Universities in the US are generally staffed by two types of people: those who teach and those who manage. Professors on the one hand and administrators on the other. But a growing class of administrators has emerged: those you blend scholarship and administration into one. My guests today, Bernhard Streitwieser and Anthony Ogden, call this new class of administrator “Scholar-Practitioners.” These types of employees often hold PhDs, use research to inform their practical work in administrative offices, and contribute to scholarly debates on the internationalization of higher education. Yet, since these types of employees are not in academic positions, the knowledge they produce is often seen to be of a lower quality than that produced by professors.

Bernhard Streitwieser and Anthony Ogden have recently published a co-edited volume that explores the many issues of scholar-practitioners. Their book highlights the history, challenges, and personal stories of scholar-practitioners around the US. Ultimately Bernhard and Anthony argue that scholar-practitioners are a valuable part of both the administrative side of universities because they incorporate theory into practice on a daily basis and contribute to scholarly debates within the field of international higher education.

Bernhard Streitwieser is an Assistant Professor of International Education at The George Washington University Graduate School of Education and Human Development.

Anthony Ogden is currently the executive director of Education Abroad and Exchanges and an adjunct assistant professor in Educational Policy and Evaluation Studies at the University of Kentucky.  In May he’ll move to Michigan State University.

I spoke with Bernhard and Anthony during the annual Comparative and International Education Conference in early March.