To Rise Above Principle

Description: In this lighthearted yet serious look at the trials and tribulations of an academic dean Josef Martin recounts stories that may astonish many members of the academic community but will sound hauntingly familiar to other deans. He describes the deans role in such matters as tenure decisions budgeting affirmative action and coping with unreasonable demands of faculty members department chairs vice presidents parents and students. His characterizations of typical faculty members will delight academics--except perhaps when they read about themselves. Endorsements: [D]elightfully written . . . [with an] overriding sense of fairness and purpose . . . [a] consistent rational and loving account. --Academe Although this deans claws are sheathed his tongue is not. . . . Far too nice to be a dean he must have been an ideal dean nevertheless. --The American Scholar [S]lim but significant . . . devastatingly accurate . . . [an] indispensable addition to the growing literature of academic politics. --Clarion About the Contributor(s): Josef Martin is a pseudonym of Henry H. Bauer. Henry Bauer is Professor Emeritus of Chemistry and Science Studies and Dean Emeritus of Arts and Sciences Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University (Virginia Tech). Earlier he had worked at the Universities of Sydney Michigan Southampton and Kentucky. His publications include more than a hundred articles and eleven books most recently Dogmatism in Science and Medicine: How Dominant Theories Monopolize Research and Stifle the Search for Truth (2012).