New Books in Higher Education

Streaming video is not new to the library environment, but recent years have seen an exponential growth in the number of platforms and titles available for streaming. For libraries, this has meant an increasingly complex acquisitions landscape, with more vendors occupying the marketplace and larger portions of the budget dedicated to streaming. Users increasingly expect video content to be available online and on demand, and streaming video is increasingly integrated into coursework. In Streaming Video Collection Development and Management (Bloomsbury, 2025), Michael Fernandez and Amauri Serrano outline the myriad challenges of managing streaming video content across all stages of the electronic resources lifecycle, from initial collection decisions to the user's experience of accessing the content. At every step, they provide practical advice on how to handle these challenges regardless of the size and budget of the institution. Librarians at community colleges, research institutions, specialized schools, and public libraries will find this a valuable and engaging guide. Michael Fernandez is the Head of Technical Services at Boston University, where he oversees a department tasked with managing electronic resources, cataloging, and processing physical collections. Previously he has held e-resource positions at Yale University and American University. He has published and presented on topics in e-resource management and currently serves as assistant editor for Library Resources & Technical Services in addition to being on the editorial board for The Serials Librarian. Amauri Serrano is the Head of Collection Strategy at Yale University Library, USA, where she leads and coordinates the library’s holistic collection development and management strategy in all formats and is responsible for the collections budget. She was previously Central Collection Development Librarian at Yale and a humanities librarian at Florida State University and Appalachian State University. She has published book chapters and given presentations on collection development in the humanities, user outreach, and library instruction. Host: Dr. Michael LaMagna is the Information Literacy Program & Library Services Coordinator and Professor of Library Services at Delaware County Community College. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

As academia increasingly comes under attack in the United States, The War on Tenure (Cambridge UP, 2025) steps in to demystify what professors do and to explain the importance of tenure for their work. Deepa Das Acevedo takes readers on a backstage tour of tenure-stream academia to reveal hidden dynamics and obstacles. She challenges the common belief that tenure is only important for the protection of academic freedom. Instead, she argues that the security and autonomy provided by tenure are also essential to the performance of work that students, administrators, parents, politicians, and taxpayers value. Going further, Das Acevedo shows that tenure exists on a spectrum of comparable employment contracts, and she debunks the notion that tenure warps the incentives of professors. Ultimately, The War on Tenure demonstrates that the job security tenure provides is not nearly as unusual, undesirable, or unwarranted as critics claim. Deepa Das Acevedo, JD, PhD is an Associate Professor of Law at Emory University. Host: Dr. Michael LaMagna is the Information Literacy Program & Library Services Coordinator and Professor of Library Services at Delaware County Community College. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In Leading Toward Liberation: How to Build Cultures of Thriving in Higher Education (JHU Press, 2025), Dr. Annmarie Caño reimagines academic leadership as a practice rooted in liberation and equity. Drawing on her experiences as a Latina, first-generation college student, clinical psychologist, and higher education administrator, Caño shows how leaders can foster inclusive cultures where everyone thrives. Through a lens of liberation psychology, Caño outlines actionable strategies for transforming institutions into spaces of freedom and growth. From crafting a values-driven vision to navigating institutional obstacles, accompanying others in solidarity, and leading with courage, this book offers practical insights to create systemic change. In this guide to navigating and disrupting the status quo to promote freedom and growth, Caño explains how to lead courageously, grow liberatory leadership skills, and plan career steps. Each chapter concludes with reflective self-coaching questions that empower readers to assess and refine their leadership journeys. Leading Toward Liberation offers an antidote to toxic and unhealthy academic cultures that silence or force out talented colleagues and stifle creativity. Addressing challenges like hierarchical norms, burnout, and the marginalization of underrepresented voices, Caño inspires readers to rethink leadership as a shared endeavor of transformation. With a keen focus on the intersections of identity and power, this is an essential resource for leaders seeking to dismantle oppressive systems and co-create healthier academic environments. Our guest is: Dr. Annemarie Caño, who is a professor of psychology at Gonzaga University and a two-time Fellow of the American Psychological Association who has held leadership positions at public and private universities. Our host is: Dr. Christina Gessler, who is an editor and a writing coach. She is the producer of the Academic Life podcast, and writes the show’s newsletter at christinagessler.stubstack.com. Playlist for listeners: Leading From The Margins The Cornell Sweatshirt Tweet The Entrepreneurial Scholar You Have More Influence Than You Think A Pedagogy of Kindness Belonging Welcome to Academic Life, the podcast for your academic journey—and beyond! You can support the show by downloading and sharing episodes. Join us again to learn from more experts inside and outside the academy, and around the world. Missed any of the 280+ Academic Life episodes? Find them here. And thank you for listening! