Navigating Academic Life

Reviews / Votes

In this slender volume, Steven Cahn unlocks several mysteries of academia, from choosing a dissertation topic and improving one's teaching to navigating the hazards of department life and conducting faculty searches. Cahn's insight, wit, and devotion to students shine throughout. This book should be required reading for anyone pursuing or building an academic career.

Robert B. Talisse

W. Alton Jones Professor of Philosophy, Vanderbilt University

Steven Cahn's illustrious career spans over 50 years, during which time he has served in a plethora of academic roles, ranging from professor and administrator to foundation director. Throughout this monograph, Professor Cahn utilizes his vast experiential base to provide an abundance of sage advice to any graduate student entering or currently immersed in the academy. His critique of normative academic processes will also benefit all guiding the next generation of scholars. Professor Cahn admirably underscores the importance of effective pedagogy, ethics and transparency as key attributes for a successful career. I enthusiastically recommend this work to all."

David L. Levinson, Ph.D.

Connecticut State Colleges and Universities

Written in a clear and engaging style, Navigating Academic Life is a superb guide. Steven Cahn knows the highways and byways well, given his distinguished career as a teacher, researcher and administrator. His compass is sensitive to the values of higher education and the ethical obligations of professors. As a result, Navigating offers both sound advice for graduate students on such points as choosing a dissertation topic and wise counsel for all academics on the ethical dimensions of a truly good professional life. Even readers who disagree with Cahn will gain much from engaging with his views.

Peter J. Markie

Curators' Distinguished Teaching Professor Emeritus, Philosophy Department, University of Missouri

Perhaps no philosopher has argued as vigorously as Steven Cahn that the primary objective of higher education is -- well, educating. Cahn's pointed and cogent reminders that teaching matters and not only scholarship, and that good pedagogy requires dedication, training, and hard work, should be warmly welcomed and heeded. Cahn also imparts wise and provocative insights into the dynamics of academic departments and the challenges facing graduate students. This is a crisp, clear and incisive volume well deserving of a reflective reading.

David Shatz

Ronald P. Stanton University Professor of Philosophy, Ethics, And Religious Thought, Yeshiva University