A Special Feature from our 2021 conference

 “Degrees of Difference: Women, Men, and the Value of Higher Education”  

a BOOK TALK featuring Dr. Amy Hagenrater-Gooding and Dr. Nancy Niemi

Professor of English Amy Hagenrater-Gooding talks to former UMES provost and Professor of Education, Dr. Nancy Niemi, about inequities in higher education in this in-depth and provocative discussion based on Dr. Niemi’s book, Degrees of Difference. Taped in the UMES television studio, this one-on-one conversation identifies, names, and dissects socio-cultural trends like

• The Uberization of higher education
• The Glass Escalator vs. The Glass Ceiling
• The Changing Value(s) of Higher Education

Degrees of Difference “investigates the dissonance between the supposed advantage held by educated women and their continued lack of economic and political power.” Niemi explains the developments of the so-called “female advantage” and “boy crisis” in American higher education, setting them alongside socioeconomic and racial developments throughout the last 40 years. 

This volume identifies ways in which gender and academic achievement contribute to women’s and men’s power to shape their lives. This important book brings new light to the issues of power, gender identities, and the role of American higher education in creating gender equity.”