ABSTRACT
Nearly forty years ago, as a young man, the author embarked on the journey to become a sociologist as a graduate student at Northwestern University. Howie Becker, the guru of qualitative sociological research in the department, and around much of the country, was on leave the fall quarter he entered. We need to identify and work with and within academic institutions and professional associations such as this one, The International Congress on Qualitative Inquiry, which are receptive to further transformation, which get it when it comes to understanding our need to change if we are going to remain or become relevant to outside world as well as on our own campuses. Susan Rice, President Barack Obama's UN ambassador, was a first-hand witness in American and international foreign public policy circles as a lower-ranked State Department official in 1994 when the US government and other Western powers refused to intervene in Rwanda in timely fashion.
