The Academic Life

Welcome to The Academic Life! In this episode you’ll hear about: Hari Ziyad’s journey through higher education. Why they became editor of RaceBaitr after finishing film school at NYU. The necessary disruption of social norms. The challenges of writing memoir. And a discussion of the book Black Boy Out of Time. Our guest is: Hari Ziyad (he/they), a screenwriter, and the Editor-in-Chief of RaceBaitr. Originally from Cleveland, OH, they currently reside in Brooklyn, NY, and received their BFA from New York University, where they concentrated in Film and Television and Psychology. They are a 2021 Lambda Literary Fellow, and their writing has been featured in the peer-reviewed academic journal Critical Ethnic Studies, among other publications. They are also currently a writer at CBS, and were previously a script consultant on the drama series David Makes Man (OWN), as well as Managing Editor of Black Youth Project, and an Assistant Editor of Vinyl Poetry & Prose. They are the author of Black Boy Out of Time (Little A, 2021)Today’s book is: Black Boy Out of Time, which explores childhood, gender, race, and the trust that is built, broken, and repaired through generations. Memoirist Hari Ziyad investigates what it means to live beyond the limited narratives Black children are given and challenges the irreconcilable binaries that restrict them. Heartwarming and heart-wrenching, radical and reflective, Hari Ziyad’s vital memoir is for the outcast, the unheard, the unborn, and the dead. It offers us a new way to think about survival and the necessary disruption of social norms. It looks back in tenderness as well as justified rage, forces us to address where we are now, and, born out of hope, illuminates the possibilities for the future.Our host is: Dr. Christina Gessler, the co-creator of the Academic Life.Listeners to this episode might also be interested in: Hari’s website Hari’s pieces in Gawker, Out, The Guardian, Huffington Post, Ebony, Mic, Paste Magazine, AFROPUNK The Future is Black: Afropessimism, Fugitivity and Radical Hope in Education, edited by Michael Dumas, Ashley Woodson and Carl Grant This Academic Life episode on memoir and the MFA  You are smart and capable, but you aren’t an island and neither are we. We reach across our mentor network to bring you experts about everything from how to finish that project, to how to take care of your beautiful mind. Here on the Academic Life channel, we embrace a broad definition of what it means to be an academic and to lead an academic life. We view education as a transformative human endeavor and are inspired by today’s knowledge-producers working inside and outside the academy. Wish we’d bring on an expert about something? DMs us on Twitter: @AcademicLifeNBN. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoicesSupport our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/academic-life

Welcome to The Academic Life! In this episode you’ll hear about: Dr. Laura Portwood-Stacer’s own experience getting her first two academic books published. An overview of different kinds of editors who will be part of shepherding your book to publication. What a developmental editor does. Why might you need to hire one. Her advice to book editors and their clients. Our guest is: Dr. Laura Portwood-Stacer, who is a scholar and academic. She wrote a book based on her dissertation and many scholarly journal articles, including “How To Email Your Professor (Without Being Annoying AF).” She earned a PhD in Communication, with a certificate in gender studies, from the Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism at the University of Southern California. She lives in Los Angeles and, in 2021, I became a two-time Jeopardy champion. She is the author of The Book Proposal Book, and runs her own consulting business for authors.Our host is: Dr. Christina Gessler, who holds a PhD in American history.Listeners to this episode may also be interested in: Stylish Academic Writing, by Helen Sword What Editors Do, by Peter Ginna This podcast about the peer review process This podcast about book proposals, by Laura Portwood-Stacer Information about developmental editing and academic book publishing in general:  These online programs, including a free webinar for scholarly authors on How to Work With a Developmental Editor Information about The Book Proposal Book including free downloads and worksheets Laura’s weekly newsletter with timely tips and resources for scholarly authors You are smart and capable, but you aren’t an island, and neither are we. We reach across our mentor network to bring you podcasts on everything from how to finish that project to how to take care of your beautiful mind. Here on the Academic Life channel, we embrace a broad definition of what it means to be an academic and to lead an academic life. We view education as a transformative human endeavor and are inspired by today’s knowledge-producers working inside and outside the academy. Wish we’d bring on an expert about something? DMs us on Twitter: @AcademicLifeNBN. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoicesSupport our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/academic-life

