An audiobook I narrated is out today! Derek Bok was dean of the Harvard Law School from 1968–1971 and then served as the university's 25th president from 1971–1991. He was brought in to serve as Interim President of Harvard University from 2006-2007 after Laurence Summers resigned.
In recent decades, cognitive psychologists have cast new light on human development and given colleges new possibilities for helping students acquire skills and qualities that will enhance their lives and increase their contributions to society. In this landmark book, Derek Bok explores how colleges can reap the benefits of these discoveries and create a more robust undergraduate curriculum for the 21st century.
Prior to this century, most psychologists thought that creativity, empathy, resilience, conscientiousness, and most personality traits were largely fixed by early childhood. What researchers have now discovered is that virtually all of these qualities continue to change through early adulthood and often well beyond. Such findings suggest that educators may be able to do much more than was previously thought possible to teach students to develop these important characteristics and thereby enable them to flourish in later life.
In Higher Expectations, Bok identifies the hurdles to institutional change, proposes sensible reforms, and demonstrates how our colleges can help students lead more successful, productive, and meaningful lives.
The book is meant for academics, but is also well written and interesting. The audiobook was produced by Tantor Media.
To see a listing of other books I've narrated, head to my Audiobook narration page. And if you need a voiceover, there's a contact page in the heading above! I'd love to hear from you.