The Undergraduate Experience: Focusing Institutions on What Matters Most
Peter Felten, John N. Gardner, Charles C. Schroeder, et al.
(Jossey-Bass, 2016)

This new book helps administrators identify practices that fragment the undergraduate student experience and offers ideas about how to create an integrated learning paradigm that aligns budgetary decisions with mission. The authors draw on a range of examples when discussing six areas on which successful institutions focus: learning, relationships, expectations, alignment, improvement, and leadership. They recommend leaders adopt George Kuh’s notion of “positive restlessness” to improve campus culture by allowing for discussion and encouraging initiative and innovation.

There Is Life after College: What Parents and Students Should Know about Navigating School to Prepare for the Jobs of Tomorrow
Jeffrey J. Selingo
(HarperCollins, 2016)

For his latest book, author, columnist, and former editor of the Chronicle of Higher Education Jeffery J. Selingo commissioned a survey of 752 young adults, which he then categorized into three groups of roughly equal size: “sprinters,” “wanderers,” and “stragglers.” Sprinters pursue lucrative jobs immediately after graduating from college, wanderers experiment with multiple fields and take longer to find a suitable career path, and stragglers either do not finish or take much longer to graduate from college and have trouble finding higher-paid work. Although Selingo argues that liberal arts education is the best preparation for future jobs, he underscores the importance of developing industry-specific skills. He touts the value of tech-training programs, community college and two-year degrees, and gap years.

The Power of Integrated Learning: Higher Education for Success in Life, Work, and Society
William M. Sullivan
(Stylus, 2016)

William M. Sullivan, senior scholar at the Center for Inquiry in the Liberal Arts at Wabash College (IN), offers ideas about how colleges and universities can effectively prepare graduates for a rapidly changing economy and answer questions from students, parents, and employers about the return on investment and outcomes of higher education. He identifies and analyzes successful examples of high-impact practices, experiential learning, intentional campus community life, externships, campus-community partnerships, and civically-oriented graduate programs. Sullivan draws on best practices from 25 colleges and universities that are members of the New American Colleges and Universities consortium, which emphasizes an approach that integrates the liberal arts, professional studies, and civic responsibility.

Liberating Service Learning and the Rest of Higher Education Civic Engagement
Randy Stoecker
(Temple University Press, 2016)

Randy Stoecker, sociology professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, argues that the way most colleges and universities implement service-learning programs is too student-centric and limits both community impact and student learning. Institutions prioritize student output and hours over societal change. In some cases, civic engagement programs impose control on communities and even harm those in need. Stoecker asserts social change and positive integration with the communities should be the first goals of service-learning programs, and theorizing and classroom learning should follow in importance.

Academic Freedom in an Age of Conformity: Confronting the Fear of Knowledge
Joanna Williams
(Palgrave Macmillan, 2016)

Disturbed by student protests against controversial visiting speakers and other signs of ideological conformity on college and university campuses, Joanna Williams, a senior lecturer at the University of Kent, argues for greater freedom of speech in both U.K. and U.S. higher education. Williams critiques self-imposed limitations on classroom discussions; the BDS movement, which urges boycotts, divestment, and sanctions against Israel; and late 20th-century developments in critical theory among other issues. She suggests that an increased focus on disciplinarity would establish a common framework for intellectual exchange through which more rigorous debate could unfold and knowledge could advance.