(Faculty Spotlight is a series of articles focused on highlighting faculty at FHSU . Faculty Spotlight is intended to be a regularly published series, so check back often to see if your peers are doing any intriguing activities within the classroom. If you have a faculty member you would like to recommend for Faculty Spotlight, contact Nathan Riedel at nlriedel@fhsu.edu. Faculty Spotlight graphic by Cari Kelly.)
By Nathan Riedel –
Maintaining a successful career in human resources while teaching college courses on that same subject is challenging but rewarding work for Linda Frederick. She gives her students a glimpse into the professional world. This glimpse allows a class to be taught from an angle that provides the students with the knowledge required to survive outside of academia. Linda Frederick draws from both the professional and the academic. “I live what I teach. I bring my experience to the class.”
That experience, in fact, is what makes her such an effective candidate for the adjunct position. Ms. Frederick holds PHR (Professional Human Resource) Certification, SHRM-CP (The Society for Human Resource Management- Certified Professional) certification, a bachelor’s degree in Human Resource Management and a master’s degree in Organizational Development. Fredrick contributes to the university by teaching 8-week Human Resource Management classes online in the Robbins College of Business and Entrepreneurship. Frederick is also part of the Adjunct Faculty Development Committee and two Advisory Boards on campus, which have allowed her the opportunity to connect with other adjuncts and faculty, providing her with a clear picture of “how well the blend of adjuncts and full-time faculty makes FHSU the university of choice for students.”
What makes her classes so beneficial to the HR professionals of the future is her simultaneous presence in both the professional and academic worlds. Frederick’s main professional responsibility is as the Human Resource Manager for EnerSys. Moreover, she is a Kansas Notary Public, was formerly the 2007 President of Western Kansas Human Resource Management Association, where she oversaw the professional development of HR professionals in Western Kansas, and has been a District Director for the Kansas SHRM Board of Directors.
Her professional life started in 1975 when she worked at Becker Tire, recruiting, training, conducting orientation and employee evaluations, managing payroll, and drafting a handbook. In 1999, she joined Pearson Government Solutions (PGS), where she was responsible for recruiting 1,500+ positions annually, which provided manpower for government contracts including call centers and tech support for FAFSA, 1-800-Medicare, and INS. While working at PGS, she gained government clearance for the Department of Labor, the Department of Education, and the Department of Defense. One must exhibit strength of character and competency while working in the federal government to gain such access.
For the final project of one of the HR classes Frederick teaches, the students interview a manager, vice president, or director of human resources in the workforce and ask him or her how “HR managers are using/applying–every day—the information the student is learning.” This is one example in which her students are provided a glimpse of the professional world.
For all these reasons, Linda Frederick excels as an adjunct professor at Fort Hays State University. The tandem of her academic and professional lives—teaching while also working in the field—informs the way she designs the courses that she teaches and the way in which she delivers content in those courses. The classes she teaches are designed to prepare students for life after graduation.
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