As a contributing editor to Change: The Magazine of Higher Learning, I wrote 50 book review essays (reviewing 100 books!) for my column “Books Worth Reading” from 2006 through 2023. For readers with subscription access, the full text of these reviews is available at the Taylor and Francis website: http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/vchn20
2023
College Teaching Today. Review of The New College Classroom, by Cathy N. Davidson & Christina Katopodis, and What Teaching Looks Like: Higher Education through Photographs, by Cassandra Volpe Horii and Martin Springborg. Change: The Magazine of Higher Learning 55 (6), November/December, pp. 46-51. https://doi.org/10.1080/00091383.2023.2263193
Deepening Racial Equity Efforts on Campus. Review of Behind the Diversity Numbers: Achieving Racial Equity on Campus, by W. Carson Byrd, and Racial Equity on College Campuses: Connecting Research and Practice, edited by Rovel M. Johnson, Uju Anya, and Liliana M. Garces. Change: The Magazine of Higher Education 55 (4), July/August, pp. 58-64. https://doi.org/10.1080/00091383.2023.2213593
Systemic Inequity in Higher Education. Review of Breaking Ranks: How the Rankings Industry Rules Higher Education and What to Do About It, by Dolin Diver, and Broke: The Racial Consequences of Underfunding Public Universities, by Laura T. Hamilton and Kelly Neilsen. Change: The Magazine of Higher Learning 55 (2), March/April, pp. 47-52. https://doi.org/10.1080/00091383.2023.2182080
2022
Considering Higher Education’s Role in Democracy. Review of What Universities Owe Democracy, by Ronald J. Daniels, with Grant Shreve and Phillip Spector, and Creating Space for Democracy: Dialogue and Deliberation in Higher Education, edited by Nicholas V. Longo and Timothy J. Shaffer. Change: The Magazine of Higher Education 54 (6), November/December, pp.. 47-52. https://doi.org/10.1080/00091383.2022.2128060
Perspectives on Systemic Change for Thriving Postsecondary Institutions. Review of Pursuing Quality, Access, and Affordability: A Field Guide to Improving Higher Education, by Stephen C. Ehrmann; and Learning Innovation and the Future of Higher Education, by Joshua Kim and Edward Maloney. Change: The Magazine of Higher Education 54 (4), July/August, pp. 45-49. https://doi.org/10.1080/00091383.2022.2078155
Strengthening Student Relationships in College. Review of Relationship-Rich Edcuation: How Human Connections Drive Success in College, by Peter Felten and Leo M. Lambert; and The Cost of Inclusion: How Student Conformity Leads to Inequality on College Campuses, by Blake R. Silver. Change: The Magazine of Higher Learning 54 (2), March/April, pp. 47-51. https://doi.org/10.1080/00091383.2022.2030163
2021
Evaluating Educational Effectiveness. Review of Grading the College: A History of Evaluating Teaching and Learning, by Scott M. Gelber, and The Instruction Myth: Why Higher Education is Hard to Change and How to Change It, by John Tagg. Change: The Magazine of Higher Learning 53 (6), November/December, pp. 60-64. https://doi.org/10.1080/00091383.2021.1987811
University and Society. Review of The University and the Global Knowledge Society, by David John Frank and John W. Meyer, and Two Cheers for Higher Education: Why American Universities are Stronger Than Ever—and How to Meet the Challenges, by Steven Brint. Change: The Magazine of Higher Learning 53 (4), July/August, pp. 51-56. https://doi.org/10.1080/00091383.2021.1930984
Universities of the Future. Review of Alternative Universities: Speculative Design for Innovation in Higher Education, by David J. Staley, and The Empowered University: Shared Leadership, Culture Change, and Academic Success, by Freeman A. Hrabowski III, with Philip J. Rous and Peter H. Henderson. Change: The Magazine of Higher Learning 53 (2), March/April, pp. 14-17. https://doi.org/10.1080/00091383.2021.1883972
2020
Preserving Collegiate Ideals. Review of What’s the Point of College? Seeking Purpose in an Age of Reform, by Johann N. Neem, and Generous Thinking: A Radical Approach to Saving the University, by Kathleen Fitzpatrick. Change: The Magazine of Higher Learning 52 (5), September/October, pp. 44-48. https://doi.org/10.1080/00091383.2020.1807883
Helping Low-Income Students Succeed in College. Review of The Privileged Poor: How Elite Colleges are Failing Disadvantaged Students, by Anthony Abraham Jack, and Moving Up Without Losing Your Way: The Ethical Costs of Upward Mobility, by Jennifer M. Morton. Change: The Magazine of Higher Learning 52 (4), July/August, pp. 33-37. https://doi.org/10.1080/00091383.2020.1794259
