Climate Change for Beginners

Thom Shipley comes to professional writing after several careers in which his technical and informative writing skills were honed. His credentials as an educator have been gathered from firsthand experience and education at the University of Maryland, Loyola University, Nova University, and many graduate programs and advanced studies. Thom's first professional career as an educator started in Anne Arundel County, Maryland, and ranged from being the first elementary instrumental music instructor on an eleven-school circuit to the high school band director and head of a well-respected music department at his alma mater, Glen Burnie High School. Thom was called to be vice principal of the prestigious Severna Park High School; from there, he was promoted to become the first Coordinator of Educational Information Systems for the Anne Arundel County School System. After several years in Annapolis, his groundbreaking work in the application of information technology to curriculum and administrative processes was recognized by his being selected to be the first chief information officer for the Maryland State Department of Education. At the time of his retirement after thirty-one years of service, he was acting as an assistant superintendent of schools for business and finance for the Maryland State Department of Education. Three days after retiring from the State Department of Education, Thom was recruited to start his second career by accepting a position on Capitol Hill as the executive director of the National Association of Federally Impacted Schools, a new association of public schools dealing with federal funding for American Indian and military-dependent students. While there, he also became a consultant to the House and Senate subcommittees on education. After growing that organization from thirty districts to over six hundred districts and from $400 million to $1.4 billion, he retired in 1988 to become a serial entrepreneur. Later, Thom went to work for Kaiser Permanente. For the next twelve years, he was the care delivery liaison between the medical and administrative staffs at thirty-two medical facilities and the organization's information technology department. He retired from Kaiser Permanente in 2012 to try his hand at writing. He also counsels budding entrepreneurs at the University of Baltimore's School of Business and was recently recognized as mentor of the year by the Small Business Administration's SCORE organization. Thom and his partner, Chris, have completed the restoration and decoration of a three-story Victorian row home in the cultural center of Baltimore's midtown district. They are active with the city's orchestra, live-performances theaters, a college lecture series, a chorus, and travel.