The question of whether academic development and higher education research can be considered fields is one of ongoing significance, centred on debates about knowledge-building. This study analyses the published outputs of a highly influential South African scholar, Suellen Shay, to identify the characteristic modes of knowledge generation that she used. The analysis of a dataset of nine key articles shows how Shay's work arose from daily concerns in her work in academic development at the University of Cape Town, but was always located in the context of international debates, and intentionally recruited theoretical tools for defining and addressing research questions. Shay traversed departmental, institutional and national contexts with ease, and a narrative overview of these articles shows an intentional and forward-moving direction in her focus. Finally, we show how this analysis of her work maps onto changing modes in academic development over the first two decades of the twenty-first century.