Public Professor

From global warming to gay marriage, many professors know their research can address the most important issues of the day. The problem is most professors don't know how to get on the public stage. The Public Professor offers scholars ways to use their ideas, research and knowledge to change the world. The book gives practical strategies for scholars to become more engaged with the public on a variety of fronts: online, in print, at council hearings, even with national legislation. Lee Badgett, herself a veteran policy analyst and public intellectual [or scholar?] with over 25 years of experience connecting cutting edge research with policymakers and the public, offers clear and practical advice to scholars looking to engage with the world outside of academia. Badgett shows scholars how to see the big picture, learn to communicate with new audiences, and build strategic professional networks. Written for both new and experienced scholars and drawing on examples and advice from the lives of influential academics, the book provides the skills, resources, and tools to put ideas into action. Learn how to find and develop relationships with the people who can take your research and ideas into places scholars rarely go, and who can get you into Congressional hearings, on NPR, or into the pages of The New York Times. Learn from the communications gurus who know how to use research to change minds, and turn your knowledge into clear and compelling messages to use in interviews, blog posts, tweets and op-eds. The work of academics can matter and be influential on a public level, but the path to becoming a public intellectual, influential policy advisor, valued community resource or go-to person on an issue is not one that most scholars are trained for. The Public Professor will repurpose what scholars already know about how the world works plus give them new skills to get involved, make a difference and change the world.