New Editor's Introduction

Abstract

With this issue, I begin my term as editor of The Career Development Quarterly (CDQ). Being editor of CDQ is a great honor and an even greater responsibility. As the editor of the premier journal informing career counseling and development, I have now been given the task to both maintain the reputation and quality and, if I have a particularly good run of luck, even enhance it. A new editor's first editorial should be pithy, introducing the new editor and the new vision, as well as thanking all those whose hard work make our journal possible. I bow to that tradition. I do think that it is good for you (readers and authors) to have a little better idea of what you are getting with a new editor, and, as a counselor, I do think that a little appropriate disclosure can be useful. For those of you who do not know me, I was born a poor, gay, Cherokee boy in rural southeastern Missouri. Coming from such roots motivated me and made me appreciate what has happened in my career. Such a background, along with a strong need to provide succorance (supported by my scores on this subscale of the Edwards Personal Preference Schedule and on similar subscales of the Strong Interest Inventory, Myers-Briggs Type Indicator, and an early Kuder), led me to counseling as my career choice. My area of specific expertise in our field is multicultural career counseling, and I have published mainly in that area; however, I also have expertise in the history of and the public policy issues in career counseling, career interest assessment, international career development, organizational career development, and the teaching of career counseling. I am somewhat unusual in many ways in our career development profession and bring a variety of experiences to the editorship of CDQ that I hope will be useful. I have a strong practice background, including more than 20 years in independent practice that I hope will allow me to have sensitivity to and knowledge of articles that may be especially relevant to career development practitioners. (I hold certifications as a Master Career Counselor, Registered Professional Career Counselor [California], and National Certified Career Counselor.) I have a strong research background that I hope will allow me to select articles that advance the science and knowledge of our profession. I have a strong advocacy and social justice background that I hope will enable me to recruit and select, nurture, and mentor authors, as well as editorial board members, who reflect the broad, inclusive diversity of our world. Finally, I also have strong organizational, administrative, financial, and political skills, having been a manager and leader of people and organizations, both for-profit and intentionally not-for-profit organizations. I ought to be good at this. You, my peers, will ultimately be the judge. These organizational skills are well developed from years of service to the profession in a variety of leadership roles, from editorial responsibilities for books and special issues/sections and from leading such projects as the development of successful grant proposals as well as institutional self-study materials for accreditation. I am considered by my colleagues to be a well-organized and action-oriented person. I hear from my predecessors that these are important characteristics for editors. Most important, I am a practicing professional career counselor, organizational consultant, counselor educator, and vocational psychologist. The commitment from the previous editors has always been to preserve the nature of CDQ: It is a practice-focused journal, and each article must address the implications of the article for career counselors and other career development professionals. It is my intention to continue that critical tradition. The foregoing, then, is a natural segue to my vision. During the next 3 years, CDQ will grow dynamically in response to the needs of our field. The structure-Articles, Effective Techniques, Personal Perspectives, Reader Reactions, Brief Reports-will remain the same, but the quantity of articles appearing in those sections will increase. …