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The Academic Life

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Sep 2, 2021 • 43min

Karen Cook Bell, "Running from Bondage: Enslaved Women and Their Remarkable Fight for Freedom in Revolutionary America" (Cambridge UP, 2021)

Welcome to The Academic Life. You are smart and capable, but you aren’t an island and neither are we, so we reached across our mentor network to bring you these podcasts. Wish we’d include a specific topic? DM suggestions on Twitter: The Academic Life @AcademicLifeNBN.In this episode you’ll hear about: how Black women contributed to America’s first freedom war, reading against the grain, rival geographies, fugitivity as an act of resistance, why we must center Black women’s voices, and a discussion of the book Running from Bondage.Our guest is: Dr. Karen Cook Bell, who is Associate Professor of History. Her areas of specialization include slavery, the Civil War and Reconstruction, and women’s history. Her scholarship has appeared in the Journal of African American History; Georgia Historical Quarterly; Passport; U.S. West-Africa: Interaction and Relations; Before Obama: A Reappraisal of Black Reconstruction Era Politicians; Converging Identities: Blackness in the Contemporary Diaspora; and Slavery and Freedom in Savannah. She has published Claiming Freedom: Race, Kinship, and Land in Nineteenth Century Georgia, which won the Georgia Board of Regents Excellence in Research Award; and Running from Bondage: Enslaved Women and Their Remarkable Fight for Freedom in Revolutionary America. She is editor of Southern Black Women’s Struggle for Freedom during the Civil War and Reconstruction; and a contributor for Black Perspectives. She is a former AAUW Dissertation Fellow.Today’s book is: Running from Bondage: Enslaved Women and Their Remarkable Fight for Freedom in Revolutionary America, which tells how enslaved women comprised one-third of all runaways, and the ways in which they fled or attempted to flee bondage during and after the Revolutionary War. Dr. Cook Bell's contribution to the study of slave resistance explores the individual and collective lives of these women and girls, and details about what led them to escape. She demonstrates that there two wars waged during the Revolutionary Era: a political revolution for independence from Great Britain and a social revolution for emancipation and equality in which Black women played an active role. Running from Bondage emphasizes the chances taken by these Black founding mothers and the important contributions they made to the cause of liberty.Our host is: Dr. Christina Gessler, the co-producer of the Academic Life podcasts, and a historian of women and gender.Listeners to this episode might be interested in: Claiming Freedom: Race, Kinship, and Land in Nineteenth Century Georgia, by Karen Cook Bell Closer to Freedom: Enslaved Women and Everyday Resistance in the Plantation South, by Stephanie Camp “What Can We Learn from a Digital Database of Runaway Slave Advertisements,” International Social Science Review vol 76 no. (2001), by Tom Costa Never Caught, by Erica Armstrong Dunbar This interview on reclaiming lost voices with Dr. Erica Armstrong Dunbar  This interview about the social constructions of race with Dr. Brigette Fielder Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoicesSupport our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/academic-life
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Aug 26, 2021 • 1h 2min

