The winter holiday season is upon us, with an academic break promising lots of cozy reading time. Here’s a list of our recent faves that have captured our attention for different reasons: Distracted: Why Students Can’t Focus and What You Can Do About It by James Lang. An engaging and swift read, this book examines… Read more »
Posts Categorized: what we’re reading
What We’re Reading: All Racial Stereotypes Hurt STEM Students
illustration by William Cleaves I am an Asian man in STEM. That identity carries a stereotype in this society; I am expected to excel academically within the discipline, expected to have an almost monastic focus on research in exclusion of other aspects of my life, and expected to be passive in demanding recognition for my… Read more »
What We’re Reading: The Socioeconomic Roots of Academic Faculty
A paper titled “Socioeconomic Roots of Academic Faculty” by Allison C. Morgan, Nicholas LaBerge, Daniel B. Larremore, Mirta Galesic, and Aaron Clauset, all from the University of Colorado Boulder, contained some interesting findings on the backgrounds of faculty and how they affect their career path. A survey of over 7,000 faculty members from PhD-granting departments… Read more »
What We’re Reading: University rationales for diversity highlight the structural inequalities of higher education
Artwork by Clare Reid Universities’ motivations for pursuing diverse student bodies are mostly designed to attract and benefit white students, and this may negatively affect academic outcomes for BIPOC students, according to a recent paper by researchers Jordan G. Starck, Stacey Sinclair, and J. Nicole Shelton from Princeton University.
What We’re Reading: Class Discussion as a Forum for Inequity
illustration by Clare Reid Ideally our in-class discussions are a forum where all of our students can contribute and learn—but a recent study by Jennifer J. Lee and Janice M. McCabe (Gender and Society, 2021) found striking and meaningful differences between men and women in their amount and style of participation. Overall the picture is… Read more »
What We’re Reading: Building an Anti-Racist Teaching Practice
illustration by Clare Reid Becoming an anti-racist educator, as Kyoko Kishimoto emphasizes in her 2018 article “Anti-racist pedagogy: from faculty’s self-reflection to organizing within and beyond the classroom” (Race Ethnicity and Education) is a lifelong process. It’s a process that asks us to examine ourselves and the structures that surround us, and to involve students… Read more »
What We’re Reading: Opening Paths to Belonging
illustration by Clare Reid There’s more than one way for students to develop a sense of belonging; that’s the message from “Multiple Paths to Belonging That We Should Study Together,” a 2019 article by Jennifer L. Hirsch and Margaret S. Clark. But, given that this article was published before the pandemic, reading it now also… Read more »
What We’re Reading: Refusing the University
image by Clare Reid On September 23rd, students, staff, and faculty participated in the first of three conversations hosted by the Doyle Program on anti-racism in higher education. (The next session is on November 11th.) As a point of entry into the conversation, we read “Refusing the University” by Sandy Grande, associate professor and Chair… Read more »
What We’re Reading: SIFT and Teaching Critical Digital Literacy
illustration by Clare Reid Our ongoing shift to remote learning as well as the current political landscape has made it more important than ever that we help our students become more critical readers of the news, helping them spot misinformation and stop them from sharing or spreading it. I want to share a couple of… Read more »
What We’re Reading: Inviting All Students to the Creative Table
illustration by Clare Reid We’re in a historical moment where creativity is sorely needed from as many people as possible so that we can effectively confront the challenges of our time. And yet, for the most part, we have become accustomed to the idea that creativity is a characteristic of the individual; some individuals have… Read more »
