Professing to Learn
Creating Tenured Lives and Careers in the American Research University
Published on 27. July 2009
Book
Hardback
320 pages
978-0-8018-9131-1 (ISBN)
Description
Research, teaching, service, and public outreach-all are aspects of being a tenured professor. But this list of responsibilities is missing a central component: actual scholarly learning-disciplinary knowledge that faculty teach, explore in research, and share with the academic community. How do professors pursue such learning when they must give their attention as well to administrative and other obligations? Professing to Learn explores university professors' scholarly growth and learning in the years immediately following the award of tenure, a crucial period that has a lasting impact on the academic career. Some launch from this point to multiple accomplishments and accolades, while others falter, their academic pursuits stalled. What contributes to these different outcomes? Drawing on interviews with seventy-eight professors in diverse disciplines and fields at five major American research universities, Anna Neumann describes how tenured faculty shape and disseminate their own disciplinary knowledge while attending committee meetings, grading exams, holding office hours, administering programs and departments, and negotiating with colleagues.
By exploring the intellectual activities pursued by these faculty and their ongoing efforts to develop and define their academic interests, Professing to Learn directs the attention of higher education professionals and policy makers to the core aim of higher education: the creation of academic knowledge through research, teaching, and service.
By exploring the intellectual activities pursued by these faculty and their ongoing efforts to develop and define their academic interests, Professing to Learn directs the attention of higher education professionals and policy makers to the core aim of higher education: the creation of academic knowledge through research, teaching, and service.
Reviews / Votes
Neumann has written a passionate text. She asks us to think about what matters to us-and what should matter. She contends that academic work is a calling, or a vocation... Any text that is so elegantly written on such an important topic deserves a careful reading even if we end up disagreeing with one or another point. -- William G. Tierney Academe A new perspective on the faculty career... Neumann provides the reader with an elegant and reverent understanding of this often misunderstood time in the career lives of faculty members while at the same time reminding us why we do what we do. Teachers College Record 2010 This book should be read by all university leaders, policy makers, and professors because it sheds light on one of the most important aspects of higher education. -- Peter Grabe Teaching Theology and Religion 2011More details
Language
English
Place of publication
Baltimore, MD
United States
Target group
Professional and scholarly
Product notice
sewn/stitched
Cloth over boards
With dust jacket
Dimensions
Height: 229 mm
Width: 160 mm
Thickness: 28 mm
Weight
590 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-8018-9131-1 (9780801891311)
DOI
10.1353/book.3399
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
Anna Neumann
Professing to Learn
Creating Tenured Lives and Careers in the American Research University
E-Book
07/2009
Johns Hopkins University Press
€37.99
Available for download
Person
Anna Neumann is a professor of higher education at Teachers College, Columbia University, and coauthor of Redesigning Collegiate Leadership: Teams and Teamwork in Higher Education, also published by Johns Hopkins. She is the winner of the American Educational Research Association's 2010 Exemplary Research Award and was recently named President-Elect of the Association for the Study of Higher Education (ASHE).
Content
Acknowledgments
Introduction
1. Into the Middle: Mapping the Early Post-Tenure Career in the Research University
2. The Heart of the Matter: Passionate Thought and Scholarly Learning
3. Mindwork: What and How Professors Strive to Learn
4. Location: Where Professors Pursue Their Scholarly Learning
5. Becoming Strategic: Recently Tenured University Professors as Agents of Scholarly Learning
6. Organizing to Learn: What Universities Provide for Professors' Scholarly Learning
7. The Middle Remapped: Toward an Ecology of Learning in the Early Post-Tenure Career
Appendix A: Study Designs and Background Data
Appendix B: Interview Protocols and Consent Forms for the Four Universities Project
Appendix C: Framework: University Professors' Scholarly Learning
Notes
Bibliography
Index
Introduction
1. Into the Middle: Mapping the Early Post-Tenure Career in the Research University
2. The Heart of the Matter: Passionate Thought and Scholarly Learning
3. Mindwork: What and How Professors Strive to Learn
4. Location: Where Professors Pursue Their Scholarly Learning
5. Becoming Strategic: Recently Tenured University Professors as Agents of Scholarly Learning
6. Organizing to Learn: What Universities Provide for Professors' Scholarly Learning
7. The Middle Remapped: Toward an Ecology of Learning in the Early Post-Tenure Career
Appendix A: Study Designs and Background Data
Appendix B: Interview Protocols and Consent Forms for the Four Universities Project
Appendix C: Framework: University Professors' Scholarly Learning
Notes
Bibliography
Index