after the Revolutionary War. Dr. Cook Bell's contribution to the study of slave resistance explores the individual and collective lives of these women and girls, and details about what led them to escape. She demonstrates that there two wars waged during the Revolutionary Era: a political revolution for independence from Great Britain and a social revolution for emancipation and equality in which Black women played an active role. Running from Bondage emphasizes the chances taken by these Black founding mothers and the important contributions they made to the cause of liberty. Our host is: Dr. Christina Gessler, the co-producer of the Academic Life podcasts, and a historian of women and gender. Listeners to this episode might be interested in: Claiming Freedom: Race, Kinship, and Land in Nineteenth Century Georgia, by Karen Cook Bell Closer to Freedom: Enslaved Women and Everyday Resistance in the Plantation South, by Stephanie Camp “What Can We Learn from a Digital Database of Runaway Slave Advertisements,” International Social Science Review vol 76 no. (2001), by Tom Costa Never Caught, by Erica Armstrong Dunbar This interview on reclaiming lost voices with Dr. Erica Armstrong Dunbar  This interview about the social constructions of race with Dr. Brigette Fielder Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/academic-life
43:0002/09/2021
Mentoring in the Academy: A Conversation with Dr. Claire Renzetti

Mentoring in the Academy: A Conversation with Dr. Claire Renzetti

Welcome to The Academic Life. You are smart and capable, but you aren’t an island and neither are we. So, we reached across our mentor network to bring you podcasts on everything from how to finish that project, to how to take care of your beautiful mind. Wish we’d bring on an expert about something? DM us your suggestion on Twitter: The Academic Life @AcademicLifeNBN. In this episode you’ll hear: mentoring across academic careers from graduate students to seasoned faculty, optimal conditions for mentor-mentee relationships, mentoring scholars through the publishing process, and gender and power dynamics within academic mentoring. Our guest is: Dr. Claire M. Renzetti, Professor and Chair of Sociology and the Judi Conway Patton Endowed Chair for Studies of Violence Against Women at the University of Kentucky. She received a Ph.D. in Sociology from the University of Delaware, with specialties in criminology and the sociology of gender. For more than 40 years, Dr. Renzetti’s research has focused on the violent victimization experiences of socially and economically marginalized women and girls. She founded in 1995, and continues to edit, the peer-reviewed, international and interdisciplinary journal Violence Against Women, through Sage Publications. Dr. Renzetti is also the editor of the Gender and Justice book series for University of California Press; co-editor of the Interpersonal Violence book series for Oxford University Press, and editor of the Family and Gender-based Violence book series for Cognella. She has written or edited 26 books as well as numerous book chapters and journal articles based on her own research. She also studies the problem of domestic sex trafficking. Additionally, she conducts research on the effects of religiosity and religious self-regulation on intimate partner violence perpetration and victimization. She has held elected offices in several national and regional professional associations, including the American Sociological Association, the American Society of Criminology, the Society for the Study of Social Problems, and the Eastern Sociological Society. Her research and community service has been recognized with awards from the American Sociological Association, the American Society of Criminology, the Society for the Study of Social Problems, the University of Delaware, Artemis Center (Dayton, OH), and the YWCA of Dayton (OH). Your host is: Dr. Dana Malone, a higher education scholar and practitioner. Dana met Claire as a PhD student at the University of Kentucky, when one of Dana’s academic mentors introduced them. Listeners to this episode might be interested in: Positive Academic Leadership: How to Stop Putting Out Fires and Start Making a Difference by Jeffrey L. Buller Presumed Incompetent II: Race, Class, Power, and Resistance of Women in Academia edited by: Yolanda Flores Niemann, Gabriella Gutiérrez y Muhs, and Carmen G. González NBN Podcast on Presumed Incompetent II NBN Podcast on How to Create a Mentor Network Claire Renzetti’s video series on academic publishing for the American Sociological Association (ASA).*Please note access requires an ASA membership Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/academic-life
01:01:3226/08/2021
Exploring New Paths to Mental Health: A Discussion with Sue Stuart-Smith

Exploring New Paths to Mental Health: A Discussion with Sue Stuart-Smith

Welcome to The Academic Life. You are smart and capable, but you aren’t an island and neither are we. So we reached across our mentor network to bring you podcasts on everything from how to finish that project, to how to take care of your beautiful mind. Wish we’d bring on an expert about something? DM us your suggestion on Twitter: The Academic Life @AcademicLifeNBN. In this episode you’ll hear about: Sue Stuart-Smith’s path from English major to psychiatrist, how she went from avoiding gardening to becoming an avid gardener, and a discussion of The Well-Gardened Mind: The Restorative Power of Nature. Our guest is: Sue Stuart-Smith, a prominent psychiatrist and psychotherapist. She is also an avid gardener. She took her degree in English literature at Cambridge before qualifying as a doctor. She worked in the National Health Service for many years, becoming the lead clinician for psychotherapy in Hertfordshire. She teaches at The Tavistock Clinic in London and is consultant to the DocHealth service. She is married to Tom Stuart-Smith, the celebrated garden designer. She is the author of The Well-Gardened Mind. Today’s book is: The Well-Gardened Mind: The Restorative Power of Nature, about the healing effects of gardening and its ability to decrease stress and foster mental well-being in our everyday lives. The garden is often seen as a refuge, a place to forget worldly cares, removed from the “real” life that lies outside. But when we get our hands in the earth we connect with the cycle of life in nature through which destruction and decay are followed by regrowth and renewal. Sue Stuart-Smith provides a new perspective on the power of gardening to change people’s lives. Our host is: Dr. Christina Gessler, the co-producer of the Academic Life podcasts, and a historian of women and gender. She has a small garden. Listeners to this episode might be interested in: The Well-Gardened Mind: The Restorative Power of Nature, by Sue Stuart Smith Therapeutic Landscapes: An Evidence-Based Approach to Designing Healing Gardens and Restorative Outdoor Spaces, by Clare Marcus and Naomi Sachs The Profession and Practice of Horticultural Therapy, edited by Rebecca Haller and Karen Kennedy and Christine Capra Ecotherapy: Theory, Research and Practice, edited by Martin Jordan and Joe Hinds The Nature Fix: Why Nature Makes Us Happier, Healthier, and More Creative, by Florence Williams Radical Compassion, by Tara Brach The psychology podcast channel on NBN  The mindfulness podcast channel on NBN  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/academic-life
01:10:3219/08/2021
Laura Portwood-Stacer, "The Book Proposal Book: A Guide for Scholarly Authors" (Princeton UP, 2021)

