The University Professor

This story focuses on the challenges, rewards, and setbacks of an instructor and his students at pivotal points during a single term in a university, with flashbacks from a decade of learning, and from two decades of applying knowledge.

Along the way, a complete study philosophy emerges.

The story also contains a helpful discussion guide at the end of it for reading groups, so that they may discuss the ideas that are presented in the book.

It is a lighthearted look at academic life, and on how education affects all of our lives.

It starts with the instructor conducting a class and then moves on to his activities while preparing to review current material to get his students ready for their future careers.  It carries through to his testing experiences and to his preparations for new courses.  Every second chapter has flashbacks to those events from his past studies and work where special moments occurred that helped to mold his current character and teaching style.

The story originally started out as an autobiography, based on notes from a university teaching career, with flashbacks to the author’s own times as a student, and to his experiences while working.  As the story developed it became more like a novel, with intrigue and some humorous sidelines. A decision was made to turn it into autobiographical fiction, where most of the story was based on facts that occurred over a lifetime, along with some artistic embellishments to connect the flow of scenes as they occur.

Technical books written by the author include the following.  “Life as a Professor” highlights the challenges that are encountered in teaching current business and technology methods in colleges and universities, along with recommendations for solutions that are needed now in classrooms.  “E-Commerce Concepts” discusses strategies to use when a business wants to take advantage of e-commerce to increase their sales and international exposure.  “MBA Strategic Analysis” discusses methods to use to assess business strengths so that opportunities for growth can be more effectively implemented.  “Computerized Financial Systems” reviews database designs and processes that are needed for implementing functional financial systems.