The Future of American Higher Education

"Joseph DeVitis’s The Future of American Higher Education: How Today’s Public Intellectuals Frame the Debate is an extensive review of the myriad crises facing American higher education through the eyes of public intellectuals who have taken on the academy and society writ large. It is a compelling compilation that inspires readers and contemporary scholars to take up their own role as public intellectuals as we work to challenge and re-envision the academy toward the ever-changing public good. An array of topics includes deliberative democracy, neoliberal higher education, affirmative action, activism, consumer demand, ethics and equity, and the role of the public intellectual in their own right. This book is ideal for any course on American higher education as it takes up important topics facing the historical present through the work of public intellectuals including university presidents and highly visible scholars within and outside of the field of higher education."

Penny A. Pasque

Professor of Educational Studies and Director of Qualitative Methods at Ohio State University

“By focusing on public intellectuals through the lenses of a rich array of scholars in their own right, Joe DeVitis captures the complexity and struggles of modern-day higher education. Are colleges and universities headed down the rabbit’s warren as they negotiate larger economic, social, and political goals and their own educational and intellectual purposes? Reasonable minds will disagree about how the academy should balance these interests. The Future of American Higher Education: How Today’s Public Intellectuals Frame the Debate is a compelling, lively, and thought-provoking read—and it could not have come at a better time in light of the many existential pressures surrounding higher education.”

Jonathan Brand

President, Cornell College

"This is a 'must read' book for anyone concerned about the state of contemporary higher education as it relates to the broader social, economic, and political realities within which it is embedded. Cutting across many of the essays are hard hitting critiques of persistent problems such as systemic racism and income inequality that are inadequately addressed by, and too often reproduced within, our colleges and universities. Collectively, the essays are engaging, thought-provoking, and worth broad attention, both inside and outside of the academy."

Dorothy Leland

Chancellor Emerita, Professor of Information and Cognitive Sciences, University of California, Merced

“I came to the United States for its 'superior' colleges and universities and have been working here for the past twenty years, witnessing and sharing the trials and tribulations they face. This book not only helps me better understand their struggles; it also sheds light on how we can unshackle them toward fuller imagination and creativity. The engaging minds of the public intellectuals so compellingly illumined by DeVitis and his collaborators present a promising road map for the renewal and transformation of the American academy.”

Tian Yu

Professor and Chair, Department of Educational Leadership, Southern Illinois University Edwardsville

"At this pivotal moment when much of higher education is in economic and political crisis and public trust in it has been eroded, this book offers a robust entry point for considering the options and directions ahead for those interested in the future of American colleges and universities. The text will be valuable to graduate students and faculty and higher education leaders by stimulating debate about critical issues and introducing readers to seminal thinkers in the field."

The American Educational Studies Association