Hi! It’s been quite awhile since my last post (eight whole months 🤯) and oh so much has happened since then! The short story is… we moved back across the country, I am officially no longer a tenure track professor, and I’m now full time stay at home parenting while Mike works. If you want a few more details, here’s what we’ve been up to since February…
Read MoreIt’s been awhile since I’ve done a schedule related post. Here’s my last day in the life post from May of 2019 (oh how things have changed!).
Rather than do a day in the life post from a specific day, I thought I’d share what our current general schedule is looking like these days. I’m not sharing this schedule because it’s amazing and working really well for us, I’m sharing it because it feels kind of terrible!
Read MoreI did something pretty big really huge last week... I quit my job. I submitted my formal resignation to my dean and as of June 2022 I will no longer be an assistant professor. To be honest with you, it feels like a huge weight has been lifted off my shoulders.
Read MoreUp until Hannah was about 4 months old, she slept incredibly well. We could put her in the crib, or really anywhere, and she'd be out like a light. Given the (very minimal) amount I know about baby sleep, this makes sense... sleep early on tends to be easier to come by than sleep later on.
Read MoreHannah was born shortly before the end of spring term, which meant that I used a few weeks of short term disability until my contract ended for the school year in June.
Because I'm not on contract during the summer I didn’t need to use any leave from mid-June through mid-September. These months, like usual, were all unpaid and our expenses were covered with funds that I'd put into savings during the school year.
Because of the timing, I was able to save the bulk of my leave (i.e., sick time) for fall term, returning to work in mid-December.
Read MoreAfter Ellie was born I was so vigilant about signs of postpartum depression. I checked in with myself regularly. Feeling hopeless? Nope. Having frequent crying spells? Nope. Struggling to bond with the baby? Nope. Anything else that might be a sign of depression? Nope.
I made it through the first few months of postpartum life without any issues and thought okay, I’m in the clear, nothing to worry about… I can rest easy.
Read MoreIn my last post I shared my (mostly informal) goals from year five on the tenure track, along with whether or not I met them.
In this post I’m following up with advice I’d give to myself if I had to do year five all over again. If you want to check out my goals/advice for years 1 through 4, you can do that here…
Read MoreWay back in September 2020 I posted my goals for my fourth year on the tenure track, along with whether or not I met them. This month I’m following up with advice I’d give to myself if I had to do it all over again… which I hope I never, ever have to do. Really, what I’d do is give myself a massive hug, as this academic year was difficult on so many levels. Read on for 6 lessons I learned during my fourth year as an assistant professor.
Read MoreI realize that there's lots of variability in the tenure review process from university to university. However, I thought I'd share the general process I've been following for prepping for my 5th (and final) annual tenure review. At my institution, we have annual reviews (submitted in fall), a cumulative third year review (submitted in spring), and then the tenure review (submitted in the fall of year 6). So the annual review is something I've done a few times before.
Read MoreLast year I wrote a post all about summertime in academia, when there are unspoken (and spoken!) expectations that you'll be working even though you're "off." I feel really resistant to unpaid summer work and at the same time I don't know that I could feasibly remain on track for the next year without it. Like most things in life, there's no easy answer. In last year's post I shared what my summers, up to that point, had looked like, as well as the strategies I was planning to use to set boundaries around work.
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