Engage and Activate

Book excerpt: Engage and Activate: Navigating College and Beyond introduces readers to the cultural and social tools they will need to be successful in higher education while identifying opportunities within academic life to connect with others, effect change, and create communities that are more just, humane, and sustainable. The authors address important issues for beginning students such as cross-cultural appreciation and understanding, self-care, navigating institutional rules, study habits, relationships and consent, mental and physical health, finances, and the environment, all with a focus that situates the contexts in social justice. Throughout, engaging exercises, class activities, and personal accounts encourage the development of transformative thought. Designed to help readers navigate higher education to become successful students and responsible, democratically-minded citizens, Engage and Activate is an ideal book for first-year and college success courses or programs, as well as people who will participate in U.S.-based higher education spaces. C. Kyle Rudick (Ph.D., Southern Illinois University) is an associate professor of communication and graduate program director at the University of Northern Iowa. His research explores how power, privilege, and oppression are constructed and marshaled through everyday communicative practices. Katherine Grace Hendrix (Ph.D., University of Washington) is a professor of communication studies at The University of Memphis. Her research examines the challenges faced by professors and graduate teaching assistants of color, including those with English as a second language, and the types of research that are generally published within the communication discipline versus what is generally left out. Nicholas A. Zoffel (Ph.D., Bowling Green University) is the executive director for the Global Forum for Civic Affairs, an NGO that facilitates partnerships in education and civic affairs. His research focuses on collaborative innovation, the social influence of identity, and performances of power in routine interpersonal and organizational relationships.