Contemporary Colleges and Universities: A Reader

Today’s colleges and universities face countless uncharted challenges and possibilities. They are often prized as national treasures, yet, in tough economic times, they are becoming a major focus of contestation and controversy. This richly comprehensive survey takes a frank look at both polarities of the puzzles of academe. Presenting multiple perspectives on a wide array of crucial issues, the book features realistic representations of students, faculty, curriculum, administration, and the socio-cultural conditions that shape higher education. The incisive essays are written by practitioners on the front lines of the academy’s battle to validate and sustain its core principles in a complex, rapidly evolving world. They afford valuable insights into the postsecondary scene for all who seek to nurture its development in these uncertain, troubled times. The text will appeal to students, faculty, administrators, student life professionals, and policymakers who shape human potential. In the end it will leave them with sobering thoughts about the present and future of higher education, an institution that still warrants their constant care and vigilance.

Joseph L. DeVitis is Visiting Professor of Educational Foundations and Higher Education at Old Dominion University. Recipient of the Distinguished Alumni Award from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, he is a past president of the American Educational Studies Association (AESA), the Council of Learned Societies in Education, and the Society of Professors of Education. Author or editor of 14 books, he has written extensively on moral development, liberal education, and collegiate service-learning. His most recent books are a series of notable readers for Peter Lang Publishing: Critical Civic Literacy (2011); Character and Moral Education, edited with Tianlong Yu (2011); and Adolescent Education (2010), edited with Linda Irwin-DeVitis. The latter two books won Critics Choice Awards from AESA as outstanding books of the year.