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Drawing on ethnographic data collected over a 9-year period, from 1998 through 2006, we examine the foundations of community among a non-geographic, mobile, identity-based community of touring motorcyclists. Although traditionally oriented geographic communities continue to exist, the literature shows a growing trend toward non-geographic, identity-based communities, whose cohesiveness is based on collective identity, in-group/out-group boundaries, shared values, and symbols. Our focus on a mobile identity-based community contributes to this literature by examining a collectivity that is not only non-geographically situated, but is also based on a strong value placed on travel. Within the touring BMW motorcycling community, we found a strong collective identity that was founded on the shared values of adventure touring; long-distance, all weather endurance riding; proficient, and highly skilled riding; and safety. Our findings contribute to the literature on identity-based communities by demonstrating the salience of ritualized interaction that rewards those who conform to (or excel at) group values and reinforces the sense of collective identity that exists among this dispersed, mobile community. Additionally, our research demonstrates that a recreational subculture can provide some of the traditional benefits of community without many of the demands present in the more comprehensive forms of community.

As a team of eight scholars at the University of Texas, we collaborate to research issues that directly focus on the development, training, and experiences of anti-racist and social justice leaders in urban secondary schools. Each of us considered a personal event, or series of events, that significantly influenced our thinking about social justice. We share experiences of personal and institutional racism, and reflect on how these experiences continue to shape our awareness of race. Our perspectives capture how issues of race and racial discrimination persist in a status quo educational system and how past experiences directly influence our work.

As entrepreneurship education has seen substantial growth over the last ten years, so has the debate over the right mix of academic theory and practical insights that best equips entrepreneurial minded business students to realize their entrepreneurial goals and to impact economies. The University of Texas at Austin’s acclaimed Moot Corp Program has not only laid the groundwork for effective, powerful entrepreneurship education, it has created a model that integrates the most value added contributions from the academic and business worlds. The Moot Corp Competition, has been a pioneer as a showcase for new ventures developed at universities across the world.

Despite the breadth of knowledge on self and identity formation across the study of organizations, the field of organizational development and change has limited research on the construction of professional identity. Much has been written to describe the “self-concepts” of those practicing and researching in the field, but there have been no investigations that have explored how these “self-concepts” form. In addition, although women have contributed to defining the “self” in the field, men have held the dominant perspective on the subject. Thus, in this chapter, we address a disparity in the research by exploring the construction of professional identity in the field of organizational development and change, and we give voice to the renowned women who helped to build the field. Using the profiles of 17 American women included in The Palgrave Handbook of Organizational Change Thinkers, we perform a narrative analysis based upon the concepts and models prevalent in the literature on identity formation. By disentangling professional identity formation of the notable women in the field, we can begin to see the nuance and particularities involved in its construction and gain deeper understandings about effective ways to prepare individuals to work in and advance the field.

Despite many neurodiverse individuals possessing skills that are desperately needed, few organizations have redesigned their attraction, development and retention practices to capture them. In this chapter, we alert organizations that embracing neurodiversity bodes well for expanding the diversity of the talent pool, thereby mitigating talent risks. We proceed to analyse and explain how neurodiversity can be positioned within the talent management literature and identify opportunities for integrating neurodiversity and talent management research. We begin by exploring the concept of neurodiversity and in particular neurodiversity in the workplace. We then use this foundation to establish how neurodiversity can be engaged within the talent management literature. Finally, we outline a plethora of future research questions and avenues to further explore neurodiversity in the context of talent management.