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Is there such a thing as an ‘Indian university’? Is there an ‘idea’ of an Indian university? Were universities in India living and breathing products of the soil, or were they conceptual imports from a colonial heritage? What is the relationship between universities in India and the ‘publics’ that have inhabited or are alienated by them? More pointedly, how ‘public’ is the Indian public university? This volume explores the historical makings of the Indian university as it stands today, by sifting through archives, colonial/postcolonial policies, textual-literary records and political-economic developments. What results is a ‘critical history’ – navigating the force of myth and promise, revolutions and reforms, communities and markets. From the glorification of ancient ‘greatness’ to the riskiness of ‘platform futures’, this book offers a time travel through one of the most exalted and yet most abused institutions of our age – the university. Dr. Tiatemsu Longkumer, Senior Lecturer in Anthropology at Royal Thimphu College, Bhutan, researches indigenous religion and Christianity among the Nagas, Buddhism in Bhutan, and Generative AI in education. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Dr. Christopher Chapple, founder of Loyola Marymount University’s pioneering M.A. in Yoga Studies, joins us to discuss how the program blends rigorous scholarship with embodied practice. We explore its study of Sanskrit, classical texts, philosophy, and modern applications, as well as its flexible residential and low-residency formats. Hear how this unique graduate program is shaping the next generation of yoga teachers, scholars, and leaders. Website here Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Historiographies of Game Studies: What It Has Been, What It Could Be (Punctum Books, 2025) offers a first-of-its-kind reflection on how game studies as an academic field has been shaped and sustained. Today, game studies is a thriving field with many dedicated national and international conferences, journals, professional societies, and a strong presence at conferences in disciplines like computer science, communication, media studies, theater, visual arts, popular culture, and others. But, when did game studies start? And what (and who) is at the core or center of game studies? Fields are defined as much by what they are not as by what they are, and their borderlands can be hotly contested spaces. In this anthology, scholars from across the field consider how the boundaries of game studies have been established, codified, contested, and protected, raising critical questions about who and what gets left out of the field. Over more than two dozen chapters and interviews with leading figures, including Espen Aarseth, Kishonna Gray, Henry Jenkins, Lisa Nakamura, Kentaro Matsumoto, Ken McAllister, and Janet Murray, the contributors offer a dazzling array of insightful provocations that address the formation, propagation, and cultivation of game studies, interrogating not only the field’s pasts but its potential futures and asking us to think deliberately about how academic fields are collectively built. Alisha Karabinus (she/her) is Assistant Professor of Writing and Digital Studies at Grand Valley State University.  Carly A. Kocurek (she/her) is Professor of Digital Humanities and Media Studies at the Illinois Institute of Technology.  Cody Mejeur (they/them) is Assistant Professor of Game Studies at University at Buffalo, SUNY.  Emma Vossen (she/her) is an Assistant Professor of Game Studies in the Department of Digital Humanities at Brock University, Canada.  Rudolf Thomas Inderst (*1978) enjoys video games since 1985. He received a master’s degree in political science, American cultural studies as well as contemporary and recent history from Ludwig-Maximilians-University, Munich and holds two PhDs in game studies (LMU & University of Passau). Currently, he's teaching as a professor for game design and game studies at the University of Applied Sciences Neu-Ulm, has submitted his third dissertation at the University of Vechta, holds the position as lead editor at the online journal TITEL kulturmagazin for the game section, hosts the German local radio show Replay Value and is editor of the weekly game research newsletter DiGRA D-A-CH Game Studies Watchlist. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Designing and Facilitating Workshops with Intentionality offers practical guidance, tools, and resources to assist practitioners in creating effective, engaging workshops for adult learners. Drawing from three key learning frameworks and the author’s considerable expertise in facilitating workshops across both educational and corporate settings, this book focuses on ten essential principles to consider when developing professional learning experiences. Whether facilitating on-site or virtually, readers will gain a deeper understanding of how to design and facilitate workshops with an inclusive mindset, thus creating meaningful, active learning opportunities that result in greater involvement among participants and better feedback. Guiding questions, chapter takeaways, and a compendium of additional online resources supply plentiful opportunities to further build and fine-tune these skills. Within these pages, both new and seasoned facilitators will find inspiration, encouragement, and support, as they craft professional learning experiences that ignite curiosity and spark growth in all learners. Our guest is: Dr. Tolu Noah, who is an educational developer at California State University, Long Beach, USA, where she designs and facilitates professional learning programs for instructors. She has 16 years of teaching experience, and she enjoys facilitating engaging workshops and keynotes about a variety of teaching, learning, and technology topics. Our host is: Dr. Christina Gessler, who is a dissertation and writing coach, and a developmental editor. She is the producer of the Academic Life podcast, and author of the show’s newsletter found at ChristinaGessler.Substack.Com. Playlist for listeners: Moments of Impact How We Show Up A Pedagogy Of Kindness Project Management Engage in Public Scholarship Leading From The Margins Diversity and Inclusion You Have More Influence Than You Think A Guide To Learning Student Names The Power of Play in Higher Education Belonging: The Science of Creating Connection Imposter Syndrome Attention Management Welcome to Academic Life, the podcast for your academic journey—and beyond! You can support the show by downloading and sharing episodes. 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

