In Greek the word kairos refers to time in a particular way, not as linear,
chronological time used to segment and delineate time into inevitably succeeding moments, but as an opportune moment of manifestation, the right time, a temporal geography such as when the rising of the sun over the Great Smoky Mountains is seen not primarily as an empirical fact, but is interpreted as the embodiment of an arising awareness, a new birth.

MountainRise originated with the idea that an such an opportune time had
arrived for a new renaissance of teaching & learning at Western Carolina
University. Just as the mountains themselves had emerged where a great ocean had once been, the scholarship of teaching & learning has the potential to bring re-newed attitudes and new altitudes and depth to the whole learning experience in higher education. That mission has now expanded beyond Western Carolina and MoutainRise is now an open international ejournal.

The goals of the journal are simple and lofty:

• Present the scholarship of teaching & learning as valid and valuable scholarship as discipline specific scholarship
• Provide a forum for scholarly research, reflection and writing on teaching & learnining
• Encourage engagement in the scholarship of teaching & learning
• Stimulate dialogue about the nature, meaning, methods and goals of teaching and learning
• Participate in a new renaissance of teaching & learning in higher education
• Be the main international SoTL journal