The Public Professor


Book Description

The work of academics can matter and be influential on a public level, but the path to becoming a public intellectual, influential policy advisor, valued community resource or go-to person on an issue is not one that most scholars are trained for. The Public Professor offers scholars ways to use their ideas, research and knowledge to change the world. The book gives practical strategies for scholars to become more engaged with the public on a variety of fronts: online, in print, at council hearings, even with national legislation. Lee Badgett, a veteran policy analyst and public intellectual with over 25 years of experience connecting cutting edge research with policymakers and the public, offers clear and practical advice to scholars looking to engage with the world outside of academia. She shows scholars how to see the big picture, master communicating with new audiences, and build strategic professional networks. Learn how to find and develop relationships with the people who can take your research and ideas into places scholars rarely go, and who can get you into Congressional hearings, on NPR, or into the pages of The New York Times. Turn your knowledge into clear and compelling messages to use in interviews, blog posts, tweets and op-eds. Written for both new and experienced scholars and drawing on examples and advice from the lives of influential academics, the book provides the skills, resources, and tools to put ideas into action.




The Last Lecture


Book Description

The author, a computer science professor diagnosed with terminal cancer, explores his life, the lessons that he has learned, how he has worked to achieve his childhood dreams, and the effect of his diagnosis on him and his family.




The Public Professor


Book Description




The Professor Is In


Book Description

The definitive career guide for grad students, adjuncts, post-docs and anyone else eager to get tenure or turn their Ph.D. into their ideal job Each year tens of thousands of students will, after years of hard work and enormous amounts of money, earn their Ph.D. And each year only a small percentage of them will land a job that justifies and rewards their investment. For every comfortably tenured professor or well-paid former academic, there are countless underpaid and overworked adjuncts, and many more who simply give up in frustration. Those who do make it share an important asset that separates them from the pack: they have a plan. They understand exactly what they need to do to set themselves up for success. They know what really moves the needle in academic job searches, how to avoid the all-too-common mistakes that sink so many of their peers, and how to decide when to point their Ph.D. toward other, non-academic options. Karen Kelsky has made it her mission to help readers join the select few who get the most out of their Ph.D. As a former tenured professor and department head who oversaw numerous academic job searches, she knows from experience exactly what gets an academic applicant a job. And as the creator of the popular and widely respected advice site The Professor is In, she has helped countless Ph.D.’s turn themselves into stronger applicants and land their dream careers. Now, for the first time ever, Karen has poured all her best advice into a single handy guide that addresses the most important issues facing any Ph.D., including: -When, where, and what to publish -Writing a foolproof grant application -Cultivating references and crafting the perfect CV -Acing the job talk and campus interview -Avoiding the adjunct trap -Making the leap to nonacademic work, when the time is right The Professor Is In addresses all of these issues, and many more.




Slow Professor


Book Description

In The Slow Professor, Maggie Berg and Barbara K. Seeber discuss how adopting the principles of the Slow movement in academic life can counter the erosion of humanistic education.




The Truth About Dietary Supplements


Book Description

So you're taking all the popular supplements-great! But are they really helping? Is your health actually improving? Or could these supplements be harming you? Taking dietary supplements can be good for us―when we need them. But many are unnecessary, and some producers make outsized claims while using suspect means of production. This book does not advocate against supplement use. It's a call for clarity and sanity on the subject to prevent misuse. Mahtab Jafari, Professor of Pharmaceutical Sciences at UC Irvine, has distilled decades of clinical experience and laboratory research in her one-of-a-kind guide. The Truth About Dietary Supplements: An Evidence-Based Guide to a Safe Medicine Cabinet provides insight into this largely unregulated industry and empowers you to avoid getting swindled in your pursuit of good health. Maybe it started quite simply. A multivitamin to keep the reserve tanks full. Then a tincture or tablet to improve sleep, boost energy, or gain an edge. Maybe an appetite suppressant to help shed that last ten pounds. And now you find yourself with an expensive habit and a medicine cabinet filled to the brim with magic bullets that leave you feeling no better than before you started―or maybe even worse. It doesn't have to be this way! In The Truth About Dietary Supplements, you'll learn: A few basic facts about dietary supplements―Who makes them? Who sells them? Who is regulating them? Why we may need to take supplements The science behind supplements, both real and contrived The role the media plays in our education about dietary supplements The truth about pet supplements―Yes, your pets are at risk too! How to assess what you truly need and assure the quality of the supplements you take What to ask your healthcare provider to ensure you're making the right choices This thorough guide also contains a robust appendix about the scientific evidence on dietary supplements and COVID-19 to help you navigate this new minefield of misinformation. Stop wasting money on pills and potions that are useless, or even dangerous! Dodge the hype-mongers and arm yourself with the facts and information you need to make informed decisions. Learn The Truth About Dietary Supplements today!




