This post shared by a reader. ~~~~~~~~~~~ An intercepted email from a dean at Boston University to faculty and staff reveals that the administration is responding to poverty-like conditions among its grad students by sending out links to food … [Read more...] about Boston U Dean to Struggling Grad Students: Go To the Food Pantry – Guest Post
Ph.D. Poverty
Call it Real-Ac
At the start of every talk that I give on the academic and post-academic job market, I state that in a decades long reality in which only 5-35% of PhDs (depending on field) will get tenure track jobs, the so-called "non-academic" job should NOT be … [Read more...] about Call it Real-Ac
How (Not) to Negotiate a Tenure Track Salary
It's offer season, and negotiations are underway. I have written a lot about negotiating tenure track offers; here are some links: Part VII of my book, on Negotiating OK, Let's Talk About Negotiating Salary Will My Offer Be Rescinded If I … [Read more...] about How (Not) to Negotiate a Tenure Track Salary
Chasing Rainbows – An Adjunct Farewell
An email I received earlier this year. If you are confronting a similar situation, remember that my post-ac team can help, and the initial consult is completely free. At this point, I am giving up. This interview was my last real shot at … [Read more...] about Chasing Rainbows – An Adjunct Farewell
Starving the Beast
"I'm glad it's sunny out today. Because it sure is dark in here." So said a grad student during the Q and A following my talk last week at the University of Oregon. The talk, "Hacking the Academic Job Market," is a talk that I've given at almost 50 … [Read more...] about Starving the Beast
Ph.D. Debt Survey Revisited
Remember my Ph.D. Debt Survey (who could forget it?) -- my crowdsourced google spreadsheet from 2014, of volunteered reader debt information from their undergraduate and graduate studies? (It's still open--feel free to add your own info using the … [Read more...] about Ph.D. Debt Survey Revisited
The “Tenuous Track” (A Guest Post)
by Anonymous, Ph.D. Given that the vast majority of faculty members now teach off the tenure track, landing one of these coveted positions feels like winning the academic lottery. Before accepting my current tenure track position, I was actually … [Read more...] about The “Tenuous Track” (A Guest Post)
On Foregone Earnings, or the Economics of Adjunct Life (A Guest Post)
by Russ Burgos In August 1994, at age 31, I started graduate school in the hope (widely shared) of becoming One Who Professes. In May 2015, at age 52 and stuck in the adjunct life like a bug on flypaper, I rather wish I hadn’t. It’s the money, you … [Read more...] about On Foregone Earnings, or the Economics of Adjunct Life (A Guest Post)
Update on My Book: Blurbs, Reviews, and a Promotion
The book inches closer to actually existing in the material world (August 4)! It has gotten some lovely blurbs by amazing people, like this one by the inimitable Rebecca Schuman: “If you would like your academic career to begin in delusion and end … [Read more...] about Update on My Book: Blurbs, Reviews, and a Promotion
My Graduate School Debt and Post-Ac Life (A Guest Post)
This post is by Honey Smith (pseudonym), a staff writer for the personal finance blog Get Rich Slowly. By the time I finished my PhD program in rhetoric and composition, I was geographically bound by my partner’s job -- as an attorney, he made … [Read more...] about My Graduate School Debt and Post-Ac Life (A Guest Post)