When it releases in December 2024, my book, The Present Professor, will invite you to think about how well you know yourself–and how that impacts your work with students, particularly in higher education learning spaces (physical or virtual).

Liz Norell is a White woman in a blue shirt and blue cardigan. She stands in front of a red brick wall and wears a silver necklace that says "ohm" in sanskrit. She has medium-length brown hair and a round face.On this website, you’ll find lots of ways that I’m always trying to understand myself and my teaching better, in service of the goal presented in the subtitle of my book: Authenticity and transformational teaching.

The Present Professor: Authenticity and Transformational Teaching is published (with a gorgeous cover) by OU Press in their Teaching, Engaging, and Thriving in Higher Ed series edited by James Lang, Michelle Miller, and Derek Krissoff.

In her brilliant book, I Didn’t Do the Thing Today, Madeline Dore writes: “We live in this day, after all, not in the one we’re waiting for.” My goal in all my work — I’m a college teacher, faculty developer, coach, and yogi — is to fully live in each day, grateful that it exists and open to what opportunities it might bring.

It’s been a long time (pre-COVID, probably?) since I put out an episode of my podcast, the Liz Cast, but I might return to it someday… and I’m very proud of its back catalog.

If you’re looking for resources I’ve shared at a talk or conference, you can find those here.

The values that infuse my work spring from the realization that each of us, as decidedly social beings, yearn for connections…

… we want to find true friends, the kind who always seem to know what matters most, even when we don’t talk to them for months (or years) at a time.

… we want work that feels meaningful, done in service to / in collaboration with people who we admire.

… we want to make a difference, for this world to be changed for the better because we were here.

And, here’s the kicker: So many of us are scrambling to find these connections by go-go-going A-L-L the time, even though we know true connection takes time to nurture and expand.

I’m here to offer an open heart and a willing ear. What are you searching for? How can we find it, together?

Get in touch if this lands with you — maybe because you want to talk about a teaching collaboration, a workshop, a podcast chat, some coaching, or a unique yoga class. I’m not doing any of those things to excess right now, but I am always eager to explore innovative ways to create community, especially for women … and especially-especially for women in academia.