Care Work and Academic Motherhood: Challenges for Research and Tenure in the Canadian University

In Canada, women are earning an increasing number of doctoral degrees; yet, they are less likely to secure a tenure-track position. A feminist thematic analysis of semi-structured interviews with 20 academic mothers from two Canadian universities reveals the range of challenges that mothers encounter in relation to care on the tenure-track. First, the theme of “fear of post-partum academic erasure” captured faculty mothers’ experiences of feeling compelled to assert their physical and intellectual presence in post-partum during peak periods of infant care. The second theme, “the mommy tenure track and care choices,” encapsulated academic mothers’ experiences of feeling unsupported by the university in their pursuit of promotion and tenure given care responsibilities associated with motherhood. The final theme, “research while caring,” captured the tensions academic mothers experience between the research process and caring. The findings of this research are particularly relevant in a pandemic and post-pandemic environment, where academic mothers have seen their care work swell to unprecedented proportions.

Karen Salyer McElmurray

Born in Topeka, Kansas, where her father was serving in the air force, Karen Salyer McElmurray has deep Kentucky roots, with family connections to Floyd and Johnson Counties. The first person in her family to attend college, McElmurray earned a BA from Berea College, an MFA from the University of Virginia, an MA from Hollins University, and a PhD from the University of Georgia. McElmurray left a tenure-track position at a university—an uncommon step for an academic—to teach writing in more varied settings and to pursue a career as an author of fiction and nonfiction and as an anthologist....

An Intersectional Love Story

As a lesbian couple working in academia, you might imagine that the authors have similar experiences. However, once you add race and ethnicity to the mix, the equation changes beyond measure. This chapter will focus on the different paths that two lesbians take to leadership positions in academia. Often referring to ourselves as “professionally gay,” the authors tell their stories from “slightly” different lenses: the White woman with a PhD who moved to a rural town for a tenure-track position and the Black woman with a Master's degree who took positions such as “assistant to the administrative assistant.”

Excerpt from Auggie’s Revenge

Auggie’s Revenge is Alex Kudera’s comic crime novel about academic labor in urban America. In the city of brotherly unemployment, instructor of philosophy Michael Vittinger shares an adjuncts’ office far removed from any full-time or tenure-track position. After more than a decade of teaching, Michael still lives paycheck-to-supermarket in a small studio apartment. In the following excerpt, Vittinger gets stood up at the bar by his girlfriend, encounters less fortunate street dwellers on his way to securing affordable comestibles at the local convenience store, and retires for the evening to watch frisky bears on late-night television.

Pre-tenures remain survival wise: How to survive your first year in a tenure-track nursing faculty position

Objective: There are many challenges when starting a nursing tenure track position. This experience exchange paper reflects on a pre-tenured faculty member’s experience during their first year in their position in a university setting.Methods: Tips for surviving the first year of a pre-tenured faculty position using Grylls’ four survival priorities are reflected. Bear Grylls’ advice for outdoor survival adventures can be applied to academia. The survival priorities of Protection, Rescue, Shelter and Water (Food) (or Pre-tenures Remain Survival Wise) are discussed in terms of knowledge gained, development of relationships and the pursuit of opportunities and resources available.Results: It is essential to maintain a positive attitude and learn as much as possible to launch an academic career successfully. Practical tips are explored and exchanged.Conclusions: It is important contemplate in this academic survival scenario, enacting in nursing tenure-track position, the concept of the Darwinian theory of evolution. Reminding us the continued existence of organisms that are best adapted to their environment, with the extinction of others who are not. There is a need to be flexible, resourceful and open-minded when entering academic position.

Traveling the Road of Research: Stories of Teaching and Technology

This autobiographical account relates the journey of becoming a critical teacher researcher.. Through critical refection and analysis, the cultural, historical, and social contexts of research, teaching, and technology use are described as lived experience. Rich narrative accounts exemplify personal and professional experiences before and during the professoriate in a tenure track position.

Currere, Unexpected Journeys, and Unplanned Destinations in Academia

A sudden change of teaching placements forced my return to graduate school at the age of 40. Transformative graduate school learning resulted in the completion of a Ph.D. and earning a tenure track position in teacher education. This essay uses Pinar’s four steps of currere provide a lens to examine the past, look toward the future, take opportunity to look backward to the past while examining the present, and then re-enter the present. Mezirow’s transformative adult learning theory lends guidance for understanding why older adults may be uniquely poised to navigate successfully the complex maze of academia.