The Professor Is In

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

Graduate Student Concerns

Academic Gatekeeping 101: A Master Class – Post by Rebecca Schuman

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[Update 4/2/18 8 PM Pacific:  The tenured scholar demanded a correction over on Rebecca Schuman's blog about the nature of the journal referenced in this post, and requested I follow suit; the nature of this demand is spelled out by the scholar in a … [Read more...] about Academic Gatekeeping 101: A Master Class – Post by Rebecca Schuman

Sad Thursdays: The Student Perspective on Academic Hiring Practices (in Anthropological Archaeology)

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I am delighted to host this guest post, contributed by the following group of graduate student authors from the Anthropology department at the University of Georgia: K.C. Jones, Travis Jones, Matthew Colvin, Justin Cramb, Katharine Napora, Katherine … [Read more...] about Sad Thursdays: The Student Perspective on Academic Hiring Practices (in Anthropological Archaeology)

“Perhaps Even a Crisis”: How to Sully the Purity of a Vocation

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There is a new piece from Cultural Anthropology, "Academic Precarity in American Anthropology,"  -- co-written by a Full Prof at Duke and her new Ph.D. son who has "chosen" non-academic work -- that literally defies description in its elitism, … [Read more...] about “Perhaps Even a Crisis”: How to Sully the Purity of a Vocation

A Crowdsourced Survey of Sexual Harassment in the Academy

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Sexual harassment is rampant in the academy as it is in every other industry.  The entrenched hierarchies of the academic world, the small size of most scholarly fields, the male dominance of virtually every field other than women's studies, the … [Read more...] about A Crowdsourced Survey of Sexual Harassment in the Academy

Academia as Identity – a UK/US Comparison

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Kellee and I have done speaking tours in the UK for two years now, and the time we spent there has been immensely valuable for us, in learning what parts of the academic experience are shared between the UK and the US, and what parts diverge.  There … [Read more...] about Academia as Identity – a UK/US Comparison

How to Write a Recommendation Letter

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The wonderful Shit Academic Say (@AcademicsSay) retweeted a hilarious parody of American vs. British recommendation letters this week. (December 8, 2016) It's so painfully accurate that it immediately brought back traumatic memories of my … [Read more...] about How to Write a Recommendation Letter

Why Your Job Cover Letter Sucks (and what you can do to fix it)

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An expanded and updated version of this post can now be found in Chapter  22 of my new book, The Professor Is In: The Essential Guide to Turning Your Ph.D. Into a Job. I am keeping a shortened version here, but for the complete discussion … [Read more...] about Why Your Job Cover Letter Sucks (and what you can do to fix it)

“You’re so Lucky…” and the Job Market – An Anonymous Guest Post

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An anonymous guest post.  Read this in conjunction with the piece that just came out this week on Chronicle Vitae, "The 'Joy' of Pregnancy in Graduate School."  I think it relates more broadly to the larger hostility to the idea of "wellness" also, … [Read more...] about “You’re so Lucky…” and the Job Market – An Anonymous Guest Post

Thoughts from the UK and Denmark

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Kellee and I are heading into the final week of our month in the UK and Europe!  We've had an absolutely amazing journey so far.   We visited the Universities of Aberdeen (thank you, Amy Bryzgel), where I did a talk on the US job market, and an … [Read more...] about Thoughts from the UK and Denmark