Leonard Cassuto

discusses

The Graduate School Mess:
What Caused It and How We Can Fix It

This event includes a book signing

Date

Sep
11
Friday
September 11, 2015
3:00 PM ET

Location

Harvard Book Store
1256 Massachusetts Ave., Cambridge, MA 02138

Tickets

This event is free; no tickets are required.

Harvard Book Store and the Harvard Graduate Student Council welcome Chronicle of Higher Education columnist LEONARD CASSUTO for a discussion of his book The Graduate School Mess: What Caused It and How We Can Fix It.

It is no secret that American graduate education is in disarray. Graduate students take too long to complete their studies and face a dismal academic job market if they succeed. The Graduate School Mess gets to the root of these problems and offers concrete solutions for revitalizing graduate education in the humanities. Leonard Cassuto argues that universities’ heavy emphasis on research comes at the expense of teaching. But teaching is where reforming graduate school must begin.

Cassuto says that graduate education must recover its mission of public service. Professors should revamp the graduate curriculum and broaden its narrow definition of success to allow students to create more fulfilling lives for themselves both inside and outside the academy. Cassuto frames the current situation foremost as a teaching problem: professors rarely prepare graduate students for the demands of the working worlds they will actually join. He gives practical advice about how faculty can teach and advise graduate students by committing to a student-centered approach.

In chapters that follow the career of the graduate student from admissions to the dissertation and placement, Cassuto considers how each stage of graduate education is shaped by unexamined assumptions and ancient prejudices that need to be critically confronted. Written with verve and infused with history, The Graduate School Mess returns our national conversation about graduate study in the humanities to first principles.

Leonard Cassuto
Leonard Cassuto

Leonard Cassuto

Leonard Cassuto is a professor of English at Fordham University and a monthly columnist on graduate education ("The Graduate Adviser") at The Chronicle of Higher Education. He is the author or editor of nine books.

Harvard Book Store
1256 Massachusetts Ave., Cambridge, MA 02138

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Event Series: Friday Forum

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Event Co-Sponsor(s)

Harvard Graduate Student Council: http://gsc.fas.harvard.edu/

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