Big Man on Campus: A University President Speaks Out on Higher Education

Currently President Emeritus of The George Washington University (after 19 years as president), author Trachtenberg (Reflections on Higher Education) looks back on his years of work at GW, the University of Hartford (where he was president for 11 years) and Boston University to assess the current state of higher education. Each chapter focuses on a different subject-town/gown relations, fundraising, the rules of an effective university president-with a grounded, friendly tone and a wealth of personal anecdotes. Much of the work, however, concerns weighty matters such as defining the scope of various undergraduate curricula in the United States and parsing out the essentials of study: ""It makes little sense to learn about another culture while remaining ignorant about one's own."" Refreshingly honest and conversational, whether tackling the changes he's observed in students over the years or the influence of his parents, professors and colleagues, this will make extremely interesting reading for those in the education industry, and should be of general interest as well.