Sixteen summers ago I turned in my gear, keys and “active member” ID card at fire headquarters and became a full-time assistant professor at a nearby university medical center. While I had a lot of experience as a part-time faculty member at a state-run community college, the transition to academia was jarring.
Shift Work Scholar is designed to help firefighters and paramedics in their academic journey. The information presented in this blog does not take the place of your academic advisor, career development mentor, parent or sponsor.
Since 2000 we have seen:
- Some departments requiring college credit hours as a prerequisite for a unit or command officer promotional exam.
- United States Fire Administration establishing a national model curriculum.
- Expansion of on-line and non-traditional courses to entice adults to enroll in higher education.
- Rapid expansion and subsequent crash of private for-profit colleges.
- Efforts by some states to match vocational/certification training with academic course credit – such as getting 4 semester hours of college credit for getting a Fire Officer I credential.
- Push-back of “book-smart” but “street-dumb” fire officers.
- Intrusion of evidence-based practices on fire suppression and supervision.
- Challenge of the traditional regional accreditation process and players.
- More fire officers with graduate degrees.
It is an exciting time with no clear path on the “best way” to get to your academic goal.
Let’s get started.