Welcome to The Academic Life! In this episode you’ll hear about: Our guests’ career paths at the Smithsonian, their work to help create a new Women’s history museum, collecting BLM materials during protests, creating exhibits just as the pandemic closed the museum, and a discussion of their book on women’s artifacts in the Smithsonian. Today’s book is: Smithsonian American Women: Remarkable Objects and Stories of Strength, Ingenuity, and Vision from the National Collection, a book that offers a unique and panoramic look at women's history in the United States through the lens of ordinary objects from, by, and for extraordinary women. Featuring more than 280 artifacts from 16 Smithsonian museums and archives, and more than 135 essays from 95 Smithsonian authors, this book tells women's history as only the Smithsonian can. Portraits, photographs, paintings, political materials, signs, musical instruments, sports equipment, clothes, letters, ads, personal possessions, and other objects reveal the incredible stories of amazing women such as Phillis Wheatley, Julia Child, Sojourner Truth, Mary Cassat, Madame CJ Walker, Amelia Earhart, Eleanor Roosevelt, Mamie Till Mobley, Dolores Clara Fernandez Huerta, Phyllis Diller, Celia Cruz, Sandra Day O'Connor, Billie Jean King, and Silvia Rivera. Published to commemorate the centennial of the 19th Amendment granting women the right to vote, Smithsonian American Women is a deeply satisfying read and a reflection on how generations of women have defined what it means to be recognized in both the nation and the world.Our guest is: Dr. Margaret A. Weitekamp, who is the Department Chair and Curator of the Space History Department at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum. Dr. Weitekamp curates the Museum's social and cultural history of spaceflight collection, and is the author of numerous scholarly articles, and co-edited the ninth volume in the Artefacts series on the material culture of science and technology, Analyzing Art and Aesthetics (Smithsonian Institution Scholarly Press, 2013). She is currently completing a book on social and cultural history of space memorabilia.Our guest is: Dr. Michelle Anne Delaney, who is the Assistant Director for History and Culture of the National Museum of the American Indian. Dr. Delaney manages the Museum's research and scholarship team, and leads the intellectual program development for exhibitions, educational programming, publications, and digital scholarship; and directs strategic internal pan-Smithsonian projects, and external collaborations and university partnerships. An author and editor of several history of photography books, Dr. Delaney has also curated 25 Smithsonian exhibitions and web projects.Our host is: Dr. Christina Gessler, the co-creator and co-producer of the Academic Life.Listeners to this episode might also be interested in: Information in the National Archives about the 19th Amendment  Because of Herstory webpage  National Women’s History Museum website  Information on the 19th amendment from the National Parks Service  The Women’s Museum of California Women’s history resources at the National Museum of American History  You are smart and capable, but you aren’t an island and neither are we. We reach across our mentor network to bring you experts about everything from how to finish that project, to how to take care of your beautiful mind. Here on the Academic Life channel, we embrace a broad definition of what it means to be an academic and to lead an academic life. We view education as a transformative human endeavor and are inspired by today’s knowledge-producers working inside and outside the academy. Wish we’d bring on an expert about something? DMs us on Twitter: @AcademicLifeNBN. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoicesSupport our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/academic-life

Welcome to The Academic Life! In this episode you’ll hear about: Dr. Ruby Tapia’s viral Cornell sweatshirt tweet. How witnessing domestic violence, and the aftermath of her father’s suicide, influenced her decision to go to college far from home. Difficulties she faced freshman year both on and off campus. The professor who called her in to office hours, and how that changed her academic path. The meaning she’s made of these experiences, and how they changed her. Her hopes for future generation of college students, including her own daughters. Our guest is: Dr. Ruby C. Tapia, who is Chair of the Department of Women's and Gender Studies, and Associate Professor of English and Women's and Gender Studies at the University of Michigan. Her work engages the intersections of photography theory, feminist and critical race theory, and critical prison studies. She is co-editor of Interrupted Life: Experiences of Incarcerated Women in the United States, co-editor of the University of California book series Reproductive Justice: New Visions for the 21st Century, and author of American Pietàs: Visions of Race, Death and the Maternal. Her current book project, The Camera in the Cage, interrogates the intersections of prison photography and carceral humanism and puts forth an argument and methodology for abolitionist aesthetics. She has facilitated creative writing workshops via the Prison Creative Arts Project at Women's Huron Valley Correctional Facility in Michigan, is a member of the Theory Group Think Tank at Macomb Correctional Facility for men and is the lead faculty member of the Critical Carceral Visualities component of the Documenting Criminalization and Confinement project at UM's Humanities Collaboratory.Our host is: Dr. Christina Gessler, the co-producer of the Academic Life.Listeners to this episode may also be interested in: Borderlands, by Gloria Anzaldua Academic Outsider, by Victoria Reyes The Abortionist, by Rickie Solinger Welfare, by Rickie Solinger Ruby Tapia’s Avidly article “What I Was Looking For Was Green” Ruby Tapia’s Avidly article “Never Been A Scared Bitch”  A discussion of Presumed Incompetent You are smart and capable, but you aren’t an island, and neither are we. We reach across our mentor network to bring you podcasts on everything from how to finish that project to how to take care of your beautiful mind. Here on the Academic Life channel, we embrace a broad definition of what it means to be an academic and to lead an academic life. We view education as a transformative human endeavor and are inspired by today’s knowledge-producers working inside and outside the academy. Wish we’d bring on an expert about something? DMs us on Twitter: @AcademicLifeNBN. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoicesSupport our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/academic-life

