Professor Mommy: Finding Work-Family Balance in Academia [Hardcover]

Two Bowdoin College professors address the challenges of pursuing an academic career while raising children, offering counsel and advice to women seeking to combine 'the life of the mind with the joys of motherhood.' Connelly, the mother of four sons, is an economist whose international research addresses intersections between work and family life; Ghodsee is an expert in gender and women's studies who received Fulbright and National Science Foundation grants. Their individual experiences inform the book, which provides not only a step-by-step program from graduate studies to tenure but also a 'what to expect when you're expecting' and mothering while chiseling out a profile inside ivied halls. Connelly and Ghodsee tell tough truthsacademics is a hard and demanding career for anyone, and most difficult for women with childrenbut they recommend outsourcing whatever does not contribute directly to your job; availing yourself of good full- or part-time child care; finding an institution with fair work-family policies; attending conferences, networking, and coauthoring publications; saying 'no' to nonessential work; relocating as opportunities arise; and staying hyper vigilant about time management. A well-presented guidebook for academics.Bowdoin faculty members Connelly and Ghodsee are mothers who've struggled with the challenges of research, teaching, publishing, and caring for children in defiance of the conventional wisdom that women in academia have to choose between family and career. They devote an entire chapter to debunking the myths that discourage many women from pursuing tenure during their most fertile productive years. Drawing on their experiences and on surveys of and interviews with a variety of women in academia, they first review the decision to have an academic career and the decision to have children, including how many and when to have them. They proceed with a detailed chronology of the tenure track, a comprehensive guide, and unwavering encouralc)