The Academic Life

By Christina GesslerBusiness Education Arts Books Careers

The Academic Life episodes

January 05, 2023Why Did 48,000 UC Workers Go on Strike? A Conversation with Dr. Trevor Griffey
Why did thousands of workers at prestigious universities in the United States go on strike in 2022? How did we get to this historic moment, and is it really over? This episode explores:
The myriad ways universities can wield power over workers and even their families.
Why university workers are divided into different unions—and why some have no union representation at all.
How inflation, student debt, housing shortages, health insurance access, and the constriction of the tenure-track put unbearable pressure graduate students, adjuncts, and instructors.
The limitations of sympathy strikes.
How higher education became a gig economy.
Why this generation of students and their parents have more power to change academic inequality than they may realize.
Our guest is: Trevor Griffey is a Lecturer in U.S. History at UC Irvine and in Labor Studies at UCLA. He is co-founder of the Seattle Civil Rights and Labor History Project, and co-editor of the book Black Power at Work: Community Control, Affirmative Actiton and the Construction Industry (Cornell University Press, 2010). He currently serves as the Vice President of Legislation for the University Council-American Federation of Teachers (UC-AFT), which represents non-Senate faculty and librarians in the University of California system.
Our host is: Dr. Christina Gessler, a historian of women and gender.
Listeners to this episode may also be interested in:
This podcast on dealing with structural inequalities in the tenure pipeline
This podcast with the AAUP on how the demise of the tenure system is hurting students, professors, and academic freedom
The podcast on one professor's long road to the dream job in academia
The Gig Academy: Mapping Labor in the Neoliberal University by Adrianna Kezar, Tom DePaola, And Daniel T. Scott
State of the Union: A Century of American Labor - Revised and Expanded Edition, by Nelson Lichtenstein
Nelson Lichtenstein's piece about the UC Strike in Dissent Magazine
This LA Times article, which is one of many pieces in recent years about how graduate students and adjuncts cannot afford housing
The Guardian's article on firings of graduate student strikers in 2020
For teaching US labor and social history, this resource which is free and available online (free registration): https://wba.ashpcml.org/

Welcome to the Academic Life! On the Academic Life channel we are inspired and informed by today’s knowledge-producers, working inside and outside the academy. Missed any of our episodes? You’ll find over 130 of the Academic Life podcast episodes archived and freely available to you on the New Books Network website.
Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/academic-life

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1 hr 5 min
December 29, 2022You Do Have A Right To Remain Fat: A Conversation with Virgie Tovar
Why are women judged for their size? What if you decided that you had the right to remain fat? This episode explores:
Our born desire to like ourselves as we are.
How we get shamed out of that at such a young age, and so very quickly.
How hard it is to re-learn how to like yourself.
Why our cultural commitment to fat-phobia harms us all.
A Discussion of the book You Have the Right To Remain Fat.
Our guest is: Virgie Tovar, who is an author, activist, and a lecturer on weight-based discrimination and body image. She holds a Master's degree in Sexuality Studies with a focus on the intersections of body size, race and gender. She edited the anthology Hot & Heavy: Fierce Fat Girls on Life, Love and Fashion (Seal Press, November 2012), is the author of You Have the Right to Remain Fat (Feminist Press August 2018), The Self-Love Revolution: Radical Body Positivity for Girls of Color (New Harbinger Publications 2020), and The Body Positive Journal (Chronicle Books 2022). She has received three San Francisco Arts Commission Individual Artist Commissions as well as Yale's Poynter Fellowship in Journalism.
Our host is: Dr. Christina Gessler, a historian of women and gender.
Listeners to this episode may also be interested in:
Fatty Fatty Boom Boom, by Rabia Chaudry
What We Don’t Talk About When We Talk About Fat, by Aubrey Gordon
Belly of the Beast: The Politics of Anti-Fatness, by Da’Shaun L. Harrison
Fearing the Black Body: The Racial Origins of Fat Phobia, by Sabrina Strings
The Body is Not An Apology, Second Edition, by Sonya Renee Taylor

