Faculty in Focus

Editor's Note: Dr. James Harris is the assistant professor of business administration at St. Norbert College and has taken the time to share with us his story.When the St. Norbert Times editorial staff kindly asked me to create a little blurb about myself, the first thing I didn't consider is that one item at which you're currently looking. As my wife can readily attest, I dislike posing for pictures. Look at that stern faced guy, so serious. It's the impromptu smiling for pictures; I can't do it. Oh well, I will never be able to work with the likes of Tyra Banks.

My background might be considered unique. I grew up in several places strewn throughout the Midwest, with a Brazilian stint thrown in. My father's career interests put us on the forefront of the manufacturing shift from the so-called rust-belt to the Southeast throughout the 1980s. Every couple of years it was usually time for a move. In a kind of synchronicity, I graduated from a high school that was located near an army base. For the first time, I felt as though I was with cohorts who could relate to my own caravan-like ways.

I believe that my general interest in business schooling came from this executive-view socialization. My primary interest in marketing scholarship, moreover, came from witnessing the behaviors of many different pockets of society. In truth, being the so-called new-kid-in-town ended up making me observe and adapt a lot. It was the sometimes disparate drives of people that captured my attention and imagination about the human experience. Upon reflection, while it was an extraordinary way to develop and grow, I am sure that one of my primary motives in becoming a college professor was to satisfy those curiosities. Perhaps ironically, it was that same always-moving tendency that made me crave the stability of place that academic roles tend to provide. An academic career, in short, allowed both innate desires to be satisfied.

However, understanding that there are usually contradictions in the most reasoned of individuals, my wife and I moved to Lisbon when I finished my PhD. Knowing full well that we would probably choose to move back to the U.S. someday, we simply couldn't refuse the opportunity. Our return home though was to be much sooner than anticipated. You see, we moved in August of 2001. In a very short time the jarring combination of Stealth Bombers shaking our kitchen table (NATO bases in the Azores are used to refuel), and the unpopularity of the Bush Doctrine, made our situation as ex-patriots somewhat unworkable.

Cutting out several details (and collapsing the timeline somewhat) we are now in northeast Wisconsin and have seemingly found a home. I look back and reflect on a particularly cloudy and dim January day in 2003 when I first stepped onto St. Norbert's campus. Perhaps I am flirting with trite, sentimental rhetoric, but there were so many uncertainties. With time those uncertainties have thankfully subsided, as we have created a life here. I attribute the College community with having a significant amount to do with this fortunate outcome.