An Unplanned Journey into Higher Education

Abstract

The editor, John Smart, has invited me to describe how I entered higher education as a field of study, highlighting major individuals and developments that shaped my career. In addition, he asked that I give my perspectives on how the field of higher education has evolved during my career and offer suggestions to current scholars about possible future developments. I am honored to have this opportunity and especially pleased to be the first woman to write an autobiographical essay in this series. As I collected my thoughts, I was struck first by how unplanned my career development has been; second, by how vastly different my story is from those of my esteemed male colleagues who have written articles in this series; and third, by the fact that I am the first writer in the group whose advanced degree was in higher education rather than in a traditional discipline.