Laura Portwood-Stacer, "The Book Proposal Book: A Guide for Scholarly Authors" (Princeton UP, 2021)

Welcome to The Academic Life. You are smart and capable, but you aren’t an island and neither are we. So we reached across our mentor network to bring you podcasts on everything from how to finish that project, to how to take care of your beautiful mind. Wish we’d bring on an expert about something? DM us your suggestion on Twitter: The Academic Life @AcademicLifeNBN. In this episode you’ll hear about: what a book proposal is and isn’t, why you have to write one, the importance of seeking the right “fit” for your manuscript, how to pitch a quirky book, the difference between a book’s topic and its argument, how to summarize your project in just one sentence, and a discussion of The Book Proposal Book: A Guide for Scholarly Authors (Princeton UP, 2021) Our guest is: Dr. Laura Portwood-Stacer, an experienced developmental editor and publishing consultant for academic authors. She is the author of The Book Proposal Book: A Guide for Scholarly Authors. You have to write a book proposal to get published, but most scholars receive no training on how to do so, and you may have never even seen a proposal before you’re expected to produce your own. The Book Proposal Book cuts through the mystery and guides you step by step through the process of crafting a compelling proposal and pitching it to university presses and other academic publishers. Whether you’re hoping to publish your first book or you’re a seasoned author with an unfinished proposal languishing on your hard drive, The Book Proposal Book provides honest, empathetic, and invaluable advice on how to overcome common sticking points and get your book published. It also shows why a well-conceived proposal can help lead to an outstanding book. Our host is: Dr. Christina Gessler, the co-producer of the Academic Life podcasts, and a historian of women and gender. Listeners to this episode might be interested in: The Book Proposal Book: A Guide for Scholarly Authors, by Laura Portwood-Stacer Dr. Portwood-Stacer’s Manuscript and Editing Workshops Dr. Portwood-Stacer’s website Handbook for Academic Authors, by Beth Luey Writing and Publishing Your Book: A Guide for Experts in Every Field, by Melody Herr From Dissertation to Book, by William Germano The Chicago Manual of Style: The Essential Guide for Writers, Editors, and Publishers Story Craft: The Complete Guide to Writing Narrative Nonfiction, by Jack Hart The Business of Being a Writer, by Jane Friedman Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/academic-life
01:02:2712/08/2021
Pandemic Perspectives from an Assistant Professor: A Discussion with Ulices Piña

Pandemic Perspectives from an Assistant Professor: A Discussion with Ulices Piña

Welcome to The Academic Life. You are smart and capable, but you aren’t an island, and neither are we. So we reached across our mentor network to bring you podcasts on everything from how to finish that project, to how to take care of your beautiful mind. Wish we’d bring in an expert about something? DM us your suggestion on Twitter: The Academic Life @AcademicLifeNBN. In this episode you’ll hear about: Dr. Piña’s path through higher education, the importance of mentors and coaches in achieving personal and professional success, how he found his current job, some of the concerns of first gen and of working class students, student grief, the complexity of using campus resources in a pandemic, and what he’s hopeful about. Our guest is: Dr. Ulices Piña, an Assistant Professor of History at California State University, Long Beach. A native of Long Beach and a product of the California public school system, his teaching and research interests include Mexico, Modern Latin America, revolutions and social movements, and social activism. He is currently writing a book tentatively titled Rebellious Citizens: Democracy and the Search for Dignity in Revolutionary Mexico. The book places the roles of ordinary people in the country’s long fight for democracy, front and center, to tell the story of how they actively shaped the political process and struggled for equality and dignity in the decades following the Mexican Revolution of 1910. He also has a forthcoming article in the Journal of Social History titled “Rebellion at the Fringe: Conspiracy, Surveillance, and State-Making in 1920s Mexico. Our host is: Dr. Christina Gessler, a historian of women and gender. She heard Dr. Piña’s presentation about pandemic pedagogy lessons at the recent WAWH conference, and invited him to share this on the Academic Life. Listeners to this episode might be interested in: H-LatAm The History Teacher Zapata and the Mexican Revolution by John Womack Pedro Páramo by Juan Rulfo The TV Series: Ted Lasso The History Department at California State University Long Beach The Latino Studies Channel on NBN There’s a Revolution Outside, My Love: Letters from a Crisis edited by Tracy K. Smith and John Freeman Resources for College Students Dealing With Grief Resource List for First Gen Students Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/academic-life
52:0605/08/2021
Pandemic Perspectives from a Student Studying Abroad

Pandemic Perspectives from a Student Studying Abroad

Welcome to The Academic Life. You are smart and capable, but you aren’t an island, and neither are we. So we reached across our mentor network to bring you podcasts on everything from how to finish that project, to how to take care of your beautiful mind. Wish we’d bring in an expert about something? Email us at cgessler05[at]gmail.com or dr.danamalone[at]gmail.com Find us on Twitter: The Academic Life @AcademicLifeNBN. In this episode you’ll hear about: a student’s goal to study abroad during college, how she dealt with unexpected restrictions on becoming an international student during a pandemic, her transatlantic travels, living in a “bubble” in her new dorm, and what she’s hopeful about for her return to her American campus for her senior year. Our guest is: Emma Halfin, who is a junior at Case Western Reserve University (CWRU) majoring in Political Science and History and minoring in French. She is currently a visiting student at the University of Oxford in the UK studying history and politics and is looking forward to returning to CWRU in the fall for her senior year. Our host is: Dr. Christina Gessler, a historian of women, gender, and sexuality. Listeners to this episode might be interested in: Woollacott, Angela, ‘“Khaki Fever” and its Control: Gender, Class, Age and Sexual Morality on the British Home Front in the First World War’, Journal of Contemporary History, 29/2 (1994), pp. 325-347 Giorgio Agamben, State of Exception (2003) Hannah Arendt, The Origins of Totalitarianism (1951) Jeanne Boydston, “Gender as a Question of Historical Analysis”, Gender and History 20/3 (2008) The Visiting Student Program at the University of Oxford  American students studying abroad during the pandemic  International Students studying in America during the pandemic  The College of Arts and Sciences at Case Western Reserve University  Visa concerns for students studying abroad during the pandemic Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/academic-life
51:0629/07/2021
Reclaiming Lost Voices and Recovering History: A Discussion with Erica Armstrong Dunbar

Reclaiming Lost Voices and Recovering History: A Discussion with Erica Armstrong Dunbar

