Maybe I'll Return to Blogging

I took a 6 month hiatus from blogging because I just can't keep up. One day I foolishly counted the number of hours that I work or do child care Monday-Thursday and...drum roll please......I work 50 hours in those 4 days. No wonder I don't have time to blog or even exercise.

So, what I want to know how other bloggers keep up? How do so many others have full-time jobs, multiple children, exercise, and still find time to blog? Please tell me the secret!

Mack Monday: First Steps

Innovative Approach to Stopping the Tenure Clock

Insidehighered reported on a new and innovative legislation to stop the clock on research grants. For academics who regularly apply for and receive grants, temporary care-giving responsibilities (i.e., birth or adoption of a child; ill family member) may interfere with the project's progress.

Now one of the senior members of the House Science Committee has introduced legislation to apply that idea -- and a few others -- to the way federal research agencies interact with universities. The bill would require federal grant agencies to specify ways that the duration of grants could be extended for researchers who have care-giving responsibilities. The hope of Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson, a Texas Democrat, is that the clout of federal agencies like the National Science Foundation and the National Institutes of Health and the public focus on certain policies that her legislation envisions could advance the careers of more women in academic science.

Family-Friendly Resources

Time to update resources on family-friendly issues in the workforce! Here are a few resources that I have come across in the last few months.

Sloan Work Family Research Network

The Alfred P. Sloan Work and Family Research Network is the premier online destination for information about work and family. The Network serves a global community interested in work and family research by providing resources and building knowledge. Current, credible, and comprehensive, the Network targets the information needs of academics and researchers, workplace practitioners, state public policy makers, and interested individuals. It is the place to find high-quality research and reports, easy-to-read summary sheets and briefs, and work-family topic pages—all in one location.

Center for Work and Family Research (CWFR) at Penn State

The mission of the Center for Work and Family Research (CWFR) at Penn State is to promote excellence in research and education on issues at the intersections of work, family, and community. Established in January 2002, the Center encourages interdisciplinary collaboration on a broad array of research topics and approaches to the study of work and family from the vantage points of work organizations and of employees and members of their families, broadly defined. The CWFR facilitates research on professionals as well as low-income workers, women and men, and parents as well as nonparents.

Currently, one substantive, research thread focuses on implications of parents' work situations for family dynamics in dual-earner families with school-age children and adolescents. Another examines faculty members who are juggling family responsibilities and work, a study that combines a national survey with an ethnographic study involving "shadowing" faculty throughout the workday. Soon the CWFR will include a focus on the work circumstances of rural families with young children, as part of a new program project focused on children growing up in rural communities in Pennsylvania and North Carolina.

Research and graduate education are tightly intertwined. The CWFR involves graduate students from across campus in the life of the Center in the hope of stimulating the next generation of researchers in this area. By pulling students together from different disciplines, the Center hopes to encourage them to be open to interdisciplinary collaboration from the very beginning of their careers.

National Clearinghouse on Academic Worklife

Developed at the University of Michigan, the NCAW is a single resource that brings together:

• Articles
• Research & policy reports
• Policies
• Demographics
• Additional websites
• Narratives on institutional policy change

Mack Monday: Houston We Have Lift Off!

I posted a few weeks ago that I was concerned that Mack seemed uninterested in crawling. She is moving straight to walking via cruising on furniture. Check this out!

Education Cuts from Stimulus Bill

The latest U.S. stimulus bill has felt like the greatest and possibly last hope for economic recovery. Education, it appears, will not be a major beneficiary. CNN reports that the following are being fully eliminated from the bill:

• $2 billion for Health Information Technology Grants

• $200 million for National Science Foundation

• $600 million for Title I (No Child Left Behind)

• $16 billion for school construction

• $3.5 billion for higher education construction

I don't know about you, but my state has eliminated cost of living increases this year and the colleges are experiencing 7-10% budget cuts from the general fund two years in a row. Without some assistance, I fear that we are going to continue to experience no wage increases, cuts in travel/professional development money, and decreases in services for faculty and staff. Ouch!

Michelle Obama's Staff

The media (and many bloggers) are criticizing Michelle Obama for her putting her family first. She has consistently noted that her primary role is that of a mother, not a policy maker. I'll admit that I was hoping for a more aggressive first lady, especially with Michelle Obama's credentials and policy agenda that places working families as a top priority, I am not willing to judge her so quickly. A recent article highlights the credentials of her staff:

Policy director Jocelyn Frye was the general counsel and director of the workplace fairness program at the National Partnership for Women and Families. Frye was involved in developing the Ledbetter legislation.