Welcome to The Academic Life! In this episode you’ll hear about: Zibby Owen’s experience in grad school of losing her best friend. What she did to regroup and find a way forward after failing a grad exam. How the meaning she’s made of those experiences changed her. Why books and writing are essential to her. Why “overnight” success takes tenacity, adaptability, and a long time. Her passion for publishing, podcasting, and reading. The advice she would have given herself when she was embarking on her educational journeys. Today’s book is: Bookends: A Memoir of Love, Loss, and Literature by Zibby Owens.Our guest is: Zibby Owens, who is an author, podcaster, publisher, CEO, and founder of Zibby Owens Media, a privately-held media company designed to help busy people live their best lives by connecting to books and each other. Moms Don’t Have Time To is the home for Zibby’s podcasts, publications (including two anthologies), and communities. Zibby Books is a publishing home for fiction and memoir which she co-founded with Leigh Newman. Her award-winning podcast, Moms Don’t Have Time to Read Books, has been downloaded millions of times. She is a regular columnist for Good Morning America, Katie Couric Media, and Moms Don’t Have Time to Write on Medium. She is the author of Bookends: A Memoir of Love, Loss, and Literature, and lives in New York with her husband and four children. Visit zibbyowens.com and follow her on Instagram @zibbyowens.Our host is: Dr. Christina Gessler, co-producer of the Academic Life podcasts.Listeners to this episode may also be interested in: The Harbus article Zibby wrote about her conflicted feelings about finishing graduate school. The Harbus article Zibby wrote about losing her friend Stacey:  The Harbus article Zibby wrote about not going back to normal:  Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life, by Anne Lamott Still Points North, by Leigh Newman Academic Life Podcast: Being Well in Academia Academic Life Podcast about failing a comp You are smart and capable, but you aren’t an island, and neither are we. We reach across our mentor network to bring you podcasts on everything from how to finish that project to how to take care of your beautiful mind. Here on the Academic Life channel, we embrace a broad definition of what it means to be an academic and to lead an academic life. We view education as a transformative human endeavor and are inspired by today’s knowledge-producers working inside and outside the academy. Wish we’d bring on an expert about something? DMs us on Twitter: @AcademicLifeNBN. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoicesSupport our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/academic-life

Welcome to The Academic Life! In this episode you’ll hear about: Why Robert Ramaswamy wants to see your revised dissertation submitted for publication. What makes a revised dissertation ready to submit to a press. How to choose mentor texts to put in your proposal. Signs that you might not want to turn your dissertation into a book, and what to do instead. The editorial complexities of saying “no” to a book proposal. And a discussion about the new University of Wyoming Press imprint Our guest is: Robert Ramaswamy (he/they), who has a BA in American studies from Yale University and an MA in American studies from George Washington University, and left a PhD program in American Culture at the University of Michigan ABD. He joined UPC/University of Wyoming Press as acquisitions editor in 2022, after working as an assistant editor for the Ohio State University Press and as an editorial assistant for University of Michigan Press/Michigan Publishing. At UPC/UWyoP, Robert acquires in history, environmental humanities, public humanities, and democracy and the United States. He lives in Ann Arbor, MI with his partner, Anna, two dogs, and eight chickens.Our host is: Dr. Christina Gessler, the co-creator of the Academic Life.Listeners to this episode might also be interested in: Association of University Presses  University of Wyoming Press  On Revision, by William Germano From Dissertation to Book, by William Germano What Editors Do: The Art, Craft and Business of Book Editing, by Peter Ginna A discussion of From Dissertation to Book, hosted by Dr. Dana Malone  A conversation with Mona Hamlin about marketing scholarly books  A conversation with acquisitions editor Rachael Levay  You are smart and capable, but you aren’t an island and neither are we. We reach across our mentor network to bring you experts about everything from how to finish that project, to how to take care of your beautiful mind. Here on the Academic Life channel, we embrace a broad definition of what it means to be an academic and to lead an academic life. We view education as a transformative human endeavor and are inspired by today’s knowledge-producers working inside and outside the academy. Wish we’d bring on an expert about something? DMs us on Twitter: @AcademicLifeNBN. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoicesSupport our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/academic-life

