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Situating and Leveling Up Identity Convergence
Shapeshifting Through Academia and Pedagogical Evolution
The Psychological Negotiations Between Authority Figure and Student
How Professional Expertise Shapes and Influences Graduate Studies
The Heavy Hand of Impostor Syndrome
Recommendations and Applications
How Professional Expertise Shapes and Influences Graduate Studies
When examining how professional expertise and experience shapes and influences graduate studies, the transition between leadership and student roles creates unique challenges. Having spent significant time as a department leader, and factoring in my middle-aged status, I have found that expertise and experience can be both assets and obstacles in graduate work. Our professional expertise and experience naturally inform how we approach academic decisions, from how we engage with the professor and course material to how we view program structures.
This same expertise and experience can create resistance to fully embracing the student role—both internal reluctance to assume a learning posture and external skepticism from others—due to the nontraditional nature of being simultaneously an administrator, faculty member, and student. The classroom dynamic can be particularly challenging when one brings significant professional expertise to graduate studies. In certain courses, I candidly acknowledge that I have caught myself slipping into administrative analysis of course design or teaching methods rather than focusing on my own learning journey. The persistent temptation to mentally redesign assignments or restructure course delivery based on leadership and/or teaching experience can interfere with learning that is supposed to be happening. The internal dialogue often becomes "I would do this differently" instead of "What can I learn from this approach?" This tendency is especially pronounced when encountering professors with different levels of professional experience or divergent pedagogical philosophies.
When this internal resistance surfaces, it can inevitably affect my relationships with teaching faculty. When I struggle in my student role, it can add awkwardness in classroom dynamics. Some professors may sense my resistance or feel defensive when they perceive that I'm evaluating rather than engaging with their instruction. Conversely, and thankfully more often, other faculty members have embraced my dual perspective, inviting me to share insights from my administrative and teaching experience during class discussions. The most productive relationships emerge when teaching faculty acknowledge my professional background while still expecting me to engage authentically as a student. This requires ongoing negotiation and mutual respect, with both parties recognizing that my nontraditional status can either enrich or complicate the learning environment depending on how it's navigated.
This cycle of role-shifting, though challenging, ultimately strengthens our ability to serve in all capacities–as leaders, teachers, and learners. When we can set aside our leadership and/or faculty identity enough to fully embrace the student experience, that is where student learning happens and where pedagogical evolution begins. Setting aside our professional roles requires a deliberate effort to quiet that administrative/faculty voice that wants to evaluate and restructure everything. Once we manage this transition, the return to leadership and faculty roles becomes not just easier but more enriching. The experience brings a renewed perspective and deeper understanding of both the student experience and our own roles as educators and leaders.
This amalgamation of renewed perspective and understanding is the fruit of unique challenges born from identity convergence conflicts that demand adaptive strategies, forcing the expansion of pedagogical tools and approaches. Given that my role convergence primarily exists in virtual teaching environments, specific examples of my dual roles emerge via how I approach online course design and delivery. I have learned to refine and streamline my use of virtual breakout rooms when teaching, better understanding how to guide and empower students based on their diverse experiences and knowledge. My experience as a graduate student has reinforced that teaching styles and curriculum delivery must remain flexible to maximize impact for students with different learning styles and varying, often unseen, disabilities.
Most significantly, receiving grading feedback has illuminated the profound impact that both excellent and subpar/minimal feedback can have on student success, motivation, and confidence. Feedback offers subtext that can overtly or inadvertently demonstrate how engaged or invested a faculty member appears to be in a course. While an abundance of feedback is not necessary to demonstrate investment and guide students effectively, nor does minimal feedback necessarily indicate a lack of investment, what matters critically is the student's perception of these elements. This perspective alone has provided invaluable insight and reflection for my roles as both teacher and administrator, whose goal is to guide faculty toward excellence in the service of student success.
The graduate student experience also provides crucial insights into effective leadership. Positive classroom experiences demonstrate how leading thoughtful curriculum development and revision can drive student success and engagement. In contrast, challenging graduate classroom situations inform how to mentor faculty more dynamically, encouraging professional development and strategically guiding struggling faculty back to effective teaching practices. Because my role convergence operates primarily in a virtual environment, I can offer specific examples of how this dual perspective manifests in areas such as effective online course design. Even experienced graduate students can find the experience frustrating when faced with poorly organized online classrooms. Graduate students who embody a convergence of roles have limited time and patience to search for essential course materials, and difficulty locating necessary resources can impact confidence or trigger imposter syndrome episodes. This insight has shaped my focus on user experience as department leadership—ensuring that both faculty and students can engage with the virtual curriculum easily and effectively.
Another significant benefit of my role convergence involves conducting informal ethnographic studies of faculty instruction and student engagement at my work institution. As an administrator who also is a doctoral student elsewhere, I can observe how faculty teach courses in my department and how students in those courses respond and engage, whilst simultaneously experiencing instruction as a student myself in my doctoral classes. This facet of role shapeshifting allows me to gather valuable data that I can apply in my leadership role when mentoring faculty and providing feedback on curriculum design within my department. The combination of leadership and teaching expertise, along with authentic student perspectives, enhances both instructional effectiveness and departmental leadership capabilities, creating a continuous cycle of professional growth and adaptation.