Earning My Degree: Memoirs of an American University President Hardcover - 2005

First line

The bank holiday he declared in March 1933, together with the outpouring of New Deal legislation enacted by Congress in the early to mid-1930s, forever changed the character of American life and the relationship of government to the governed.

From the rear cover

"Among the memoirs of university presidents, this is a gem. Gardner was at the center of the action in higher education from the Sputnik era to the end of the century while also contributing significantly to other important aspects of our national life. His fascinating and moving narrative is always informed by those larger socioeconomic and cultural events that together determined the contemporary shape of American higher education."--Harold T. Shapiro, President Emeritus of The University of Michigan and Princeton University

"There is no doubt that this memoir will be central to understanding the story of American higher education and the evolution of the University of California in particular. The testimony of an articulate, perceptive, and intelligent person who has played so many key roles in the history of those institutions is of incalculable value. It is accurate to describe David Gardner as an eagle among presidents. This memoir will give the reader a fascinating view of the extraordinary skill and scope of his flight."--Jack W. Peltason, 16th President, University of California, and Chancellor Emeritus, University of California, Irvine, and University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign

"I have known David Gardner since his days as a graduate student at Berkeley. In the intervening years, he has experienced both triumphs and tragedies and treats them with both candor and understanding. He has had good judgment, inventive solutions to complex problems, calmness in the midst of turmoil, a genius at persuasion, and courage bordering on daring. All of these attributes he applied to his leadership within and outside of the University of California. His memoir has a liveliness and a sense of reality--how it really was and how it really felt."--Clark Kerr, 12th President, University of California

Media reviews

Citations

• Foreword, 08/19/2009, Page 0