Obama for Working Women and Families

Just in case you missed Michelle Obama's interview where she discusses her commitment to working women and families, check out the article in the Wall Street Journal. Here is a preview:

I've heard from mothers struggling to make ends meet because their salaries aren't keeping up with the cost of groceries," Michelle Obama said. "But if they take a second job, they can't afford the additional cost of childcare. Or the moms who are nervous about taking time from their jobs to care for a sick child. Or the moms-to-be who are scared of getting fired if the boss finds out they're pregnant. Then there are women who work hard every day doing the same jobs as men, but earning less... These struggles--the struggles of working women and families across America--aren't new to me or to any of us.

Also, the Obama Biden campaign has released a Blueprint for America's Working Women and Families. Finally some attention to work/family balance. Take note of the expansion of FMLA.

Theme Week Take 2

Here is another response from a colleague who is currently pregnant with her first child while on the tenure-track.

First, I should say if you value your career that I think having a strong, early tenure review is critical to being successful at any institution (either your current or future employer). This means doing quality teaching, research and service. People who have a child, for better or worse, right after they finish their dissertations often never get their research program started quickly enough. They also often aren't able to make the time commitment necessary (for teaching, research and service) to have a stellar first and second year review. So, they often do not get tenure at the first institution that employs them. So, I don't think the issue is whether you are on the tenure-track or not, but rather whether you have adequately developed your line of fertile research such that you can afford to have a relatively more 'fallow' period. I also think that people who have great first and second years, often do not have such a 'fallow' period or are able to avoid going 'off track.' There is also data out there that suggests that people who have a kid within 5 years of their PhD are significantly less likely to earn tenure (at year 6 or 7 I assume) than those who do not. I think this difference roughly is really about whether or not people get their research programs kicked up early and teaching ducks in a row, such that the publication process (critical to tenure at even non-R1s these days) does not stop during and after pregnancy.

Most importantly, I think it is very very important for female assistant profs. and graduate students to have a sense of reality when it comes to our work environments. We know to assume that there are no sick days and substitute teachers for most of us on 9 month contracts; we also need to be mindful of the reality is that when you are sick, disabled, or pregnant there is work that will offload onto others and universities are byzantine structures that will not give departments adequate extra resources to help with such moments. It may be crass, but I think it is truthful to say that your colleagues will be much more likely to smile and offer to help out if you were a valued colleague before the sickness, disability, or pregnancy occurred. And, while it may not matter to you (when you are pregnant you have more to worry about than whether or not your colleague cares about taking your class for a day after you give birth... ), it is a disruption in the workplace (whether you are just not around as much, or there is an adjunct or other faculty member covering your class, or whatever). Most people can understand when an employee has a difficult time that is short-lasting and are eager to cheer when a colleague succeeds after overcoming 'obstacles' that they may or may not have personally experienced. They are also supportive when they are happy to have them as a colleague and know an individual is 'committed' to the institution. However, couple a bad semester with a few less-than mediocre reviews and it is reasonable for your colleagues to wonder whether the department would benefit more from having someone who is more 'zealous' in their pursuit of succeeding at work (and helping to take care of the dept. business at hand).

My personal attitude is that pregnancy is 9 months, and its OK to have a 'bad' or 'less fertile' semester during the probationary period... many people do, whether for childbirth or other reasons (e.g., death in the family, divorce, etc.). One semester is not going to derail someone who was already on a productive track toward tenure. The problem is that some people do have more than one semester like this (e.g., kids get sick, people get pregnant again, another crisis happens), and some people just never get going... so "waiting" until after tenure to have a kid is one way of controlling a variable that can affect some people's ability to make progress toward tenure. For other people, who work hard early, get excellent reviews and seem to thrive under pressure... having a kid on the tenure track is probably not going to affect things one way or another. I think these people in the latter category can succeed in any environment.