Mentoring in the Academy: A Conversation with Dr. Claire Renzetti

Welcome to The Academic Life. You are smart and capable, but you aren’t an island and neither are we. So, we reached 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. Wish we’d bring on an expert about something? DM us your suggestion on Twitter: The Academic Life @AcademicLifeNBN.In this episode you’ll hear: mentoring across academic careers from graduate students to seasoned faculty, optimal conditions for mentor-mentee relationships, mentoring scholars through the publishing process, and gender and power dynamics within academic mentoring.Our guest is: Dr. Claire M. Renzetti, Professor and Chair of Sociology and the Judi Conway Patton Endowed Chair for Studies of Violence Against Women at the University of Kentucky. She received a Ph.D. in Sociology from the University of Delaware, with specialties in criminology and the sociology of gender.For more than 40 years, Dr. Renzetti’s research has focused on the violent victimization experiences of socially and economically marginalized women and girls. She founded in 1995, and continues to edit, the peer-reviewed, international and interdisciplinary journal Violence Against Women, through Sage Publications. Dr. Renzetti is also the editor of the Gender and Justice book series for University of California Press; co-editor of the Interpersonal Violence book series for Oxford University Press, and editor of the Family and Gender-based Violence book series for Cognella. She has written or edited 26 books as well as numerous book chapters and journal articles based on her own research. She also studies the problem of domestic sex trafficking. Additionally, she conducts research on the effects of religiosity and religious self-regulation on intimate partner violence perpetration and victimization. She has held elected offices in several national and regional professional associations, including the American Sociological Association, the American Society of Criminology, the Society for the Study of Social Problems, and the Eastern Sociological Society. Her research and community service has been recognized with awards from the American Sociological Association, the American Society of Criminology, the Society for the Study of Social Problems, the University of Delaware, Artemis Center (Dayton, OH), and the YWCA of Dayton (OH).Your host is: Dr. Dana Malone, a higher education scholar and practitioner. Dana met Claire as a PhD student at the University of Kentucky, when one of Dana’s academic mentors introduced them.Listeners to this episode might be interested in: Positive Academic Leadership: How to Stop Putting Out Fires and Start Making a Difference by Jeffrey L. Buller Presumed Incompetent II: Race, Class, Power, and Resistance of Women in Academia edited by: Yolanda Flores Niemann, Gabriella Gutiérrez y Muhs, and Carmen G. González NBN Podcast on Presumed Incompetent II NBN Podcast on How to Create a Mentor Network Claire Renzetti’s video series on academic publishing for the American Sociological Association (ASA).*Please note access requires an ASA membership Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoicesSupport our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/academic-life
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Aug 19, 2021 • 1h 11min

Exploring New Paths to Mental Health: A Discussion with Sue Stuart-Smith

Welcome to The Academic Life. You are smart and capable, but you aren’t an island and neither are we. So we reached 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. Wish we’d bring on an expert about something? DM us your suggestion on Twitter: The Academic Life @AcademicLifeNBN.In this episode you’ll hear about: Sue Stuart-Smith’s path from English major to psychiatrist, how she went from avoiding gardening to becoming an avid gardener, and a discussion of The Well-Gardened Mind: The Restorative Power of Nature.Our guest is: Sue Stuart-Smith, a prominent psychiatrist and psychotherapist. She is also an avid gardener. She took her degree in English literature at Cambridge before qualifying as a doctor. She worked in the National Health Service for many years, becoming the lead clinician for psychotherapy in Hertfordshire. She teaches at The Tavistock Clinic in London and is consultant to the DocHealth service. She is married to Tom Stuart-Smith, the celebrated garden designer. She is the author of The Well-Gardened Mind.Today’s book is: The Well-Gardened Mind: The Restorative Power of Nature, about the healing effects of gardening and its ability to decrease stress and foster mental well-being in our everyday lives. The garden is often seen as a refuge, a place to forget worldly cares, removed from the “real” life that lies outside. But when we get our hands in the earth we connect with the cycle of life in nature through which destruction and decay are followed by regrowth and renewal. Sue Stuart-Smith provides a new perspective on the power of gardening to change people’s lives.Our host is: Dr. Christina Gessler, the co-producer of the Academic Life podcasts, and a historian of women and gender. She has a small garden.Listeners to this episode might be interested in: The Well-Gardened Mind: The Restorative Power of Nature, by Sue Stuart Smith Therapeutic Landscapes: An Evidence-Based Approach to Designing Healing Gardens and Restorative Outdoor Spaces, by Clare Marcus and Naomi Sachs The Profession and Practice of Horticultural Therapy, edited by Rebecca Haller and Karen Kennedy and Christine Capra Ecotherapy: Theory, Research and Practice, edited by Martin Jordan and Joe Hinds The Nature Fix: Why Nature Makes Us Happier, Healthier, and More Creative, by Florence Williams Radical Compassion, by Tara Brach The psychology podcast channel on NBN  The mindfulness podcast channel on NBN  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoicesSupport our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/academic-life
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Aug 12, 2021 • 1h 2min

Laura Portwood-Stacer, "The Book Proposal Book: A Guide for Scholarly Authors" (Princeton UP, 2021)

