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!
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