One final thing... I think that all university policies on maternity should be ignored when making this decision. You can be at a school that offers a paid leave to pregnant faculty only to hear other faculty bitching in the hallway for having to "cover someone's course or advising" when they are being paid an overload. These faculty do not make happy members of review committees. Other schools might not have such a policy, but will have colleagues pitch in who are generally supportive and with FMLA you can make things work. How an "automatic tenure year" extension works varies from committee to committee and school to school. Put simply, you do not want to put your eggs in any policy basket to 'help' you. It is up to you to make your case for tenure sound, exceed minimum expectations and to get good reviews so that if the unexpected happens... you can find another job... and be happy about your decision to have a child, regardless, as whether or not you earn tenure can be dependent on too many issues beyond your control!

Theme Week: Should I Have a Child on the Tenure-Track

As I mentioned previously, I am hosting a few theme weeks and this week I asked a few colleagues to answer the question, "Should I have a child on the tenure-track?" I was purposefully vague in hopes that we would get some diverse responses that would characterize the myriad of reasons why academics make this important decision while also pursuing tenure. Here is the first post from a colleague who has several children -- one who should be born any day now!

Jaime asked me to respond to a question of relevance to readers of this blog…Should you have a child while on the tenure track? I’m the mother of three children. My first two were born while I was in graduate school. My last child was born halfway through my tenure-track employment. I struggled with how best to answer the question, to be quite honest. But the answer, ultimately, is an easy one for me. I am not willing to postpone my personal desires to order to fulfill my professional ones. It is not my choice to have children that is flawed, but rather the profession in which I have chosen to have a career.

A few of the thoughts I had before arriving at this statement:

1. I refuse to look at the issue of having children as an either-or. It is common knowledge that female faculty enter “childbearing years” that coincide with tenure-earning ones. I do not have any expectation that the academy will change to accommodate me; therefore, I’m not waiting for it to do so.
2. Female academics are not the only professional women challenged by the need to balance career and family. I try very hard to concentrate on the positives that this job offers me in terms of flexibility. I work hard at what I do, and I also work hard to accommodate the need for service to the department, institution, etc. I network with senior faculty and am on campus on a regular basis. But my research and writing time is accomplished on my own schedule.
3. I have a very supportive partner. Even though he is not an academic, he also works in a demanding (but flexible) career. There are moments when I would rather be writing, but he needs the time as well. It is a give-and-take, and is the only way I can see making it all work.
4. While I have never hidden the fact that I’m a parent, and adore my children, I also don’t bring them to work with me. Of course, there are exceptions to this rule. But ever since graduate school, I have tried to separate my home life from my professional life. We go to campus (usually on the weekends) to ride bikes or visit the library, but not while Mommy is “at work.”
5. Having children, for me, has meant my productivity is not the same as others. I have colleagues without children who seem to be publishing and grant-writing gurus. (In the spirit of honesty, there are also those colleagues with children who are also gurus.) I set realistic goals for myself, force myself to meet them, and have worked to ensure that those goals are in alignment with institutional expectations.
6. Young children are demanding in a way that older children are not. My oldest is much more independent, which in turn allows me more “work time.” I try to treasure the time demanded by young children…because you blink and they are in elementary school.
7. I don’t care what other people think about my choice to be a parent. This is my life, not theirs. I have to work on this one quite often, to be honest. It hurt when my graduate school advisor had nasty things to say about my choice to have child #2. But at the end of the day, I fully subscribe to the “you only go around once” philosophy. Your kids are only young once. The chance to be a parent and build the kind of life I want is something I refuse to set aside to fulfill the expectations of others.

Ways I Know My Department is Family-Friendly

Since I am starting at a new institution, I have obsessed about the family-friendly culture. Does the institution value balance? Are there many faculty who have children? How will my colleagues who ultimately vote on my tenure perceive of my status as a parent? Here is my evidence that the my department is family-friendly:

• The department chair's response when I announced via email that I could not meet him at the annual association conference because I had just given birth was full of congratulatory remarks and he said, "Tell me everything. I love babies!"
  
