How Stories Heal ― Writing Our Way to Meaning and Wholeness in the Academy

It is time for academics to embrace the fact that nothing is more appealing to readers – especially to our students – than personal stories with meaning-making implications that can touch all lives. No matter the age or stage in life, the personal or collective identity, everyone deals with meaning-making issues that challenge them – and others – throughout their lifetimes. And everyone we know finds that when encouraged to write their stories in the academy, they find meaning, wholeness, and healing.
How Stories Heal illustrates the value of personal narrative writing. Referring to this type of writing as the «turn to the subjective I» or to «me-search research», this is a book about Scholarly Personal Narrative (SPN) writing, actually written in an SPN style. This book will satisfy a huge need in higher education and scholarship, particularly for students who are writing undergraduate and graduate theses and doctoral dissertations; and also for junior and senior faculty who are looking to construct alternative forms of scholarship for publication.

Robert J. Nash has been a professor at the University of Vermont for 45 years. He is the director of the Graduate Program in Interdisciplinary Studies in Education. He is a prolific scholar, having written 14 books, many of them national award winners, and well over 100 articles, as well as dozens of book chapters and reviews. In 2003 he was named an Official University-Wide Scholar in the Social Sciences and Humanities at the University of Vermont. This is his fifth book published by Peter Lang.
Sydnee Viray is a highly respected student services administrator at the University of Vermont. She is a social worker and consultant/scholar in the areas of diversity and inclusion and financial management for mission driven non-profits. She has over 10 years of experience bearing witness to the countless stories of individuals who have been on a path of seeking wholeness and meaning. She is currently a Scholarly Personal Narrative writing co-instructor and co-author.