A Federal Right to Education


Book Description

How the United States can provide equal educational opportunity to every child The United States Supreme Court closed the courthouse door to federal litigation to narrow educational funding and opportunity gaps in schools when it ruled in San Antonio Independent School District v. Rodriguez in 1973 that the Constitution does not guarantee a right to education. Rodriguez pushed reformers back to the state courts where they have had some success in securing reforms to school funding systems through education and equal protection clauses in state constitutions, but far less success in changing the basic structure of school funding in ways that would ensure access to equitable and adequate funding for schools. Given the limitations of state school funding litigation, education reformers continue to seek new avenues to remedy inequitable disparities in educational opportunity and achievement, including recently returning to federal court. This book is the first comprehensive examination of three issues regarding a federal right to education: why federal intervention is needed to close educational opportunity and achievement gaps; the constitutional and statutory legal avenues that could be employed to guarantee a federal right to education; and, the scope of what a federal right to education should guarantee. A Federal Right to Education provides a timely and thoughtful analysis of how the United States could fulfill its unmet promise to provide equal educational opportunity and the American Dream to every child, regardless of race, class, language proficiency, or neighborhood.




Hope for Democracy


Book Description

Concerned citizens across the globe fear that democratic institutions are failing them. Citizens feel shut out of politics and worry that politicians are no longer responsive to their interests. In Hope for Democracy, John Gastil and Katherine R. Knobloch introduce new tools for tamping down hyper-partisanship and placing citizens at the heart of the democratic process. They showcase the Citizens' Initiative Review, which convenes a demographically-balanced random sample of citizens to study statewide ballot measures. Citizen panelists interrogate advocates, opponents, and experts, then write an analysis that distills their findings for voters. Gastil and Knobloch reveal how this process has helped voters better understand the policy issues placed on their ballots. Placed in the larger context of deliberative democratic reforms, Hope for Democracy shows how citizens and public officials can work together to bring more rationality and empathy into modern politics.




Professor Berman


Book Description

"'Professor Berman' provides a unique and conversational contribution to Minnesota history and a revealing memoir of the late University of Minnesota professor, Hy Berman, who was one of the state's most well-known and beloved political observers. The book is a collection of Berman's stories that have been gathered and curated by longtime Twin Cities journalist, Jay Weiner. From Berman's life as a young Communist to his friendship with, and political advising to Governor Rudy Perpich, from his brush with some of the 20th century's top historians to his groundbreaking lectures in 1980s China, from his close, personal understanding of Hubert Humphrey to his rejection of esoteric scholarship, 'Professor Berman' is a conversational self-portrait of the incomparable University of Minnesota historian, Hy Berman"--




Today's Health Care Issues


Book Description

This book provides a comprehensive introduction to significant U.S. health policy controversies, including Democratic and Republican responses to the coronavirus pandemic. It explores partisan divisions, major challenges, and policy preferences of key Democratic and Republican stakeholders. This volume provides readers with a broad overview of a variety of issues in contemporary health policy that span health care reform, health insurance, pharmaceuticals, public health, health care for underserved populations, and responses to the COVID-19 pandemic. The book explores the politics of each issue, drawing upon historical evidence, legislative research, public opinion polls, and the views of key decision makers from both Democratic and Republican perspectives. This coverage provides readers with a clear sense of how policymakers from each party think about the issues involved. This resource devotes special attention to the COVID-19 public health crisis, providing authoritative coverage of the actions, rhetoric, and policy choices of President Trump and his administration, governors across the nation, and leaders of Congress from both parties. This chapter, like all others in the book, is written so that it is accessible to readers from a variety of audience levels, including students and general readers.