By Arthur W. Chickering & Associates
Foreword by Alexander W. Astin and Helen S. Astin
Arthur W. Chickering is one of the leading researchers in student development theory
and its implications for higher education. In 1969 he published Education and Identity, which posited seven vectors to describe the personal development of students during college. It
received the 1969 American Council on Education’s Eleanor Colford Morris book
award for its contribution to higher education, and that recognition took
Chickering out of the woods of Vermont and propelled him onto the national
scene.
Cool Passion: Challenging Higher Education is Chickering’s candid and revealing autobiography in which he tells the
extraordinary story of his life and career. He recounts his childhood and
adolescent years in New England, detailing his misadventures in school and
struggles to find purpose and meaning—experiences that would lay the foundation
for his lifelong values and beliefs. In Chickering’s own words, “You could have
given 1000:1 odds against this character ever becoming a Distinguished
Professor.” However, ultimately, his professional narrative would become a
powerful statement of how his influential educational constructs grew out of these
lived experiences.
The second part of the book centers on Chickering’s 50-plus year career and five key
areas where he has contributed to critical changes: civic learning and
democratic engagement, assessment, pedagogy, student services, and student
diversity. He and five coauthors address these areas that reflect both emerging
issues in higher education as well as many of Chickering’s major
accomplishments. He offers a personal perspective that puts flesh and blood on
these changes and suggests where higher education can go from here, consistent
with his longstanding commitment to human development.
Chickering touches the reader with his honesty and courage as he reveals himself so
publicly and also shares astute insights about American higher education during
the past five decades. His story illuminates his enduring commitment to helping
students become lifelong learners, dedicated workers, caring parents, and
engaged citizens. Cool Passion is
sure to educate, fascinate, and inspire college and university administrators,
faculty members, and student affairs professionals at all levels as well as
those entering the profession.
Hardcover | 2014 | 340 pages
978-0-931654-89-3