Kettering Foundation

Deliberation and the Work of Higher Education: Innovations for the Classroom, the Campus, and the Community

Deliberation and the Work of Higher Education: Innovations for the Classroom, the Campus, and the Community demonstrates how deliberation can help higher education renew its mission of preparing citizens to sustain democracy and stimulate civic involvement on college campuses around the country.

It also describes how deliberative dialogue—in both the classroom and on campus—can promote learning and problem solving amidst a culture of argument, debate, and polarization that is prevalent on campus and in society.

Edited by John R. Dedrick, Laura Grattan, and Harris Dienstfrey, Deliberation and the Work of Higher Education is first and foremost a book about the possibilities of deliberation and the ways in which teachers and administrators can adapt it to their instructional and organizational goals. The book features 11 insightful and inspiring essays by professors, administrators, and researchers who have experimented with deliberative practices in central areas of college and university life, from classroom teaching to campus concerns to campus-community relations.

Covering such varied topics as teaching diversity to first-year college students, preparing graduate students to teach early grades, and bridging the divide between college students and retirees, the essays testify to the effectiveness of deliberation both in the classroom and in the community.

The book will appeal to teachers who want to increase the civic awareness of students, experiment with approaches to learning in which students are active participants, and explore the processes by which teachers can move from “the sage on the stage” to the “guide at the side.” Beyond that, Deliberation and the Work of Higher Education will speak to those in higher education who are eager to replace the current “culture of argument” with a democratic practice that enables participants to find common ground. It also will provide encouragement for educators who, concerned about recent trends commercializing higher education, are working to instill a civics-oriented culture on campus.

Deliberation and the Work of Higher Education shows that deliberative democracy makes a powerful contribution to meeting the civic purposes of higher education. Deliberation challenges students to assume responsibility for learning to think critically, for forming collective judgments with others to help improve their common communities, and for building a capacity to contribute to democratic society in whatever career paths they select.

Deliberation also provides a means for faculty and administrators to accomplish the democratic aspirations that prompted them to become higher education professionals when they stood where their students do now. It enables them to continue experimenting and innovating as educators and researchers.

Contributors to Deliberation and the Work of Higher Education include faculty who teach graduate and undergraduate courses, university administrators, and a recent college graduate now pursuing a law degree. Their venues range from a major research university in Virginia to a liberal arts college in New England, from a state university in San Diego to a historically black university in Ohio.

What Others Are Saying about Deliberation and the Work of Higher Education

Interviews with the Writers

Download select chapters from Deliberation and the Work of Higher Education

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