Strategic Shakespeare

Transformative Leadership for the Future of Higher Education

Ariane M. Balizet, Natalie K. Eschenbaum, Marcela Kostihová

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2025
• eBook ISBN: 9781040345955
• Topic: Business
• Subtopic: Literary Criticism of Shakespeare
• Index: Business

Strategic Shakespeare demonstrates the value of humanities-trained scholars as leaders in higher education. It features contributions from Renaissance and Shakespearean scholars in leadership roles in North American higher education, who collectively aim to leverage traditional assumptions about Shakespeare in the service of a more inclusive and sustainable academy.

Making a powerful case for the liberal arts, the contributors demonstrate ways in which training in the humanities creates a baseline of skills in collaboration, deep listening, tolerance for ambiguity, and a range of positionalities. They also illustrate an astute understanding of disparate data sets, persuasive storytelling, and a commitment to liberal arts education. As this innovative collection showcases, these skills are crucial in the current climate, as higher education struggles with declining enrolments, decreasing budgets, growing public distrust, and (often) hostile legislative oversight. Additionally, the skills help us navigate a rapidly shifting landscape of learning in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic and entry of generative artificial intelligence (AI) to the public sphere. The collection presents theoretical arguments, case studies, personal narratives, and practical advice related to how humanities-trained scholars have led and must continue to lead the academy through transformative change.

Strategic Shakespeare is an essential tool for anyone interested in learning from university leaders who have made good things happen on their campuses, in their communities, and in the profession. It celebrates and foregrounds the core adaptive skills that humanities scholars bring to the table, showcasing their unique predisposition for successful academic leadership during a time of unprecedented change.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half-Title Page
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Table of Contents
• List of Contributors
• Acknowledgements
• Prologue: Strategic Shakespeare
• Act 1 Identity and Power
• 1 The “Power to Hurt and Will Do None”: Shakespearean Lessons in Power and Administrative Leadership
• 2 White Shakespeare in Asian American Literature: Unpacking Baggage for Higher Education Leadership
• 3 Bardolatry and leadership: Using Shakespeare for greater good
• Act 2 Inclusion and History
• 4 Defining Inclusion Then and Now: Improving upon Early Modern Dramatic Communities
• 5 Poets and Madmen: Translating Humanities Training into Inclusive Leadership
• 6 Preserving Institutional Histories/Promoting Institutional Change
• 7 Using Power for Illumination: Advancement Paths for Non-Tenure Track Faculty
• Act 3 Collaboration, Empathy, and Interdisciplinarity
• 8 Shakespeare, Empathy, and the Call to Restorative Leadership
• 9 Interrogating an Icon, Adaptation, and Performance: Humanities-Centered Leadership in the Core Curriculum
• 10 Salient History: Early Modern Interdisciplinarity and University Honors
• 11 Shakespeare and the Benefits of Interdisciplinary Leadership
• 12 Shakespeare, Leadership, and the Disciplinary Divide
• Act 4 COVID, AI, and Unprecedented Challenges
• 13 The Value of Airy Nothing
• 14 If Only, Shakespeare: Ambiguity and Effective, Ethical Leadership
• 15 Worldmaking and Leading from the Middle: Collaborative Leadership in Higher Education
• Act 5 Advocacy, Politics, and The Future
• 16 Ambiguity and “Two-sideism” in the Marketplace of Ideas
• 17 Building Relationships and Sustaining Hope Through Humanities Advocacy
• 18 Creating Cognitive Ecologies: Shakespeare’s Collaborative Storytelling and Climate Resilience1
• Epilogue
• Index