Jerry L. Patterson is a professor of leadership studies at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. In his more than 30 years of experience as an educator, he has served as a superintendent, assistant superintendent, elementary school principal, and high school teacher. Patterson has authored seven nationally recognized books, including two published by ASCD, Productive School Systems for a Nonrational World (1986) and Leadership for Tomorrow's Schools (1993). He has also published more than two dozen articles in professional journals.