• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer

The Professor Is In

Guidance for all things PhD: Graduate School, Job Market and Careers

  • Home
  • Courses & Events
    • How To …
    • The Art of the Academic Cover Letter
    • The Art of the Article
    • Unstuck: The Art of Productivity
    • On Demand Courses
    • Upcoming Live Webinars
    • Free Productivity Webinars
    • Gift Certificates
  • Personalized Job Help
    • Document Editing
    • Quick Reviews
    • Specials
    • Interview Prep
    • Personal Negotiating Assistance
    • One on One Career Consults
    • Testimonials
    • Interview Testimonials
    • Graduate School Application Assistance
  • Productivity
  • Coaching
    • Productivity Coaching
    • Private Coaching
    • Leaving Academia Coaching Group
  • The Professor Is Out
    • It’s OK to Quit
    • Our Art of Leaving Program
    • Prof Is OUT Services
    • Our Prof Is OUT Team
    • Prof is OUT Client Testimonials
    • Ex-Academics: A TPIO Support Community
  • Workshops
  • Blog

#Dispatches – What Will You Do When The Pandemic Is Truly Over?

By Karen Kelsky | January 11, 2021

This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is DispatchesPic.png

#Dispatches From the Frontlines series crowdsources questions to get a broad survey of how the academic community is coping with various challenges.

Hoping to lighten the mood just a bit, next week we move on to a new question: What is the first thing you will do when the pandemic is truly over

Next week’s question–what else can it be? – Has the ongoing coup attempt impacted your thoughts or work as an academic? Share your response here.

Glossary:

