The Engaged Scholar: Expanding the Impact of Academic Research in Today’s World

by Andrew J Hoffman

Society and democracy are ever threatened by the fall of fact. Rigorous analysis of facts, the hard boundary between truth and opinion, and fidelity to reputable sources of factual information are all in alarming decline. A 2018 report published by the RAND Corporation labeled this problem "truth decay" and Andrew J. Hoffman lays the challenge of fixing it at the door of the academy. But, as he points out, academia is prevented from carrying this out due to its own existential crisis—a crisis of relevance. Scholarship rarely moves very far beyond the walls of the academy and is certainly not accessing the primarily civic spaces it needs to reach in order to mitigate truth corruption. In this brief but compelling book, Hoffman draws upon existing literature and personal experience to bring attention to the problem of academic insularity—where it comes from and where, if left to grow unchecked, it will go—and argues for the emergence of a more publicly and politically engaged scholar. This book is a call to make that path toward public engagement more acceptable and legitimate for those who do it; to enlarge the tent to be inclusive of multiple ways that one enacts the role of academic scholar in today's world.

Genres: Education

200 pages, Paperback

Published March 2, 2021

Reviews

[Nopadol Rompho · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you are a professor in a university, this is the book that you should read. It shows how academics should go outside the academic world and move into the practical world. The book also shows how to do it.

[Chris Tilden · Rating 4 out of 5]

Written by Andrew Hoffman, a Professor of Sustainable Enterprise at the University of Michigan, The Engaged Scholar explores how academia/higher education has deviated from its true purpose of service to society and instead is "talking to smaller and narrower academic audiences, using a language that even well-educated readers do not understand, publishing in journals they don't read and asking questions for which the public has little concern." The author contends that this is dangerous for both institutions of higher education and for society, as declining faith in institutions like academic research universities is (the author believes) at the root of growing disagreement over factual knowledge and the crowding out of facts by opinion in political and civil discourse. The author provides some proposed remedies through which university faculty can work to make their research more relevant and more broadly shared with a broader, not-exclusively-academic audience. One chapter is devoted to innovative approaches to use of social media by scholars. While I am not a faculty member, I do work as a research/evaluation staff member of a university-based center, and as such found the discussion useful, interesting, and immediately applicable to my work (particularly some of the thoughts on use of social media tools I have not previously considered). I'm not certain how broad the appeal of this book would be to those outside of academic circles (ironic given the purpose of the book, I suppose), but for those engaged in research it is an important read. I'm glad the author is optimistic about the future of academic research. While I very much believe in the work I am a part of, I've long felt our center is unique in its universal approach to policy relevant research, and I hope the author is right that, as a system, higher education is slowly (but perceptibly, in the eyes of Dr. Hoffman) towards this type of approach. Thanks, Dr. Hoffman, for your passion for research and your efforts to affect much needed change.

[Steven McCullar · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book hit too close to home and reminded me of many academic discussions I have had lately. I do find it kind of funny these type of discussions can only be generated by people who have gotten tenure and/or full professor status. It reminds me of the movie Jerry McGuire where he writes his manifesto, everyone claps, and then they break him for not following the establishment.

[Jamie Placht · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very important read for the, “my only job is to publish papers,” crowd of academia.