What is the Sociology of Higher Education For? Review of Education in a New Society: Renewing the Sociology of Education, edited by Jal Mehta and Scott Davies, and Envisioning Public Scholarship for Our Time: Models for Higher Education Researchers, edited by Adrianna Kezar, Yianna Drivalas, and Joseph A. Kitchen. Change: The Magazine of Higher Learning 52 (3), May/June, pp. 62-66. https://doi.org/10.1080/00091383.2020.1745605
2019
Organizing Universities for Global Learning. Review of Seeing the World: How US Universities Make Knowledge in a Global Era, by Mitchell L. Stevens, Cynthia Miller-Idriss, and Seteney Shami, and Making Global Learning Universal: Promoting Inclusion and Success for All Students, by Hilary Landorf, Stephanie Doscher, and Jaffus Hardrick. Change: The Magazine of Higher Learning 51 (6), November/December, 2019, pp. 61-64. https://doi.org/10.1080/00091383.2019.1674109
Improving Working Conditions for Contingent Faculty. Review of Contingent Academic Labor: Evaluating Conditions to Improve Student Outcomes, by Daniel Davis, and Professors in the Gig Economy: Unionizing Adjunct Faculty in America, edited by Kim Tolley. Change: The Magazine of Higher Learning 51 (4), July/August, 2019, pp. 34-39. https://doi.org/10.1080/00091383.2019.1618143
What Does Higher Education Need: Revolution and/or Reform? Review of The New Education: How to Revolutionize the University to Prepare Students for a World in Flux, by Cathy N. Davidson, and The Struggle to Reform Our Colleges, by Derek Bok. Change: The Magazine of Higher Learning 51 (2), March/April, 2019, pp. 24-29. https://doi.org/10.1080/00091383.2019.1569969
2018
Improving College Teaching: Going Big and Going Small. Review of Improving How Universities Teach Science: Lessons from the Science Education Initiative, by Carol Wieman, and Small Teaching: Everyday Lessons from the Science of Learning, by James M. Lang. Change: The Magazine of Higher Learning, 50 (6), November/December, 2018, pp. 7-12.
Preparing Students for their Future Lives. Review of Practice for Life: Making Decisions in College, by Lee Cuba, Nancy Jennings, Suzanne Lovett, and Joseph Swingle, and Vocation Across the Academy: A New Vocabulary for Higher Education, edited by David S. Cunningham. Change: The Magazine of Higher Learning, 50 (1), January/February, 2018, pp. 8-13.
2017
The Plight of Public Higher Education. Review of The Great Mistake: How We Wrecked Public Universities and How We Can Fix Them, by Christopher Newfield, and Austerity Blues: Fighting for the Soul of Public Higher Education, by Michael Fabricant and Stephen Brier. Change: The Magazine of Higher Learning, 49 (5), September/October, 2017, pp. 50-56.
Quality in Undergraduate Education. Review of Improving Quality in American Higher Education: Learning Outcomes and Assessments for the 21st Century, by Richard Arum, Josipa Roksa, and Amanda Cook, and The Undergraduate Experience: Focusing Institutions on What Matters Most, by Peter Felten, John N Gardner, Charles C. Schroeder, Leo M. Lambert, and Betsy O. Barefoot. Change: The Magazine of Higher Learning, 49 (3), May-June, 2017, pp. 45-51.
Is College for Everyone? Review of Are You Smart Enough? How Colleges’ Obsession with Smartness Shortchanges Students, by Alexander W. Astin, and I Love Learning, I Hate School: An Anthropology of College, by Susan D. Blum. Change: The Magazine of Higher Learning, 49 (1), January/February, 2017, pp. 7-13.
2016
Academic Knowledge. Review of Organizing Enlightenment: Information Overlaoad and the Invention of the Modern Research University, by Chad Wellmon, and Undisciplining Knowledge: Interdisciplinarity in the Twentieth Century, by Harvey J. Graff. Change: The Magazine of Higher Learning, 48 (5), September/October 2016, pp. 64-70.
Diversity and Equity. Review of Diversity’s Promise for Higher Education: Making It Work, by Daryl G. Smith, and Engaging the ‘Race Question:’ Accountability and Equity in US Higher Education, by Alicia C. Dowd and Estela Mara Bensimon. Change: The Magazine of Higher Learning, 48 (3), May/June 2016, pp. 22-27.
Globalization and Higher Education. Review of Academic Capitalism in the Age of Globalization, ed. Brendan Cantwell and Ilkka Kauppinen, and Globalizing Knowledge: Intellectuals, Universities, and Publics in Transformation, by Michael D. Kennedy. Change: The Magazine of Higher Learning, 48 (1), January/February 2016, pp. 46-51.
