Book Reviews / Comptes rendus 123 communities, and the impressions left by those communities on students, are important dimensions of teaching and learning in higher education. Overall, this book may offer good insights for those interested in the intersection between disciplines and educational practice in universities. REFERENCES Barnett, R. (2000). Supercomplexity and the curriculum. Studies in Higher Education, 25(3), 255-265. Shulman, L. S. (2005). Signature pedagogies in the professions. Daedalus, 134(3), 52-59. Levin, John S., Kater, Susan & Wagoner, Richard L. (2006). Community College Faculty: At Work in the New Economy. New York: Palgrave Macmillan. Pages: 198. Price: 52.95 CDN (hardcover). Reviewed by Julia Denholm, Instructor, Langara College; Ph.D. student, University of British Columbia. Having observed that the existing scholarship examining the effects of globalization and neo-liberalism on academic faculty focuses almost exclusively on universities, John Levin, Susan Kater and Richard Wagoner present “the first work . . . to use the concepts of neo-liberalism and globalization to explain faculty work in community colleges” (p. 25). The text first presents its “Themes and Overview”, followed by a discussion of the historical evolution “From Comprehensive Community College to Nouveau College”, and a review of “The Scholarly Literature, The Theoretical Bases, and Research Methods”. The authors draw on their combined experience as former community college faculty, former and present college administrators, and as scholars, to accomplish two primary goals: to examine the impact of external interests on community colleges and their faculty within what they define as the “New Economy” and to offer some suggestions to empower community college faculty as they (we) develop a professional identity and a defining role in the nouveau community college – a term the authors use to describe institutions that have adopted “a workforce development model that seeks to serve the ‘global economy’” (p. 8). Despite the fact that the “new economy” as understood when this book was being researched and written has been superseded by a new “new economy”, Community College Faculty: At Work in the New Economy offers valuable evidence to support the development of a professional identity for and by community college faculty even as changing institutional values and practices may threaten that identity and its related status. 124 CJHE / RCES Volume 39, No. 2, 2009 Chapter 1 provides a broad overview of the text’s objectives and organization, with the authors noting that the political and economic environment they term the “new economy” has led community colleges (or their administrations) to become increasingly entrepreneurial and to practice strategies of “new managerialism” with (among other effects) a consequential increase in the percentage of part-time faculty. They argue that neo-liberal principles as applied to a workforce structured by global economic competition can lead to further devaluing of community college faculty work. The authors investigate this cause/effect relationship using a mixed-method research approach, data from both the U.S. and Canada, and a collaborative writing strategy. Chapter 2 presents an historical argument documenting the changing purpose of the community college, which the authors argue has evolved from an “all things to all people” institution to one focused on “learning” to, in its current incarnation, the nouveau college whose neo-liberal management strategies serve the needs of business and industry, themselves servants to the “new economy” and the forces of globalization. Chapter 3 is devoted to a literature review and a discussion of the theoretical and methodological underpinnings of the text, including specific definitions of key terms (e.g., globalization, neoliberalism, New Economy). Beginning with Chapter 4, the authors embark on a four-chapter development of their first major theme, an exploration of community college faculty members’ behaviours and identity that draws together four lines of research: responsibility in governance; use of electronic technologies; role of part-time faculty; and values and meanings of faculty work. In “Faculty and Institutional Management and Governance”, the authors argue that faculty participation in institutional governance may be seen as “a neo-liberal activity imposed by management to foster efficiency and effectiveness by engaging faculty in management work” (p. 61). The authors argue that management may be offering faculty increased participation in institutional governance in lieu of increased salary and benefits or improved working conditions, thus furthering the neoliberal agenda of the nouveau college. This thesis is supported by a review of collective agreements, but not by evidence from the faculty themselves, whose insights may have provided some contrary evidence about the influence of politically astute faculty members in governance roles. Chapter 5, “Faculty Use of Instructional Technology and Distributed Learning”, contributed by Veronica Diaz and John Cheslock following the departure of one of the original contributors to the project, argues that increasing use of technology supports a neo-liberal agenda by separating faculty from curriculum, allowing for larger classes, reducing pressure on classroom space, and reducing overhead for office space and support services. To staff new online courses, however, community colleges are increasingly turning to part-time faculty, a phenomenon discussed in Chapter 6, “Part-time Community College Faculty as New Economy Temporary Labor”. An analysis of disaggregated National Study of Postsecondary Faculty (NSOPF) data leads the authors to ob- Book Reviews / Comptes rendus 125 serve that part-time faculty from “academic” areas identify professionally as academics, while part-time faculty from vocational and training areas tend to gain their professional identity from their non-academic work, which is often their primary source of income. The authors go on to observe