Description
Book SynopsisIn One Hundred Semesters, William Chace mixes incisive analysis with memoir to create an illuminating picture of the evolution of American higher education over the past half century. Chace follows his own journey from undergraduate education at Haverford College to teaching at Stillman, a traditionally African-American college in Alabama, in the 1
Trade Review"Chace here recounts a young man's maturation and offers insight into the challenges of university administration... Chace is a gifted storyteller, appealingly honest in analyzing what he did well and where he went wrong."--Evelyn Beck, Library Journal "An unusual book, 100 Semesters is part memoir, part analysis and part how-to manual... Chace's prose is clear and compelling, a pleasure to read as much for its style as for its ideas. It is, in a word, eloquent."--Mark E. Hayes, Atlanta Journal-Constitution "Hopeful yet sober, Chace's memoir provides an invaluable perspective on the challenges facing higher education."--Booklist (starred review) "A thoughtful commentary on both the promises and challenges colleges and universities have and continue to face... [T]his is a much-needed, authentic commentary on the changes which happened throughout American higher education from one who was a direct participant in academia... Highly recommended."--Choice "A very useful, if not crucial addition, to the libraries of aspiring humanists and administrators in U.S. higher education. Although neither a call to arms nor a road-map for change, Chace's book is a rich, timely, and sober reflection on higher education's upper half at the start of the twenty-first century."--Tim Lacy, History and Education
Table of ContentsAcknowledgments ix Introduction 1 Chapter 1: I Knew Exactly What I Was Doing 6 Chapter 2: Haverford--the Guilty Reminder 11 Chapter 3: And All Will Be Well 22 Chapter 4: The Readiness Is All 35 Chapter 5: Berkeley: Thoroughly Unready 47 Chapter 6: The Discipline of Literature 57 Chapter 7: A New Kind of Proletariat 69 Chapter 8: Going South 77 Chapter 9: Reading in Jail 88 Chapter 10: Poetry and Politics 97 Chapter 11: The Storehouse of Knowledge 110 Chapter 12: Unfolding the Origami of Teaching 121 Chapter 13: Tenure and Its Discontents 134 Chapter 14: Tenure Tested 143 Chapter 15: Teaching and Its Discontents 153 Chapter 16: The English Department in Disarray 165 Chapter 17: Why Join the Administration? 177 Chapter 18: Exchanging Reflection for Action 188 Chapter 19: Diversity University 198 Chapter 20: Marching to a Different Drummer 208 Chapter 21: The Puzzle of Leadership 222 Chapter 22: Looking at Success; Looking at Failure 240 Chapter 23: Learning and Then Leaving 252 Chapter 24: A School with Aspirations 270 Chapter 25: Being a Proprietor 287 Chapter 26: Real Power and Imaginary Power 306 Chapter 27: "A King of Infinite Space" 327 Index 339