2015
Faculty Governance. Review of The Rise & Decline of Faculty Governance: Professionalization and the Modern American University, by Larry G. Gerber, and Locus of Authority: The Evolution of Faculty Roles in the Governance of Higher Education, by William G. Bowen and Eugene M. Tobin. Change: The Magazine of Higher Learning, 47 (5), September/October 2015, pp. 49-54.
Knowledge in the Digital Age. Review of Teaching History in the Digital Age, by T. Mills Kelly, and Wikipedia U: Knowledge, Authority, and Liberal Education, by Thomas Leitch. Change: The Magazine of Higher Learning ,47 (3), May/June 2015, pp. 50-55.
Higher Education and Society. Review of The Relevance of Higher Education: Exploring a Contested Notion, edited by Timothy L. Simpson, and Ebony & Ivy: Race, Slavery, and the Troubled History of America’s Universities, by Craig Steven Wilder. Change: The Magazine of Higher Learning, 47 (1) January/February, 2015, pp. 46-50.
2014
Longitudinal Studies of the Undergraduate Experience. Review of How Colleges Work, by Daniel F. Chambliss and Christopher G. Takacs, and Paying for the Party: How College Maintains Inequality, by Elizabeth A. Armstrong and Laura T. Hamilton. Change: The Magazine of Higher Learning, 46 (5), September/October 2014, pp. 52-56.
Perspectives on the College Cost Crisis. Review of Stretching the Higher Education Dollar: How Innovation Can Improve Access, Equity, and Affordability, edited by Andrew P. Kelly and Kevin Carey, and The Checklist for Change: Making American Higher Education a Sustainable Enterprise, by Robert Zemsky. Change: The Magazine of Higher Learning, 46 (3), May/June 2014, pp. 18-23.
Close-Up Views of College Teaching. Review of Inside the Undergraduate Teaching Experience: The University of Washington’s Growth in Faculty Teaching Study, by Catharine Hoffman Beyer, Edward Taylor, and Gerald M. Gillmore, and Making Scientists: Six Principles for Effective College Teaching, by Gregory Light and Marina Micari. Change: The Magazine of Higher Learning, 46 (1) January/February, 2014, pp. 58-62.
2013
The Completion Agenda. Review of Getting to Graduation: The Completion Agenda in Higher Education, edited by Andrew P. Kelly and Mark Schneider, and Completing College: Rethinking Institutional Action, by Vincent Tinto. Change: The Magazine of Higher Learning, 45 (5), 2013 September/October, pp. 60-64.
Review of Generation on a Tightrope: A Portrait of Today’s College Student, by Arthur Levine and Diane R. Dean, and What the Best College Students Do, by Ken Bain. Change: The Magazine of Higher Learning, 45 (3), May/June 2013, pp. 34-39.
Review of Unlocking the Gates: How and Why Leading Universities Are Opening Up Access to Their Courses, by Taylor Walsh, and Teaching Naked: How Moving Technology Out of Your College Classroom Will Improve Student Learning, by Jose Antonio Bowen. Change: The Magazine of Higher Learning, 45 (2), January/February 2013, pp. 67-72.
2012
Review of Financing American Higher Education in the Era of Globalization, by William Zumeta, David W. Breneman, Patrick M. Callan, and Joni E. Finney, and College: What It Was, Is, and Should Be, by Andrew Delbanco. Change: The Magazine of Higher Learning, 44 (5), September/October 2012, pp. 53-57.
Review of Higher Education and Democracy: Essays on Service-Learning and Civic Engagement, by John Saltmarsh and Edward Zlotkowski, and “To Serve a Larger Purpose:” Engagement for Democracy and the Transformation of Higher Education, Edited by John Saltmarsh and Matthew Hartley. Change: The Magazine of Higher Learning, 44 (3), May/June 2012, pp. 69-72.
Review of Degrees of Inequality: Culture, Class and Gender in American Higher Education, by Ann L. Mullen, and Inside the College Gates: How Class and Culture Matter in Higher Education, by Jenny M. Stuber. Change: The Magazine of Higher Learning, 44 (1), January/February 2012, pp. 39-42.
2011
Review of Literary Study, Measurement, and the Sublime: Disciplinary Assessment, edited by Donna Heiland and Laura J. Rosenthal, and Coming to Terms with Student Outcomes Assessment, edited by Peggy L. Maki. Change: The Magazine of Higher Learning, 43 (5), September/October 2011, pp. 53-57.