Welcome to The Academic Life. You are smart and capable, but you aren’t an island, and neither are we. So we reached across our mentor network to bring you podcasts on everything from how to finish that project, to how to take care of your beautiful mind. Wish we’d bring in an expert about something? Email us at cgessler05(at)gmail.com or dr.danamalone(at)gmail.com or find us on Twitter: The Academic Life @AcademicLifeNBN. In this episode you’ll hear about: reclaiming lost voices, recovering history, and a discussion of the book Never Caught: The Washington’s Relentless Pursuit of Their Runaway Slave, Ona Judge. Our guest is: Dr. Erica Armstrong Dunbar, a late eighteenth and early nineteenth-century scholar with a specialization in African American women’s history. From 2011 to 2018 she was the Inaugural Director of the Program in African American history at the Library Company of Philadelphia. She has written numerous articles, reviews, essays, and books including Never Caught, and has given scholarly talks across the country. She is the National Director of the Association of Black Women Historians (ABWH), and is the Charles and Mary Beard Distinguished Professor of History at Rutgers University. Our host is: Dr. Christina Gessler, a historian of women and gender. Listeners to this episode might be interested in: Never Caught: The Washington’s Relentless Pursuit of Their Runaway Slave, Ona Judge by Erica Armstrong Dunbar She Came to Slay: The Life and Times of Harriet Tubman by Erica Armstrong Dunbar A Fragile Freedom: African American Women and Emancipation in the Antebellum City by Erica Armstrong Dunbar Daina Ramey Berry and Erica Armstrong Dunbar, “The Unbroken Chain of Enslaved African Resistance and Rebellion.” In The Birth of a Nation: Nat Turner and the Making of a Movement, edited by N. Parker, 35-61. New York: Atria/Simon and Schuster, September 2016. The Association of Black Women Historians http://abwh.org The Program in African American History at the Library Company of Philadelphia  Dr. Armstrong’s website The African-American studies channel on NBN  The History Department at the College of Arts and Sciences at Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/academic-life
01:03:3022/07/2021
Teaching First-Year and First-Generation Students: A Conversation with Lisa Nunn

Teaching First-Year and First-Generation Students: A Conversation with Lisa Nunn

Welcome to The Academic Life. You are smart and capable, but you aren’t an island, and neither are we. So we reached across our mentor network to bring you podcasts on everything from how to finish that project, to how to take care of your beautiful mind. Wish we’d bring in an expert about something? Email us at [email protected] or [email protected]. Find us on Twitter: The Academic Life @AcademicLifeNBN. In this episode you’ll hear about: distinguishing between student abilities and academic skill sets, why the goal should not be making first-generation students more like continuing generation students, how to introduce yourself in a way that promotes student success, the mini-midterm, and other strategies to promote student success. Our guest is: Lisa M. Nunn, Ph.D., author of 33 Simple Strategies for Faculty: A Week-by-Week Resource for Teaching First-Year and First-Generation Students (Rutgers University Press, 2018) and Professor of Sociology at the University of San Diego. She is the Director of her campus' Center for Educational Excellence. She is also the author of College Belonging: How First-Year and First-Generation Students Navigate Campus Life as well as a book on high school students, Defining Student Success: The Role of School and Culture. She didn't grow up knowing that she would become a sociologist and she graduated college as a literature and theater major, still not knowing that she would become a sociologist. It was during her years with the Peace Corps in Limbaži, Latvia in her early twenties when she started to recognize how fascinating cultural ideas and social structures are. How they shape who we are, who we want to become, and how they also constrain the paths available to us to get there. She hasn't stopped thinking about or talking about these dynamics since. Your host is: Dr. Dana Malone, a higher education scholar and practitioner. She specializes in college student relationships, gender, sexuality, and religious identities as well as assessment planning. Dana enjoys engaging conversations, delicious food, practicing yoga, and wandering the Jersey shore. Listeners to this episode might be interested in: College Belonging: How First-Year and First-Generation Students Navigate Campus Life by Lisa M. Nunn Interview with Lisa Nunn on her book College Belonging. Defining Student Success: The Role of School and Culture by Lisa Nunn The Skillful Teacher: On Technique, Trust, and Responsiveness in the Classroom by Stephen Brookfield Small Teaching Online: Applying Learning Science in Online Classes by Flower Darby and James Lang Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/academic-life
53:5715/07/2021
Another Look at Life as an Alt-Ac: A Discussion with Erica Bauermeister

Another Look at Life as an Alt-Ac: A Discussion with Erica Bauermeister

Welcome to The Academic Life. You are smart and capable, but you aren’t an island, and neither are we. So we reached across our mentor network to bring you podcasts on everything from how to finish that project, to how to take care of your beautiful mind. Wish we’d bring in an expert about something? Email us at cgessler05(at)gmail.com or dr.danamalone(at)gmail.com or find us on Twitter: The Academic Life @AcademicLifeNBN. In this episode you’ll hear about: Dr. Erica Bauermeister’s career journey out of academia, her move to Italy and back to the US, how she unexpectedly found herself renovating a house, and a discussion of the book House Lessons. Our guest is: Erica Bauermeister, who earned her PhD at the University of Washington. She was frustrated by the lack of women authors in the curriculum, and in response co-authored 500 Great Books by Women: A Reader’s Guide, and Let’s Hear it For The Girls. She taught writing and literature, got married and had children and left academia. She became a Realtor, moved to Italy, moved back to the US, continued writing, and then unexpectedly found herself renovating a house. Erica’s first novel was published as she was turning 50. Her books have been translated into more than 50 languages, been selected for Reese Witherspoon’s book club, and made the USA Today and NYT bestseller list. Our host is: Dr. Christina Gessler, a historian of women and gender. Christina once helped renovate a cottage on a small island off the coast of Massachusetts. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/academic-life
01:02:3608/07/2021
Open Access Publishing Explained: A Discussion with Ros Pyne