• I brought my daughter into the office last week because the tech guy was available to set-up my computer and I did not have childcare. All my colleagues were thrilled to meet her and some of them came from other parts of the building to hold her.
• My female colleague without children immediately understood why I did not announce my pregnancy when I interviewed for the job (I was five months pregnant and small enough to hide the belly). She said, "You want to be know for your work and not just your pregnancy." She seems to understand the issues around academic parenthood.

I do have some concerns about the university culture when it comes to family-friendliness. The FMLA policy only guarantees the federal mandated minimum of 12 week unpaid vacation and the Working Mom's Group, a campus-wide group that organizes luncheons, only consists of staff who have children. Where are all the faculty with children? Overall, I am feeling very positive about my choice to accept the position at my new university and I hope that I will find the university to be as supportive as my new local department.

Resource for State Breastfeeding Laws

For those of you who have been keeping up with Phdinparenting's posts on breastfeeding, take a look at the website that lists all the state breastfeeding laws.

There seems to be problems with the site despite the fact that I have tried to fix it twice now. So, go to:

http://www.ncsl.org/programs/health/breast50.htm

Evidence of Women Academics Delaying Childbirth

The University of Washington Center for Innovation and Research in Graduate Education released a report today titled, Final Equal Footing for Women in the Social Science Careers? outlining the findings of a survey of women in the social sciences -- anthropology, communication, geography, history, political science and sociology. Women are on par with men in terms of likelihood to enter the professoriate right out of graduate school. However, 6 to 10 years out of graduate school men are more likely to be in a tenure-track job.

From my perspective, the reason for this disparity is clear -- women leave the professoriate to start a family. There are many studies that point to the difficulties that women face in attempting to balance work and family in academe (not to mention some of the stories that are shared on this blog). What does it take for women to succeed in the professoriate and also have a family?

For a brief article on this report, go to Insidehighered.

The Birth Survey

Deciding on a OB and a hospital to deliver your child can be a confusing and stressful situation, particularly if you are in a large urban area with countless numbers of doctors and many different hospitals. A grassroots group, the Transparency in Maternity Care Project, started by the Coalition for Improving Maternity Services (CIMS) has sponsored a survey to provide women with a venue to give feedback about their birth experiences with specific doctors, midwives, hospitals and birth centers. The reports will be available in the Fall of 2008.

Go ahead and take the survey!

Paying for College

Insidehighered reported on a study that examined how families pay for college. As a parent, I often wonder how I will pay for my kid to sit in the very classes that I teach. The good news is that parents often find a variety of financial sources:

On average, the money to pay for the typical student’s college costs came from the following sources: parents’ income and savings (32 percent), student borrowing (23 percent), parent borrowing (16 percent), grants and scholarships (15 percent) student income and savings (10 percent), and support from friends and relatives (3 percent).

The bad news is that families need to borrow money to pay for college:

Just under half (47 percent) of all families reported borrowing to pay for college. Student borrowing from the federal loan programs was the top source of loan funds, with 28 percent of all families borrowing an average of $5,075 in federal student loans. Only 8 percent of students and 4 percent of parents said they held private education loans, but the amounts were significant: an average of $7,694 for students and $6,910 for parents. About 6 percent of parents utilized federal loans for parents.

How to market yourself

First off, I hate to think of my work or myself as something that I need to market. It makes me feel like a commodity and not a scholar. Yet, I have learned in my few years in academe that marketing does help in the quest for tenure. Marketing may also help if you are asking for any "special" accommodation, particularly when it comes to taking a leave from your normal teaching, research, and service responsibilities.

There are the obvious ways to market your work: speak loudly in department meetings about your latest accomplishment; strategically leave your latest publication in the department office and in the mailboxes of important colleagues; and, tell everyone who will listen how busy you are with your latest grant project/book/article. Although this is one way of getting the word out about your productivity, I go for the more strategic and targeted approach that I find less annoying.

Here are a few ways to market yourself so that your colleagues and campus administrators understand that your leave and subsequent temporary drop in productivity (If you are being honest with yourself, your productivity will decrease right after having a child) does not reflect your overall success as an academic.

