エピソード

  • Teacher by Teacher: The People Who Change Our Lives
    2025/08/07
    Teacher By Teacher traces the journey of the tenth U.S. Secretary of Education and is a deeply personal love letter to all the teachers in our lives. The story of John B. King Jr.’s inspiring path to President Obama’s Cabinet begins the day that his mother died. He insisted on going to school that day, knowing he would find comfort in his classroom. As he navigated living alone with a father dying from undiagnosed Alzheimer’s, it was public school teachers who saved his life, believed in him and saw his potential. They made school a safe, supportive, and engaging place where he could be a kid despite the challenges at home. While some might have dismissed a rebellious young Black and Puerto Rican teen whose life was in crisis, King’s teachers and counselors gave him a second chance. He went on to earn degrees from Harvard, Columbia, and Yale and committed his career to trying to do for other young people what educators did for him. Teacher By Teacher shows how dedicated educators—both Dr. King’s own teachers and the phenomenal teachers who he has encountered throughout his career as a teacher, principal, and education policymaker—can profoundly shape the lives of their students. Our guest is: Dr. John B. King Jr., who served in President Barack Obama’s cabinet as the tenth U.S. Secretary of Education. Over the course of his influential career in public education, he has been a high school teacher, a middle school principal, the first African American and Puerto Rican to serve as New York State Education Commissioner, a college professor, the president and CEO of the Education Trust, and the chancellor of the State University of New York (SUNY). His parents were career New York City public school educators. He lives in Brooklyn with his wife, an education researcher and former teacher, and his two daughters. Our host is: Dr. Christina Gessler, who works as a writing coach and developmental editor. She is the producer of the Academic Life podcast, and the author of the Academic Life newsletter found at christinagessler.substack.com. Playlist for listeners: A Pedagogy of Kindness We Are Not Dreamers The Power of Play in Education Belonging : The Science of Creating Connection Show Them You're Good How Schools Make Race Welcome to Academic Life, the podcast for your academic journey—and beyond! Join us again to learn from more experts inside and outside the academy, and around the world. Missed any of the 275+ Academic Life episodes? Find them here. And thank you for listening! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
    続きを読む 一部表示
    51 分
  • Dan-el Padilla Peralta, "Classicism and Other Phobias" (Princeton UP, 2025)
    2025/07/30
    Classicism and Other Phobias (Princeton University Press, 2025) shows how the concept of “classicism” lacks the capacity to affirm the aesthetic value of Black life and asks whether a different kind of classicism—one of insurgence, fugitivity, and emancipation—is possible. Engaging with the work of Sylvia Wynter and other trailblazers in Black studies while drawing on his own experiences as a Black classicist, Dan-el Padilla Peralta situates the history of the classics in the racial and settler-colonialist settings of early modern and modern Europe and North America. He argues that immortalizing ancient Greek and Roman authors as “the classical” comes at the cost of devaluing Black forms of expression. Is a newfound emphasis on Black classicism the most effective counter to this phobia? In search of answers, Padilla Peralta ranges from the poetry of Juan de Castellanos to the writings of W.E.B. Du Bois and paintings by contemporary artists Kehinde Wiley and Harmonia Rosales. Based on the prestigious W.E.B. Du Bois Lectures delivered at Harvard University, Classicism and Other Phobias draws necessary attention to the inability of the classics as a field of study to fully cope with Blackness and Black people. Dan-el Padilla Peralta is professor of classics at Princeton University. Caleb Zakarin is editor of the New Books Network. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
    続きを読む 一部表示
    51 分
  • The Entrepreneurial Scholar: A New Mindset for Success in Academia and Beyond
    2025/07/24
    In the increasingly competitive world of academia, simply mastering your discipline is no longer enough to guarantee career success or personal fulfillment. The Entrepreneurial Scholar: A New Mindset for Success in Academia and Beyond (Princeton UP, 2025) challenges scholars at all stages—from doctoral students to tenured professors—to break free from conventional academic pathways by adopting an entrepreneurial mindset. What opportunities can you create based on who you are, what you know, and who you know?Drawing on her experiences in higher education, start-ups, and management consulting, as well as interviews with a range of academics and entrepreneurs, Professor Ilana Horwitz provides a road map for those stifled by traditional academic norms and expectations. This book calls on scholars to create ideas—not just consume them. It offers strategies to thrive in academia with limited resources and in the face of uncertainty. Embracing an entrepreneurial mindset entails viewing yourself as a knowledge producer, enhancing collaboration, creatively identifying resources, and effectively sharing your ideas. Dr. Horwitz empowers all scholars—particularly women and first-generation, low-income, and