Stories from the Front of the Room - by Michelle Harris & Sherrill L Sellers & Orly Clerge (Paperback)

About the Book

This book focuses on the boundaries which faculty of color encounter in everyday experiences on campus and presents a more complete picture of life in the academy - one that documents how faculty of color are tested, but also how they can not only overcome, but thrive in their...

Book Synopsis

This book focuses on the boundaries which faculty of color encounter in everyday experiences on campus and presents a more complete picture of life in the academy - one that documents how faculty of color are tested, but also how they can not only overcome, but thrive in their respective educational institutions.

Review Quotes

A real-world, up-close look inside the everyday reality of working in historically white Academia, as seen by its most astute observers--the faculty of color who must cope, survive, leave, and thrive in a pervasive white-racist environment.

Stories from the Front of the Room is essential reading for all faculty in the country who care about educating a diverse nation, providing opportunity, and ensuring equity. The editors have fastened together a beautiful group of voices that shed light on how far we have to come to ensure that everyone feels included in academe.

Stories from the Front of the Room is truly a unique and provocative book. In letter format, the writings provide an impressive and extensive view of how professors of different races and genders across differing disciplines learn to 'survive and thrive' in the academy. The richness of the narratives provides candid and expressive stories of life in the professoriate for faculty of color. From doctoral students to academicians, this is a book all professors should have in their bookcase!

About the Author

Michelle Harris is a sociologist who directs the Institute for Global Indigeneity. She is also a Professor in the Department of Africana Studies at theUniversity at Albany, SUNY. Harris has written on acculturation and stress among immigrant Americans and how racial discrimination affects the mental health and well-being of blacks in the United States. Her most recent scholarship explores the politics of indigenous identity.

Sherrill L. Sellers is a Professor and Associate Dean in the College of Education, Health & Society at Miami University in Oxford OH. She studies the mental and physical health consequences of social inequalities; intersections of race, genetics, and health; and aging and the life course.

Orly Clerge is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Sociology and Africana Studies at Tufts University in Medford, MA. She is broadly interested in the areas of race and ethnicity, immigration and migration, urban sociology and social demography.

Frederick W. Gooding, Jr. is an Assistant Professor within the Ethnic Studies Program at Northern Arizona University in Flagstaff, AZ. A trained historian, Gooding most effectively analyzes contemporary mainstream media with a careful eye for persistent patterns along racial lines that appear benign but indeed have problematic historical roots.