1. Identify the important players. Before strategizing ways to market your academic work, you want to identify those colleagues and administrators locally and nationally who will be influential in your tenure review. These are the very people whom you will send publications to and communicate with about your work.
2. Don't be shy. In order to market your work, you must be willing to be bold. The first time that one of my mentors suggested that I send a recent publication to a few people, I felt shy and insecure. What if they thought I was being presumptuous about their interest? Would I look egotistical or self-important? The truth is that many academics and administrators will not just accidentally come across your work. You need to make it a point to be upfront about you accomplishments.
3. Strategically send articles/books. Implied in point two, you will use your new boldness to send out your work to those important colleagues. Normally, a publisher sends additional free copies of your books once they are published. Don't let those just sit on a shelf. Write a list of people whom you referenced frequently, colleagues who will review your tenure portfolio, and other people who may be interested and send out that publication with a short note.
4. Allow others to brag about your accomplishments. With a little bit of networking and some strategic use of those extra book copies, you may find that a few people start to brag about your accomplishments. Let them do so! Also, brag about your colleagues who are doing good work.
5. Update your CV online. Many college and university websites are terribly out of date and your CV is available to the Internet searching public without all your latest accomplishments. Network with the tech people and ask to have your most recent CV posted every few months. As tenure-track faculty, our CVs get more and more impressive.
6. Use department and college publications. At some point, you will get an email from a campus employee asking for a list of your latest publications, research grants, presentations etc. to place in a department newsletter or college publication. Take the advice of the second point and send them a detailed list. Check the publication after it is printed to make sure that your work is cited. One note of caution, be careful not to overwhelm those publications, meter out your accomplishments so that you have a steady stream of work and not just one productive semester or year.
7. Get connected online with social networking sites. Social networking sites often appear to be used only by high school students and young adults. Actually, you will be surprised at how many people have a facebook page. Get your virtual network going by placing a professional looking profile on one of the sites.

Alternative Leave Policies

There is only a handful of colleges and universities that offer progressive family and medical leave policies. I outlined a few of the programs in a previous post and I am preparing a post on some specific existing progressive leave policies that benefit tenured and tenure-track faculty. One the one hand, the lack of policies presents a challenge and places a lot of power in the hands of the department chair and dean. On the other hand, the lack of policies provides an opportunity for creativity and communication among faculty and the administration.

You will likely find yourself in a scenario similar to of Dr. Manning where your institution lacks a policy to accommodate the birth or adoption of a child. In lieu of changing the entire university over night (we can dream!), there may be existing policies that could be used for a family or medical leave OR there may be a medical leave policy that has not been used for child birth or adoption. Here are a few examples that may help you begin searching for policies at your institution:

1. Sabbaticals: At some institutions, tenure-track faculty are offered a semester sabbatical to pursue scholarly work. A sabbatical could be used to allow more time with a child while also pursuing a writing project.
2. Workers' Compensation: If you become ill during or after your pregnancy, you may be entitled to workers' compensation. Although the guidelines for approval require examinations by various doctors, you often receive 100% of your salary. Some states also offer additional services that connect to workers comp. Check out you HR website.
3. Shared Sick Leave: Although this is primarily aimed at classified professional staff, many universities allow for individuals to donate sick and/or vacation leave to a colleague so that he/she will get paid during a leave. Staff and administrators may consider donating to a faculty in need.
4. Temporary Leave of Absence: University administration is often granted the power to offer faculty a temporary unpaid leave. Obviously, this is unpaid but it may help if your college/department is being unreasonable with the idea of even taking time off teaching.
5. Special Leave: Similar to temporary leave, the university administration can grant unpaid leave to a faculty member.
6. Flexible Work Arrangements: Although flexible work arrangements do not generally apply to faculty, these different policies could be a good example of ways that a department chair or dean could restructure a normal faculty appointment. Use alternative work arrangements for ideas and to help illustrate the potential of leave/flexible work arrangements in your specific situation.

