Book description
Divorced, in debt and unemployed, Olivia Clarke figured she had nothing
to lose if she left California. She was sick of the plastic lifestyle
and her family's lifelong casting her as its scapegoat. Nearly some
thirty-five years after her father's murder she was still haunted by
guilt. It was the best time to leave anyway, because all she had left
was her dissertation. Actually if she'd felt like she had a choice, she
would have just walked away, disillusioned and despairing. In Kansas
City she found peace, spending six months finishing her dissertation,
healing, and taking ballet classes--all the while praying for a teaching
position. Over forty, female and black, if she opened another letter
that told her how qualified she was but she didn't get the job she would
scream. At what seemed to be the eleventh hour, Western State University
in Roadims, Arkansas, offered her an assistant professor position in the
school of business. Trepidation pulsed in Olivia's veins since the
university only had five professors of color but she went anyway. Five
years hence with the granting of tenure and promotion, the faculty
elected Olivia as Senate President. At nearly the same instant, the
Board unexpectedly ousted university President Fonticello who'd been in
that role for over twenty-five years. Nobody was prepared for the
impact. Without President Fonticello, the guns of university and
Republican state politics were drawn, loaded, and aimed at Olivia. In
this novel you'll experience the real world “faculty versus
administration” zero-sum game of public university life exacerbated by
the worst economic downturn in US history. Following Olivia's lead, how
would you cast your Vote of No Confidence? CARLA STALLING HUNTINGTON,
PhD received her doctorate from the University of California, Riverside.
She has published scholarly monographs and articles on dance and
consumer behavior. A California native, she resides with her husband in
Woodland Hills.