  • SS – Social Sciences
  • Hum – Humanities
  • STEM – Science, Technology, Engineering and Math

~~~~~~

What is the first thing you will do when pandemic is over?

I’ve always wanted to leave the city I moved to for a TT job & after 10 years, I haven’t left. The pandemic has kept me from even looking for new opportunities, and focused my attention to the here and now. Frankly, it feels good to live in the present and not obsess over what I don’t have and where I don’t live. (Tenured Prof, Arts etc)

Travel abroad to see my family (Postdoc, SS)

I recently moved to the US because of my husband (a US citizen). I’m preparing to submit my dissertation in a couple of months, but have slowly been turning away from academia. As a foreigner with foreign degrees, I’ve realized that I’m not equipped to compete with my US PhD-holding counterparts. As a result, I have been applying for academic and non-academic jobs for the last few months. I don’t need a work visa, but have been getting zero interviews. I’m thinking that the problem is either my academic background, lack of contacts or lack of knowledge of the US application process. I honestly have no plan for the end of the pandemic. I’m just hoping that a job will come up very soon because I am thoroughly discouraged. (Grad student, Hum)

When it is truly safe to do so, I’m most excited to immediately return to my massage therapist. Next thing will be traveling to visit dear friends who live multiple states away. Finally, I’ll be working to transition out of academia. I plan to start a small business that will let me live where I want to live. (Asst prof, Hum)

Tango dancing! Preferably at a queer milonga (Tenured, STEM)

My partner and I will hopefully go on a working vacation to Europe so I can do my dissertation research it also have a honeymoon (Grad student, Hum)

I look forward to introducing my new twins, born during the pandemic, to my family and friends, and spending time with all my loved ones. (Asst prof. SS)

I can’t wait to walk to my office and meet with students and teach in person! I also can’t wait to invite friends over for dinner and cook with them. 🙂 (Asst prof. STEM)

I was hoping to get tailored pants in the metropolis 6h away after losing the pandemic weight. Very shallow and I hate shopping normally but fed up of being in tiny country town. I’m in litigation for discrimination since Feb 2020 (2% of those who file at human rights commission who don’t have a settlement/ending at this stage). That’s more important to put that behind than the pandemic. I can then share it with a few loved ones who were indirectly involved… say goodbye properly  (NTT, STEM)

See friends (Tenured, SS)

I’m going to go hug as many friends and family as will accept. Primarily I’m going to travel to see family I’ve not been able to see in person for more than a year already. (Tenured, SS)

See family, travel, go to conferences/festivals, experience new things, hope for momentum toward a livable future. (tenured, Hum)

Grad school reunion (Postdoc,STEM)

Travel! (see family, visit a new city, go to the beach, pawn my kid off on his grandparents for a while) (Non-ac, Hum)

Similar Posts:

  • #Dispatches: How Has COVID Impacted Your Career Planning, Part III
  • #Dispatches: How Did the Coup Attempt Impact Your Academic Work?
  • #Dispatches: COVID Impact Statements
  • #Dispatches: How Many Jobs In Your Field & What Will You Do?
  • #Dispatches: How’s Your Mental Health? Part 2 of 2

Filed Under: COVID19, Dispatches, Strategizing Your Success in Academia

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Monique says

    January 12, 2021 at 11:01 am

    Sit next to someone creative, and without talking, make something. Alone together. Side by side. Lost in what we’re doing, pausing now and then to notice something about each other’s creations, to name what we see, admire it. Breathe, hear each other breathe and sigh every once in a while, hear the click of the knitting needles, the swoosh of the paint brush. One of us will ask the other, “do you want a little snack.” Yes, we do want a little snack. I will make us a little snack, on a nice plate, with a pretty garnish, maybe some cheese, some thyme honey–do you like honey?–some of those little crackers I make when someone special is coming over, a sparkling water with a raspberry and mint in it, just to make it pretty.

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Primary Sidebar

  • Facebook
  • RSS
  • Twitter

Buy My Book!

4.8 stars on Amazon!

The_Professor_Is_In.indd

Get Immediate Help

In addition to our blog and book, we have upcoming live webinars, pre-recorded webinars and other programs that you can get started on right away:

The Art of the Academic Cover Letter
The Art of the Article
Unstuck: The Art of Productivity
Quick Reviews
Free Productivity Webinars

Categories

  • #MeTooPhD
  • Academic Job Search
    • How To Choose and Manage Recommenders
    • How to Interview
    • How To Write Academic Job Cover Letters
    • How To Write CVs
    • Landing Your Tenure Track Job
    • Major Job Market Mistakes
    • Negotiating Offers
  • Adjunct Issues
  • Advising Advice
  • Alt-University Critique
  • Black Lives Matter
  • COVID19
  • Dispatches
  • Goodbye Ivory Towers
  • Graduate Student Concerns
    • Bad Advisors and Good Mentors
  • How To Do Conferences
  • How to Get Grants and Fellowships
  • International Perspectives
  • Intersectional Analyses
  • Makeup
  • Marginalized Voices
  • Mental Health and Academia
  • Ph.D. Poverty
  • Podcast
  • Post-Ac Free-Lancing and Small Business
  • Post-Ac Job Search
    • Careers Outside
  • Postdoc Issues
  • Productivity
    • Book Proposals and Contracts
    • Publishing Issues
    • Writing
  • Promote Yourself!
  • Quitting–An Excellent Option
  • Racism in the Academy
  • Rearview Mirror
  • Resumes & Postac Docs
  • Sexual Harassment in the Academy
  • Shame
  • Stop.Acting.Like.A.Grad.Student
  • Strategizing Your Success in Academia
  • Teaching and Research Statements
  • Teaching Demos
  • Teaching Portfolios
  • Tenure–How To Get It
    • How To Build Your Tenure File
    • Surviving Assistant Professorhood
  • The Campus Visit
  • Unstuck
  • Webinars
  • What Not To Wear
  • Women of Color in Academia
  • Work/Life Balance in Academia
  • Yes, You Can: Women in Academia
  • Your Second and Third Jobs

Footer

About Us

  • Who Is Dr. Karen?
  • Who Is On the TPII Team?
  • In The News
  • Contact Me
  • FAQs
    • Why Trust Me?
  • Testimonials

Community

  • #MeTooPhD
  • Peer Editing
  • PhD Debt Survey
  • Support Fund
  • I Help With Custody Cases for Academics

Copyright © 2023 The Professor Is In·

We Are Redefining Academic Community

That’s why we upgraded our private
Mighty Network.

We are committed to building a community with a focus on productivity support. Every day, in a dedicated space, we offer free coaching advice and encouragement. And the couple thousand people who have already joined are steadily building a supportive and interactive community devoted to that elusive idea of work-life balance.

Learn More

Get on Dr. Karen's Schedule

Get on my schedule to work on your tenure track job cover letter, CV, grant applications, book proposals, interview preparation, and more.  [si-contact-form form=’2′]