Open Access Publishing Explained: A Discussion with Ros Pyne

Welcome to The Academic Life. You are smart and capable, but you aren’t an island, and neither are we. So we reached across our mentor network to bring you podcasts on everything from how to finish that project, to how to take care of your beautiful mind. Wish we’d bring in an expert about something? DM us your suggestion on Twitter: The Academic Life @AcademicLifeNBN. In this episode you’ll hear about: Ros Pyne’s path through higher education, how she found her way to her current job, her role at Bloomsbury Publishers, what Open Access [OA] is and is not, how OA can democratize knowledge, and what she’s hopeful about. Our guest is: Ros Pyne, who is the Global Director of Research and Open Access at Bloomsbury Publishers. She has worked in academic publishing since 2007, initially as an editor, and for the last eight years in roles focusing on open access. She has a particular interest in bringing open access to long-form scholarship and to the humanities, and is the co-author of several reports on open access books. She holds a degree in English from the University of Cambridge, and an MA in early modern English literature from King’s College London. Our host is: Dr. Christina Gessler, a historian of women and gender. Listeners to this episode might be interested in: Open access at Bloomsbury Directory of Open Access Books OAPEN OA Books Toolkit (for anyone interested in learning more about what open access books are and how they work) Open Access Books Network (a free online network for people working on open access books or interested in getting involved) Open Access and the Humanities (a 2014 book by an open access expert Martin Paul Eve that’s still an excellent primer on this topic) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/academic-life
47:4001/07/2021
Gender Bias in Medical School and the ER: A Discussion with Alyson J. McGregor

Gender Bias in Medical School and the ER: A Discussion with Alyson J. McGregor

Welcome to The Academic Life. You are smart and capable, but you aren’t an island, and neither are we. So we reached across our mentor network to bring you podcasts on everything from how to finish that project, to how to take care of your beautiful mind. Wish we’d bring in an expert about something? Email us at cgessler05(at)gmail.com or dr.danamalone(at)gmail.com or find us on Twitter: The Academic Life @AcademicLifeNBN. In this episode you’ll hear about: gender and sex bias in medical school textbooks and in medical training and how that shows up in the ER, the work Dr. McGregor is doing to change that, and a discussion of the book Sex Matters: How Male-Centric Medicine Endangers Women’s Health and What We Can Do About It. Our guest is: Alyson J. McGregor MD, MA, FACEP. Dr. McGregor is a women’s health pioneer focusing on the concept of sex and gender difference in the delivery of acute medical care. She is an Associate Professor of Emergency Medicine at The Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University, and the co-founder and director for the Division of Sex and Gender in Emergency Medicine (SGEM) at Brown University’s Department of Emergency Medicine, and a co-founder for the national organization Sex and Gender Women’s Health Collaborative. Dr. McGregor’s research focus is on the effects that sex and gender have on emergent conditions. She has been an advocate for this model nationally, speaking widely to medical students and professionals and laypeople. She has written or co-written over sixty peer-reviewed publications in scientific journals on the topic of sex and gender as well as given a widely popular TEDx Talk, and authored and edited books. Our host is: Dr. Christina Gessler, a historian of women and gender. Listeners to this episode might be interested in: Sex and Gender Women’s Health Collaborative Sex and Gender Women’s Health Collaborative. Sex Matters: How Male-Centric Medicine Endangers Women’s Health and What We Can Do About It, by Alyson McGregor, MD Sex and Gender in Acute Care Medicine, edited by Alyson J. McGregor Dr. McGregor’s TedxTalk: Her TEDx talk, “Why Medicine Often Has Dangerous Side Effects for Women,” Premed Prep: Advice From a Medical School Admissions Dean by Sunny Nakae Gender and Our Brains, by Gina Rippon The Medicine Channel on New Books Network Feeling Medicine: How the Pelvic Exam Shapes Medical Training, by Kelly Underman The Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/academic-life
58:1824/06/2021
Pandemic Perspective from a Dual MA Student and New Bride

Pandemic Perspective from a Dual MA Student and New Bride

Welcome to The Academic Life. You are smart and capable, but you aren’t an island, and neither are we. So we reached across our mentor network to bring you podcasts on everything from how to finish that project, to how to take care of your beautiful mind. Wish we’d bring in an expert about something? Email us at [email protected] or [email protected]. Find us on Twitter: The Academic Life @AcademicLifeNBN. In this episode you’ll hear about: how Clair adapted to changes in her academic timeline, re-planned her wedding, and postponed taking the Bar exam due to the pandemic. Our guest is: Clair Wright Sumerfield, a fourth-year, dual-degree graduate student at the University of Denver. She is earning both a JD from Sturm College of Law and an MA is Art History & Museum Studies from the School of Art and Art History. She expects to graduate from both programs by fall 2021 and hopes to find a job that combines both fields. Originally from Illinois, Clair currently lives in Denver, Colorado with her husband and two cats and enjoys exploring Colorado’s beautiful scenery in her free time. Our host is: Dr. Christina Gessler, a historian of women, gender, and sexuality. Listeners to this episode might be interested in: Center for Art Law “Understanding Grief in the Age of the Covid-19 Pandemic” Textile & Fashion Collection at the Denver Art Museum “Alexander McQueen: Savage Beauty” Alexander McQueen Savage Beauty (video) Experimental Fashion: Performance Art, Carnival and the Grotesque Body by Francesca Granata The Grotesque in Western Art and Culture: The Image at Play by Frances S. Connelly Supporting Graduate Students in Times of Stress Reflections on the downsides of remote work Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/academic-life
49:3817/06/2021
Pandemic Perspectives from The Chronicle of Higher Education

Pandemic Perspectives from The Chronicle of Higher Education

Welcome to The Academic Life. You are smart and capable, but you aren’t an island, and neither are we. So we reached across our mentor network to bring you podcasts on everything from how to finish that project, to how to take care of your beautiful mind. Wish we’d bring in an expert about something? Email us at [email protected] or [email protected]. Find us on Twitter: The Academic Life @AcademicLifeNBN. In this episode you’ll hear about: Karin Fischer’s job as a contributing writer for the Chronicle of Higher Education, how she researches stories about international students, what the pandemic means for her work and for the students she writes about, and what she’s hopeful about. Our guest is: Karin Fischer, a higher-education journalist with a focus on international education, American colleges’ activities overseas, the globalization of the college experience, and study abroad. Her work has appeared in the Chronicle of Higher Education, the New York Times, EdSource, the Washington Monthly, and University World News. Ms. Fischer is also a research associate at the Center for Studies in Higher Education at the University of California at Berkeley and an international education leadership fellow at the University at Albany. She is a recipient of the East-West Center’s Jefferson Fellowship for reporting in Asia and the International Reporting Project fellowship. Her work has been honored by the Education Writers Association, the National Press Foundation, and the Poynter Institute. Our host is: Dr. Christina Gessler, a historian of women, gender, and sexuality. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/academic-life
58:0710/06/2021
The Social Constructions of Race: A Discussion with Brigitte Fielder

