Making the University Matter

Making the University Matter investigates how academics situate themselves simultaneously in the university and the world and how doing so affects the viability of the university setting.

The university stands at the intersection of two sets of interests, needing to be at one with the world while aspiring to stand apart from it. In an era that promises intensified political instability, growing administrative pressures, dwindling economic returns and questions about economic viability, lower enrolments and shrinking programs, can the university continue to matter into the future? And if so, in which way? What will help it survive as an honest broker? What are the mechanisms for ensuring its independent voice?

Barbie Zelizer brings together some of the leading names in the field of media and communication studies from around the globe to consider a multiplicity of answers from across the curriculum on making the university matter, including critical scholarship, interdisciplinarity, curricular blends of the humanities and social sciences, practical training and policy work.



The collection is introduced with an essay by the editor and each section has a brief introduction to contextualise the essays and highlight the issues they raise.

Barbie Zelizer is Professor of Communication and holds the Raymond Williams Chair of Communication. A former journalist, Zelizer's work focuses on the cultural dimensions of journalism, with a specific interest in journalistic authority, collective memory, and journalistic images in times of crisis and war. She is also co-editor and founder of the journal Journalism: Theory, Practice, and Criticism (Sage) and has served on the editorial boards of numerous book series and journals, including Journal of Communication, Communication Theory, Critical Studies in Media Communication, Rhetoric and Public Affairs, Popular Communication, and Critical and Cultural Studies in Communication. Zelizer has lectured widely both internationally and nationally, and her essays on the media have appeared in The Nation, Newshour with Jim Lehrer, Newsday, and other publications. Author and editor of seven books and some 40 articles and book chapters, Zelizer's work has been translated into French, Hebrew, German, Portuguese and Japanese.

Introduction Pondering the University’s Future Barbie Zelizer Part I On Teaching and Learning Introduction: Models of Teaching and Learning, Brittany Griebling and Adrienne Shaw 1. The Life of the University Paddy Scannell 2. The Problem of General Education in the Research University Michael Schudson 3. The University (or College) Keeps Us Honest Robin Wagner-Pacifici 4. Rethinking Doctoral Education and Careers Larry Gross Part II Models of Intellectual Engagement Introduction: Against McCollege Michael Serazio 5. University in the Age of a Transnational Public Sphere Slavko Splichal 6. Surviving Through Engagement: The Faculty Responsibility to Defend Liberal Education S. Elizabeth Bird 7. Monks, Managers and Celebrities: Refiguring the European University Isabel Capeloa Gil 8. Universities and Globalization: Models and Countermodels Marwan M. Kraidy Part III Making Intellectual Work Public Introduction: Closing the Gap Between the Philosophical and the Practical Susan Mello and Rocio Nunez 9. Thinking While Black Mark Anthony Neal 10. iPhones and Eyeshades: Journalism and the University’s Role in Promoting a Dynamic Public Sphere Michael Bromley 11. Making Art Matter: Navigating the Collaborative Turn Ien Ang and Philip Mar 12. Metaphor and Institutional Crisis: The Near-Death Experience of Antioch College Paula Treichler Part IV Economies of Knowledge Introduction Resistances and Affordances of the Economic "Bottom Line" Mario Rodriguez 13. Post-Neoliberal Academic Values: Notes from the UK Higher Education Sector Nick Couldry 14. Claims of Time(s): Notes on Post-Welfare Public Reason Risto Kunelius 15. The Entrepreneurial University: Or, Why the University Is No Longer a Public Space (If It Ever Was) Don Mitchell 16. Outlearning John Hartley Part V Institutionalization and Technology Part V Introduction: Assessing the Influence of Institutional and Technological Change, Angela M. Lee and Deborah Lubken 17. The Institutional Transformation of Universities in the Era of Digital Information Dominic Boyer 18. How to Read Hyper-Text: Media Literacy and Open Access in Higher Education Richard Cullen Rath 19. Lost in Abundance? Reflections on Disciplinarity Kaarle Nordenstreng 20. Another Plea for the University Tradition: The Institutional Roots of Intellectual Compromise Jeff Pooley Part VI Default Settings and Their Complications Part VI Introduction: Politics By Default and Choice Keren Tenenboim-Weinblatt 21. Models of Transnational ‘Cooperation’: A Site of Geopolitical Struggles? Elizabeth Jelin 22. Legal Education and the Rise of Rights Consciousness in China John Nguyet Erni 23. The Academic Career Pipeline: Not Breaking But Pouring Katherine Sender 24. Producing Cosmopolitan Global Citizens in the U.S. Academy Radhika Parameswaran