Higher education is in a state of liminality — norms are being disrupted, paths forward are hazy, and disorientation abounds. The present has clearly become the past, but no one is quite sure yet what even the immediate future holds. As a new academic year gets underway, plenty of chairs, deans, and other campus leaders — not to mention faculty members ourselves — are wondering how to shore up our individual and collective well-being. How do you proceed when the obstacles standing in the way to a brighter future for higher education seem too large to move?
In precarious times, it’s hard to unearth sources of motivation and inspiration. One possible route is to look behind us, to when fellow academics and scholars have faced similarly challenging times.