Welcome to The Academic Life! On the Academic Life channel we embrace a broad definition of what it means 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. Find us on Twitter: @AcademicLifeNBN.
Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/academic-life

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.
1 hr 5 min
December 22, 2022Archival Kismet: Lessons in Launching An Online Conference
What is the feeling of archival kismet? And how can we reimagine the format of academic conferences to better support scholars? This episode explores:
The complex feelings of finding unexpected things in an archive.
Why using conference presentations as openings for scholarly conversations is important.
How Dr. Thompson founded an online conference during the pandemic, and her future plans for Archival Kismet.
What can make online conferences more inclusive and inexpensive.
Tips for feeling comfortable presenting online, even when things go wrong.
Our guest is: Dr. Courtney Thompson, who is an associate history professor at Mississippi State University, and the founder of Archival Kismet online conferences. Her research and teaching interests are centered in the history of nineteenth-century American medicine; medical humanities; history of the mind and body; history of women, gender, and sexuality; feminist science studies; history of emotions; visual culture; science and crime; psychiatry and mental illness.
Our host is: Dr. Christina Gessler, a historian of women and gender.
Listeners to this episode may also be interested in:
The Archival Kismet Conference page
This podcast on making the most of an academic conference
This podcast on getting started on your research
The Chronicle of Higher Ed article “How to Make the Most of a Virtual Conference”
The Chronicle of Higher Ed article “How To Cope With Presentation Anxiety”
The Research Companion: A Practical Guide, by Petra Boynton
The Art of Creative Research, by Philip Gerald
How to Read a History Book: The Hidden History of History, by Marshall Poe
Where Research Begins, by Thomas Mullaney and Christopher Rea

Welcome to The Academic Life! On the Academic Life channel we embrace a broad definition of what it means 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. Find us on Twitter: @AcademicLifeNBN.
Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/academic-life

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.
1 hr
December 15, 2022Belonging: A Conversation with Geoffrey Cohen
Why do we feel the need to belong, and what happens when we don’t? This episode explores:
What it takes to belong.
Why it physically hurts to be excluded.
How perspective-gathering can help create more inclusion.
A Discussion of the book Belonging: The Science of Creating Connection and Bridging Divides.
Today’s book is: Belonging: The Science of Creating Connection and Bridging Divides, by Dr. Geoffrey Cohen, which explores how we became so alienated from one another, the physical and emotional costs of exclusion, and what we can do to create belonging even in polarized times. Dr. Cohen applies his and others’ groundbreaking research to offer solutions for improving daily life at work, in school, in our homes, and in our communities. We all feel a deep need to belong, but most of us don’t fully appreciate that need in others. Small acts of connection such as reflecting on our core values, and a suite of practices that Cohen defines as “situation-crafting,” can lessen polarization, improve performance in school and work, and unleash the potential in ourselves and in our relationships.
Our guest is: Professor Geoffrey Cohen, whose research examines processes that shape people's sense of belonging and self and implications for social problems. He studies the big and small threats to belonging and self-integrity that people encounter in school, work, and health care settings, and strategies to create more inclusive spaces for people from all walks of life. He believes that the development of psychological theory is facilitated not only by descriptive and observational research but by theory-driven intervention. He has long been inspired by Kurt Lewin's quip, "The best way to try to understand something is to try to change it."
Our host is: Dr. Christina Gessler, a historian of women and gender.
Listeners to this episode may also be interested in:
Brady, S. T., Cohen, G. L., Jarvis, S. N., & Walton, G. M. (2020). A brief social-belonging intervention in college improves adult outcomes for black Americans. Science Advances, 6(18), eaay3689.
Connor, Alice. How To Human: An Incomplete Manual for Living in a Mess-up World.
Frank Martela, A Wonderful Life: Insights on Finding a Meaningful Existence.
Milam, L. A., Cohen, G. L., Mueller, C., & Salles, A. (2019). Stereotype threat and working memory among surgical residents (vol 216, pg 824, 2018). American Journal of Surgery, 218(3), 668.

