Fifty Years of Interdisciplinary Teaching in Academe: One Professor's Pedagogical Tips and Reflections

There is no book exactly like Fifty Years of Interdisciplinary Teaching in Academe: One Professor’s Pedagogical Tips and Reflections. Very few professors have taught for half a century. Even fewer have written books on pedagogy from a personal narrative perspective and in plain English, without a particular cause to promote or axe to grind. Countless numbers of books have ruminated on the past, present, and future of higher education, but few authors have written their books as memoirs meant for both an academic and general audience. Few actually offer concrete tips drawn from years of personal experience for classroom teaching, mentoring, constructing curricula, courses, and programs, working with colleagues, and creating an interdisciplinary philosophy of educational theory and practice. Few of these books can be generalized to a number of helping professions. Teaching and learning happen in all the human service professions, not just in the American university. This book is grounded largely in author Robert J. Nash’s experiences, both positive and negative. Nash is less interested in propounding or expounding and more concerned with narrating his always-evolving stories of being an interdisciplinary professor who has experienced both success and struggle but who has always emerged as inspired and rejuvenated by his work, and the work of his students, in higher education. This book is a personal-narrative celebration of all that is and can be wonderful about the American university, including students, colleagues, and administrators. Nash concentrates on possibility rather than on liability but strives always to present an honest picture of higher education (both its strengths and weaknesses) and his place in it throughout the decades. The result of Fifty Years of Interdisciplinary Teaching in Academe is a vote of confidence for faculty, staff, and students.

Table of Contents:
Introduction – Section I. From Essentialism to Reconstructionism to Existentialism: The Early Impact of Theodore Brameld’s Work on My Philosophy of Education – An Introduction to the Sociopolitical Vision of Theodore Brameld (1904–1987) – To Be an Effective Educator, One Must First Be a Philosopher of Education – Looking at Specific Strategies in Brameld’s Teaching Philosophy – My Philosophical Evolution to Postmodern Existentialism – What Does the Quest for Meaning Have to Do With Interdisciplinary Study and Practice? – Section II: Creating an Interdisciplinary Education for College Students – Why the Need for an Interdisciplinary Studies Graduate Program? My Self-Study Report for the University of Vermont, 2018 – Offering My First Interdisciplinary Graduate Seminar Four Decades Ago – Offering My First Undergraduate Interdisciplinary Seminar – Crossover Pedagogy: One Type of Interdisciplinary Coteaching – Section III. A Series of Personal Reflections on Teaching and Learning – What I Believe About Teaching and Learning: A Series of Hard-Won Teaching–Learning Aphorisms – A Letter to Robert: "What I Took Away From the Interdisciplinary Program" – Scholarly Personal Narrative Writing (SPN): An Anonymous E-Mail From a Junior Faculty Member – How to Teach Scholarly Personal Narrative Writing (SPN): A Syllabus – Deep-Meaning Learning: Ethics of Helping Relationships – Deep-Meaning Learning: Religion, Spirituality, and Education – Conclusion: An Anniversary Letter to My Readers.

About the Author :
Robert J. Nash has been a professor in the College of Education and Social Services at the University of Vermont, Burlington, for 50 years. He attained graduate degrees in English, religious studies, applied ethics and liberal studies, and educational philosophy from Boston University, Northeastern University, University of Dayton, and Georgetown University, respectively. In 2003, Nash was named Official University Scholar in the Social Sciences and the Humanities at the University of Vermont, only the second faculty member in the history of the College of Education and Social Services to be so honored at that time. He has received the Joseph Anthony Abruscato Award for Excellence in Research and Scholarship at the University of Vermont and the Gordon Fielding Lewis Award for Excellence in Teaching and Research from Pi Gamma Mu Honor Society, the largest social sciences honor society in the world. His books have won three separate Critics’ Choice Awards given by the American Educational Studies Association—one of the largest numbers ever awarded by this national scholarly association.

