By Cathy Davidson. Recently I gave a talk at POD (Professinal Organization and Development) Network and was asked what advice I had for pedagogical innovators who were junior, powerless, and fearful. I gave my usual advice: namely, that the riskiest thing you can do in a career is be fearful, overly cautious, self-censoring. Those things are bad for the soul and nothing kills a career faster than being depressed and cynical about that career. More...
Meritocracy, Lottery, Game
By Gerry Canavan. This short essay arises out of my sense that framing academic job searches as a "lottery" might actually encourage, rather than combat, the cruel optimism involved in the process. Read more...
Don't React Personally
By Nate Kreuter. The academic life, even a “successful” one, is a life filled with rejection. We are rejected from some of the colleges we apply to as high school students, as well as some of the universities where we apply to undertake graduate study. When we graduate yet again and seek academic appointments, rejection becomes an ever-present force as never before, so common in fact that the employers rejecting us have pre-prepared form letters, which they often reuse from year to year, made up to deliver the news, sending them out well beyond the day when we have already realized that we didn’t get the job. Read more...
University lecturers to boycott marking over pensions row
By . Staff at older universities will begin a marking boycott next week in a row over pension changes. More...
Math Geek Mom: Traveling to Conferences

"Kidding Ourselves"

Maybe you, like me, are under the illusion that you are better at persuading your colleagues to accept your arguments than the average academic.
Or you believe, as I have, that your motivations are purer and your intent more selfless than your colleagues and co-workers. Read more...
Communication Jobs Are Up
By Scott Jaschik. The number of faculty job openings in communication has doubled since 2009, and rose 12 percent in 2013, according to new data from the National Communication Association.
The data and analysis from the association are much more optimistic than are reports coming out of other humanities and social sciences disciplines, many of which are seeing modest growth if any, and are struggling to get their openings back to pre-recessionary totals. Read more...
The Great Mismatch
By Paula Krebs. Most folks at doctoral institutions don't have a clue what goes on in community colleges. The departments don't, the individual faculty members don't, and it would be a rare graduate adviser indeed who had ever set foot on a community college campus. Read more...
Know When to Walk Away
By Brandon G. Withrow. For an Evangelical school, the statement of faith is the first job qualification. A search committee may have the perfect candidate, but ultimately, if the person cannot sign the faith statement, he or she is disqualified. This faith distinction is often what’s behind news reports of faculty at Evangelical schools losing their positions over views of LGBTQ rights and identity or creationism. Read more...
Juniorprofessoren: Mogelpackung oder Karriereturbo?

Vom Niedergang eines hoffnungsvollen Konzepts war die Rede, von einer gescheiterten Alternative, von einer Sackgasse. Die Juniorprofessur, eingeführt im Jahr 2002, bietet exzellenten Promovierten mit professoralen Ambitionen die Chance, mit ihr Beamte auf Zeit werden - bei geringeren Bezügen zwar, aber befreit aus dem bis dahin üblichen Assistentenstatus an der kurzen Leine eines echten Profs. Von manchen wurde die Juniorprofessur deshalb jedoch als Mc-Donald's-Professur verhöhnt und von vielen scharf attackiert: wegen schlechter Karriereaussichten, zu wenig Anerkennung und zu viel Stress bei zu wenig Lohn. Mehr...