The Social Constructions of Race: A Discussion with Brigitte Fielder

Welcome to The Academic Life. You are smart and capable, but you aren’t an island, and neither are we. So we reached across our mentor network to bring you podcasts on everything from how to finish that project, to how to take care of your beautiful mind. Wish we’d bring in an expert about something? Email us at cgessler05(at)gmail.com or dr.danamalone(at)gmail.com or find us on Twitter: The Academic Life @AcademicLifeNBN. In this episode you’ll hear about: the importance of expanding the boundaries of academic theory through interdisciplinary studies, why you need to build and acknowledge your own support network, the social construction of race and racism, and a discussion of the book Relative Races. Our guest is: Dr. Brigitte Fielder, an Associate Professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. She is (with Jonathan Senchyne) co-editor of Against a Sharp White Background: Infrastructures of African-American Print and author of Relative Races: Genealogies of Interracial Kinship in Nineteenth-Century America. Her work has been published in various journals and edited collections. She is currently writing a book on racialized human-animal relationships in the long nineteenth century, which shows how childhood becomes a key site for (often simultaneous) humanization and racialization. Our host is: Dr. Christina Gessler, a historian of women and gender. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/academic-life
01:02:1207/06/2021
How To: Create a Mentor Network

How To: Create a Mentor Network

Welcome to The Academic Life. You are smart and capable, but you aren’t an island, and neither are we. So we reached across our mentor network to bring you podcasts on everything from how to finish that project, to how to take care of your beautiful mind. Wish we’d bring in an expert about something? Email us at [email protected] or [email protected]. Find us on Twitter: The Academic Life @AcademicLifeNBN. In this episode you’ll hear about: how mentoring differs from friendship, common (mis)perceptions of how mentoring happens across the academy, what makes a great mentor, steps to take when connecting with a potential mentor, and how to construct your optimal “board of advisors.” Dr. Laura Gail Lunsford, author, scholar, speaker, consultant, and southerner. Dr. Lunsford is an expert in mentoring and leadership. She has written over 40 peer-reviewed articles, case studies and chapters on leadership and mentoring. She wrote the Handbook for Managing Mentoring Programs, co-edited the Sage Handbook of Mentoring, and co-authored Faculty Development in Liberal Arts Colleges. Funny and engaging, she consults with organizations on effective mentoring and coaching. Presently, she professes psychology at Campbell University, a beautiful liberal arts college in rural NC. Laura enjoys her Japanese Zen Garden, cycling, kayaking, and karate (and holds a black belt in Shoto kan) in addition to eating her husband’s cooking. A Rotarian, she also volunteers with the American Red Cross. Dr. Dana Malone, a higher education scholar and practitioner. She specializes in college student relationships, gender, sexuality, and religious identities as well as assessment planning. Dana enjoys delicious, healthy food, practicing yoga, and wandering the Jersey shore. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/academic-life
55:2503/06/2021
From the Military to Academia: A Discussion with Maurice Wilson

From the Military to Academia: A Discussion with Maurice Wilson

Welcome to The Academic Life. You are smart and capable, but you aren’t an island, and neither are we. So we reached across our mentor network to bring you podcasts on everything from how to finish that project, to how to take care of your beautiful mind. Wish we’d bring in an expert about something? Email us at [email protected] or [email protected]. Find us on Twitter: The Academic Life @AcademicLifeNBN. In this episode you’ll hear about: Maurice Wilson’s journey from the military to higher education, how he has pursued his dual interests in aviation and creative writing, and a discussion of his chapter in Learning from the Lived Experiences of Graduate Student Writers. Our guest is: Maurice Wilson, who considers himself the “Robin Hood” of academic literacy. Maurice develops and implements a comprehensive training program curriculum for writing center consultants at a large urban university. He is the administrator for a developmental writing program, and provides training and support for instructors and other writing groups. A career US Army aviator, Maurice taught basic and advanced composition and literature at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, and retired from military service following his stint as a graduate teaching fellow before moving into writing center administration. Maurice also teaches professional writing for Ed.D. students. His research interests include the diverse student voices in writing centers, the writing of military veterans, and HBCU writing programs. Our host is: Dr. Christina Gessler, a historian of women and gender. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/academic-life
59:3027/05/2021
A Conversation with Jessica Kirzane about Yiddish Studies

A Conversation with Jessica Kirzane about Yiddish Studies

Welcome to The Academic Life. You are smart and capable, but you aren’t an island, and neither are we. So we reached across our mentor network to bring you podcasts on everything from how to finish that project, to how to take care of your beautiful mind. Wish we’d bring in an expert about something? Email us at [email protected] or [email protected]. Find us on Twitter: The Academic Life @AcademicLifeNBN. In this episode you’ll hear about: how Jessica first began to learn Yiddish, what drew her to translation work, the importance of finding encouraging mentors and creating peer supports, what it means to be “contingent” faculty, and a discussion of her new book Diary of A Lonely Girl. Our guest is: Dr. Jessica Kirzane, who teaches Yiddish language as well as courses in Yiddish literature and culture. She received her PhD in Yiddish Studies from Columbia University in 2017. Dr. Kirzane is the Editor-in-Chief of In geveb: A Journal of Yiddish Studies. In addition, she has held several positions at the Yiddish Book Center: Translation Fellow in 2017-18, Pedagogy Fellow in 2018-19, and as an editor and contributor to the Teach Great Jewish Books site of the Yiddish Book Center. Her research interests include race, sex, gender, and regionalism in American Jewish and Yiddish literature and has published articles on the idea of rural America in Yiddish literature, interethnic romance in Yiddish periodicals, and lynching in American Yiddish literature. Most recently she has published a translation of Miriam Karpilove's The Diary of a Lonely Girl, or the Battle Against Free Love (Syracuse UP, 2020). Our host is: Dr. Christina Gessler, a historian of women and gender.  Listeners to this episode might be interested in: The Yiddish Book Center “New York’s First-Time Women Voters” in Jewish Currents “Freydl” in Columbia Journal The Abandoned Book: A New Collection of Yiddish Translations. To Tread on New Ground: Selected Hebrew Writings of Hava Shapiro. Ed. Carole Balin and Wendy Zierler (Wayne State University Press, 2014) Have I Got a Story For You: More than a Century of Yiddish Fiction from the Forward. (Norton, 2016) Diary of A Lonely Girl, or the Battle Against Free Love by Miriam Karpilove In geveb: A Journal of Yiddish Studies. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/academic-life
01:03:4020/05/2021
Pandemic Perspectives: Loneliness in Graduate School

