Michael Bérubé

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Michael Bérubé (born 1961 in New York City, New York) is the Paterno Family Professor in Literature at Pennsylvania State University, where he teaches cultural studies and American literature. He is the author of several books on cultural studies, disability rights, liberal politics, and debates in higher education, and since 2004 has been a blogger on these and other topics.

Bérubé was named one of the "101 Most Dangerous Academics in America" by conservative commentator David Horowitz in 2006; Bérubé and Horowitz have publicly debated the latter's proposed reforms to the allegedly left-wing academy.

Bérubé's blog, which he began in January 2004, mixed his perspective on these professional and political issues with a variety of other subjects, 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 partly from his experience with his son Jamie, who has Down Syndrome and whose life 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. He also blogs occasionally at TPM Cafe.

Bérubé earned his B.A. from Columbia University in 1982 and his Ph.D. from the University of Virginia in 1989. 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)