None of these policies are ideal, but they may provide a creative solution while you work towards more family-friendly policies. Please feel free to post other alternative leave policies.

Women, Service, and the Misunderstood Professoriate

A few months ago, several higher education scholars collaborated on a book to address gender inequities in colleges and universities titled, "Unfinished Agendas: New and Continuing Gender Challenges in Higher Education". While I am preparing a more in-depth post to review the book, one of the chapters received some attention in the higher ed news and in the blogsphere that sparked some serious debate. This chapter, "Shattering Plexiglass" discusses the increase in service responsibilities that women encounter once the achieve tenure. Insidehighered noted a few of the findings:

Following tenure, 16 of the women studied and only 5 of the men experienced significant increases in their service obligations at their universities.

The study didn’t suggest that these service duties didn’t represent important work. Many of the assignments were valuable for the professors’departments or institutions. The newly tenured women — much more so than the men — became academic program coordinators or were appointed to lead institutional committees with real clout. In a number of cases, the assignments also reflected values that were especially important to the women involved, such as playing a role in work to remove gender bias from the institution.

While these assignments may well help these women’s careers over time if they go an administrative route, and while these assignments may accomplish good, they take women more than men away from scholarship. The women reported feeling unprepared for some of their assignments and unsure about how they fit into their careers — but many did not feel they could turn down this role.

What I find most interesting are the comments that stemmed from this article. While the Insidehighered comments included testimonials from other women who mostly confirmed the study findings, comments on other blogs were laden with a suspicion of the professoriate and the appearance of a disdain for female academics who take on too much service. Here is a sampling of the comments:

Also, I'm not sure we need to worry too much about tenured professors who can't get ahead. Seems to me they've already gotten ahead and are merely looking to extend their lead.

This seems like a stupid complaint. Women are disproportionately getting pulled into leadership roles, oh noes! Is there any kind of difference that can't be turned into a problem that needs solving?

Men face the same pressures. Talk to any professor, and you will find that they are part of search committees, admissions committees, journal reviews, etc. Please show us some data about women being disproportionately brought into academic service. I, for one, do not believe that this is a problem holding women back in academia. There are others reasons for that.

These comments concern me because there is a clear misunderstanding regarding what we do in academe and (dare I say) a misogynistic attitude toward female academics. I ask, what do we need to do as academics to inform the public of our roles/job requirements/job demands/etc.? How did we get to the place where the professoriate is viewed with suspicion by the general public (or at least those who read blogs)? Are these comments gender-laden and how do we address the bias?


Donald Hall in his book, "The Academic Community" which I blogged about last week, believes that we need to be multivocal -- develop the ability to speak to the public about our work and the importance of the professoriate. Are we just sitting in the ivory tower? What are the implications for all academics and women faculty in particular?

Theme Week: Details on Approaching Your Dean

For the next few weeks, I am going to host a few theme weeks where I (and sometimes other colleagues and friends) discuss one specific topic.



After re-reading the post on how to approach your college dean, I think that it would be useful for the first theme week to focus on each of the bulleted points (networking with colleagues, shaming the dean, etc.). I am preparing a post on some specific family-friendly policies, tips on how to create a progressive family-friendly policy, other leave policies that may be used for pregnancy, how to market yourself to make your value known, and a few ways to network with colleagues and others in the academic community around the very issues that we discuss in this blog -- academic parenting. I hope that you will consider adding in your own tips and experiences in the comments section.

Another Great Post About Breastfeeding on a Plane

Just in case, you are interested in the previous post on breastfeeding on a plane, check out Phdinparenting's latest post. Tisk, tisk, Barbara Walters!

