Faculties: A Dialogue on Inciting Constructive Change in Destructive Times
One of the most exciting moments in the life of a book is the cover reveal! Here it is, the spunky, feisty, powerful cover for Faculties: A Dialogue on Inciting Constructive Change in Destructive Times (Duke University Press, November 2026). Jody Greene and I began this as a literal dialogue, Zooming almost weekly for two years, offering one another perspective, feedback, and support on our complex and innovative “low level” administrative leadership jobs. Our conversations were so productive, we learned so much from one another, that we decided to record and transcribe and then edit more structured versions of our dialogue and edit them into a book. We retained the dialogue form because we propose that as a method, the back and forth, the bringing one’s colleagues (and oneself) along in a conversation dedicated not to critique (we’re all good at that, with reason!) but actual action, implementation, innovation, change. The book is historical, philosophical, informative–and always action oriented. The final chapter departs form the dialogue format to offer “Ten Moves to Jump-Start Your Revolution.” We have also added an extensive bibliography for further reading.
We hope others find these dialogues as useful to their own institutional lives as they have been to ours.
The book would not have been possible without the constant and able assistance, feedback, and insights of of Graduate Center doctoral student Will Arguelles, who also compiled the extensive “Useful
Books and Articles that Prepare Us to Incite Constructive Change.” And everyone at Duke University Press has been truly amazing: our editor, Elizabeth Ault, the production lead, Liz Smith, the meticulous copy editor Kim Miller, the designer of this fantastic cover, Matthew Tauch. We could not be more pleased with the publication process.
I used social media to constantly propose and gain feedback to ideas–so hundreds of people contributed directly or indirectly. Below is the official description of the book. We’d be grateful if you pre-order now (it helps in every way with a book in these imperiled times for higher education and for university press publishing). [Please note: my personal royalties from the book will go to a Duke University Press fund for new authors.] Thank you for your support and for all you do to protect and improve higher education today. We’re all in this one together!
Faculties: A Dialogue on Inciting Constructive Change in Destructive Times
Pages: 256
Release Date: November 17, 2026
Authors: Cathy N. Davidson and Jody Greene
Subjects
Pedagogy and Higher Education,Sociology> Labor,American Studies
Faculties is a call to action, a sourcebook, and a “how to” guide for academic colleagues who want to contribute to the administrative and educational decisions being made about the future of our institutions. There is no going back to the version of US higher education that existed twenty, ten, or even one year ago. Cathy N. Davidson and Jody Greene encourage faculty and allies to incite and participate in change by offering models of successful, constructive collaboration at a destructive and demoralizing time for higher education. Faculties focuses on the urgency of coalition-building, offering data and analyses of the structural, financial, ideological, and organizational circumstances that can support or inhibit productive change in colleges, universities, and research institutions. Presented in the form of dialogues between Davidson and Greene, two of higher education’s most innovative leaders, Faculties retains a welcoming, conversational tone while incorporating extensive references and citations and addressing the drastic changes to higher education since January 2025. Faculties offers the evidence and inspiration needed to enact institutional transformation now.
Praise
“Faculties is for anyone who wants institutional change and hasn’t fallen prey to cynicism or defeatism. The authors know their subject as well as anyone, and they impart their knowledge gracefully. Amidst a crisis in higher education provoked by a mercurial government, the ethos the authors embody arms us for the work to preserve our educational enterprise.” – Michael Roth, President, Wesleyan University
“Many faculty are feeling under attack, vulnerable, overwhelmed and demoralized. This book is the antidote, aimed at empowering faculty for leadership and guiding the positive change that is needed to maintain higher education as a public good. The authors make positive change seem possible by documenting places where it is happening, showing a third way to lead.” – Adrianna Kezar, Co-director of the Pullias Center for Higher Education, University of Southern California
Table of Contents
Prologue
- Why Are We Having This Conversation Now? 23
- What’s Working in Higher Ed Today? 41
- Who Inspires Us? 61
- Meeting External Challenges 81
- Facing Internal Challenges 102
- Academic Freedom and Accountability 133
- Shared Governance and Coalition Building 158
- Ten Moves to Jump-Start Your Revolution 180
Acknowledgments 189
Notes 193
Useful Books and Articles That Prepare Us to Incite Constructive Change / Compiled by William Edward Arguelles 201
Bibliography 217
Index