Exile at Small-Time U: Essays from the Trenches of Non-Elite Academia

This book is about what it’s like to be a professor in the humanities at non-elite universities and colleges. In a series of autobiographical snapshots from 19 full-time professors from around the United States (and two foreign institutions), the present work explores the changes occurring at regional state universities and poorly endowed private colleges in the last several decades. These changes are a historical phenomenon as much as they are personally and professionally impactful. Through this set of first-person perspectives on these changes, readers will come to better understand the current state of the modern university. Current graduate students in the humanities, undergraduates contemplating graduate school, and their advisors will find their experiences and potential futures reflected in these essays.

Douglas Higbee is a professor of English at the University of South Carolina, Aiken. He is the editor of The Oswald Review.