Welcome to The Academic Life! In this episode you’ll hear about: Ellen Synder-Grenier’s career as a curator and public historian How Henry Street helped its neighbors survive the 1918 pandemic A discussion of the book The House on Henry Street Today’s book is: The House on Henry Street: The Enduring Life of a Lower East Side Settlement, which chronicles the sweeping history of the Henry Street Settlement and its enduring vision of a more just society. Through personal narratives, vivid images, and previously untold stories, Ellen M. Snyder-Grenier chronicles Henry Street’s sweeping history from 1893 to today. From the fights for public health and immigrants’ rights that fueled its founding, to advocating for relief during the Great Depression, all the way to tackling homelessness and AIDS in the 1980s, and into today―Henry Street has been a champion for social justice. Its powerful narrative illuminates larger stories about poverty, and who is “worthy” of help; immigration and migration, and who is welcomed; human rights, and whose voice is heard.Our guest is: Ellen M. Snyder-Grenier, who is an award-winning curator and writer, and principal of REW & Co. She has directed research projects, developed physical and digital exhibitions, and written on the history of New York City—as well the urban centers of Newark and Philadelphia—with a focus on social justice. She is a Fellow of the New York Academy of History.Our host is: Dr. Christina Gessler, the co-creator and co-producer of the Academic Life.Listeners to this episode might be interested in: · The House on Henry Street: The Enduring Life of a Lower East Side Settlement, by Ellen M. Snyder-Grenier The Henry Street website Windows on Henry Street by Lillian Wald The House on Henry Street by Lillian Wald This online journal about gender and the history of medicine This NPR episode about the 1918 pandemic and Covid  The Pandemic Perspectives episodes on the Academic life, such as this one You are smart and capable, but you aren’t an island and neither are we. We reach across our mentor network to bring you experts about everything from how to finish that project, to how to take care of your beautiful mind. Wish we’d bring on an expert about something? DM us on Twitter: The Academic Life @AcademicLifeNBN. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoicesSupport our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/academic-life

Welcome to The Academic Life! In this episode you’ll hear about: Why the AAUP was formed. Their role in supporting academic freedom. Why the threat to tenure is a threat to higher education. The importance of collective bargaining, and of transparency in academic salaries. Our guest is: Dr. Irene Mulvey, who is a Professor of Mathematics at Fairfield University where she has been teaching for 37 years. She has been fighting to protect academic freedom, to promote shared governance, and to uphold AAUP principles and standards at the campus, state and national level for over 30 years. In 2020, she was elected to a four-year term as President of the AAUP on a platform pledging progress toward making the AAUP an anti-racist organization and dismantling structural racism in all aspects of higher education.Our host is: Dr. Christina Gessler, the co-creator of the Academic Life.Listeners to this episode might also be interested in: The AAUP  The AAUP Foundation Chronicle of Higher Education article on the Adjunct Problem  LA Times editorial about the adjunct crisis in California and how that affects Academic Freedom Statement on academic freedom from the American Federation of Teachers  Academic Life interview with an Adjunct Professor  NBN episode on the future of tenure You are smart and capable, but you aren’t an island and neither are we. We reach across our mentor network to bring you experts about everything from how to finish that project, to how to take care of your beautiful mind. Here on the Academic Life channel, we embrace a broad definition of what it means to be an academic and to lead an academic life. We view education as a transformative human endeavor and are inspired by today’s knowledge-producers working inside and outside the academy. Wish we’d bring on an expert about something? DMs us on Twitter: @AcademicLifeNBN. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoicesSupport our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/academic-life