Deputy chief of staff David Medina was the political director for former North Carolina Sen. John Edwards’ presidential campaign and worked for the AFL-CIO and the U.S. Global Leadership Campaign. USGLC executive director Liz Schrayer called Medina “a very strategic thinker” with strong labor and minority connections.

Deputy policy director Trooper Sanders worked for former Vice President Al Gore and his wife, Tipper, and the William J. Clinton Foundation. Communications director Camille Johnston, who oversaw communications for the Los Angeles Dodgers, had been Tipper Gore’s communications director.

Desiree Rogers, the White House social secretary, and her team also are housed under the first lady’s staff. Rogers is a friend of the Obamas from Chicago, and also a prominent corporate executive with insurance, energy and state lottery experience.

Norris, the chief of staff, is an Iowa campaign veteran who also once worked for Gore. She and Michelle Obama bonded while riding around the state in a minivan together in the months before the January Democratic caucuses.

Maybe I am just optimistic, but I see a highly respectable, political, and well connected staff that can support a more aggressive policy agenda that places the First Lady in the center of policy change to support working families. Michelle Obama may be "First and foremost Malia and Sasha's mom" but she may have another role in the future. Let's give her a first 100 days!

Genius!?!

Oklahoma is the latest trailblazer in work flexibility. The Office of Juvenile Affairs piloted a flexible schedule and found that staff turnover decreased. Here is an excerpt from the article:

After the flexible-schedule program was put in place, employees who participated took less leave time compared to the previous 90-day period, said Jeff Gifford, Juvenile Affairs division director of support services. During that same time, staff turnover was down by 1.5 percent, he said.

Cutting state staff turnover could save money. In 2007, turnover cost the state about $85 million, according to figures from the U.S. Office of Personnel Management. At the Office of Juvenile Affairs, turnover costs about $3.6 million a year, said Gene Christian, Juvenile Affairs executive director.

5 on Friday

5. My car was buried in a sheet of ice on Wednesday. Snow + Sleet = Ice Covered Snow
4. My teaching evaluations from last semester were very positive. Yay!
3. Spinning/cycling is kicking my butt.
2. No crawling or walking yet. Mack seems to be taking her time.
1. My latest book arrived in the mail this week. Check it out here.

Pay Act

There is much evidence of the salary disparities that exist in higher education. Women often make less than men, regardless of rank and position. Of course, we should not be surprised given the pay disparity that exists in most jobs.

Today, a step was taken in the right direction. Obama signed the Lilly Ledbetter Act. The National Women's Law Center explains the details of the act:

In Ledbetter, the Supreme Court held that employees cannot challenge ongoing compensation discrimination if the employer's original discriminatory decision occurred more than 180 days before, even when the employee continues to receive paychecks that have been discriminatorily reduced. Because pay information is often confidential, it may take a long time for an employee to realize that she is experiencing compensation discrimination. And if employers are insulated from liability after 180 days, they have little incentive to correct pay discrimination that occurs. The Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act would restore long-standing law and promote voluntary compliance with anti-discrimination laws by employers. It would ensure that employees subject to discrimination on the basis of race, color, national origin, sex, religion, age or disability have the opportunity to challenge every discriminatory paycheck that they receive.

See a pic on Whitehouse.gov. BTW, I love the new white house site!

Mack Monday: Infant Swimming

Yesterday, Mack attended her first swim lesson. While I was initially reluctant to consider swim lessons under the age of 1, I was reminded of the necessity when I heard a statistic (this was during an NPR discussion on climate change) -- 78% of the world is covered in water. So, off to lessons......

5 on Friday (or Saturday)

Here is my 5 on Friday just posted a little late:

5. Going back to work this week resulted in a cranky baby. I think she was used to mom and dad being around a lot. Sigh.
4. No one told me that age results in achy knees while running. Double sigh!
3. Mack starts swim lesson on Monday. Wish me luck!
2. We have a new president. Whoo hooo! Go Obama!
1. The first week of classes is exhausting.

Higher Ed Reports

A few important Higher Ed reports released this week:

1. A Measure of Equity: Women's Progress in Higher Education presents the only current comprehensive overview of data on women’s status in higher education.



2. Females on Academic Boards of Trustees: Slow But Steady Progress documents the slow but steady progress in the representation of women on college boards.

3. Referral, Enrollment and completion in Developmental Education Sequences in Community Colleges by the Community College Research Center provides evidence of the "remedial black hole." Students often get stuck in remedial education and do not matriculate to college level work.

