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Hope Circuits: Rewiring Universities and Other Organizations for Human Flourishing
How do we model abundance and generosity – in teaching, in learning, in leading organizations, particularly non-profits – when dealing with fiscal austerity and other forms of scarcity thinking? Hope Circuits explores this question, presenting sophisticated ideas that support democratizing higher education for everybody.
Written in a conversational style that draws upon Jessica Riddell’s experience in governance, senior administration, and scholarship, the book is a how-to guide and thought leadership manifesto for developing the conceptual tools to seek solutions to higher education’s most pressing issues. Hope Circuits aims to rewire mindsets, perspectives, and behaviours to in turn rewire and renew the systems within which university stakeholders learn, live, and work. It tackles this challenging feat by suggesting ten tools to build hope circuits, a concept borrowed from neuroscience.
Riddell acknowledges that changing systems and deep cultures is not for the faint of heart; indeed, the more than 250 interviews conducted with thought partners for Hope Circuits expose how individuals who navigate complex systems regularly experience discomfort and even despair. In response, she shows us how to anchor a practice of hope in higher education with focus and intention, inviting others to adopt and adapt her approach.
Written in a conversational style that draws upon Jessica Riddell’s experience in governance, senior administration, and scholarship, the book is a how-to guide and thought leadership manifesto for developing the conceptual tools to seek solutions to higher education’s most pressing issues. Hope Circuits aims to rewire mindsets, perspectives, and behaviours to in turn rewire and renew the systems within which university stakeholders learn, live, and work. It tackles this challenging feat by suggesting ten tools to build hope circuits, a concept borrowed from neuroscience.
Riddell acknowledges that changing systems and deep cultures is not for the faint of heart; indeed, the more than 250 interviews conducted with thought partners for Hope Circuits expose how individuals who navigate complex systems regularly experience discomfort and even despair. In response, she shows us how to anchor a practice of hope in higher education with focus and intention, inviting others to adopt and adapt her approach.
- GenresTeaching
293 pages, Kindle Edition
Published March 12, 2024
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74 people want to read
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Displaying 1 of 1 review
December 31, 2025
CW: scarcity, critique, despair
Riddell’s book is primarily about the rhetoric we use in higher education, especially universities, and how changes to language and mindset may help us make needed change but grounded in positive relationship, Hope, and possibility. At times, this means that the book is not solutions oriented, but it is not intended to be. It is about encouraging academics to do more than critically take down ideas and dissect them. It is instead about using that intelligence to grow and connect instead of to punish and belittle.
Riddell’s book is primarily about the rhetoric we use in higher education, especially universities, and how changes to language and mindset may help us make needed change but grounded in positive relationship, Hope, and possibility. At times, this means that the book is not solutions oriented, but it is not intended to be. It is about encouraging academics to do more than critically take down ideas and dissect them. It is instead about using that intelligence to grow and connect instead of to punish and belittle.
Displaying 1 of 1 review