Pandemic Perspectives: Loneliness in Graduate School

Welcome to The Academic Life. You are smart and capable, but you aren’t an island, and neither are we. So we reached across our mentor network to bring you podcasts on everything from how to finish that project, to how to take care of your beautiful mind. Wish we’d bring in an expert about something? Email us at [email protected] or [email protected]. Find us on Twitter: The Academic Life @AcademicLifeNBN. In this episode you’ll hear about: how Sarah dealt with loneliness, worked as a teaching assistant from a tent her own backyard, and what the pandemic means for her dissertation, her timeline, and her funding. Our guest is: Sarah Paschal Gerenday is a PhD student in Earth Science at University of California Santa Barbara researching the use of recycled water for groundwater replenishment. She lives with a few friends and a dog in Santa Barbara. Our host is: Dr. Christina Gessler, a historian of women, gender, and sexuality. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/academic-life
30:3117/05/2021
College Belonging: A Conversation with Lisa M. Nunn

College Belonging: A Conversation with Lisa M. Nunn

Welcome to The Academic Life. You are smart and capable, but you aren’t an island, and neither are we. So we reached across our mentor network to bring you podcasts on everything from how to finish that project, to how to take care of your beautiful mind. Wish we’d bring in an expert about something? Email us at [email protected] or [email protected]. Find us on Twitter: The Academic Life @AcademicLifeNBN. In this episode you’ll hear about: the three realms of college belonging, why “finding your place” is bad advice for first-gen students, how financial aid packages affect students’ experiences of belonging, “nice” and “not-so-nice” diversity, and the hypocrisy of white niceness on college campuses. Our guest is: Lisa M. Nunn, Ph.D., author of College Belonging: How First-Year and First-Generation Students Navigate Campus Life and Professor of Sociology at the University of San Diego. She is the Director of her campus' Center for Educational Excellence. She is also the author of 33 Simple Strategies for Faculty: A Week-by-Week Resource for Teaching First-Year and First-Generation Students as well as a book on high school students, Defining Student Success: The Role of School and Culture. She didn't grow up knowing that she would become a sociologist and she graduated college as a literature and theater major, still not knowing that she would become a sociologist. It was during her years with the Peace Corps in Limbaži, Latvia in her early twenties when she started to recognize how fascinating cultural ideas and social structures are. How they shape who we are, who we want to become, and how they also constrain the paths available to us to get there. She hasn't stopped thinking about or talking about these dynamics since. Your host is: Dr. Dana Malone, a higher education scholar and practitioner. She specializes in college student relationships, gender, sexuality, and religious identities as well as assessment planning. Dana enjoys engaging conversations, delicious food, practicing yoga, and wandering the Jersey shore. Listeners to this episode might be interested in: 33 Simple Strategies for Faculty: A Week-by-Week Resource for Teaching First-Year and First-Generation Students by Lisa M. Nunn Defining Student Success: The Role of School and Culture by Lisa Nunn The Cost of Inclusion: How Student Conformity Leads to Inequality on College Campuses by Blake R. Silver The Privileged Poor: How Elite Colleges Are Failing Disadvantaged Students by Anthony Abraham Jack Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/academic-life
01:10:5013/05/2021
Pandemic Perspectives: Working Remotely, a Discussion with Raj Balkaran

Pandemic Perspectives: Working Remotely, a Discussion with Raj Balkaran

Welcome to The Academic Life. You are smart and capable, but you aren’t an island, and neither are we. So we reached across our mentor network to bring you podcasts on everything from how to finish that project, to how to take care of your beautiful mind. Wish we’d bring in an expert about something? Email us at [email protected] or [email protected]. Find us on Twitter: The Academic Life @AcademicLifeNBN. In this episode you’ll hear about: the benefits and challenges of working remotely, being alt-ac, Hindu Studies, founding an online school, and the pandemic shutdowns in Canada. Our guest is: Dr. Raj Balkaran is a prolific independent scholar of Sanskrit narrative texts. He is the author of The Goddess and the King in Indian Myth (Routledge 2018), The Goddess and the Sun in Indian Myth (Routledge 2020) along with a number of articles and book chapters. Having taught comparative religion and mythology at the University of Toronto School of Continuing Studies for a decade, he now Tutors at the Oxford Centre for Hindu Studies where he also serves on the Centre’s Curriculum Development Board. Alongside his academic training, he has received extensive spiritual training as part of an oral tradition dedicated to the transmission of Indian wisdom teachings. Integrating his academic and spiritual training, he has founded the online School of Indian Wisdom where he designs and delivers original online courses centered on the practical life wisdom to be found in the philosophical, mythological and spiritual traditions of ancient India. Beyond teaching and research, Dr. Balkaran runs a thriving life consulting practice and hosts the New Books in Indian Religions podcast. Our host is: Dr. Christina Gessler, a historian of women and gender. Christina recently met Raj at a Zoom meeting for New Books Network channel hosts, and invited him to come on the Academic Life to share his pandemic perspective. Listeners to this episode might be interested in: School of Indian Wisdom Oxford Centre for Hindu Studies The New Books in Indian Religion podcast The Rāmāyaṇa of Vālmīki: An Epic of Ancient India, Volume I: Balakāṇḍa The Rāmāyaṇa of Vālmīki: An Epic of Ancient India, Volume II: Ayodhyakāṇḍa The Mahabharata, Volume 1: Book 1: The Book of the Beginning The Mahabharata, Volume 2: Book 2: The Book of Assembly In Praise of the Goddess: The Devimahatmya and Its Meaning Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/academic-life
51:1210/05/2021
Inside Look: "Tribal College: Journal of American Indian Higher Education"

Inside Look: "Tribal College: Journal of American Indian Higher Education"

Welcome to The Academic Life. You are smart and capable, but you aren’t an island, and neither are we. So we reached across our mentor network to bring you podcasts on everything from how to finish that project, to how to take care of your beautiful mind. Wish we’d bring in an expert about something? Email us at [email protected] or [email protected]. Find us on Twitter: The Academic Life @AcademicLifeNBN. In this episode you’ll hear about: Dr. Bradley Shreve’s decision to leave academia after he became a parent; his job as the editor of Tribal College: Journal of American Indian Higher Education; what the American Indian Higher Education Consortium (AIHEC) does; and his work as a podcaster interviewing tribal elders. Our guest is: Dr. Bradley Shreve, the editor of Tribal College: Journal of American Indian Higher Education, the quarterly publication of the American Indian Higher Education Consortium (AIHEC). Previously, he taught history and chaired the Division of Social and Behavioral Sciences at Diné College, America’s first tribal college, which is located in the Navajo Nation. Bradley is the author of numerous articles, essays, and the book Red Power Rising: The National Indian Youth Council and the Origins of Native Activism (University of Oklahoma Press, 2011). Our host is: Dr. Christina Gessler, a historian of women and gender. Listeners to this episode might be interested in: TCJ  Tribal College Press TCJ student magazine Meditation on Ceremonies of Beginnings: The Tribal College and World Indigenous Nations Higher Education Consortium Poems, by Thomas Davis The Pathfinders: Women Leaders in the Tribal College Movement  Remembering Diné College: Origin Stories of America’s First Tribal College Red Power Rising: The National Indian Youth Council and the Origins of Native Activism by Bradley Shreve A Conversation with Verna Fowler [Audio Podcast]. Native American Studies channel on NBN Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/academic-life
40:3406/05/2021
Pandemic Perspectives: A Student Speaks About Mental Health