BIPOC individuals—to see themselves as proactive agents in their educational and career trajectories, despite structural constraints, unclear expectations, or unresponsive advisors. With actionable advice, real-world applications, and inspiring success stories, this guide is vital for anyone aspiring to excel within and beyond the ivory tower. Our guest is: Dr. Ilana M. Horwitz, who is assistant professor of Jewish studies and sociology and the Fields-Rayant Chair in Contemporary Jewish Life at Tulane University. She is also the author of God, Grades, and Graduation: Religion’s Surprising Impact on Academic Success. Our host is: Dr. Christina Gessler, who is the creator of the Academic Life podcast. She works as grad student coach and developmental editor for scholars in the humanities and social sciences. She writes the Academic Life newsletter, now available at christinagessler.substack.com. Playlist: The Connected PhD Part One Leading from the Margins My What-If Year: Internships As Career Exploration Hope for the Humanities PhD Making a "Junk Drawer" CV Lessons in Launching An Online Conference Before And After The Book Deal Make Your Art No Matter What Welcome to Academic Life, the podcast for your academic journey—and beyond! You can help support the show by sharing episodes, and by following the Academic Life newsletter at christinagessler.substack.com. Join us again to learn from more experts inside and outside the academy, and around the world. Missed any of the 275+ Academic Life episodes? Find them here. And thank you for listening! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
    続きを読む 一部表示
    1 時間
  • How ClioVis is Transforming Education and Historical Research
    2025/07/19
    Today I’m speaking with Marcus Golding, historian and Director of Educational Operations at ClioVis. ClioVis is an incredible software and learning tool that allows educators and studies to create digital timelines, network visualizations, and interactive presentations. Founded by UT Austin history professor Erika Bsumek, ClioVis is made for professors and teachers by current professors and scholars. I’m thrilled to get the chance today to speak with Marcus about this software to share with our listeners how they can enhance their own work and teaching. Visit ClioVis' website to learn more: Click Here Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
    続きを読む 一部表示
    22 分
  • Overcoming ABD Pitfalls: Tips for Getting Unstuck
    2025/07/17
    The ABD [All But Dissertation] phase can either feel liberating—no more coursework or comps!—or like the floor has dropped out. The scaffolding that prepared you for being a graduate assistant, passing comps or conducting your research gives way to a new, wide open space where you are just supposed to write. While some people will flourish in this unstructured writing space, others are left playing detective—how do you know when to approach advisors for feedback? How many times can you ask them to read something—and how far in advance should you ask? How long is the finished dissertation supposed to be? The writing and revisions phase can become a path paved with uncertainty—and an unhealthy desire to overperform. If a good dissertation is just a done dissertation, what can students who can’t find [or afford] a dissertation coach do? In this episode, Dr. Ramon Goings joins Dr. Christina Gessler to share practical strategies they each use when coaching students from ABD to PhD. These actionable tips can help whether you want to create a dissertation-writing support group, seek a writing partner, or go it alone. Our guest is: Dr. Ramon Goings, who is associate professor and Acting Director of the Language, Literacy, and Culture doctoral program. Dr. Goings is the author of over 50 scholarly publications including four books. He served as the Editor-In-Chief of the Journal of African American Males in Education from 2017-2020, was named a 2017 Emerging Scholar by Diverse: Issues in Higher Education, received the 2016 College Board Professional Fellowship, and was a fellow with the White House Initiative on Educational Excellence for African Americans. He holds a Doctor of Education degree. Our host is: Dr. Christina Gessler, who works as a dissertation and grad student coach, and a developmental editor for humanities scholars at all stages of their careers. Playlist for listeners: Your PhD Survival Guide Get PhDone: Strategies for tackling your writing roadblocks PhDing While Parenting The Good Enough Life Graduate Employability Field Guide to Grad School Graduate School Myths and Misconceptions Managing Your Mental Health During Your PhD Becoming the Writer You Already Are Being Well in Academia: A Conversation About Challenges and Connections Welcome to Academic Life, the podcast for your academic journey—and beyond! Join us again to learn from more experts inside and outside the academy, and around the world. Missed any of the 275+ Academic Life episodes? Find them here. And get free bonus content on Christina Gessler PhD’s Substack. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
    続きを読む 一部表示
    53 分
  • Alexander Lian, "Stereoscopic Law: Oliver Wendell Holmes and Legal Education" (Cambridge UP, 2020)
    2025/07/13