Welcome to The Academic Life! On the Academic Life channel we embrace a broad definition of what it means 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. Find us on Twitter: @AcademicLifeNBN.
Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/academic-life

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.
55 min
December 13, 2022Finding Yourself in Difficult Conversations?
Why do so many difficult conversations happen over a school break, a holiday meal, or at an important family event? How can we better prepare ourselves, and start managing our expectations? This episode explores:
Ways we can navigate difficult* conversations.
Why we can stop trying to have the right answer.
Questions to ask ourselves as we set our intentions and our boundaries.
How to offer a heads up in advance of divulging surprising news.
The importance of chosen families, and of friendship gatherings.
Tips for helping others and ourselves, even when things go wrong.
*This episode is not applicable for abusive situations.
Our guest is: Lindsay Geist, who holds an MDiv and MSW, and is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker. She completed her graduate work at Duke Divinity School and UNC-Chapel Hill (according to Lindsay: “yes, you can go to two rival schools at the same time...as long as you don’t mention it during basketball season!”). She runs her own private practice; and leads trainings on mental health, addressing anxiety, and soul care. Lindsay also co-hosts the podcast, “Not Alone: Conversations on Faith and Mental Health.”
Our host is: Dr. Christina Gessler, a historian of women and gender.
Listeners to this episode may also be interested in:
How We Show Up: Reclaiming Family, Friendship and Community, by Mia Birdsong
It’s a Wonderful Life: Insights on Finding a Meaningful Existence, by Frank Martela
Tw-eats: Big Feelings and Short Recipes for Those Who Cook and Eat With Love, David K. Smith
Set Boundaries, Find Peace: A Guide to Reclaiming Yourself, by Nedra Glover Tawwab
This podcast episode on dealing with rejection
This podcast on the value of spending time outside
This podcast on Cooking and Grief

Welcome to The Academic Life! On the Academic Life channel we are inspired and informed by today’s knowledge-producers, working inside and outside the academy. Find us on Twitter: @AcademicLifeNBN.
Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/academic-life

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.
1 hr 1 min
December 08, 2022Misrepresentation on Campus: A Conversation with Michelle Cyca
When a professor is not who they say they are, what does it take to get them to resign? This episode explores:
How an anonymous twitter account and a media investigation helped Ms. Cyca reveal the truth about a professor misrepresenting their identity.
Why professors can fail to fully acknowledge all the harm done to the students, staff, and community even after they are exposed.
A discussion of the article The Curious Case of Gina Adams: A “Pretendian” Investigation.
Our guest is: Michelle Cyca, a former employee at Emily Carr University of Art and Design, who currently works as a freelance writer, editor, and content strategist. For over 15 years she has written for numerous print magazines, digital publications, brands and creators. She is the author of The Curious Case of Gina Adams, and many other articles.
Our host is: Dr. Christina Gessler, a historian of women and gender.
Listeners to this episode may also be interested in these other articles by Michelle Cyca:
Resilience & Reconnection: Stories of Indigenous Parenting, Romper
Orange Shirt Day Is Not About Buying Orange Shirts, IndigiNews
Learning Cree with My Daughter, Romper
Monuments to What? The Tyee
Tanya Talaga Is Telling the Stories Canada Needs to Hear, Maclean’s
To Honour Lee Maracle’s Life, Read Indigenous Women, The Tyee
Resistance 150: Indigenous Artists Challenge Canadians to Reckon with Our History, Chatelaine

Welcome to The Academic Life! On the Academic Life channel we embrace a broad definition of what it means to lead an academic life. We are inspired by knowledge-producers working inside and outside the academy. Find us on Twitter: @AcademicLifeNBN.
Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/academic-life

