Firerook

What is Firerook?

We formed Firerook LLC in October, 2018, as our recognition of the profound importance of higher education in US society and the challenges faced by colleges, universities, faculty, students, staff, parents and the many other stakeholders in this sector. We believe that both the promise and the challenges of higher ed require an understanding of organizational and leadership development that is fully informed by a deep collaboration with academia itself – and we see too few places where this is happening. Firerook is where we channel our passion into specific strategies designed to fill this gap.

Like the rook on the chessboard, these strategies start by positioning ourselves at the corners, where the whole is in view.

Like the rook, we move primarily in two directions. We are committed to greater training and development of coaches and consultants that work with higher ed. And we are committed strengthening the shared governance model of higher ed by empowering faculty, staff, and graduate students to be more organizationally savvy – to be the fish who are able to see the water.

In chess, the rook is also associated with “castling,” the only move in which two pieces change location at the same time. We believe that coaches and consultants need to be smarter about higher ed and higher ed needs to be smarter about making use of coaches and consultants. We must move both pieces at the same time if we are to speed up change – and possibly protect the sector from checkmate.

In the bird world, the rook is related to ravens and crows. We value this teacher for its ability to use and understand puzzles and its association with prophecy and mystery. A gathering of rooks is known as a parliament: a formal conference for the discussion of public affairs.

Who is Firerook?

There are five of us who define the core of Firerook: Diana Kardia, Karen Williams, Carrie Spell-Hansson, Catherine Lilly, and Diana Wong. Together we represent two Ph.D.’s and three Ph.D.’s in progress; scholarly training in higher ed, business, organizational development, women’s studies, leadership studies, statistics, IT, and mathematics; administrative experience in research intensives, state universities, and liberal arts colleges; expertise in diversity/equity/inclusion, shared governance systems, peer evaluation, succession planning, and organizational change; and a collective total of more than 150 years working within higher ed settings.

What else is there to know about us?

Firerook is only one node in a larger movement. Together and separately, we’ve been thinking and talking about these things for a long time. In 2017, we started working with others in a concerted effort to build a network, focus efforts, and start conversations. We’ve put several ideas in motion since then and we continue to work with a larger community to figure out how to support and develop the people and institutions that make higher ed possible. We’re glad to be one of the leading voices in this community.