WALKING INTO FIRE: Navigating Tough Topics in your First University Faculty Position

Abstract

Our discipline, higher education, draws upon other disciplines to build theory and inform practice. Academic areas that inform the study of higher education include psychology, sociology, anthropology, economics, gender studies, and ethnic studies, to name a few. Quite often in our classrooms, especially at the master’s level, we teach subjects that involve learning about, and discussing, topics such as the social construction of gender, sexual orientation and identity development, religion, the impact of race and ethnicity on the college experience, oppression of minority groups, and socio-economic disparities among the classes.