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.
57 min
December 01, 2022When Your Professor Asks You to Cheat: A Conversation with Dr. Joel Heng Hartse
We all know that academic integrity matters. But do we all agree on what academic integrity really is? Somewhere beyond the nuances and gray areas is blatant cheating. And that’s always wrong . . . but what if your professor asks you to cheat? This episode explores:
How well students understand academic integrity.
Why Dr. Heng Hartse designed a course that required cheating.
What he and his students learned from it.
How it feels to cheat, and why some students feel forced to do it.
A discussion of the article “What Happened When I Made My Students Cheat.”
Our guest is: Dr. Joel Heng Hartse, who teaches at Simon Fraser University. He wrote Sects, Love, and Rock and Roll (Cascade Books, 2010); Dancing About Architecture is a Reasonable Things to Do (Cascade Books, 2022); co-authored with Jiang Dong Perspectives on Teaching English at Colleges and Universities in China (TESOL Press, 2015); and is the author of the article “What Happened When I Made My Students Cheat,” published in Inside Higher Ed (November 9, 2022).
Our host is: Dr. Christina Gessler, a historian of women and gender.
Listeners to this episode may also be interested in:
Intellectual Appetite, by Paul Griffiths
“Dishonest Behavior in the Classroom and Clinical Setting: Perceptions and Engagement” by Emily L. McClung and Joanna Kraenzle Schneider
“Literacy Brokers and the Emotional Work of Mediation,” by Ligia Ana Mihut, in Literacy and Composition Studies, volume 2, number 1 (2014)
Jeffrey Moro’s blog article “Against Cop Shit”
The New York Times article on the aftermath of “Harvard cheating scandal”
This podcast on learning from your failed research

Welcome to The Academic Life! On the Academic Life channel we embrace a broad definition of what it means 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. Find us on Twitter: @AcademicLifeNBN.
Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/academic-life

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.
47 min
November 22, 2022Books, Antisemitism, and a Viral Tweet: A Conversation with Library Director Susan Kusel
Need help curating a list of Holocaust books for your students or library patrons? What’s on your shelf? What should be there? This podcast episode explores:
The most commonly assigned Holocaust books.
Why some of them are books you should never assign.
Recommendations for books to assign, read, and share.
Gaps in the literature.
Gatekeepers of higher education.
Susan’s wish-list.
Our guest is: Susan Kusel, who is the Library Director at Temple Rodef Shalom in Falls Church, Virginia. She is also an author, a children’s book consultant and a former independent bookstore buyer. She has served on multiple book award committees including the Caldecott Medal and as the chair of the Sydney Taylor Book Award. She is a former board member of the Association of Jewish Libraries. Her debut picture book, The Passover Guest won the Sydney Taylor Book Award.
Our host is: Dr. Christina Gessler, a historian of women and gender.
Listeners to this episode may also be interested in:
Deborah Hopkinson, We Must Not Forget
Dita Kraus, A Delayed Life: The True Story of the Librarian of Auschwitz
Susan Kusel, The Passover Guest
Primo Levi, The Periodic Table
Doreen Rappaport, Beyond Courage: The Untold Story of Jewish Resistance During the Holocaust
David Safier, 28 Days: A Novel of Resistance in the Warsaw Ghetto
Hana Volavkova et al, I Never Saw Another Butterfly: Children’s Drawings and Poems from the Terezin Concentration Camp, 1942-1944
Liza Wiemer, The Assignment
Elie Wiesel, Night
Susan’s wish list
The Blog: The Sydney Taylor Schooze
The Association of Jewish Libraries
Sydney Taylor Book Award

Welcome to The Academic Life! We reach across our mentor network to bring you podcasts on everything from how to finish a project to how to take care of your beautiful mind. On the Academic Life channel we embrace a broad definition of what it means 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. DMs us on Twitter: @AcademicLifeNBN.
Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/academic-life

