Page 33 - The Architecture of Professional Development

Prof. Paul V. Bredeson
Professor of Educa onal Administra on
University of Wisconsin‐Madison

Paul V. Bredeson is a Professor of Educational Administration at the University of
Wisconsin-Madison where he teaches courses in Professional Development and
Organizational Learning, Instructional Leadership and School Improvement, and
Research Methods. Prior to his appointment on the faculty in 1991, Professor Bredeson
was a Professor at Pennsylvania State University and also served as the Executive
Director of the Pennsylvania School Study Council from 1985-1991. Professor Bredeson
also served three years as a Professor of Educational Leadership at Ohio University. Prior
to entering higher education, Dr. Bredeson was a high school principal and high school
Spanish teacher in Wisconsin and Connecticut respectively. Professor Bredeson received
his B.A. (Spanish) from Northern Illinois University. He earned his M.A. (Spanish) and his
Ph.D. (Educational Administration) from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He also
completed graduate work at the Universities of Connecticut and Barcelona.
Over the past 20 years, Professor Bredeson's research has centered on alternative
conceptions of leadership, especially in regard to school principals. Grounded in his
professional work experiences as a Spanish teacher, high school principal, project
director for bilingual administrator training, and Executive Director of a research
consortium for public schools in Pennsylvania, his research has two major strands. The
first strand focuses on the impact of alternative conceptualizations of leadership on the
work of school principals and professional development in education. Much of this
scholarly work appears in his new book, Designs for Learning: A New Architecture for
Professional Development (2003). The second is educational leaders' cognition, as
expressed through metaphoric thinking and its impact on expert thinking, problem
solving processes, and leadership behaviors. This text, co-authored with Ann W. Hart,
The Principalship: A Theory of Professional Learning and Practice, is currently used in
graduate educational leadership and policy programs across the United States, Canada,
Australia, Russia, and Sweden. Professor Bredeson has served as President of the
National Council of Professors of Educational Administration, President of the University
Council for Educational Administration, a Member of the National Policy Board for
Educational Administration, and as a Technical Advisor to the Interstate School Leaders
Licensure Consortium for the development and assessment of national standards for
school leaders. In 1990 Professor Bredeson received the Jack A. Culbertson Award given
to one recipient nationally as recognition for outstanding contributions to the field of
educational leadership and policy studies. Dr. Bredeson is an International Faculty
Associate at Umea University in Sweden and a member of the Teaching Academy at the
University of Wisconsin. He currently serves on the editorial boards for several scholarly
journals and remains active in professional associations nationally and internationally
serving as a reviewer, a member of governing boards, and as an invited presenter in
United States, Canada, Europe, Australia, China, Russia, and South America.

2