Welcome to The Academic Life. You are smart and capable, but you aren’t an island and neither are we. So we reached 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. Wish we’d bring on an expert about something? DM us your suggestion on Twitter: The Academic Life @AcademicLifeNBN.In this episode you’ll hear about: what a book proposal is and isn’t, why you have to write one, the importance of seeking the right “fit” for your manuscript, how to pitch a quirky book, the difference between a book’s topic and its argument, how to summarize your project in just one sentence, and a discussion of The Book Proposal Book: A Guide for Scholarly Authors (Princeton UP, 2021)Our guest is: Dr. Laura Portwood-Stacer, an experienced developmental editor and publishing consultant for academic authors. She is the author of The Book Proposal Book: A Guide for Scholarly Authors.You have to write a book proposal to get published, but most scholars receive no training on how to do so, and you may have never even seen a proposal before you’re expected to produce your own. The Book Proposal Book cuts through the mystery and guides you step by step through the process of crafting a compelling proposal and pitching it to university presses and other academic publishers. Whether you’re hoping to publish your first book or you’re a seasoned author with an unfinished proposal languishing on your hard drive, The Book Proposal Book provides honest, empathetic, and invaluable advice on how to overcome common sticking points and get your book published. It also shows why a well-conceived proposal can help lead to an outstanding book.Our host is: Dr. Christina Gessler, the co-producer of the Academic Life podcasts, and a historian of women and gender.Listeners to this episode might be interested in: The Book Proposal Book: A Guide for Scholarly Authors, by Laura Portwood-Stacer Dr. Portwood-Stacer’s Manuscript and Editing Workshops Dr. Portwood-Stacer’s website Handbook for Academic Authors, by Beth Luey Writing and Publishing Your Book: A Guide for Experts in Every Field, by Melody Herr From Dissertation to Book, by William Germano The Chicago Manual of Style: The Essential Guide for Writers, Editors, and Publishers Story Craft: The Complete Guide to Writing Narrative Nonfiction, by Jack Hart The Business of Being a Writer, by Jane Friedman Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoicesSupport our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/academic-life
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Aug 5, 2021 • 52min

Pandemic Perspectives from an Assistant Professor: A Discussion with Ulices Piña

Welcome to The Academic Life. You are smart and capable, but you aren’t an island, and neither are we. So we reached 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. Wish we’d bring in an expert about something? DM us your suggestion on Twitter: The Academic Life @AcademicLifeNBN.In this episode you’ll hear about: Dr. Piña’s path through higher education, the importance of mentors and coaches in achieving personal and professional success, how he found his current job, some of the concerns of first gen and of working class students, student grief, the complexity of using campus resources in a pandemic, and what he’s hopeful about.Our guest is: Dr. Ulices Piña, an Assistant Professor of History at California State University, Long Beach. A native of Long Beach and a product of the California public school system, his teaching and research interests include Mexico, Modern Latin America, revolutions and social movements, and social activism. He is currently writing a book tentatively titled Rebellious Citizens: Democracy and the Search for Dignity in Revolutionary Mexico. The book places the roles of ordinary people in the country’s long fight for democracy, front and center, to tell the story of how they actively shaped the political process and struggled for equality and dignity in the decades following the Mexican Revolution of 1910. He also has a forthcoming article in the Journal of Social History titled “Rebellion at the Fringe: Conspiracy, Surveillance, and State-Making in 1920s Mexico.Our host is: Dr. Christina Gessler, a historian of women and gender. She heard Dr. Piña’s presentation about pandemic pedagogy lessons at the recent WAWH conference, and invited him to share this on the Academic Life.Listeners to this episode might be interested in: H-LatAm The History Teacher Zapata and the Mexican Revolution by John Womack Pedro Páramo by Juan Rulfo The TV Series: Ted Lasso The History Department at California State University Long Beach The Latino Studies Channel on NBN There’s a Revolution Outside, My Love: Letters from a Crisis edited by Tracy K. Smith and John Freeman Resources for College Students Dealing With Grief Resource List for First Gen Students Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoicesSupport our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/academic-life
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Jul 29, 2021 • 51min