Review of Cultivating the Spirit: How College Can Enhance Students’ Inner Lives, by Alexander W. Astin, Helen S. Astin, and Jennifer A. Lindholm, and Helping College Students Find Purpose: The Campus Guide to Meaning-Making, by Robert J. Nash and Michele C. Murray. Change: The Magazine of Higher Learning, 43 (3) May/June, 2011, pp. 60-64.
Review of Twentieth-Century Higher Education: Elite to Mass to Universal, by Martin Trow, edited by Michael Burrage, and Higher Education in a Global Society, edited by D. Bruce Johnstone, Madeleine B. D’Ambrosio, and Paul J. Yakobski. Change: The Magazine of Higher Learning, 43 (1), January/February 2011, pp. 50-53.
2010
Review of The Great Brain Race: How Global Universities are Reshaping the World, by Ben Wildavsky, and The Challenge of Bologna: What United States Higher Education Has to Learn from Europe, and Why It Matters That We Learn It, by Paul L. Gaston. Change: The Magazine of Higher Learning, 42 (5), September-October 2010, pp. 47-49.
Review of Professing to Learn: Creating Tenured Lives and Careers in the American Research University, by Anna Neumann, and How Professors Think: Inside the Curious World of Academic Judgment, by Michele Lamont. Change: The Magazine of Higher Learning, 42 (3), May-June 2010, pp.47-50.
Review of Creating a Class: College Admissions and The Education of Elites, by Mitchell L. Stevens, and Taming the River: Negotiating the Academic, Financial, and social Currents in Selective Colleges and Universities, by Camille Z. Charles, Mary J. Fischer, Margarita A. Mooney, and Douglas S. Massey. Change: The Magazine of Higher Learning, 42 (1), January/February 2010, pp. 57-60.
2009
Review of A Great Idea at the Time: The Rise, Fall, and Curious Afterlife of the Great Books, by Alex Beam, and Racing Odysseus: A College President Becomes a Freshman Again, by Roger Martin. Change: The Magazine of Higher Learning, 41 (3), May/June 2009, pp. 59-62
Review of From Higher Aims to Hired Hands: The Social Transformation of American Business Schools and the Unfulfilled Promise of Management as a Profession, by Rakesh Khurana, and Ahead of the Curve: Two Years at the Harvard Business School, by Philip Delves Broughton. Change: The Magazine of Higher Learning, 41 (1):(1), January/February 2009, pp. 44-47.
2008
Review of Defending the Community College Agenda, ed. Thomas Bailey and Vanessa Smith Morest, and Minding the Dream: The Process and Practice of the American Community College, by Gail O. Mellow and Cynthia Heelan. Change: The Magazine of Higher Learning, 40 (5), September/October 2008, pp. 63-66.
Review of The Courage to Teach: Exploring the Inner Landscape of a Teacher’s Life (10th Anniversary Edition), by Parker J. Palmer, and Enhancing Learning Through the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning: The Challenges and Joys of Juggling, by Kathleen McKinney. Change: The Magazine of Higher Learning, 40 (3), May/June 2008, pp. 53-56.
Review of Sociology of Higher Education: Contributions and Their Contexts, ed. Patricia J. Gumport, and Privilege and Diversity in the Academy, by Frances A. Maher and Mary Kay Thompson Tetreault. Change: The Magazine of Higher Learning, 40 (1), January/February 2008, pp. 51-54.
2007
Review of Academic Charisma and the Origins of the Research University, by William Clark, and Rethinking Faculty Work: Higher Education’s Strategic Imperative, by Judith M. Gappa, Ann E. Austin, and Andrea G. Trice. Change: The Magazine of Higher Learning, 39 (5), September/October, 2007, pp. 54-57.
Review of Powers of the Mind: The Reinvention of Liberal Learning in America, by Donald N. Levine, and Making Teaching and Learning visible: Course Portfolios and the Peer Review of Teaching, by Daniel Bernstein, Amy Nelson Burnett, Amy Goodburn, and Paul Savory. Change: The Magazine of Higher Learning, 39 (3), May/June 2007, pp. 54-56.
Review of The American Faculty: The Restructuring of Academic Work and Careers, by Jack H. Schuster and Martin J. Finkelstein, and Life on the Tenure Track: Lessons from the First Year, by James M. Lang. Change: The Magazine of Higher Learning, 39 (1), January/February 2007, pp.52-54.
2006
Review of Our Underachieving Colleges: A Candid Look at How Much Students Learn and Why They Should be Learning More, by Derek Bok, and My Freshman Year: What a Professor Learned by Becoming a Student, by Rebekah Nathan. Change: The Magazine of Higher Learning, 38 (5), September/October 2006, pp.48-51.