Interesting Reading

See below, and remember, we are doubling as Dr. E's Greening Tips for the Common Person Blog:

Greetings from SJG – The Spelman & Johnson Group!

It is officially summer! Summer is the best time to kick off your shoes and relax with a good book. Here are a few of SJG’s suggested books to add to your summer reading list – they are available online and through your local independent bookseller or public library.

In Defense of a Liberal Education
Author:  Fareed Zakaria
Publisher:  W.W. Norton & Company, Inc., March 2015

Zakaria eloquently expounds on the virtues of a liberal arts education—how to write clearly, how to express yourself convincingly, and how to think analytically. He turns our leaders’ vocational argument on its head. American routine manufacturing jobs continue to get automated or outsourced, and specific vocational knowledge is often outdated within a few years. Engineering is a great profession, but key value-added skills you will also need are creativity, lateral thinking, design, communication, storytelling, and, more than anything, the ability to continually learn and enjoy learning—precisely the gifts of a liberal education.

The Department Chair as Transformative Diversity Leader: Building Inclusive Learning Environments in Higher Education
Authors:  Edna Chun and Alvin Evans
Publisher:  Stylus Publishing, April 2015

This book examines the multidimensional contributions that chairs make in advancing diversity within their departments and institutions in the representation of diverse faculty and staff; in tenure and promotion; curricular change; student learning outcomes; and departmental climate. Using qualitative and quantitative research methods, the book analyzes predominant structural and behavioral barriers that can impede diversity progress within the academic department. It then focuses upon the opportunities and challenges chairs face in their collaborative journey with faculty and administration toward inclusive departmental and institutional practices. Each chapter provides concrete strategies that chairs can use to strengthen diversity in the academic department.

Building Academic Leadership Capacity: A Guide to Best Practices
Authors:  Walter H. Gmelch and Jeffrey L. Buller
Publisher:  Jossey-Bass, February 2015

A clear, systematic road map to effective campus leadership development, Building Academic Leadership Capacity gives institutions the knowledge they need to invest in the next generation of academic leaders. With a clear, systematic approach, this book provides insight into the elements of successful academic leadership and the training that makes it effective. Readers will explore original research that facilitates systematic, continuous program development, augmented by the authors’ own insight drawn from experience establishing such programs. Numerous examples of current campus programs illustrate the concepts in action, and reflection questions lead readers to assess how they can apply these concepts to their own programs.