Pandemic Perspectives from a Student Studying Abroad

Welcome to The Academic Life. You are smart and capable, but you aren’t an island, and neither are we. So we reached 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. Wish we’d bring in an expert about something? Email us at cgessler05[at]gmail.com or dr.danamalone[at]gmail.com Find us on Twitter: The Academic Life @AcademicLifeNBN.In this episode you’ll hear about: a student’s goal to study abroad during college, how she dealt with unexpected restrictions on becoming an international student during a pandemic, her transatlantic travels, living in a “bubble” in her new dorm, and what she’s hopeful about for her return to her American campus for her senior year.Our guest is: Emma Halfin, who is a junior at Case Western Reserve University (CWRU) majoring in Political Science and History and minoring in French. She is currently a visiting student at the University of Oxford in the UK studying history and politics and is looking forward to returning to CWRU in the fall for her senior year.Our host is: Dr. Christina Gessler, a historian of women, gender, and sexuality.Listeners to this episode might be interested in: Woollacott, Angela, ‘“Khaki Fever” and its Control: Gender, Class, Age and Sexual Morality on the British Home Front in the First World War’, Journal of Contemporary History, 29/2 (1994), pp. 325-347 Giorgio Agamben, State of Exception (2003) Hannah Arendt, The Origins of Totalitarianism (1951) Jeanne Boydston, “Gender as a Question of Historical Analysis”, Gender and History 20/3 (2008) The Visiting Student Program at the University of Oxford  American students studying abroad during the pandemic  International Students studying in America during the pandemic  The College of Arts and Sciences at Case Western Reserve University  Visa concerns for students studying abroad during the pandemic Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoicesSupport our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/academic-life
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Jul 22, 2021 • 1h 4min

Reclaiming Lost Voices and Recovering History: A Discussion with Erica Armstrong Dunbar

Welcome to The Academic Life. You are smart and capable, but you aren’t an island, and neither are we. So we reached 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. Wish we’d bring in an expert about something? Email us at cgessler05(at)gmail.com or dr.danamalone(at)gmail.com or find us on Twitter: The Academic Life @AcademicLifeNBN.In this episode you’ll hear about: reclaiming lost voices, recovering history, and a discussion of the book Never Caught: The Washington’s Relentless Pursuit of Their Runaway Slave, Ona Judge.Our guest is: Dr. Erica Armstrong Dunbar, a late eighteenth and early nineteenth-century scholar with a specialization in African American women’s history. From 2011 to 2018 she was the Inaugural Director of the Program in African American history at the Library Company of Philadelphia. She has written numerous articles, reviews, essays, and books including Never Caught, and has given scholarly talks across the country. She is the National Director of the Association of Black Women Historians (ABWH), and is the Charles and Mary Beard Distinguished Professor of History at Rutgers University.Our host is: Dr. Christina Gessler, a historian of women and gender.Listeners to this episode might be interested in: Never Caught: The Washington’s Relentless Pursuit of Their Runaway Slave, Ona Judge by Erica Armstrong Dunbar She Came to Slay: The Life and Times of Harriet Tubman by Erica Armstrong Dunbar A Fragile Freedom: African American Women and Emancipation in the Antebellum City by Erica Armstrong Dunbar Daina Ramey Berry and Erica Armstrong Dunbar, “The Unbroken Chain of Enslaved African Resistance and Rebellion.” In The Birth of a Nation: Nat Turner and the Making of a Movement, edited by N. Parker, 35-61. New York: Atria/Simon and Schuster, September 2016. The Association of Black Women Historians http://abwh.org The Program in African American History at the Library Company of Philadelphia  Dr. Armstrong’s website The African-American studies channel on NBN  The History Department at the College of Arts and Sciences at Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoicesSupport our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/academic-life
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Jul 15, 2021 • 54min

