Welcome!

Welcome to the Ed Prof  – Educating Professionals Blog! I am not sure this is the ideal title, but must start somewhere.  It is the week before classes and faculty emails are flying. I am still “somewhere else” but will be back on campus soon. One of the things I hope to achieve is to alert visitors to resources of interest to people who are concerned about how we prepare professionals for work in complex organizations. Although there is always debate about which occupational groups are to be considered  professional, it seems to me that teachers, counselors, healthcare workers, social service providers all belong in this group.  Each group is a distinct cultural community with its own language, rules of conduct, standards, and fetishes. Yet, the task of “educating professionals” may well have common themes across fields.

A group of us met at the American Educational Studies Association Annual Meeting last fall to present papers on life in academe, focusing especially on how life in the academy affects intimate relationships. I was stunned by the depth of emotion, as well as the powerful insights shared at that session. Being a professor (or aspiring to become one)  is a good thing, but many of us have paid a price for the privilege.  Our families, partners and friends have paid a price as well.  Our group is exploring venues for publishing this work. More on this as things develop.

Enough said in this first entry.  Time for this professor to get back to “real” work.