Presently I am a PhD candidate of the Work and Human Resources Education graduate program at the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities campus working on my disertation, Advisor Dr. James R. Stone III.
Research Study Title: The Role of Secondary Level Marketing Education within the Current High School Reform Context
Degrees Earned:
8/98 Masters of Science Degree in Vocational and Technical Education.University Wisconsin - Stout, Menomonie, WI.
5/90 Bachelor of Science Degree in Marketing Education. Minor: Business Administration. Universtiy Wisconsin - Stout, Menomonie, WI.
12/81 Associate Degree in Marketing & Management. North Central Technical College, Wausau, WI.
MBE-101 Introduction to Marketing and Business. Education,
MBE-301, Marketing Education Methods.
MBE-311, Project Method.
MBE-312, Clinical Experience.
MBE-355, Marketing Education Summer Seminar.
MBE-401, Marketing Education Methods.
MBE-411/611, Business Education Methods and Curriculum.
MBE 409, Marketing Education Student Teaching Supervision.
MEBE-419, Business Education Student Teaching Supervision.
VTAE-302/502, Principles of Vocational Education.
CTE-360/560, Cooperative Occupational Education.
VTAE-375, WIDS Course Construction.
TECD-375/575.
Becoming an educator has been a twenty-six year journey for me. I can honestly claim that there has been no single force or event that provided the initial launch for me. I have come to recognize the following sequence of events as being key to my current quest.
As a native Swiss, my primary education through to the sixth grade was one of extreme discipline. It was instilled in me that education requires sacrifice and the utilization of time and talent in an efficient manner. Within Swiss culture this was the beginning of ones life’s work and was to be taken seriously.
Entrepreneurial parent’s seeking to continue their life’s work, by moving to the United States, introduced me to a new language and culture. Consequently, I was introduced to an educational system that provided me a host of elective courses. The opportunity to direct aspects of my own program of study was a new educational paradigm for me.
With a major move from Switzerland to the United States undertaken, wanderlust remained a constant. I soon realized the benefits associated with experiencing cultures and places around the world. New perspectives, values, and ways of thinking enhanced my self-awareness. I continued to travel several continents over each of the next thirteen years. As my travel plans expanded so did the need for financial resources. Therefore, I discovered the need to upgrade my knowledge, skills, and attitude by earning an associate degree in marketing and management.
Thirteen years of business and industry work experiences provided me with the idealistic need of bringing knowledge and wisdom to students as they migrate from their secondary education into the world of work. At this point, I obtained an undergraduate degree in Marketing Education at the University of Wisconsin-Stout in 1990. My new career as a secondary marketing educator developed in me an awareness of the incredible opportunities teachers can provide their students. Opportunities and challenges were abundant. Through them, I became ever more passionate about teaching and learning. As a result, I discovered my teacher-self. Slowly I grew into the type of teacher that would continually invent, revamp, and re-engineer aspects of the teaching and learning process.
I sought out a graduate degree that emulated my vision of evolving education through relevance and rigor. As a result, I earned my masters degree in vocational and technical education in 1998. This degree provided me with a research basis. No longer was I content with change for change’s sake. I now possessed the tools to seek out best practices through systematic research resulting in new and emerging insights regarding the nature of teaching and learning.
In my current position, as a teacher educator, it is my goal to teach, research, and provide service through higher education, specifically in the disciplines of Marketing and Business Education, content and pedagogical courses. Through this goal, it is my intent to be an activist in the process of positioning Career and Technical Education (CTE) firmly at the root of emerging educational paradigms.