Academic Capitalism

Although not about parenthood, we need to concern ourselves (as academics) with the rise of academic capitalism. A recent article in the NYTimes paints a sad picture for the humanities. One of my favorite exerts:

What is happening in traditional universities where the ethos of the liberal arts is still given lip service is the forthright policy of for-profit universities, which make no pretense of valuing what used to be called the “higher learning.” John Sperling, founder of the group that gave us Phoenix University, is refreshingly blunt: “Coming here is not a rite of passage. We are not trying to develop value systems or go in for that ‘expand their minds’” nonsense.

Quote of the week - holidays

Although yesterday was a federal holiday and my university was closed, I worked. I went to the office, had two important meetings, and continued to work on my latest book. A friend asked me why I was working on a holiday. My answer, "CHILDCARE!"

If I have childcare, I will come!

Mack Monday: Sick Baby

About 10 days ago, I came down with a mystery cold. Most of the time you can point to where you acquired that illness, such as the coworker who insisted on coming to work despite the fact that he/she is sneezing and coughing all over the office. Oh, the contaminated air!! I have not been around anyone with an illness and I don't really interact with many people at work -- such is the life of an academic. Nevertheless, I am responsible for giving Mack a cold which manifested this past Friday.

For days, her nose went drip, drip, drip and now she goes cough, cough, cough. As parents, we don't have many options to deal with the symptoms. Cold medicine is ineffective and often just keeps babies from sleeping. We can use a humidified or vapor rub, but ever those have no scientific proof.

We just have to make them comfortable and hope for a swift recovery. Any tips?

5 on Friday

5. Classes start next week and I my syllabi are still in draft form. When will I ever become proactive and not reactive!
4. My university just canceled classes on inauguration day which is wreaking havoc on my course planning.
3. A plan crashed in a river and everyone survived! The images of a plane in water are just scary and the news that everyone is okay, including an infant, make be overjoyed.
2. Mack sounds like a gremlin.
1. The inauguration is next week and I have high hopes for Michelle Obama's family initiative.

Friday: Higher Ed Reports

Every week, I read a ton of great reports that examine issues in higher education. Some of them may interest you so I am going to start posting my favorites each Friday. You know, for your weekend reading! HA HA HA!

4. Impact of Affirmative Action Ban (I included the Insidehighered.org link because the comments are really interesting)
3. Grad Students and Family-Friendly Policies
2. Trends in College Spending
1. New book on diversity in higher education

Grad Student Want Family-Friendly Universities

Mary Ann Mason and colleagues at University of California, Berkeley are continuing their good work on family-friendly issues in higher education. Insidehighered.com reported on new findings which illustrate the importance of work-life balance for doctoral students. The article states:

The survey — of more than 8,300 doctoral students at University of California campuses — finds that they increasingly care about finding careers at “family friendly” campuses. And the survey finds that they doubt seriously that they can build such careers at a research university. Both men and women have these attitudes although they are more pronounced in women.

There is a tension here between reality and desire. I realize that the current reality of higher education is such that obtaining tenure and having a family at a research university is difficult, if not impossible in some cases. Yet, I don't want to discourage my doctoral students from considering research universities. I desire for them to have access to research universities and to have the option of raising a family without committing career suicide. How do we move from desire to a new reality? I know that efforts toward making all universities more family-friendly is essential and must include marketing efforts to show graduate students that they can be an academic parent and get tenure at a research university. Change is slow.

Taking your child to work

A while back, I posted on the new phenomenon of taking your child to the workplace as an alternative to extended maternity/paternity leave. The NY Times has picked up this topic again in an article that describes how a few companies are allowing for children to be cared for in the workplace. The author notes:

More companies are allowing women — and some men, too — to bring their babies to work. The advantages are clear: The women don’t lose money by taking maternity leave. They can breastfeed conveniently. And they can bond with the baby rather than worry that he or she will develop a closer connection with a nanny or a day-care provider.

I have been thinking a lot about work-life balance culture in the academy lately as I craft a grant proposal on the subject. I keep asking myself what a work-life balance culture in the academy looks like and how does it get established? Are we too far from a collective sense of responsibility, an academic community, to consider bringing kids to work? How does such a policy gain acceptance?

Back from vacay -- Mack Monday

Finally back from a long and relaxing vacation to see family in New Mexico. Post start today and classes next week.

In honor of Mack Monday, I thought that it would be fitting to discuss a topic that I think about on a daily basis -- crawling. My little adorable daughter has decided that crawling just isn't for her. Maybe she doesn't want to get dirty. Maybe she is content with the toys in front of her, not the balls/fake TV remotes/dolls/musical toys/etc across the room. Maybe should would rather watch the other babies struggle to wiggle across the room. At almost 10 months old, her lack of interest in moving off her tush bothers me since I want her to explore the world. To go where no baby has gone before.........

What do I do? Anyone else have the same concerns?