that the principles of new managerialism can be effectively used against “academic” faculty in the service of institutional productivity. Chapter 7, “Corporatism and Neo-liberal Ideology: The Values and Meanings of Faculty Work”, marks the end of the authors’ examination of the condition of community college faculty in the new economy. Through a qualitative data collection and analysis process, the authors explore four questions about business-like practices, managerialism, oppositional culture, and changing institutional context. Given the increasing corporatization of community colleges, “faculty in community colleges may have to forge an identity separate from that of their institution” (p. 111). However, the defining characteristics of that identity are not widely agreed-upon, as the authors go on to demonstrate. In Chapters 8 (“In Their Own Words”) and 9 (“The Professional Identity of Community College Faculty”), the authors present, first, an administrator’s perception of college faculty, then narratives from three faculty members about their own work. While the administrator’s perspective is hardly flattering (faculty make big dollars for teaching few hours), it serves to illustrate the point that at least some full-time faculty may not be experiencing the pressures of increased production demanded in a time of globalization and neo-liberalism. However, in the three case narratives from dedicated and hard-working faculty we see individuals who have created unique professional identities. Building from Chapter 8’s examples, in Chapter 9 the authors explore how community college faculty members might collectively characterize and achieve a professional identity. If, as the authors demonstrate, community college faculty are both educators and corporate workers, it is vital that they be more than “cogs in the neo-liberal organization that [the authors] call nouveau college” (p. 138). They argue that community college faculty need to secure their position as “experts in student learning” (p. 142) and make several specific recommendations for how that might be accomplished, including improving equity for part-time faculty, resisting moves to use information technology in the service of neo-liberal ideals, and, somewhat paradoxically given their argument in Chapter 4, increasing faculty participation in institutional governance. Community College Faculty: At Work in the New Economy presents a compelling examination of the influence of “new economy” values on community college faculty. However, the text has two distinct goals: to examine the effect of globalization and neo-liberalism in the community college context and to explain the identity of community college faculty. Despite the authors’ efforts, the relationship between the text’s two purposes is a bit difficult to follow, particularly when the authors’ recommendations to college faculty seem to contradict their earlier analysis (as in the governance example). That said, Levin, Kater, and Wagoner have produced a sometimes-chilling assessment of the changing 126 CJHE / RCES Volume 39, No. 2, 2009 climate in many North American community colleges, and despite the predominance of American examples their argument will resonate for Canadian readers, particularly for those who, like me, are experiencing the rapid re-branding of many Canadian colleges in an increasingly market-driven environment. As an instructor at one of the British Columbia colleges searching for its mission following the B.C. Liberal government’s creation of five new universities in April, 2008, I endorse the authors’ recommendation that Canadian community college faculty must work both to resist the neo-liberal agenda and to create a distinct identity for themselves within and beyond the academic community. Wagner, Anne, Acker, Sandra, & Mayuzumi, Kimine (Eds.). (2008). Whose University Is It, Anyway? Power and Privilege on Gendered Terrain. Toronto: Sumach Press. Pages: 232. Price: 28.95 USD (paper). Reviewed by Stephanie Hazel, doctoral student, Institute of Higher Education, University of Georgia. Whose University Is It, Anyway? is a collection of essays and original research that explores the complexities of women’s place in the university. The chapters draw from a diverse selection of writers and scholars, all of whom are affiliated with the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education at the University of Toronto, and focus specifically on their experiences in Canadian universities. The editors contend that while many women have gained ground in the academy, others continue to be marginalized based on characteristics or experiences that are deemed to be incompatible with academic success. They conceptualize the university as a contested space in which gender, race, Aboriginality, disability, sexuality, and class intersect with power and privilege to create inequalities that are often invisible to those who view gender equity through a singular lens. Through the frame of intersectionality, the editors seek “to challenge conventional dominant conceptualizations of the category ‘women’ and to delve into some of the realities for women navigating academic terrain that are less frequently brought to the fore” (p. 16). A primary thread throughout the volume is the struggle for inclusion in the unwelcoming culture of the academy. Patrice White examines the “chilly climate” for racialized minorities, specifically critiquing progressive educators for putting so much focus on studying and teaching about the Other that Black student bodies and culture are overexposed, “provoking exhaustion” for those students (p. 87). Cyndy Baskin’s research shows how university social work curriculum and faculty tend to avoid the history of colonization, and how this silence effectively denies the complicity of social workers in the subjugation of Aboriginal peoples. While Aboriginal students have had positive experiences with some non-Aboriginal educators, they express a desire for acceptance and inclusion in the curriculum of Aboriginal ways of knowing and helping.