About Me

About Steve Ehrlich

Classes | Workshops | Presentations | Consultations

I am a lifelong educator—teacher, counselor, advisor, and dean with more than 30 years of experience in continuing higher education and professional development, including a range of leadership and program management roles. As associate dean at University College, the continuing education division of Washington University in St. Louis, I designed and managed undergraduate and graduate programs for adult learners. In addition to my administrative responsibilities at the University, I taught courses and led presentations on adult learning and development, career-life planning, and critical thinking. As a member of the learning and development team in Human Resources, I guided training and professional development for all University employees. I retired from Washington University in 2020, excited about my next act—teaching lessons from the stream.

“The boy I once was is far wiser than the man I’ve allowed myself to become. It’s time to go backward until I find the original me, back at the headwaters of being alive.”

Steve Ramirez, Casting Forward: Fishing Tales from the Texas Hill Country

I am also a lifelong fly fisher who thinks about and teaches the reflective value of fly fishing—the questions and lessons from the stream that guide personal and professional challenges and changes we all face, and lead us to examined, purposeful lives. My home waters are the rivers and streams of the Missouri Ozarks, but I have been fortunate to also fish legendary waters nationwide.

There is a deep pool of fly fishing literature—novels, short stories, memoirs, essays—that illuminate the sport’s reflective value. This is at the core of Home Waters Guiding. I employ these inspirational works, along with resources and perspectives from psychology, learning, adult development, and organizational studies, to help strengthen self-understanding, sharpen skills, and build courage.

My teaching and instructional services adapt to different audiences, goals, and instructional formats including presentations, workshops, and short classes.