New Faculty Orientation

Next week, I will attend new faculty orientation. The schedule is as follows:

9:00 Welcome
9:20 Academic Policies
9:30 Faculty Governance
9:45 Students
9:55 Academic Integrity
10:05 General Education
10:25 Human Resources
10:30 University Relations
10:40 Break
10:50 Research and Technology Transfer
11:10 University Life
11:25 Reappointment, Promotion, and Tenure
11:45 Open Discussion and Evaluation
12:00 Luncheon
12:00 - 3:00 Benefits Fair

A glaring omission from the schedule is a discussion of work/life balance, childcare, and other resources for academic parents. Remember that my new institution was just named as one of the Great Colleges to Work with a particular glowing review on the climate for work/life balance.
I am sure that I will find some of the information useful, but many of these offices/policies can be found in faculty handbooks, discussions with veteran colleagues, or by just stopping in these offices and having a brief discussion. What is most important as a new faculty (this is the second time the I am a new faculty) is how to navigate the politics, the hidden expectations (i.e., do faculty here come to work on Fridays?), and how to manage parenthood as an academic. I need to know about the childcare facilities, how to balance a sick child with teaching responsibilities, and the culture around bringing children to work and work events. We need a space and time to discuss the "real" issues, not just where I can get my ID card.

Pets vs Domestic Partner Benefits

I realize that we have a new phenomenon of pet parents -- people who treat their pets as children -- but this is downright ridiculous.

The push to get domestic partner benefits for employees of Palm Beach Community College continues to be pushed back. Last year, the college’s board tied on a vote to grant the benefits, with the tie meaning that the benefits were not
added. When a few months later the college added as a benefit health insurance options for employee pets (but still not for unmarried partners), many gay employees were outraged.

This report on Inside Higher Ed does note that the college administration has recommended the addition of human benefits (I can't believe that I just typed 'human benefits'), but the college board is seeking legal advice to reconcile the new state law that limits the power of local boards.

How to approach your Dean

One of our readers posted this inquiry from a history listserve under the comments section. Because this is such an important topic, I decided to respond with a post.

Dr. Manning writes:

I have a question that deals not so much with scholarship as with academic life. I would very much appreciate hearing how other women in higher education -- and their institutions -- may have managed having a baby during an academic term. I am currently pregnant, due February 10, right in the midst of Spring 2009 semester, which runs from mid-January to early May. I am entering my 5th year in a tenure-track position, and am in good standing. However, the university where I am employed does not have an official maternity leave policy for faculty members. We all teach a 4/4 load, and the courses I will be teaching in the spring have already been added to the registrar's page, though I'm sure it would be possible to change days and times.I realize that I am of course entitled to 6 weeks unpaid leave via FMLA, but my husband and I cannot go without my paycheck. I will have to work out the details with my dean and I am curious to know what others have done in similar situations. I would like to have a few good possible plans in mind before I meet with the dean.

First and foremost, congratulations on your pregnancy. Every child is a blessing and you will find that your job issues will be small in comparison to the intense joy that you will feel caring for your child. Second, there are some strategies that I can share to hopefully ease your anxiety, help you be prepared for the conversation with your dean, and find a solution that allows you to spend the appropriate amount of time with your child (okay, maybe not the 6 months maternity leave that we deserve, but something that works well within our American system). Here are a few suggestions:

1. Before the conversation, make sure that you know your rights. FMLA guarantees you 12 weeks of unpaid leave, not the 6 that you mentioned in your question. Go in to the meeting with a copy of FMLA -- HR should provide this.

2. Call HR and ask for all information regarding leaves, including medical leave, shared sick leave, etc. You may find that there is a policy to take a leave that may not be directly related to childbearing, but could be used for this reason. Better yet, make an appointment with someone in HR and explain your situation.

3. Read the faculty handbook! You may find that here are also policies that could apply to a family related leave.

4. Connect with other women and men in the department and college who had a child during the academic term. Find out what types of accommodation they sought and what they received. Also, go to other colleges in your university and get similar information. Your dean may not want to look bad in comparison to a competitive college. Similarly, get the same information from other competitive universities.

5. Go in with a clear idea of what you want and how to get it. For example, if you want (and I believe that you deserve this) to take a semester leave, go in with the request and have a set of solutions to make your leave possible. Identify who could teach your courses, ways to combine your courses with others, and the potential for having each class co-taught so that the co-instructor can take over the class once you give birth. I don't think that you should have to structure your own leave, but it is good to have these suggestions ready just in case your dean is unable to brainstorm ways to accommodate your leave.

