I want to begin this editorial by thanking Tim Hatcher for requesting the editorial and for his tireless scholarly work on behalf of the journal. I also want to thank all of the previous HRDQ editors (Richard A. Swanson, Gary N. McLean, and Ronald L. Jacobs) for their tireless scholarly work. It is through the efforts of such editors that HRD scholarship continues to grow and develop.
The analogy (dare I say "metaphor"! ) for this editorial is one of a journey. This journey encompasses my own life journey, the journey of world history, and the journey of HRDQ. These journeys intersected one another at different times and helped to shape our field. These paragraphs will attempt to highlight some of the intersections.
Let' s start with my personal journey. I began my work as editor about six months prior to the first issue appearing while I was an employee of an organization called AchieveGlobal. That editorial work involved deciding which manuscripts would be included in the first issue. It also included writing an editorial titled "Change and Stability" (Russ-Eft, 2002), describing some events leading to the statement "Life has changed forever." Certainly, my life changed forever. During my years of affiliation with HRDQ, I became so enamored with life in academia that I decided to join the new School of Education at Oregon State University (which had been reorganized from a department into a school during the summer prior to my arrival on campus). It is clear to me that my role as editor of HRDQ helped to facilitate my transition from the private sector to a tenure-track faculty position. Furthermore, the personal journey from employment with a for-profit organization to a university faculty position involved both a career shift as well as a physical move from California to Oregon. Throughout this journey, I was blessed by receiving support and encouragement from my family, my colleagues in AHRD (as one of the sponsors of HRDQ), and the faculty, staff,