Pandemic Perspectives: A Student Speaks About Mental Health

Welcome to The Academic Life. You are smart and capable, but you aren’t an island, and neither are we. So we reached across our mentor network to bring you podcasts on everything from how to finish that project, to how to take care of your beautiful mind. Wish we’d bring in an expert about something? Email us at [email protected] or [email protected]. Find us on Twitter: The Academic Life @AcademicLifeNBN. In this episode you’ll hear about: the challenges Kaylah Marcello, a STEM graduate student at UC Davis, suddenly faced when she was having coffee with a friend in mid-March 2020 and her phone rang telling her that her son’s elementary school was closing down. She quickly realized she couldn’t work in the lab she was assigned to while homeschooling her son. Kaylah shares openly about her personal history, her mental health struggles, and why taking care of herself was crucial to taking care of her family and her own educational goals. Our guest is: Kaylah Marcello, a Microbiology PhD student at the University of California, Davis. Kaylah is researching cold tolerance genes that support photosynthesis in Antarctic cyanobacteria with Dr. Dawn Sumner. She has been a teaching assistant for in-person microbiology lab courses during the pandemic. Prior to pursuing a graduate education, she was a transfer student from the California Community College system to the UC system. She is passionate about science communication, educational outreach, mental health awareness and making academia more accessible to people who would otherwise not pursue it. She is a mother and an all-around science enthusiast, taking life one minute at a time. Our host is: Dr. Christina Gessler, a historian of women and gender. Listeners to this episode might be interested in: Postpartum depression resources California community colleges Dr. Dawn Sumner Lab https://dysumner.faculty.ucdavis.edu/ Dr. Miriam Martin’s interview about her own graduate school experiences  Antarctic Cyanobacteria UC Davis COVID testing initiative Creating a support system in grad school Discussions about the Mind and Mindfulness  Dr. Christina Gessler is a historian of women, gender, and sexuality. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/academic-life
51:2203/05/2021
Inside Look: Campus Mental Wellness Services

Inside Look: Campus Mental Wellness Services

Welcome to The Academic Life. You are smart and capable, but you aren’t an island, and neither are we. So we reached across our mentor network to bring you podcasts on everything from how to finish that project, to how to take care of your beautiful mind. Wish we’d bring in an expert about something? Email us at [email protected] or [email protected]. Find us on Twitter: The Academic Life @AcademicLifeNBN. In this episode you’ll hear about: mental wellness services on campus, asking for help, embracing who you are, and why you need support to succeed at your life. Our guest is: Elisabeth Gonella, a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist who has worked in the mental health and spiritual counseling fields for over 25 years. The early years of her career were spent working primarily with adolescents in various institutional settings where she facilitated therapeutic wilderness programs, Gestalt based group therapy, expressive arts, and daily activities as a vehicle for self-reflection. She has received training in working with substance abuse and dually diagnosed clients in both in-patient and out-patient settings. Currently, Elisabeth is seeing clients in private practice and in a College Counseling and Psychological Services Department. Elisabeth develops curriculum for The Therapist Development Center assisting hundreds of interns to pass the MFT exams (both California and National). Since 2012, Elisabeth has served as an adjunct faculty member at Pacifica Graduate Institute. Elisabeth is a clinical member of both the American Association of Marriage and Family Therapists and the California Association of Marriage and Family Therapists. She is also a graduate of Community Choir Leadership Training and facilitates Community Singing in Santa Barbara, California to promote well-being through music. Our host is: Dr. Christina Gessler, a historian of women and gender. Listeners to this episode might be interested in: Elisabeth’s website Care of the Soul by Thomas Moore The Gift of Therapy by Irvin Yalom, MD The documentary film Finding Joe Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi Flow, the Ted Talk:  The Hero's Journey: Joseph Campbell on His Life and Work by Joseph Campbell Acacia Counseling and Wellness Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/academic-life
50:0029/04/2021
Pandemic Perspectives: Graduating, Job Searching, and Being a New Professional

Pandemic Perspectives: Graduating, Job Searching, and Being a New Professional

Welcome to The Academic Life. You are smart and capable, but you aren’t an island, and neither are we. So we reached across our mentor network to bring you podcasts on everything from how to finish that project, to how to take care of your beautiful mind. Wish we’d bring in an expert about something? Email us at [email protected] or [email protected]. Find us on Twitter: The Academic Life @AcademicLifeNBN. In this episode you’ll hear: the realities of completing a master’s program, initiating a job search, and transitioning into a new professional role during a pandemic; losses and silver linings around key milestones and traditions, the significance of physical spaces; lessons learned; and advice to other graduate students. Our guest is: Alex Schmied, M.S., an academic coordinator for Spectrum Scholars, a comprehensive college-to-career program for University of Delaware undergraduates on the autism spectrum. She supports students in obtaining their personal and academic success by providing holistic coaching sessions focused on executive functioning, academics, self-care, self-advocacy, social engagement, career exploration and interdependent living skills. Alex holds an M.S. in Higher Education Policy and Student Affairs from West Chester University and a B.S. in Public Health from Temple University, merging her two interests she loves identifying ways to support the whole student and focuses on wellbeing. She lives in Philadelphia, PA, a city she loves to explore. She prizes the time she spends with her friends, partner, family, and dogs. Your host is: Dr. Dana Malone, a higher education scholar and practitioner, with a background in student affairs. She specializes in college student relationships, gender, sexuality, and religious identities as well as assessment planning. Dana enjoys making (and, of course, eating) delicious, healthy food, practicing yoga, and wandering the Jersey shore. Listeners to this episode might be interested in: Stacey Flower’s TEDx talk entitled, “The 5 People You Need to be Happy” Alex uses this when choosing “her circle” of people. The 5 People You Need To Be Happy | Stacey Flowers Drew Dudley’s TEDx Talk on “Everyday Leadership” A reminder to celebrate the little moments! Everyday Leadership | Drew Dudley “The Opposite of Loneliness” by Marina Keegan. Alex read this her senior year of undergrad when everything feels so uncertain. The author was the same age as Alex when she died in a car crash after graduating from Yale. The Opposite of Loneliness | Marina Keegan The Opposite of Loneliness: Essays and Stories by Marina Keegan NPR News Now Podcast and Inside Higher Ed. Alex uses these to stay informed as a new professional. NPR News Now Podcast & Inside Higher Ed NASPA New Professionals and Graduate Students Knowledge Community and ACPA Graduate Students and New Professionals Community of Practice. It’s also important to get involved in your field. NASPA New Professionals & Graduate Students Knowledge Community & ACPA Graduate Students and New Professionals Community of Practice Pedagogy of the Oppressed by Paulo Freire. This was a classic grad school read that really opened Alex’s eyes. Pedagogy of the Oppressed | Paulo Freire Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/academic-life
52:5126/04/2021
An Inside Look at the American Historical Association: An Interview with Laura Ansley