6. Because you want to maintain your salary, be sneaky and do not suggest that you will receive a salary deduction when you take a leave. I can only imagine how difficult it would be to temporarily stop someone's salary in the large university bureaucracy. Just leave it off the table.

If the issue of money does come up, be prepared to compromise. How about teaching an extra class or two in the summer for free to make-up for the missed classes? This is certainly not ideal as you will still have a young child, but it may seem like a reasonable compromise to the dean.

7. Go into the conversation with a sense of the dean's politics and perspective on this issue. Does he/she have children and/or grandchildren? What has he/she done in the past with other faculty? What does the dean value? If he/she values teaching and you have great teaching evaluations, mention them.

8. Make sure that you note your productivity and contribution to the college. Ultimately, you are just taking a quick break from your job which is short in comparison to your years of service. You are a good colleague and faculty citizen so make sure that you work that into your conversation.

9, Make sure that you have spoken to influential senior faculty and/or your department chair. Some dean's will just defer to the department chair or other senior faculty to deal with your classes (and other work) that you miss when you are on leave. You want these people tell the dean that he/she does not need to worry about the details.

10. After you return to work, become an activist on your campus and fight for more progressive FMLA policies. See my post on progressive institutions.

I hope that this helps!

Inspirational Book for Academics

A few months ago, I had an opportunity to review a book that inspired me to remember why I became an academic. Read this book! Here is a excerpt from the review (I only include the first and last paragraph):

The Academic community: A manual for change, Donald Hall puts forth a persuasive call to action, arguing that, “…unless we [faculty] also explore the extent to which we are responsible for our own behaviors, attitudes, and life situations, we will often remain complicit within the very hierarchies and norms that oppress us” (p. 4). The “hermeneutic circle” – a dialogue that engages issues and concepts on the macro and micro level -- foregrounds the argument of the book and situates faculty as having a agency in the ways in which our departments and institutions function. During a time when higher education is facing dramatic budget cuts, the diversifying of faculty work, and questions in their role as a public good, Hall provides a framework for how faculty, can use their power to create change within academic departments. Specifically, Hall notes the ways that faculty can engage colleagues, students, and the public to better understand the role of collegiality and the importance of higher education to the public. Hall provides an argument for how and why faculty should become change agents while also acknowledging contextual and political challenges within higher education.

Despite these minimal shortcomings, this book is a worthwhile contribution to the literature on organizational change in higher education, leadership, and the ongoing discussions of how to promote and engage faculty. Much of what is highlighted throughout this book reinforces the literature on collaboration and non-positional leadership (see Astin & Leland, 1991; Kezar & Lester, forthcoming; Safarik, 2003; Wolf-Wendel, Twombly, Tuttle, Ward, & Gaston-Gayles, 2004). The basic principles of the conversational process outlined in chapter three, for example, is well supported by the literature on collaboration. More importantly, this book serves as a call to action and a reminder that we, as faculty, can work to change the conditions that are most oppressive or that prevent us from being successful in teaching, research, and service. All faculty could benefit from reading this book as well as Hall’s first book on creating change in higher education – The academic self: An owner’s manual. Not only does it provide many inspiring anecdotes and practical examples of how we can engage in change activities, it reminds us of the reason that we entered higher education – to educate students, conduct research to inform the public, and to reinforce the mission of serving the public good. It is all too easy to get caught up in the overwhelming nature of our faculty work, departmental politics, faculty incivility, consumer-driven students, and misplaced institutional priorities. Sometimes, we just need a reminder that we are part of an ongoing dialogue and that we have a unique agency to change our academic departments and institutions.

