The Professor Network is a national community of higher education professionals dedicated to advancing academic excellence in cannabis and hemp education — developing the interdisciplinary, consensus-based curriculum standards the field has been missing.
Cannabis education is growing rapidly across colleges and universities, yet the field lacks the academic standards expected in nearly every other discipline. As new programs emerge, institutions often develop curricula independently, creating inconsistencies in educational quality, student outcomes, and workforce preparation.
The Professor Network was established to address this challenge before fragmentation becomes the norm. The network serves as a collaborative forum where educators from across disciplines work together to identify essential knowledge, competencies, and learning outcomes for cannabis and hemp education.
We connect medical faculty with business professors, chemists with communicators, agricultural scientists with public health experts — enabling a more comprehensive understanding of the industry and stronger educational standards.
The Professor Network fills a critical gap by providing a mechanism for program review, gap analysis, and curriculum standardization. Members identify emerging workforce needs, evaluate educational content, and help institutions build academically rigorous programs.
By fostering evidence-based dialogue and scholarly collaboration, the Professor Network bridges higher education, industry stakeholders, healthcare professionals, policymakers, and the public — grounded in academic integrity throughout.
"The Professor Network brings together educators across disciplines to develop consensus-based curriculum standards that strengthen cannabis and hemp education, improve workforce readiness, and advance academic excellence nationwide."
The Professor Network is organized around three academic pillars, each encompassing distinct focus areas. A dedicated Standards Development pillar coordinates curriculum benchmarking across all three, serving as the integrating spine of the network.
The Standards Development pillar drives a consensus-based process to develop curriculum standards for each focus area and its respective subtopics. It functions as the integrating spine of the Professor Network, drawing expertise from all three pillars to establish shared benchmarks for cannabis and hemp education.
The Professor Network operates on a flexible participation model that allows professors to engage at varying levels of commitment — from open participation to active standards leadership. No formal membership required to begin.
Open to all higher education professionals — no formal membership required
Highly active leadership role — requires Standards Development as primary pillar
Membership will be introduced in three sequential phases to ensure strong foundational governance before opening to the broader higher education community.
Onboard a foundational cohort of cannabis professors whose expertise serves as initial network dues. Focus: establishing governance bylaws, populating the resource library, and setting initial consensus benchmarks.
● Currently ActiveFounding Fellows transition into permanent Lifetime Fellows with reduced ongoing membership fees, retaining all founding benefits and governance rights within the network.
○ UpcomingOpen general network membership to all higher education instructors working in cannabis and hemp-related fields. Full access to all pillar collaboration tools and resources.
○ UpcomingIf you are a higher education professional working in cannabis or hemp-related fields and interested in shaping the foundational governance of the Professor Network, we invite you to reach out directly. Founding Fellows contribute expertise in lieu of standard membership dues during Phase I.
The Professor Network holds an annual convening open to all participating professors, regardless of membership status. It serves as the primary forum for collective knowledge-sharing and network governance.
The convening is where the network sets direction — presentations from member institutions drive the agenda for the upcoming standards development cycle, ensuring the process remains grounded in real program experience.
Open to all participating professors · Held annually
Presentations on developments, issues, and institutional success stories from participant institutions across all three pillars.
Informed by presented materials, the network collectively sets priorities for the upcoming curriculum standards development cycle.
Presentation and discussion of proposed or revised curriculum standards across focus areas — voting rights apply by pillar.
Where applicable, members elect Standards Liaison representatives for each focus area to lead the upcoming review cycle.
The Professor Network is actively building its foundational cohort of Founding Fellows. If you teach, research, or develop curriculum in cannabis or hemp-related fields, your expertise is exactly what the network needs.
