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 dean's 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 dean's 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).