Deadly Professors

"Thomas Jones's second faculty development novel, Deadly Professors: A Faculty Development Mystery is just that: a sophisticated faculty development guide neatly woven into the plot of a campy higher education murder novel…. Deadly Professors takes a light-hearted, fun, and fresh approach to what can be the bane of many professors' careers: faculty development. While the book will be of great interest to faculty new to the profession, more seasoned professionals will also find value in the inclusive and novel means by which Jones approaches faculty development. The workshop portion of the text approaches professional enrichment through the lens of active learning. Development becomes a group activity that requires thought and conversation regarding serious issues facing most in American higher education. Deadly Professors is not a 'how to' guide for dealing with contemporary issues on campus, but more of a 'how would you' guide, allowing faculty to respond locally to problems facing campuses nationally."

- The Review of Higher Education

"I so valued the brilliance of folding serious case studies into a mystery novel that I provided hundreds of copies of Tom Jones' earlier book, The Missing Professor, to appreciative faculty in retreats, workshops, and orientations. I plan to do the same with Deadly Professors.

Jones built his cases in The Missing Professor through the experiences of beginning professor Nicole Adams. Deadly Professors covers new ground through cases experienced from the very different perspective of senior professor Jack Ramble. In the spirit of Jack Ramble, both the story and the case study questions at the end of the book offer depth and richness of academic life experienced reflectively. Deadly Professors is a worthy and an exceptional companion book. It develops an awareness of the value of the human quality of collegiality, as lived in the considerable portion of professors' academic lives that students never see. Without collegial support, it is unlikely that quality learning can thrive and flourish within any institutions' classrooms.

Jones' ability to capture the atmosphere formed through brief events, encounters and personalities of people is uncanny. I was sure that Tom Jones had been lurking on the very campuses where I had worked. characters—I knew these characters—both those caring and competent and those manipulating and despicable. I suspect each reader will recognize a character or two, and learn from them as well as from the cases in which they appear."

Ed Nuhfer, Director of Faculty Development, California State University at Channel Islands

“Deadly Professors is the sequel to The Missing Professor, and it is an even better romp. Faculty might experience some vicarious satisfaction when obnoxious colleagues become murder victims in this over-the-top tale of academe. Using a spoof on universities as his vehicle, the author integrates into his narrative many of the themes that faculty love to discuss: today's college students, academic leaders, liberal education, pedagogy, classroom incivility, diversity and conflict, faculty hiring, academic freedom, technology, senior faculty, and even college sports. The discussion questions at the end of the book are rich and provocative. If you want some advance reading to elicit discussion at your next faculty development retreat, this book could be fun."

Constance E. Cook, Associate Vice Provost for Academic Affairs, and Executive Director, Center for Research on Learning and Teaching, University of Michigan

Thomas B. Jones

Thomas B. Jones has thirty-five years experience in higher education as a Professor of History, faculty developer, and academic administrator. He is co-author of Promoting Active Learning: Strategies for the College Classroom.