Don't make this mistake

Calling all social justice academics--- do not make the same mistakes I did. Read on...



One of the biggest mistakes I see faculty make, and I mean faculty at ALL career stages, is staying in their institutional bubbles. First-year faculty and those 4 years from retirement, the same pattern. They absorb career making or breaking advice from only colleagues within their own institutions. The anthropology faculty member who has no professional community outside of State College. The chemistry assistant professor steeped in the internal culture of Private University. Unfortunately, their view of academic gets severely limited by the opinions of close colleagues who are very invested in maintaining the internal culture. Guess what? That internal culture may be not so great for your own well-being and career aspirations.



To be clear, our colleagues may not be aware that their advice is colored by the conflict of interest or the institutional cultural norms they have internalized. This sideways advice may be quite unconscious. They wish you no harm. