Prof. Laura Bierema
What excites you about adult learning and education?
"Adulthood is filled with constant change and adults respond by learning. I have long been fascinated by the mutuality of learning and change as it is difficult to imagine one without the other. I began my career by facilitating learning and am deeply committed to helping adults learn to be effective guides of adult learning. Adults turn to learning to help them navigate family, work, and community life and adult learning and education play crucial roles in helping adults be mindful contributors in those areas, as well as learn to think critically and take mindful, timely action within their contexts. The world has never needed the capacity for adults to be deep thinkers capable of creating transformation within their lives and communities. Adult education and learning are cornerstones of these processes."
Why did you choose to do research in the field of adult learning and education?
Why did you choose to do research in the field of adult learning and education?
"The field, in some ways, chose me. I was working in automotive manufacturing and became involved in a plant literacy program, where I discovered adult education and learning. This discovery led me to pursue a doctoral degree and ultimately shift from a corporate to higher education career. It is a privilege to engage in teaching and research in this field, especially to promote equity and justice in adults’ lives, workplaces, and communities."
Laura L. Bierema is a Professor of Adult Learning, Leadership, and Organization Development in the Department of Lifelong Education, Administration, and Policy, in the University of Georgia’s Mary Frances Early College of Education. She is the past president of the Academy of Human Resource Development (AHRD), and current Vice-President of the Graduate School Alliance for Education in Coaching (GSSAEC). She has been a Fulbright Scholar and Specialist and inducted in the Human Resource Development Scholar Hall of Fame and the International Adult and Continuing Education Hall of Fame.
- Adult Education and Learning
- Critical Human Resource Development
- Women’s Leadership and Development
- Adult Career Development
- Critical Leadership Development
- Gender and Critical Feminism
- Coaching Education
- Qualitative Research
- Faculty Development
CG11: Faculty development: Policies, Organizational challenges and professional development
Co-Moderator: Prof. Monica Fedeli
The group will analyze and compare how faculty and instructors across different universities and organizations develop competencies related to teaching and learning. This will include an exploration of institutional policies, organizational challenges, and the individual motivations behind skill development for improved teaching practices. Faculty development programs will be examined, and various opportunities for professional growth will be discussed collaboratively during the group work.
The relevance of this CGW is to understand the efforts made by the different countries for transforming and innovating teaching and learning through faculty development strategies and practices.
Therefore, the expected learning outcomes of this CGW are related to:
- Knowledge about HEIs policies related to professional development of faculty.
- Organizational and institutional strategies to promote faculty development.
- Programs, actions/practices implemented for promoting professional development and teaching innovation.
- Bierema, L. L., Fedeli, M., & Merriam, S. B. (2025). Adult learning: Linking research and practice, 2nd edition. John Wiley & Sons.
- Bierema, L. L. (2024). Rethinking adult career development: A critical perspective. Edward Elgar Publishing.
- Bierema, L. L., Callahan, J. L., Elliott, C., Greer, T., & Collins, J. (2024). Human resource development: Critical perspectives and practice. Routledge. [Winner of Academy of Human Resource Development’s R. Wayne Pace Book of the Year Award, 2024.]
- Sim, E., & Bierema, L. L. (2024). 20 years of critical HRD scholarship development: citation and authorship network analysis. Human Resource Development International, 1-31. https://doi.org/10.1080/13678868.2024.2388916
- Greer, T. W., Bierema, L., He, W., & Sim, E. (2023). Rebooting feminist research in HRD: Shifting from gender binary to gender diversity. International Journal of HRD: Practice, Policy, and Research, 7(1), 66-79. https://wfpma.org/files/resources/journal-7-1-september-2023.pdf#page=66
- Sim, E., Nicolaides, A., & Bierema, L. L. (2023). Intersectional research in adult education: A diffractive gaze. New Directions for Adult and Continuing Education, 2023(180), 11-23. https://doi.org/10.1002/ace.20508
- Sim, E., & Bierema, L. L. (2023). Infusing intersectional pedagogy into adult education and human resource development graduate education. Adult Education Quarterly, 07417136231198049. https://doi.org/10.1177/07417136231198049
- Bierema, L. L., Sim, E., He, W., & Cox, A. B. (2022). Double jeopardy: the paradox and promise of coaching women leaders from a critical feminist perspective. Gender in Management: An International Journal, (ahead-of-print). https://doi.org/10.1108/GM-07-2022-0239
- Bierema, L. L. (2020). Organization development: An action research approach (2nd Ed.). San Diego, CA: Bridgepoint Education, Inc. [Winner of the 2022 “Texty” Award from the Textbook and Academic Authors Association]
- Bierema, L. L. (2019). Enhancing employability through developing T-shaped professionals. New Directions for Adult and Continuing Education, 2019(163), 67-81 DOI: 10.1002/ace.20342
- Fedeli, M., & Bierema, L. L. (2019). Connecting adult learning and knowledge management: Strategies for learning and change in higher education and organizations. Springer.