An Inside Look at the American Historical Association: An Interview with Laura Ansley

Welcome to The Academic Life. You are smart and capable, but you aren’t an island, and neither are we. So we reached across our mentor network to bring you podcasts on everything from how to finish that project, to how to take care of your beautiful mind. Wish we’d bring in an expert about something? Email us at [email protected] or [email protected]. Find us on Twitter: The Academic Life @AcademicLifeNBN. In this episode you’ll hear about: Laura’s reasons for leaving academia, the path to her job at the American Historical Association, what the AHA is, how the insurrection on the US Capital on January 6th made historians “relevant”, and how historians continue to teach both inside and outside academia. Our guest is: Laura Ansley, who joined the AHA as managing editor in September 2019. She worked previously at the American Society of Civil Engineers as a journals production editor and was an editorial apprentice at the Omohundro Institute of Early American History and Culture. In her free time, she volunteers as managing editor of Nursing Clio, a website focusing on histories of gender and medicine. She holds an MA in history from the College of William & Mary and a BA in history and American studies from Case Western Reserve University. Her ORCID is https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0160-0190. Follow her on Twitter: @lmansley. Your host is: Dr. Christina Gessler, a historian of women, gender, and sexuality. Listeners to this episode might be interested in: The American Historical Association New Books in History Omohundro Institute Historians in Historic Times Washington History Seminar Essential Guide to Writing History: History Essays by Katherine Pickering Antonova 400 Souls: A Community History of African-America, 1619-2019 by Ibram X. Kendi, Editor Leaving Academia by Christopher Caterine [which includes Laura’s story of leaving her PhD program] Writing Your Journal Article in Twelve Weeks by Wendy Laura Belcher Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/academic-life
57:4822/04/2021
Marketing Your Scholarly Book: A Discussion with Mona Rosen Hamlin

Marketing Your Scholarly Book: A Discussion with Mona Rosen Hamlin

Welcome to The Academic Life. You are smart and capable, but you aren’t an island, and neither are we. So we reached across our mentor network to bring you podcasts on everything from how to finish that project, to how to take care of your beautiful mind. Wish we’d bring in an expert about something? Email us at [email protected] or [email protected]. Find us on Twitter: The Academic Life @AcademicLifeNBN. In this episode you’ll hear about: the benefits of publishing with a smaller press, how scholarly books are marketed, and what to do if your book is rejected by a publisher. Our guest is: Mona Rosen Hamlin, who has been in the marketing field at Syracuse University for 22 years. For the last twelve she has been a marketing research analyst with the Syracuse University Press. She was a recipient of the Crystal Ball award for marketing and has won numerous sales awards in advertising. She resides in upstate New York with her husband and two dogs and is a very proud grandmother to five grandchildren. She loves traveling, reading, writing, spending time with friends and family, and watching the Syracuse Orange play football. Our host is: Dr. Christina Gessler, a historian of women and gender. Listeners to this episode might be interested in: Syracuse University Press Resources for Authors Syracuse University Press When the Danube Ran Red Moonfixer: The Basketball Journey of Earl Lloyd Our Movie Houses Four Letters to the Witness of My Childhood The Value and Work of University Presses Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/academic-life
49:2615/04/2021
Pandemic Perspectives from a Recent College Graduate: A Discussion with Amy Sumerfield

Pandemic Perspectives from a Recent College Graduate: A Discussion with Amy Sumerfield

Welcome to The Academic Life. You are smart and capable, but you aren’t an island, and neither are we. So we reached across our mentor network to bring you podcasts on everything from how to finish that project, to how to take care of your beautiful mind. Wish we’d bring in an expert about something? Email us at [email protected] or [email protected]. Find us on Twitter: The Academic Life @AcademicLifeNBN. In this episode you’ll hear about: social justice, chronic illness, the importance of self-advocacy and a support network, and what it’s like graduating from college and then applying to graduate school during a pandemic. Our guest is Amy Sumerfield, who describes herself like this: I am a 23 year old cisgendered woman living in Loveland, Colorado. I was born in South Korea and lived with a foster family there until I was five months old. I was eventually adopted by my current family where I then grew up in Boulder, Colorado. I am more than privileged to have the upbringing that I did and I would not be here today if it wasn't for their constant support. Growing up as an adoptee was certainly hard to process, and especially as I grew older, I began to struggle greatly with my multi intersectionality. Not only was I confused about my identity at the time, but I was also learning to live with an autoimmune disease - Lupus. I was diagnosed with Lupus when I was 11 years old, and having to limit my activity in an extremely active town was difficult and only added to my idea that I didn't fit in. It took a lot of ups and mostly downs for me to learn how to cope, but I eventually came out on a better end. I received my degrees in Social Work and Sociology from Colorado State University in Fort Collins, Colorado in August 2020 and am currently applying for my Masters in School Counseling. My goals are to take not only my educational background, but my personal experiences as well, to help advocate and support children and families in need. Although I had a very positive environment growing up, I had my own struggles and everyone does. Especially as children, they are extremely vulnerable and impressionable and I believe this is the most important time of their lives as it sets the foundation for their future and beyond. Our host is: Dr. Christina Gessler, a historian of women and gender. She is Amy’s first cousin. Christina co-created the Academic Life channel with Dr. Dana Malone during the pandemic. Listeners to this episode might be interested in: National Counsel for Adoption Family Resources Healthy Place: Mental Health Resources The Lupus Initiative Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/academic-life
51:5912/04/2021