Dear Reader,
“We can’t dump all this service on junior faculty. You have to do you part.”
Without context, this message from a senior administrator in higher education to a mid-career faculty member could be perceived in multiple ways.
It’s certainly true that pre-tenure faculty must be given time to focus on work that will help them get tenure. We can’t have them doing a ton of service early on if we want them to stay.
But what if the unspoken message here was actually this:
“We, the folks who make budgeting and hiring decisions, haven’t hired enough employees in years and don’t provide the faculty and staff we do have with the resources they need to do the work we want them to accomplish, in the ways we require they do. So now I’m going to emotionally manipulate you into thinking it’s your responsibility to solve this problem by overworking.”
😱
A conversation with a professor reminded me just how pernicious academic culture can be.
Add in how women are socialized to be people pleasers and problem solvers; sprinkle in North American overwork culture more generally. (Check out this article on a recent Danish study if you want to confirm what we all already know and get extra mad about a system that enables this to continue: “Women end up doing the academic housework.”)
And you’ve got a prize-winning recipe for burnout!
😠
If 2024 is the year you remove yourself from higher ed because you are done trying to make a difference in a system that doesn’t support you, I’m glad you’re reading this email!
For over a decade now I’ve helped professors, postdocs, and other long-time academics like you assess their values and priorities and then land jobs more in alignment with who they are and what they want.
In other words, I support successful academics who are ready to spit out the academic culture Kool-Aid and free themselves from bullshit expectations no valued employee should ever be made to put up with.
There are three main ways you can get my help:
- Watch my free webinar for overworked, underappreciated professors, postdocs, and other PhDs who are ready to leave academia. That’s available to you anytime.
- Schedule a paid 1:1 consultation with me. These are great for strategizing your next steps, getting my quick advice and suggested resources, and making sure that what you’re planning aligns with what you want to have and achieve.
- Join the PhD Career Clarity Program, an online 6-month program with small group coaching to help you figure out your ideal next role and apply & interview for awesome opportunities.
What’s Happening
- Regular 90-minute weekly co-working continues on Wednesdays. Sign up here (it’s free): Co-Working Sessions.
- Program members have access to all previously recorded workshops. A new live one is happening 26 April at 12pm EDT: “ChatGPT, Your Job Search Assistant: The What, How, and Why (and When Not) of Using Generative AI Tools.”
- I host 60-minute co-working sessions most mornings on Flow Club. Use my signup link to get a free two-week trial: Join Flow Club.
Related Posts
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I’d love to know what you’re planning on focusing on over the next few months. Email me back and tell me 😁 (It’s always good to have a better sense of who I’m emailing every week.)
Happy spring! Thanks for reading.
Jen
Jennifer Polk, PhD
Free Webinar For professors, postdocs, and other overworked, underappreciated PhDs ready to change careers
