In the field of technical communication, academics and industry practitioners alike regularly encounter the same question: "What exactly is it you do?" Their responses often reveal a fundamental difference of perspective on what the field is and how it operates. For example, academics might discuss ideas in terms of rhetorical theory, while practitioners might explain concepts through more practical approaches involving best business practices. And such differences can have important implications for how the field, as a whole, moves forward over time. This collection explores ideas related to forging effective academia-industry relationships and partnerships so members of the field can begin a dialogue designed to foster communication and collaboration among academics and industry practitioners in technical communication. To address the various factors that can affect such interactions, the contributions in this collection represent a broad range of approaches that technical communicators can use to establish effective academy-industry partnerships and relationships in relation to an area of central interest to both: education. The 11 chapters thus present different perspectives on and ideas for achieving this goal. In so doing, the contributors discuss programmatic concerns, workplace contexts, outreach programs, and research and writing. The result is a text that examines different general contexts in which academia-industry relationships and partnerships can be established and maintained. It also provides readers with a reference for exploring such interactions.

Strategic partnership offers writing centers a framework for responding to disruptive innovations in higher education. Through partnership, writing centers can simultaneously secure resources and support the practice of tutoring writing in ways that enable moments of resistance, where writing consultants and students can tactically challenge the corporate university through their methods of practice. Disrupting the Center explicates, analyzes, and critiques one particular writing center’s partnership approach to collaboration with disciplinary faculty and upper administrators across the curriculum. Using on-site research and critical ethnographic study from one university writing center, Rebecca Hallman Martini establishes an innovative, cross-disciplinary partnership approach to writing instruction in which peer tutoring plays an integral curricular role. Case studies detail three partnerships that respond directly to existing or potential disruptive innovations in higher education and showcase important concepts: mapping mutual benefit and stakeholder engagement in an online studio/hybrid first-year writing program partnership in response to online education, creating negotiated space to work through ethical issues involved when working with a public-private partnership to develop a required extracurricular portfolio project in a business school, and building transformational partnerships through establishing a writing-in-the-professions curriculum in the College of Engineering in response to career readiness initiatives. Disrupting the Center uses interviews, observations, focus groups, analysis of consultations, meetings, and shared documents such as annual reports, budgets, assessment data, assignments, and syllabi to generate a wide view of how systems work. Writing centers are flexible university-wide service spaces where students go for one-on-one and group writing support that can become dynamic spaces for writing pedagogy by disrupting, revitalizing, and reinventing the epistemic foundations of current rhetoric and composition landscapes and traditional approaches to writing.

At a time of great economic uncertainty, The Business of Higher Education looks at the pros and cons of colleges and universities taking a more business-like approach to fulfilling their missions. How can colleges and universities navigate their way between shrinking commitments and the increasing expectations of their students? Does the answer lie in taking a more business-like approach? This extraordinary resource considers the costs and benefits to both public and private institutions and to society when academe embraces business models for improving cost-efficiency, marketing, hiring practices, and customer service. Bringing together a diverse team of contributors from the academic and business worlds, The Business of Higher Education offers 35 essays in three volumes. The first volume explores issues of leadership and culture, the second focuses on management and fiscal strategies, and the third volume takes up issues of marketing and consumer interests. Throughout, the work balances the contrasting perspectives of those within the academy and those outside of it, as it considers whether higher education and the public interest are ultimately helped or harmed by the application of business methods to essential academic functions.

In academic-business partnerships, many challenges plague both sides of the equation. From navigating complex power dynamics to ensuring ethical conduct, managing risk, and fostering trust, these collaborations often seem to walk a tightrope without a safety net. The critical actors involved, such as university leaders, corporate executives, and government policymakers, often struggle to strike the delicate balance required for success. It is a world where mishaps are as common as best practices, and the potential for growth and innovation remains untapped due to these hurdles. The Role of Leaders and Actors in Academy-Business Partnerships: Issues of Risk, Trust, Power, Ethics, and Cooperation emerge as the guiding light in this labyrinthine journey. This book does not just highlight the issues; it presents concrete solutions. By offering a comprehensive exploration of the roles and responsibilities of key players, from university presidents to corporate executives, it equips readers with the knowledge and tools needed to navigate the intricate dynamics of these partnerships successfully. With real-world examples of best practices and the cautionary tales of the "dark side of leadership," this book empowers academic scholars and corporate leaders alike to make informed decisions and forge collaborations that truly benefit both sides.

The roles that corporate social responsibility (CSR) and business support of democracy play in American higher education are infrequently discussed, though very important. There are many ethical issues that concern both corporate interests as well as higher education, linking the two more than many would think. It is necessary to understand the environment, inter-organizational relationships, and documents holistically to observe the rich history, pluralistic American societal issues, and relevant milestones between corporate America and higher education. Partnership Motives and Ethics in Corporate Investment in Higher Education provides comprehensive documentation of business and corporate entanglements with higher education. This work discusses the historic journey of funding from business and U.S. corporate engagement in American higher education. Covering topics such as academy-business relationships, philanthropic partnerships, and transactional partnerships, this work is essential for professors, executives, managers, faculty, fundraisers, leaders in higher education, researchers, students, and academicians with interests in CSR, business ethics, and higher education.

Countless public health agencies are trying to solve our most intractable public health problems -- among them, the obesity and opioid epidemics -- by partnering with corporations responsible for creating or exacerbating those problems. We are told industry must be part of the solution. But is it time to challenge the partnership paradigm and the popular narratives that sustain it? In The Perils of Partnership, Jonathan H. Marks argues that public-private partnerships and multi-stakeholder initiatives create "webs of influence" that undermine the integrity of public health agencies; distort public health research and policy; and reinforce the framing of public health problems and their solutions in ways that are least threatening to the commercial interests of corporate "partners". We should expect multinational corporations to develop strategies of influence -- but public bodies can and should develop counter-strategies to insulate themselves from corporate influence in all its forms. Marks reviews the norms that regulate public-public interactions (separation of powers) and private-private interactions (antitrust and competition law), and argues for an analogous set of norms to govern public-private interactions. He also offers a novel framework to help public bodies identify the systemic ethical implications of their current or proposed relationships with industry actors. Marks makes a compelling case that the default public-private interaction should be at arm's length: separation, not collaboration. He calls for a new paradigm that avoids the perils of corporate influence and more effectively protects and promotes public health. The Perils of Partnership is essential reading for public health officials and policymakers -- but anyone interested in public health will recognize the urgency of this book.

Surveys the changing landscape of American higher education, from academic freedom to virtual universities, from campus crime to Pell Grants, from the Student Privacy Act to student diversity. In the years following World War II, college and university enrollment doubled, students revolted, faculty unionized, and community colleges evolved. Tuition and technology soared, as did the number of first-generation, minority, and women students. These changes radically transformed the American system of postsecondary education. Today, that system is in trouble. Its aging professoriate prepares for retirement, but low academic salaries can no longer attract the best minds to replace them. A flood of corporate dollars funds commercial research, but money for basic research—the seedbed of American scientific preeminence—has dried up. Colleges and universities also face heated competition with for-profit education providers for students, faculty, and external financial support, along with the costs of providing remedial education to growing numbers of students who are unprepared for postsecondary education. Higher Education in the United States provides a comprehensive analysis of these issues and others that scholars and practitioners of higher education study, discuss, and grapple with on a daily basis.

Surveys the changing landscape of American higher education, from academic freedom to virtual universities, from campus crime to Pell Grants, from the Student Privacy Act to student diversity.