How I Became an Encyclopedia Editor-and Other Tales of a Wayward Scholar

Hornberger details how she came to edit the Encyclopedia of Language and Education. Marie Sheldon, senior editor with Kluwer (later Springer), first approached her in early 2002 to explore the possibility of her serving as general editor for a second edition of David Corson's (1997) highly successful Encyclopedia of Language and Education, for which he had co-edited the volume on Research Methods. She was hesitant, for reasons of both her available time and her deference to Corson's impressive work, especially in the wake of his untimely passing in 2001. Sheldon was patient, gently insistent, and ultimately persuasive over the ensuing two years in convincing her that she was the person for the job, the publisher's and other volume editors' first choice, and that Sheldon and the publisher would work with her to facilitate the work in every way possible.