Table of Contents

Executive Summary vii Foreword xi Representing "U": Popular Higher Education 1 Introduction 1 Framing Higher Education in Popular Culture 2 Examining Popular Culture 6 (Mis)educating "U" 10 Once Upon a "U": A Brief Historical Examination of Popular Higher Education 13 Introduction 13 Popular and Prolific "U": Examining Popular Culture 13 Concluding Thoughts 19 Being "U": The Setting of Higher Education 21 Introduction 21 Being an Institution of Higher Education: Thematic Discourses 22 Being an Institution of Higher Education Too: The Salience of Type 32 Concluding Thoughts 42 Running "U": Administrators in Popular Culture 43 Introduction 43 Being a Higher Education Administrator: Types and Presence 44 Being a Higher Education Administrator: Thematic Discourses 46 (Mis)running "U"? 50 Professing "U": Faculty in Popular Culture 53 Introduction 53 Categorizing Popular Culture Professors 54 Trusting the Professoriate 58 White, Straight, and Male: The Professorial Status Quo and Alternative Narratives 64 The Pop Culture Ceiling: Gendered Challenges to the Status Quo 71 Concluding Thoughts 79 Learning From "U": College Students in Popular Culture 81 Introduction 81 Shaping Popular Culture College Students Through Institutional Status 82 Popularity and Privilege in College Student Popular Culture 90 Concluding Thoughts 107 (Re)educating "U": Learning From Popular Culture 109 Introduction 109 Opportunities for (Re)education 111 Future Popular Culture Research 122 Conclusion 124 Notes 125 References 127 Name Index 137 Subject Index 141 About the Author 145

About the Author

Issue Editor: PAULINE J. REYNOLDS is an associate professor and program chair for the higher education MA program at the University of Redlands, in Southern California.