Help Wanted: Next Generations Professors

I remember when I was an undergraduate student in Commerce. Those long early mornings from

North Kildonan over the Disraeli and down Pembina to get to my 830 classes. The first few

terms were ëschool as usualí with courses like Managerial Accounting, Corporation

Finance, Introduction to Marketing and Organizational Behavior. I went to class, wrote my

exams, got my grades and then went on and did it all again the next term.

Sometime in my last year something changed. I can still remember the class ñ it was the

second class in Administrative Policy. The teacher, a professor named Dr. Ross Henderson

who retired back in the 90ís, taught using the Socratic method, that is by asking

questions rather than telling us the answers. It was a totally different way of learning

ñ not by someone lecturing, us memorizing and then giving it all back on the final, but

by us actually thinking along with the professor in live-time.

That class also got me thinking ñ maybe being a prof might be a career option. It was

reasonably uncharted water as no one from my family had ever pursued an academic career.

But the more I thought about it, the more attractive it became: getting paid to read,

think, come up with ideas, lead classes ñ why not?

Just over a quarter century later, here I am, back at the University of Manitoba, leading

my own classes, asking the next generation of students questions that will hopefully help

prepare them to become the kind of businesspeople needed for competing effectively in

this new century. Suffice to say, itís been a great career that I might never have

thought of had I not taken that class with Dr. Henderson.

Why am I mentioning this? Because it is my hunch that there is probably at least one or

two people reading this column who have never thought of becoming professors. To them my

message is simple: Why not at least consider the possibility. Why do I say that? Because,

as I mentioned earlier, itís an extremely interesting way to make a living. Why else do I

say that? Because, the market for business educators is one that is going to have all

kinds of long term opportunities. And finally because we are going to need the very best

and brightest of minds to come up with the most innovative and creative of ways to make

our way forward in this very interesting world in which we find ourselves.

So as you go through the year ahead consider the long-term possibility of moving from the

back of the room to the front. It may be a move worth exploring.