    A unique and thorough work of intellectual history and legal scholarship Stereoscopic Law: Oliver Wendell Holmes and Legal Education (Cambridge University Press, 2020) by Alexander Lian, a practicing commercial litigator, reconstructs Oliver Wendell Holmes’ as a pioneering legal pedagogue and sophisticated theoretician of law and the ‘reality of practice’. Lian advances the thesis that the most famous article in American jurisprudence, Oliver Wendell Holmes's “The Path of the Law,” presents Holmes' perspective on legal education. Through meticulous analysis, Lian cogently shows that Holmes’ ‘theory of legal study’ broke down artificial barriers between theory and practice. For contemporary legal educators—and anyone interested in the history of America’s legal tradition—Stereoscopic Law reformulates Holmes’ fundamental message: the law must be seen, taught, and practiced three-dimensionally. Alexandar Lian practices commercial litigation in Miami, FL. Since 2008, he has been a solo practitioner. Alexander Lian is a graduate of both the Graduate and Law Schools of Vanderbilt University. He has represented clients in a variety of contested matters ranging from high dollar contract disputes and real property disputes to the prosecution and collection of large judgments totaling in the millions. He is also a Florida Supreme Court Qualified Arbitrator and, formerly, president of COLBAR (Colombian American Bar Association). Ayushi Singh is a graduate student at IIT Gandhinagar, India. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
    続きを読む 一部表示
    37 分
  • Tom Waidzunas et al., "Out Doing Science: LGBTQ STEM Professionals and Inclusion in Neoliberal Times" (UMass Press, 2025)
    2025/07/11
    Over the past 50 years, lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer professionals have organized to achieve greater inclusion into the fields of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). This inclusion, however, has come at a cost. In the 1970s, these professionals sought to radically transform STEM fields by confronting the homophobia and sexism embedded within them. Instead, these fields became more corporatized and privatized, and STEM institutions and workspaces—particularly in the spheres of government and business—became dominated by a focus on individualism, self-improvement/advancement, and meritocracy, which are hallmarks of neoliberalism. For many LGBTQ STEM professionals, inclusion now required becoming more apolitical, pro-capital, and focused on professional development.In Out Doing Science: LGBTQ STEM Professionals and Inclusion in Neoliberal Times (University of Massachusetts Press, 2025), Dr. Tom Waidzunas, Dr. Ethan Czuy Levine, and Dr. Brandon Fairchild explore this transformation of LGBTQ STEM professionals from oppositional outsiders to assimilationist insiders. Drawing on historical archives, oral interviews, and participant observation of professional societies and workspaces, the authors interrogate the meanings of “inclusion” and why some LGBTQ STEM professionals have benefited from it more than others. They also advocate for a “queer STEM” that challenges and transforms the racism, classism, sexism, cisheterosexism, and imperialism of these fields, institutions, and workspaces. Written in an accessible and engaging style, Out Doing Science will appeal to readers interested in LGBTQ studies, and science and technology studies, as well as anyone who wants to create a more diverse and inclusive work environment. This interview was conducted by Dr. Miranda Melcher whose book focuses on post-conflict military integration, understanding treaty negotiation and implementation in civil war contexts, with qualitative analysis of the Angolan and Mozambican civil wars. You can find Miranda’s interviews on New Books with Miranda Melcher, wherever you get your podcasts. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
    続きを読む 一部表示
    1 時間 6 分
  • Steve Haberlin, "Meditation in the College Classroom: A Pedagogical Tool to Help Students De-Stress, Focus, and Connect" (Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, 2023).
    2025/07/06
    This book provides background, strategies, and tips for higher education faculty and instructors interested in incorporating meditation in their classrooms. The work is based on research involving introducing brief meditation practices to college students and developing a detailed guide. Readers will learn how to develop their own meditation practice as an academic, to set the stage of introducing practice to students, to create ideal conditions for meditation in the classroom, specific, classroom-friendly meditation methods, ways to advance meditation practice with students and keep it interesting, and how to spread the culture of meditation across campus. Guest: Steve Haberlin, PhD (he/him), is an assistant professor of curriculum and instruction in the College of Community Innovation and Education at University of Central Florida. He is the author of two books with Rowman & Littlefield: Meditation in the College Classroom (2022) and Awakening to Educational Supervision (2023). His research focuses on the practical use of meditation and mindfulness and current and future uses of technology in meditative practice. Prior to earning his PhD in Education, he spent ten years teaching elementary and middle school students in Tampa, Florida. Host: Jenna Pittman (she/her), a Ph.D. student in the Department of History at Duke University. She studies modern European history, political economy, and Germany from 1945-1990. Scholars@Duke: https://scholars.duke.edu/pers... Linktree: https://linktr.ee/jennapittman Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
    続きを読む 一部表示
    42 分