Michael Bérubé

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Michael F. Bérubé is the Paterno Family Professor in Literature, teaching cultural studies at Pennsylvania State University, and the author of several books on cultural studies, disability rights, liberal politics, and professional issues of higher education. From 2004-7 he ran a popular blog covering the same topics.

Bérubé was named one of the "101 Most Dangerous Academics in America" by conservative commentator David Horowitz; Bérubé and Horowitz have publicly debated the latter's proposed reforms to the allegedly left-wing academy.

Bérubé's blog mixed his perspective on these professional and political issues with a variety of other topics, ranging from his family life to music to professional hockey. His academic pursuits include American literature, African-American literature, cultural studies, critical theory, and disability studies, the last of which stems at least partly from his personal experience with his son Jamie, whose experiences with Down Syndrome Bérubé has discussed in a way many find inspiring. Bérubé ceased publishing his blog on January 8, 2007, and on March 22, joined Crooked Timber, a political blog jointly run by a number of academics.

Bérubé earned his B.A. from Columbia University in 1982 and his Ph.D. in English from the University of Virginia. He also attended Regis High School, in the same graduating class with U.S. Attorney & Special Prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald.

[edit] Books

Rhetorical Occasions: Essays on Humans and the Humanities (2006)
What's Liberal About the Liberal Arts? Classroom Politics and "Bias" in Higher Education (2006)
The Aesthetics of Cultural Studies (editor) (2004)
The Employment of English: Theory, Jobs, and the Future of Literary Studies (1998)
Life As We Know It: A Father, A Family, and an Exceptional Child (1996)
Higher Education Under Fire: Politics, Economics, and the Crisis of the Humanities (co-editor with Cary Nelson) (1995)
Public Access: Literary Theory and American Cultural Politics (1994)
Marginal Forces/Cultural Centers: Tolson, Pynchon, and the Politics of the Canon (1992)