Julie Galliart
While working at the University of Kansas School of Medicine in Wichita three years ago, Julie Galliart knew she’d reached a turning point in her career.
She decided to pursue an Ed.D. in Adult and Lifelong Learning from the University of Arkansas because, in faculty development, her job was to help KU faculty — who had been trained as medical doctors — sharpen their skills as educators.
“My students are adults who teach other adults and care about improving as educators. A program in Adult and Lifelong Learning was a perfect fit,” she said.
She liked that the U of A’s College of Education and Health Professions offered a hybrid program that met both online and in-person, and she was also impressed with the caliber of the University and its programs. “The university’s status as an R1 research institution sealed the deal,” she said.
Julie shared an interest in “encore careers” with two of the program’s faculty, Dr. Kenda Grover and Dr. Kit Kacirek. An encore career can be loosely defined as personally fulfilling work that a person undertakes later in life. Julie engaged in an independent study with Dr. Kacirek to learn more about this phenomenon and to explore research opportunities.
In July 2019 — eighteen months into her doctoral program — Julie got the chance to research encore careers up close. She flew to Chicago for a work conference and took the Chicago Architecture Center River Cruise with some friends. At the end of the float down the Chicago River, the docent who had given the presentation remarked that she was a volunteer — and that all the Chicago Architecture Center docents write their own tours.
“Here was a woman, probably in her 70s, who had just given a highly engaging, 90-minute talk to more than 100 people — and she wrote it herself as a volunteer,” Julie said.
As a person studying adult learning, Julie was intrigued.
Following a Chicago Architecture Center River Cruise, Julie began a research project with several of the docents who present on the tours.
So, she began a research project with several of the docents and returned to Chicago to conduct focus group discussions. The A.L. Chilton Foundation helped fund the trip.
“I look back on that trip and see a transformation in me. The woman who stepped off the airplane is different from the one who got on,” she said. “I had no idea that hearing the stories of others and talking with them from a place of open curiosity and interest would bring about such a change in me.”
One of Julie’s research projects explores informal learning (learning that happens through everyday interactions with others and is often studied in business settings) among retirees who volunteer at the Bartlett Arboretum in Belle Plaine, Kansas. Julie is pictured here helping plant some of the thousands of tulips that will be in bloom when the Arboretum opens to visitors again in spring 2021.
Innovative projects like this ultimately changed Julie’s priorities. She was inspired to find a faculty role that would allow for future research in adult learning.
After defending her dissertation about problem solving in technology-rich workplaces among U.S. Baby Boomers, Julie became Dr. Galliart in December 2020. That event coincided with another one: a promotion at work that fulfilled her newfound dream. Her boss retired, and Julie was appointed as the associate dean of faculty affairs and development at KU School of Medicine-Wichita.
“In my new role, I feel like I literally have been offered the opportunity of a lifetime because it allows me to keep doing both of the things that I love to do,” she said.
Julie Galliart with her family after successfully defending her dissertation.
Julie recommends the U of A Adult and Lifelong Learning program to anyone whose work involves coaching or teaching adults.
“This has been a fantastic experience that made a doctorate accessible for someone with a demanding job who was also raising a family,” she said. “Drs. Kevin Roessger, Grover, and Kacirek each have different strengths, but they all care deeply about the success of their students. Their diversity in interests represents the broad field of adult learning incredibly well.
“I know my future research will cast a much wider net for having had the chance to work with each of them on different projects. And the KU School of Medicine is undoubtedly benefitting as well.”
Julie and several members of her U of A cohort presented at the American Association for Adult and Continuing Education (AAACE) Conference in St Louis in October 2019. Pictured (l to r) are Elaine Thornton, Brendan Csaposs, Robin Freeman and Julie. Other cohort collaborators were Susan Bradley Pospisil, Kathleen Dorn, James (Ryan) Eller and Dr. Grover.