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.
1 hr 1 min
November 17, 2022Scholar Skills: Unraveling Faculty Burnout
“I’m burned out” is a familiar phrase in higher ed these days. This episode explores:
What burnout is and is not.
One scholar’s personal experience with burnout.
How higher ed’s culture and the “expectation escalation” encourage burnout.
Academic capitalism and its relationship to faculty burnout.
The missing voices from the conversation on burnout.
Imposter syndrome and how it plays out for women, especially, in the academy.
Our guest is: Dr. Rebecca Pope-Ruark, Director of the Office of Faculty Professional Development at the Georgia Institute of Technology. She is the author of Unraveling Faculty Burnout: Pathways to Reckoning and Renewal (Johns Hopkins University Press, 2022) and Agile Faculty: Practical Strategies for Managing Research, Service, and Teaching (The University of Chicago Press, 2017) as well as the coeditor of Redesigning Liberal Education: Innovative Design for a Twenty-First-Century Undergraduate Education (Johns Hopkins University Press, 2020).
Our host is: Dr. Dana M. Malone, co-producer and co-host of The Academic Life channel. Dana is energized by facilitating meaningful conversations and educational experiences for folks across the academy and beyond. Dana is the author of From Single to Serious: Relationships, Gender, and Sexuality on American Evangelical Campuses, (Rutgers University Press).
Listeners to this episode may also be interested in:
This Chronicle of Higher Education article on how to cope with Covid-19 burnout.
This Inside Higher Ed article on beating pandemic burnout.
The Maslach Burnout Inventory for Educators (MBI-ES).
This Academic Life conversation on community building and how we show up.
This Academic Life conversation on being well in academia.
This Academic Life conversation on finding your people and making meaningful connections.

Welcome to The Academic Life! 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.
Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/academic-life

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.
1 hr 2 min
November 10, 2022Where Does Research Really Begin?
Today’s book is: Where Research Begins: Choosing a Research Project That Matters to You (and the World) (U Chicago Press, 2022) by Thomas S. Mullaney and Christopher Rea, which tackles the two challenges every researcher faces with every new project: “How do I find a compelling problem to investigate—one that truly matters to me, deeply and personally? How do I then design my research project so that the results will matter to anyone else?” This easy-to-follow workbook guides you to find research inspiration within yourself, and in the broader world of ideas.
Our guest is: Dr. Thomas S. Mullaney, who is Professor of History at Stanford University and Professor of East Asian Languages and Cultures, by courtesy; the Kluge Chair in Technology and Society at the Library of Congress; and a Guggenheim Fellow. He is the author or lead editor of 7 books and the forthcoming The Chinese Computer—the first comprehensive history of Chinese-language computing. His writings have appeared in the Journal of Asian Studies, Technology & Culture, Aeon, Foreign Affairs, and Foreign Policy, and his work has been featured in the LA Times, The Atlantic, the BBC, and in invited lectures at Google, Microsoft, Adobe, and more. He holds a PhD from Columbia University.
Our guest is: Dr. Christopher Rea, who is a literary and cultural historian. His research focuses on the modern Chinese-speaking world, and his most recent publications concern research methods, cinema, comedy, celebrities, swindlers, cultural entrepreneurs, and the scholar-writers Qian Zhongshu and Yang Jiang. At University of British Columbia, he is a faculty member and Associate Head, External of the Department of Asian Studies; former Director of the Centre for Chinese Research; an associate of the Hong Kong Studies Initiative; and a Faculty Fellow of St. John’s College. He co-authored with Tom Mullaney, Where Research Begins: Choosing a Research Project That Matters to You (and the World).
Our host is: Dr. Christina Gessler, a historian of women and gender.
Listeners to this episode may also be interested in:
The Craft of Research, by Wayne Booth et al
The Research Companion, by Petra Boynton
How to Write a Thesis, by Umberto Eco
The Art of Creative Research, by Philip Gerald
This podcast on learning from your failed research

Welcome to The Academic Life! We reach across our mentor network to bring you podcasts on everything from how to finish a project to how to take care of your beautiful mind. On the Academic Life channel we embrace a broad definition of what it means 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. DMs us on Twitter: @AcademicLifeNBN.
Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/academic-life

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.
1 hr 8 min

About The Academic Life

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A podcast for your academic journey—and beyond! Created and produced by Dr. Christina Gessler, the Academic Life podcast is inspired by today’s knowledge-producers around the world, working inside and outside the academy.