Peterson Book

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May 8, 2007
For immediate release

Adjunct professor in the Gevirtz School’s Joint Doctoral Program in Educational Leadership George J. Petersen recently co-authored a book entitled Effective Communication for School Administrators: A Necessity in an Information Age (Rowan & Littlefield Publishers, 2007). The book blends research, theory, and practice to examine the critical nature and effectiveness of administrators in terms of their communicative behavior.

In the two-part book, George Petersen, along with co-authors Theodore Kowalski and Lance Fusarelli, explore relationships among communication, public relations, and school reform. The book also deals with effective communicative behavior in relation to learning organization, democratic leadership, organizational networks, conflict, positive relationships, and site-based management. Reforming schools within an information-based society has made communication an even greater skill and responsibility for district and school administrators. Though communication is an essential area of practice, the discipline has received little attention in the study of school administration, which makes Effective Communication for School Administrators a truly unique text for the education profession.

“No doubt communication has always been essential to educational leaders. But the unique combination of factors in which contemporary leaders find themselves, an information age, a reform and accountability arena, and learning communities, makes developing communication skills more critical than ever,” claims Gary M. Crow, Chair of the Department of Educational Leadership and Policy at Florida State University. “Kowalski, Petersen, and Fusarelli have created a research-based and practical text that acknowledges these unique contexts and provides an excellent resource for superintendents, principals, and other school leaders for integrating effective communication in their work.”
George J. Petersen earned his Ph.D. in Educational Policy, Organizations and Leadership Studies from UC Santa Barbara. He is currently the Professor and Chair of the Department of Graduate Studies in the College of Education at California Polytechnic State University San Luis Obispo. His previous publications focus primarily on the executive leadership of superintendents, school boards, and leadership preparation.

[George Petersen is available for interviews; contact George Yatchisin at 805 893 5789]
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