Center for Faculty Development

Scholarship Annotated Bibliography

Found in Scholarship and Professional Development > Annotated Bibliographies

Andre, Ray and Peter J. Frost, eds. (1996). Researchers hooked on teaching: Noted Scholars Discuss the Synergies of Teaching and Research.  Thousand Oaks: Sage.
In this thought-provoking collection of personal essays, a diverse group of professors describe what they actually do in the classroom and in their personal lives to balance the tension between teaching and research. Some of the themes Researchers Hooked on Teaching discusses are teachers as models for each other and their students, individualism versus collectivism in the institution and the classroom; and finding one's voice. This insightful new book suggests that if scholars are to be teachers, then their ability to integrate teaching and research is basic to their well-being over the course of their career, and is probably a predictor of classroom effectiveness as well. Contributors include Karl Weick, Peter Vaill, Barbara Gutek, Howard Aldrich, and others known for their creativity and scholarship. Students and scholars in the field of organizational studies--and particularly students who aspire to academic careers--will find this a helpful resource. Other areas to which Researchers Hooked on Teaching will be applicable include gender studies, sociology, psychology, and courses in teacher training.

Boice, R. (1990). Professors as writers: a self-help guide to productive writing. Stillwater, OK: New Forums Press.
"Professors as Writers is a self-help manual for professors who want to write more productively, painlessly, and successfully. It reflects the author's two decades of experiences and research with professors as writers--by compressing a lot of experience in a brief, programmatic framework."  With sections about “The nature of writing problems”  “ Strategies for the short run” “A regimen for productive and painless writing: strategies for the long run”  “ Beyond solutions, to growth”

Boyer, E. L. (1990). Scholarship reconsidered: Priorities of the professoriate. Princeton, NJ: Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching.
What does it mean to be a scholar? What is the nature of scholarship? What activities of the American professoriate should be deemed as scholarship?  These are the central questions addressed by Boyer in this 1990 seminal work.  Boyer takes us on a journey through the history of the changing role of faculty that eventually leads us to reconsider the current trends in faculty priorities.  His goal is not only to reposition teaching as one cornerstone of faculty activity, but also to encourage creativity and diversity within the professoriate, bringing renewal to higher learning institutions and ultimately to society. (Dr. Matt Lunsford, Union University)

Charles E. Glassick, Mary Taylor Huber, Gene I. Maeroff, (March 2000). Scholarship Assessed: An Evaluation of the Professoriate, Jossey-Bass Publishers, ISBN: 0787910910
A companion piece to Boyer's classic, Scholarship Reconsidered, Scholarship Assessed takes the academy through a process for setting standards of scholarly work, documenting scholarship, developing trust in the process understanding the qualities of a scholar.  Glassick, et.al., found through their research that scholarship worthy of praise in the academy usually has been guided by the following qualitative standards: Clear goals, adequate preparation, appropriate methods, effective presentation and reflective critique.

This book is valuable to small colleges who are trying to grow scholarship at their institutions. Administration and faculty development professionals can use this book to help faculty understand the breadth and depth of scholarship in the academy today and to develop in faculty the confidence and discipline to engage in scholarship. (Dr. Kina Mallard, Union University) 

Gray, Tara. (Win 1998-1999). “Publish, Don't Perish: Twelve Steps To Help Scholars Flourish.” Journal of Staff, Program & Organizational Development, 16 (3), 135-42.

Gray states that faculty can become productive scholars and publish more by taking certain steps. Offers 12 strategies for faculty to follow, including believing in what one has to say, being a good time manager, setting aside time to write, holding oneself accountable to a partner, and sharing early drafts with colleagues. Contains 20 references. (VWC) 

Jacobsen, Douglas & Jacobsen, Rhonda Hustedt (2004). Scholarship and Christian Faith: Enlarging the Conversation.  New York: Oxford University Press.

This book represents a certain “maturing” of the vision for the integration of the Christian faith with the world of scholarship. It seeks to replace a simplistic approach to Christian scholarship with a broader and more nuanced one. More to the point, Scholarship and Christian Faith seeks to correct the perceived weaknesses in the “integration of faith and learning” as it is expressed within evangelical higher education. Noting that the most widely read proponents of the integration of faith and learning—Holmes, Wolterstorff, Plantinga, et al.—address it from a Reformed theological perspective, the contributors to this volume effectively challenge limitations of this approach. The essentially Reformed perspective on Christian scholarship is variously criticized for being too “tidy,” too philosophical, too “forced,” and too impersonal. 

This volume is an excellent example of Christian scholarship at its best: carefully documented, broadly informed, and willing to advance innovative approaches to conceptualizing the relationship between faith and the academy. It provides excellent examples of creative new ways that Christians can be faithful to their own faith traditions and yet effectively engage with and participate in the so-called "secular" academy.  It will be most useful to scholars, administrators, and laymen who are conversant with some of the issues in the relationship between faith and learning, especially as it has taken place within the evangelical higher education community.  

Menges, Robert J. & Maryellen Weimer. (1996). Teaching on Solid Ground. Jossey-Bass Publishers: San Francisco.

An excellent book for faculty who regard teaching as more than a set of techniques. Menges and Weimer focus on connecting teaching with student learning, and they help faculty develop a systematic inquiry into teaching strategies, as well as showing them how to better utilize students assessment in the classroom. Ch 5: Collaborative Learning.   The book is separated into three main parts: Students and Learning, Teachers and Teaching, and Laying the Groundwork for Good Teaching.  Sample chapters include: Assessing Student Involvement in Learning, Planning and Developing Effective Courses, and What College Teachers Need to Know.

Seldin, Peter (2004). The teaching portfolio: A practical guide to improved performance and promotion/tenure decisions. Anker Publishing Company, Inc.
First and foremost, the guide relies on the unique field experience and the resultant credibility of Seldin himself, who has registered hundreds of visits to colleges to introduce the teaching portfolio, personally mentoring some 500 professors in the portfolio writing task The second key to the predicted success of this publication stems from the fact that Professor Seldin has successfully involved 11 chapter contributors to flesh out various aspects of the use of the portfolio in higher education. And, finally, the Third Edition boasts 22 new portfolios submitted by professors from a wide variety of disciplines and institutional settings. The result is that even those with the First Edition on their shelves may well go ahead and purchase the Third Edition given the amount of new material included in the guide.

The third section of The Teaching Portfolio tells seven separate tales of how institutions struggled with the challenge of introducing the portfolio in contexts ranging from a campus in shambles to a campus intent on raising the bar on teaching excellence. These stories provide a variety of perspectives and remind us that there is more than one way to introduce a good idea, such as working through the academic departments rather than attempting a campus-wide initiative from the start. Readers will enjoy learning about the highly varied experiences, from New York to Texas, of the contributing authors.

The last section of The Teaching Portfolio guide consists of 22 recent portfolios, listed alphabetically from Accounting through Theatre (too bad there was no contribution from Zoology!) and once again representing US institutions of higher education from many States (as well as one portfolio by a professor who recently moved to a Canadian university). Teachers will likely jump to examine a portfolio in their academic field or discipline. This is a natural tendency, but Seldin and other experts often suggest that the best ideas for approaches and topics may well be found in portfolios in fields other than one's own. As might be expected, the quality of the writing in the portfolios varies from very sharp to crying out for a sweeping edit. But these are real professors struggling with real educational issues and their sample portfolios give us a broad overview of the state of the art.
(Source: Alan Wright, Université du Québec)