2021 Updates
Academic Hiring Has Imploded Due to COVID-19
We are offering help with your job search and post-ac transition, and reducing rates across the board to be accessible to as many as possible.
#BlackLivesMatter
Since 2017, our publicly posted company policy has been to support Black and Indigenous women in the academy. Contact us for reduced rates.
Are You Tired of the Academic Run-Around?
…an Advisor Who’s Never In, a Grad Program That Doesn’t Care, Funding That’s Never Enough, a Job Market That’s in The Tank, and a Tenure System That’s a Total Mystery—And No One to Give You an Honest Answer
I am here to help. I am Karen L. Kelsky, Ph.D.. I spent 15 years as an R1 tenured professor, department head, and university advisor, and almost ten years as an academic career coach. I tell you the truth: the truth about grad school, the job market, and tenure. To the best of my ability.
On the ‘Pearls of Wisdom’ Blog (see the categories to the right), I offer the hands-on information you need now to get through the hoops of academia.
I also work with you, one-on-one, with complete confidentiality, on the writing, speaking, and interview skills you need to move closer to your professional goals. I focus on your particular strengths and challenges, and outline the steps you need to take to be successful in each of your specific applications and projects. Together we chart a path to make you competitive. I can’t guarantee a particular outcome, but I can guarantee that I will deliver to you, to the best of my ability, bullshit-free advising on your grants, writing, the job market, and tenure, as well as coaching on professional and career dilemmas.
I am the available and career-savvy adviser you need, that you should already have, but probably don’t.
Interested? Learn more about why to trust me and get in touch.
Testimonials
Recent Posts
Cultivating Self Compassion – Mental Health Guest Post
– Dr. Tyia Grange Isaacson Dr. Grange Isaacson has written a series of mental health posts for The Professor Is In. See them here, here,
A Black Woman’s Journey from Despair to Joy (Part II) – #BLM Guest Post
By Elana Jefferson-Tatum, Ph.D. See Part I here. Elana Jefferson-Tatum, Ph.D. is a scholar of Africana religions, a hypnobirthing coach, and a full-spectrum doula. After
A Black Woman’s Story from Despair to Joy (Part I) – #BLM Guest Post
By Elana Jefferson-Tatum, Ph.D. Elana Jefferson-Tatum, Ph.D. is a scholar of Africana religions, a hypnobirthing coach, and a full-spectrum doula. After several years in the
An episode recorded pre-pandemic but even more relevant now. Karen and Kel talk resisting overwork, and recovering your joy. The key here is detachment from your work: neither misery nor joy; just a set of tasks. Put another way: it’s what you do, not who you are. Drawing from the work of Brene Brown, we dig into the culture of scarcity and the nature of resiliency. In our world of scarcity we wake up in “not enough” (sleep, work, time with kids, writing, etc etc.) and the competitive struggle of academia (“I only slept four hours last night!”). But accepting the reality of finitude (ie finite time, space, and energy), and gathering your own No Committee, you too can reduce what you agree to do, trim excess, and prioritize your own well being. Put on your own oxygen mask first.
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