Constructing Student Mobility: How Universities Recruit Students and Shape Pathways between Berkeley and Seoul (MIT Press, 2023) challenges the popular image of the international student in the American imagination, an image of affluence, access, and privilege. In this provocative book, higher education scholar Stephanie Kim argues that universities -- not the students -- create the paths that allow students their international mobility. Focusing on universities in the United States and South Korea that aggressively grew their student pools in the aftermath of the Great Recession, Kim shows the lengths to which universities will go to expand enrollments as they draw from the same pool of top South Korean students.Using ethnographic research gathered over a ten-year period in which international admissions were impacted by the Great Recession, changes in US presidential administrations, and the COVID-19 pandemic, Constructing Student Mobility provides crucial insights into the purpose, effects, and future of student recruitment across the Pacific.Constructing Student Mobility received the Best Book Award from the Association for the Study of Higher Education Council on International Higher Education.Stephanie Kim is a scholar, educator, author, and practitioner in the field of comparative and international higher education. She teaches at Georgetown University, where she is an Associate Professor of the Practice and Faculty Director of Higher Education Administration in the School of Continuing Studies. She is also an affiliated faculty member of the Asian Studies Program in the School of Foreign Service.Leslie Hickman is a translator and writer. She has an MA in Korean Studies from Yonsei University. You can follow her activities here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In an era of globalized education, where ideals of freedom and inquiry should thrive, an alarming trend has emerged: foreign authoritarian regimes infiltrating American academia. In Authoritarians in the Academy, Sarah McLaughlin exposes how higher education institutions, long considered bastions of free thought, are compromising their values for financial gain and global partnerships. This groundbreaking investigation reveals the subtle yet sweeping influence of authoritarian governments. University leaders are allowing censorship to flourish on campus, putting pressure on faculty, and silencing international student voices, all in the name of appeasing foreign powers. McLaughlin exposes the troubling reality where university leaders prioritize expansion and profit over the principles of free expression. The book describes incidents in classrooms where professors hesitate to discuss controversial topics and in boardrooms where administrators weigh the costs of offending oppressive regimes. McLaughlin offers a sobering look at how the compromises made in American academia reflect broader societal patterns seen in industries like tech, sports, and entertainment. Meticulously researched and unapologetically candid, Authoritarians in the Academy: How the Internationalization of Higher Education and Borderless Censorship Threaten Free Speech (Johns Hopkins University Press, 2025) is an essential read for anyone who believes in the transformative power of education and the necessity of safeguarding it from the creeping tide of authoritarianism. Sarah McLaughlin is a senior scholar of global expression at the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression. Caleb Zakarin is editor of the New Books Network. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

With a growing number of students entering college with an existing mental health diagnosis, College Mental Health 101: A Guide for Students, Parents, and Professionals (Oxford UP, 2025) offers hope and clear direction to those struggling with mental illness. There is an undeniable mental health crisis on campuses these days. More students are anxious, depressed, drinking, and self-harming than ever before. The statistics are startling: 50% of mental health issues begin by age 14, 75% by age 24, while suicide is the second leading cause of death among young adults. And yet even while more students are struggling, more students than ever are breaking through stigma, seeking help, and sharing openly in person and social media about their challenges. College Mental Health 101 offers more answers, relief, resources, and research backed information for families, students, and staff already at college or beginning the application process. With simple charts and facts, informal self-assessments, quick tips for students and those who support them, the book includes hundreds of voices addressing common concerns. Basics like picking and contacting a therapist, knowing your rights, disclosing to friends and family, advice on medication and time off, are all covered in brief digestible sections. The book also offers support and understanding to families and friends of struggling students who are often uncertain of where else to turn for expert advice. Packed with hundreds of expert and student voices, three diverse experts in the field have assembled the right resources at the right time. Christopher Willard is a clinical psychologist, author, and consultant based in Massachusetts. He teaches at Harvard Medical School. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices