Gretchen Bersch, Ph.D.

University of Alaska-Anchorage

Recorded: AAACE Conference, November 2016 in Albuquerque, NM.

Total Time: 38:47

Short Bio: (Hall of Fame Member)

Gretchen T. Bersch, Ph.D., began her career in adult education in 1971 working for the University of Alaska (UA) system in Alaska villages. In 1990, she was commissioned to create and coordinate an adult education master’s degree program for UA-Anchorage.

Bersch has dedicated her career to the world of adult education. Whether she was collaborating with international programs, inviting students and educators into her home or researching other scholars, Bersch always had improving lifelong learning in her goals.

Internationally, Bersch focused on creating a partnership between the UA-Anchorage and the university in Magadan, Russia. Her work led to a faculty and student exchange program, joint conferences, policy and curriculum work, and eventually being awarded the title of honorary professor of the university in Magadan, Russia in 2001. Many Russian students lived at her Anchorage house over the years along with countless adult education visitors. Bersch also reached out on a personal level to Magadan, Russia demonstrating adult and continuing educators go beyond the university/academic relationship. During the winter of 1998, the town was struggling to survive the cold weather. Bersch co-chaired a committee of 40 volunteers and in two days they gathered 30,000 pounds of warm clothing, blankets and baby formula. She and her committee organized an overwhelmingly successful food drive.

A research interest of Bersch’s had been to film interviews of noted national and international adult education scholars. She created and produced a video (DVD) series titled, Conversations on Lifelong Learning. The purpose was to create a visual set of interviews with scholars sharing their life stories in the field of adult and continuing education. The interviews reflect on the contributions, life work, ideas and experience from a unique and personal point of view. To date, 76 scholars have been interviewed and 35 finished programs are available to the field.

Bersch dreamed of establishing a center for learning on Yukon Island, at her family’s homestead across Kachemak Bay from Homer, Alaska. For many years, she has hosted adult education scholars who have come there to teach graduate courses. The Yukon Island Center for Research and Education provides a place of serenity where educators can gather to gain a scientific, cultural and social understanding of our world and exchange ideas and theories in adult education and other fields.

Bersch has received numerous awards for her work, including the Edith R. Bullock Prize for Excellence, a statewide honor through the UA Foundation carrying a $15,000 award. She used some of the prize money to establish the Gretchen T. Bersch Outstanding Professor of the Year Award at the university in Magadan. The fall of 2008 marked the 12th year of the outstanding professor award. Bersch has also been honored as the Alaska Professor of the Year by the Carnegie Foundation and the Outstanding Teacher of the Year by the UA-Anchorage Chancellor’s Awards. In June, 1997, Gretchen T. Bersch was awarded Emerita Professor status by the University of Alaska-Anchorage.

Source: http://www.halloffame.outreach.ou.edu/2008/Bersch.html

Video Segments

• How did you get started in Adult Education? -0:05
• What is your advice to new students? -3:03
• What makes Adult Education unique? -4:20
• How can students apply what they learn in Adult Education? -6:12
• Why is Adult Education important to you? -8:49
• What misconceptions about Adult Education would you like to correct? -13:08
• What contributions have made the most impact? -10:22

Malcolm Knowles and the discussion on Andragogy

Jack Mezirow and Patricia Cranton

Jerry Apps and his book Mastering the Teaching of Adults

Steven Brookfield discussion as a way of teaching (The Skillful Teacher)

Carolyn Clark and Marsha Rossiter Narrative Learning in Adulthood

Experience as learning

• What books would you recommend? -12:06

Learning in Adulthood by Merriam, Cafferella, and Baumgartner

Mastering the Teaching of Adults by Jerry Apps

Enhancing Adult Motivation to Learn by Raymond Wlodkowski

Diversity and Motivation by Wlodkowski and Ginsberg

Narrative Learning in Adulthood by Clark and Rossiter

Exploring Spirituality & Culture in Adult & Higher Ed by Elizabeth Tisdell

The Skillful Teacher by Steven Brookfield

Books by Leona English

Writings from Phyllis Cunningham on Culture and Race

Writings from Juanita Johnson Baily

New Directions for Adult and Continuing Education (Journal)

• Advice for Graduate students? -25:45
• Tell us about your research. -28:58
• Any other wisdom to share? -33:27