Teaching as a Parent

The summer is slowly winding down and I am turning my attention to my Fall courses. My two new course preps are causing a bit of anxiety, but the concern over course outlines and book choices is small in comparison to another question that is on my mind -- do I tell my students that I am a parent? My inclination is to tell them because I feel as if my identity as a parent intersects strongly with my role as an instructor. Not only do I see my students (incidentally, I teach graduate students) as colleagues and professionals, I now can't help but think of them as daughters, sons, and parents. The complexity of their lives and my significance as a role model is more apparent.

But, I am also concerned that my status as a parent may alter the way in which the perceive of my role as an instructor. Women academics already deal with students who discount their authority, expect women faculty to play a maternal role, and/or fail to recognize expertise and knowledge. Will my students expect me to be more sympathetic when it comes to family-related issues? Will they expect me to play a maternal role with them? Will they question my authority because I am a young woman with a child? Will they take me seriously? Will they question my "expertise"?

Great post about breastfeeding on a plane

This is a must read post for those of us who are breastfeeding and plan on taking our child on a plane:

When breastfeeding is a safety hazard

Incidentally, I just flew United and breastfed without any problems.

Sacrifices we make

I just returned from a quick trip to visit family in New Mexico (hence the lack of blog posts). We had a wonderful time visiting with my parents, siblings, nieces, nephew, and my in-laws. We also had a chance to meet our new niece who was born just two days before our daughter. She is a beautiful and happy little 4 month old.

Living away from my family has never been an issue. Most of the time, I am relieved to be away from any family drama (and there is always family drama). Now that I have a child, however, the physical distance has become significantly more difficult. I often feel as if I am denying my daughter an opportunity to bond with her extended family and preventing my parents from spending time with one of their grandchildren. Tears often accompany goodbyes. In addition, we often feel alone without family nearby. There is little to no help with childcare, for example. I question, am I making too many sacrifices for my career? Am I hurting my child and family by prioritizing my career over the opportunity to live near family?

I know that I can't move to New Mexico. My partner and I worked for 2 years to land in an area where we both have tenure-track jobs. There is only one major university in Albuquerque and we don't foresee many opportunities for academic jobs in our specialities. Instead, we have to find a way to manage the geographic distance by traveling frequently and finding trustworthy people for childcare and friendship.

Plans for Travel - Personal and Professional

I have not figured this out yet. ASHE conference is coming up - I did not attend last year due to my pregnancy. This year, I can't see myself going with my daughter (4.5 months now). I have seen some of my colleagues attending professional meetings with their partners and small children. My partner does not have enough vacation days after we plan for visiting our family in three different coutries. Simply, not enough! I also want to continue breastfeeding - the only option I have is to bring my daughter with me and to attend professional meetings. In November (ASHE 2008), I can't see myself doing so. Maybe in spring 2009 when my daughter begins to eat solids and complete weaning, then I may attend. How bad it can be not attending the professional meetings for a year or so...

How to announce ... round 2!?

When we found out we were pregnant a few weeks ago, with our second child, we felt the usual mix of emotions - happiness, anxiety, excitement. The typical questions emerged: How and when to tell family and friends? And how will I tell my dean and department chair that I'm going on maternity leave again for the second time in less than three years - keeping in mind that maternity leave at our institution is 12 paid weeks off, and tends to coincide, or at least will for me this time, with an entire semester's absence? How will my colleagues react to the news that I will now have two children under the age of 3, so close in proximity to my tenure review?

The good news is that in my mind I built up the conversations with my administrators to be much more tense and stressful than they ultimately turned out to be. Both of them - women without children who make strong efforts to understand both the joys and limitations of motherhood - reacted with genuine happiness for me. There wasn't a note of hesitation or concern in their voices.

A sense of relief came over me quickly after those conversations. Now I can only hope that as the fall semester begins in a few weeks and I start to "show", others in my school will be equally as generous with their reactions.

I should add that one of my doctoral students whose dissertation I am chairing, upon hearing the news of my pregnancy, only responded with one word: "Again?" That's exactly the kind of response that perpetuates anxiety among those of us who choose to have more than one child in academe. If you have one, well, that's okay; if you have two, well, that's just excessive.