Welcome to The Academic Life! In this episode you’ll hear about: Our guest Eric Frans’ career path into, out of, and around higher education Key factors that influenced his decision to pursue employment outside the academy The transition from higher education to a different industry How he plans to use his doctorate in the future His advice to those inside higher ed considering switching to other industries Our guest is: Eric Frans, a career development professional currently working as a Talent Acquisition Manager for PrimePay, a human resources software company. Eric holds a master’s degree in Higher Education Counseling/Student Affairs from West Chester University (WCU) and is pursuing a doctorate in Higher Education Policy, Planning, and Administration from WCU. Eric worked as a career development professional at SUNY Oswego and WCU before moving into his current role at PrimePay. Eric was born in Ghana and raised in Lehigh Valley Pennsylvania. As an undergraduate student, Eric studied psychology at WCU and was highly engaged in campus life; he was a member of the men’s basketball team, a resident assistant, and an orientation leader.Our host is: Dr. Dana M. Malone, a higher education scholar and practitioner energized by facilitating meaningful conversations and educational experiences. She specializes in college student relationships, gender, sexuality, and religious identities as well as student success and assessment planning.Listeners to this episode may also be interested in: Inside Higher Ed article: 7 Steps for Discerning Whether to Leave Higher Ed by Beth Godbee Chronicle article: Many Student Affairs Officials are Considering Leaving the Field Jenny Blake’s Book: Pivot: The Only Move That Matters is Your Next One (Portfolio/Penguin) - https://www.pivotmethod.com/ Dawn Graham’s book: Switchers: How Smart Professionals Change Careers and Seize Success (Harper Collins Leadership) The Academic Life episode: The Self-Care Stuff: Considering Whether to Stay or Drop Out You are smart and capable, but you aren’t an island, and neither are we. We reach across our mentor network to bring you podcasts on everything from how to finish that project to how to take care of your beautiful mind. Here on the Academic Life channel, we embrace a broad definition of what it means to be an academic and to lead an academic life. We view education as a transformative human endeavor and are inspired by today’s knowledge-producers working inside and outside the academy. Wish we’d bring on an expert about something? DMs us on Twitter: @AcademicLifeNBN. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoicesSupport our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/academic-life

Welcome to The Academic Life! In this episode you’ll hear about: Dr. Karin Lewis’s experience pitching and winning the book bid Karin and the editorial team’s vision for an inclusive and diverse collection The process of working as a team to develop an idea into a book The realities of editing a large volume with many authors Blurring the lines of traditional scholarship with artistic and creative submissions Her advice to other scholars considering editing an established collection Our guest is: Dr. Karin A. Lewis, an associate professor in the Department ofTeaching and Learning at the University of Texas – Rio Grande Valley. She teaches educational psychology in the areas of cognition, learning, human development, and adult learning at the undergraduate, graduate, and doctoral levels. Her scholarship explores complexities of identity and agency from a multicultural, social justice perspective via transdisciplinary discourses and collaborative, collective ethnographic methodologies. Dr. Lewis is the Lead Editor for The Kaleidoscope of Lived Curriculum: Learning Through a Confluence of Crisis, 13th Annual Curriculum and Pedagogy Group, 2021 Edited Collection, published through Information Age Publishing.Our host is: Dr. Dana M. Malone, a higher education scholar and practitioner specializing in college student relationships, gender, sexuality, and religious identities as well as student success and assessment planning. Dana first met Karin as a doctorate student at the University of Kentucky when Karin hired her as a graduate TA to teach courses offered through the university’s academic success unit. Dana has always been impressed with Karin’s dedication to students, love of teaching, and the grace with which she moves through the world.Listeners to this episode may also be interested in: Curriculum and Pedagogy Group Edited Collections Journal of Curriculum and Pedagogy About the Curriculum and Pedagogy Group The Academic Life episode on writing a book proposal You are smart and capable, but you aren’t an island, and neither are we. We reach across our mentor network to bring you podcasts on everything from how to finish that project to how to take care of your beautiful mind. Here on the Academic Life channel, we embrace a broad definition of what it means to be an academic and to lead an academic life. We view education as a transformative human endeavor and are inspired by today’s knowledge-producers working inside and outside the academy. Wish we’d bring on an expert about something? DMs us on Twitter: @AcademicLifeNBN. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoicesSupport our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/academic-life