I do research on and write about universities and college teaching and I teach about all sorts of things: twentieth-century American literature, writing of all kinds, higher education, race and gender. My new role (as of 2025) is the Director of General Education Literature, where I oversee about 150 sections of the Interpretation of Literature (ENGL:1200). This course introduces around 3000 Iowa undergraduates to the mysteries of literary reading every year and plays a vital role in helping scores of graduate instructors become better teachers. 

I’m the author of One Classroom at a Time: How Better Teaching Can Make College More Equitable (Harvard University Press, 2025), The Missing Course: Everything They Never Taught You About College Teaching (HUP, 2019) and The Major Phases of Philip Roth (Continuum, 2011). From 2013-2020, I wrote a column on college teaching for The Chronicle of Higher Education. I write occasional pieces at my newsletter, Pedagogy Unbound.

David Gooblar CV