Lisa M Baumgartner
Scholar and author Lisa M. Baumgartner’s major contributions to the literature on adult learning and on development in marginalized populations have made a lasting mark on adult education programs worldwide. Her four books and more than two hundred publications and presentations illuminate how sociocultural factors affect adult identities.
Baumgartner’s coedited text Learning in Adulthood: A Comprehensive Guide (3rd and 4th eds.) is a staple of adult education programs across the United States and is used extensively internationally, with the third edition translated into Korean. In the third and fourth editions of this work, Baumgartner made significant changes to the longstanding classic by including research and scholarship by marginalized groups. Cited more than fifteen thousand times and referred to as the “adult learning bible” by adult education professors in the United States, Learning in Adulthood covers topics ranging from adult learning in contemporary society to learning and technology. New approaches to adult learning, such as Eastern and Indigenous, as well as Critical Theory and postmodern and feminist perspectives, are also discussed.
The inclusion of the voices of marginalized peoples in Baumgartner’s publications is key in her contributions to the literature. Her coedited text Adult Learning and Development: Multicultural Stories, first published in 2000, stands as the definitive, seminal book that examines the diversity of the adult learning experience, exploring issues related to identity, work, intimacy, the family life cycle, physical development, health and aging, and learning. In addition, Baumgartner’s widely cited coedited monograph Adult Learning Theory: A Primer critically examines adult learning theory.
Baumgartner’s publications help scholars to understand how sociocultural factors such as race, class, gender, and geographic location affect adult identities. Her work highlights scholarship from and about traditionally marginalized populations: adult development models concerning race and sexual orientation, learning and identity development in people living with HIV or AIDS, women in gender-responsive programs in jail, older adults, individuals with disabilities, and historical Black women in the civil rights movement. Her focus on transformative learning has helped scholars and practitioners understand the development of Mezirow’s transformative learning theory over time.
As a Cyril O. Houle Scholar, Baumgartner conducted extensive archival research to unearth the contributions of civil rights activist Septima P. Clark. She introduced this voting rights activist and creator of the Freedom School and Highlander educator to new generations of adult educators. Baumgartner has also influenced adult education through her service. She coedited Adult Education Quarterly from 2010 to 2014, served on the Adult Education Research Conference Steering Committee, was a member-at-large for the Commission of Professors of Adult Education, and served on five editorial boards of peer-reviewed journals.
Baumgartner has served as program coordinator for the Adult and Higher Education program at Northern Illinois University, and the Adult Education specialization within the Education Human Resource Development program at Texas A&M. In addition, she has served as the PhD program director in the Adult, Professional, and Community Education program at Texas State University. Her scholarly excellence is further demonstrated in the success of her award-winning students, who were recipients of the Adult Education Research Conference Graduate Research Award in 2017 and the Rising Graduate Student Award at the Academy of Human Resource Development Conference in 2024.