Teaching First-Year and First-Generation Students: A Conversation with Lisa Nunn

Welcome to The Academic Life. You are smart and capable, but you aren’t an island, and neither are we. So we reached 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. Wish we’d bring in an expert about something? Email us at dr.danamalone@gmail.com or cgessler05@gmail.com. Find us on Twitter: The Academic Life @AcademicLifeNBN.In this episode you’ll hear about: distinguishing between student abilities and academic skill sets, why the goal should not be making first-generation students more like continuing generation students, how to introduce yourself in a way that promotes student success, the mini-midterm, and other strategies to promote student success.Our guest is: Lisa M. Nunn, Ph.D., author of 33 Simple Strategies for Faculty: A Week-by-Week Resource for Teaching First-Year and First-Generation Students (Rutgers University Press, 2018) and Professor of Sociology at the University of San Diego. She is the Director of her campus' Center for Educational Excellence. She is also the author of College Belonging: How First-Year and First-Generation Students Navigate Campus Life as well as a book on high school students, Defining Student Success: The Role of School and Culture. She didn't grow up knowing that she would become a sociologist and she graduated college as a literature and theater major, still not knowing that she would become a sociologist. It was during her years with the Peace Corps in Limbaži, Latvia in her early twenties when she started to recognize how fascinating cultural ideas and social structures are. How they shape who we are, who we want to become, and how they also constrain the paths available to us to get there. She hasn't stopped thinking about or talking about these dynamics since.Your host is: Dr. Dana Malone, a higher education scholar and practitioner. She specializes in college student relationships, gender, sexuality, and religious identities as well as assessment planning. Dana enjoys engaging conversations, delicious food, practicing yoga, and wandering the Jersey shore.Listeners to this episode might be interested in: College Belonging: How First-Year and First-Generation Students Navigate Campus Life by Lisa M. Nunn Interview with Lisa Nunn on her book College Belonging. Defining Student Success: The Role of School and Culture by Lisa Nunn The Skillful Teacher: On Technique, Trust, and Responsiveness in the Classroom by Stephen Brookfield Small Teaching Online: Applying Learning Science in Online Classes by Flower Darby and James Lang Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoicesSupport our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/academic-life
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Jul 8, 2021 • 1h 3min

Another Look at Life as an Alt-Ac: A Discussion with Erica Bauermeister

Welcome to The Academic Life. You are smart and capable, but you aren’t an island, and neither are we. So we reached 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. Wish we’d bring in an expert about something? Email us at cgessler05(at)gmail.com or dr.danamalone(at)gmail.com or find us on Twitter: The Academic Life @AcademicLifeNBN.In this episode you’ll hear about: Dr. Erica Bauermeister’s career journey out of academia, her move to Italy and back to the US, how she unexpectedly found herself renovating a house, and a discussion of the book House Lessons.Our guest is: Erica Bauermeister, who earned her PhD at the University of Washington. She was frustrated by the lack of women authors in the curriculum, and in response co-authored 500 Great Books by Women: A Reader’s Guide, and Let’s Hear it For The Girls. She taught writing and literature, got married and had children and left academia. She became a Realtor, moved to Italy, moved back to the US, continued writing, and then unexpectedly found herself renovating a house. Erica’s first novel was published as she was turning 50. Her books have been translated into more than 50 languages, been selected for Reese Witherspoon’s book club, and made the USA Today and NYT bestseller list.Our host is: Dr. Christina Gessler, a historian of women and gender. Christina once helped renovate a cottage on a small island off the coast of Massachusetts. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoicesSupport our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/academic-life
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Jul 1, 2021 • 48min

Open Access Publishing Explained: A Discussion with Ros Pyne

Welcome to The Academic Life. You are smart and capable, but you aren’t an island, and neither are we. So we reached 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. Wish we’d bring in an expert about something? DM us your suggestion on Twitter: The Academic Life @AcademicLifeNBN.In this episode you’ll hear about: Ros Pyne’s path through higher education, how she found her way to her current job, her role at Bloomsbury Publishers, what Open Access [OA] is and is not, how OA can democratize knowledge, and what she’s hopeful about.Our guest is: Ros Pyne, who is the Global Director of Research and Open Access at Bloomsbury Publishers. She has worked in academic publishing since 2007, initially as an editor, and for the last eight years in roles focusing on open access. She has a particular interest in bringing open access to long-form scholarship and to the humanities, and is the co-author of several reports on open access books. She holds a degree in English from the University of Cambridge, and an MA in early modern English literature from King’s College London.Our host is: Dr. Christina Gessler, a historian of women and gender.Listeners to this episode might be interested in: Open access at Bloomsbury Directory of Open Access Books OAPEN OA Books Toolkit (for anyone interested in learning more about what open access books are and how they work) Open Access Books Network (a free online network for people working on open access books or interested in getting involved) Open Access and the Humanities (a 2014 book by an open access expert Martin Paul Eve that’s still an excellent primer on this topic) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoicesSupport our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/academic-life

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