Patricia H. Hinchey

Hello, and thanks for your interest! I'm not sure (since many of my book group friends love feeling like Louise Penny is their best friend) whether you're looking for my professional biography or my family profile. So, here's a bit of both. Know that I welcome comments on my publications from students and colleagues both, and my professional email is readily available from the Penn State website (which may be easier than remembering phhinchey@psu.edu).

I began professional life (to my father's chagrin) as a high school English teacher. (Dad was sure I'd never get a job, and when I broke the news of my major to him, he asked me to join the army instead). The students I saw in high school classes hated reading...and I was distraught to learn when I started teaching college English courses as an adjunct that my college students also hated reading, and writing as well. Pushed by a mentor, who enlisted the help of my husband to shove me in the direction of a doctorate, I ended up doing an Ed.D. in English education at Teachers College (Columbia U), but since along the way I studied with Maxine Greene and Jonas Soltis how could I NOT have developed a serious interest in philosophy?

During my time at TC I ended up teaching and mentoring in a master's program that prepared high school English teachers, so it was inevitable that I'd become interested in teacher preparation as well as English methods. I was convinced that to stop producing high school graduates who hated reading and writing, we needed to take a hard look at how English teachers were being prepared. And so I became that academic that institutions of higher education generally scorn: someone with multiple scholarly interests. My teaching and publications both explored various issues of theory and practice, generally clarifying connections between them. And, I've published several pieces simply because I was so darned mad. In fact, the first professional piece I published was an editorial taking a scalpel and a good bit of sarcastic rhetoric to a workshop I once attended, where the "assessment expert"/presenter insisted that having students write advice to a fictional character on how to avoid hypothermia constituted "authentic assessment" (although the character had already died in the story they already read, and even though they would not read a nonfiction piece on hypothermia until after they finished writing their advice). "Authentic" assessment? I begged to differ. NCTE agreed with me and sent copies of the piece to all their members, and my writing career was launched.

Over time, I’ve taught all kinds of courses and workshops, including writing workshops as well as professional development workshops on such topics as critical pedagogy and action research, and for a time I even served as head of a faculty development unit at Penn State. I’ve also written all kinds of things, as you can see just from the books listed on this page. (The Graduate Grind, by the way, was written out of anger about things that happen to unsuspecting graduate students, though my own time at Teachers College was wonderful.) The thread that seems to bind my work together is my deepest conviction that if teachers are atheoretical, their practice will be muddled and likely to unconsciously support goals they would be horrified to support if they were actually aware of them. (Hence my latest book with Pam Konkol.)

I think that during my 25 years at Penn State, the things I am most proud of are helping the University Faculty Senate pass legislation on integrated general education courses and on advancing formal respect for fixed term colleagues. At the regional campus level (where I spent most of those 25 years), I am most proud of being asked to carry the mace at the Commencement ceremony that closed out my professorial career there. Maybe you noticed the picture. And, a professional affiliation that gives me enormous gratification still is as a Fellow of the National Education Policy Center at the University of Colorado at Boulder. If you don't know the great work this research group does in support of public education that serves ALL of America's children, do visit: nepc.colorado.edu

Even more important to me is my family. I live (really) on a dirt road in northeastern Pennsylvania, on a corner of what was the family farm; my next door neighbor is my nephew and his family, and in the house next to him is mom and dad (my brother). The deer nearly constantly in my yard are just part of the scenery, and luckily I've only seen the bear we know hangs out in our orchard once. You get the picture. I have been incredibly blessed to have a husband who’s been my best friend and supporter for 40+ years, and together we raised two spectacular children, who selected equally spectacular spouses and who have further blessed us with three gorgeous and incredibly smart grandchildren. The fourth is due in spring of 2018 and will no doubt be equally superb. My dog, a rescue who may or may not be full shih tzu, is my pal and fights my computer for my lap all day long.

And there you have it. If it’s not what you wanted to know, drop by my email. Now that I’m newly retired, my inbox is looking somewhat anemic. Thanks again for stopping by.