Review :
“I have known Robert J. Nash for almost 20 years as a revered colleague, co-author, and friend. Dr. Nash has given his authentic self for several decades to the University of Vermont, his profession, his students, his colleagues, and to his friends. Dr. Nash goes through life as a mentor to many, always learning along the way. People will come away from reading this book feeling inspired and hopeful that their careers can be filled with generosity, ethics, and an in-depth understanding of humankind. Indeed, university presidents may come and go, students will come and go, but professors like Dr. Nash remain the bedrock of higher education.” —Richard Greggory Johnson III, Social Equity Fulbright Scholar and Professor and Department Chair of School of Management at the University of San Francisco “I recall with vivid clarity the day I walked into Robert J. Nash’s office, ‘Gary, I believe that our stories are integral to our learning.’ With these words, his Scholarly Personal Narrative (SPN) writing approach shaped my sense of self in the context of graduate education. Paired with his applied, interdisciplinary philosophy of learning, I knew I was right where I needed to be (where else could a young police officer shape a graduate degree in education focused on resolving community conflict?). This book is an essential read for every student and every teacher.” —Gary J. Margolis, Chief of Police (retired) at the University of Vermont, law enforcement educator, and entrepreneur “Dr. Robert J. Nash has been my mentor, dissertation advisor, and, most of all, a friend. In this book, we are offered an insider’s candid glimpse into a lifetime of teaching. Nash weaves his intellectual, personal, and emotional life as a scholar into a powerful reflection upon 50 years of teaching. However, this work is about so much more than what he has achieved as a scholar. It is about his unwavering commitment to those he is privileged to teach. Dr. Nash creates a full description (neither perfect nor pristine) of what he has distilled and learned from the thousands of students and colleagues he has accompanied in their journey of learning. I am one of those graduate students who has had that privilege, and I remain grateful to this day for his investment in me.” —Jacob L. Diaz, Regional Assistant Vice Chancellor of Student Affairs and Dean of Students at the University of South Florida “Robert J. Nash is an icon in the higher education community. His efforts to encourage authenticity and voice in what we do as educators, scholars, and/or administrators has led many of us to be more thoughtful about our work and to have a deeper understanding and appreciation for the myriad experiences of our students and colleagues—to have an ethic of care. I am honored to have served as Professor Nash’s dean and colleague for 10 years, from 2005 to 2015. I learned most of all that the life we live and how we live that life matters. And, by sharing our stories, we make meaning each and every day, and, by doing so, we influence what comes to be seen as knowledge. As I reflect on the work and influence of Professor Nash, I am reminded of the inspirational words of John Wesley, ‘Do all the good you can...to all the people you can. As long as ever you can.’ Professor Nash, for his 50 years in higher education, serves as a stalwart example of doing good as both an educator of thousands of students and a scholar whose ideas and work have given rise to many generations of scholars and leaders in higher education. His interdisciplinary impact on what is taught and how; questioning and challenging the traditional modes of conducting and reporting ideas; and encouraging uncomfortableness as a means by which new knowledge is generated has and will continue to resonate with emerging and established scholars to think more deeply and incorporate work from across different academic areas.” —Fayneese Miller, Dean Emerita of College of Education and Social Services at the University of Vermont and President and Professor of Psychology and Education at Hamline University “As his first college dean, I can say that Dr. Robert J. Nash has been on the frontier in his field of interdisciplinary study, and his legacy is being carried on by the thousands of students he has mentored. Very few professors have taught for half a century. Even fewer have written a book that offers concrete, pedagogical tips drawn from years of personal experience. Faculty at both the undergraduate and graduate levels will benefit greatly from this book. So, too, will administrators, parents, and students. His book is one of a kind!” —Dean C. Corrigan, Dean Emeritus of College of Education and Social Services at University of Vermont, Dean Emeritus of College of Education and Human Development at Texas A&M University, and former President of the American Association for Colleges of Teacher Education “In every class I took with him, Robert J. Nash created a uniquely positive atmosphere of invitation, trust, and individual responsibility. He expressed his ideas clearly, honestly, openly, and intelligently—and extended a profound welcome to others to do likewise. This invitation spoke to the very soul of my scholarly aspirations. I always felt truly seen and appreciated by him to accept and cultivate the unrealized excellence within me. Robert excels as a compassionate teacher and an invigorating author.” —Joseph Darcy Heyer, former Director of Guidance and Federal TRIO Counselor and executive director/founder of a nonprofit educational organization “To celebrate the astounding milestone of 50 years as a university professor, Robert J. Nash has gifted us with his memoir, chronicling what he has learned about teaching and reaching students. As a former student of Nash’s, I have benefitted from the pedagogical tools reflected in this work, and I have incorporated many of them in my own work with students. What makes Nash’s approach so compelling is his facility with multiple academic disciplines and his ability to weave them together in a way that draws in his students and elicits from them both their greatest academic achievements and their truest selves. The wisdom in these pages ensures that the rich alchemy of rigorous academic pursuit and meaningful introspection created and perfected by Nash will live on for at least the next 50 years.” —Michele C. Murray, Vice President for Student Affairs and Dean of Students at the College of the Holy Cross “Robert J. Nash’s teaching, long honored by his colleagues, is multidisciplinary, scholarly, rigorous, respectful, and leaves its mark. He is the archetypal teacher-scholar. Nash’s reflections on a half a century of scholarly teaching reveals the hard work demanded by this teaching. He generously shares what he knows and practices and tells of his successes and disappointments. All readers of this book will find wisdom, inspiration, teaching tips, and renewal. Written with exceptional lucidity, this lovely book is a reminder that scholarly teaching, while hard work, enlarges meaningfulness and life.” —Charles Tesconi, Jr., Professor Emeritus at American University and Dean Emeritus of College of Education and Social Services at the University of Vermont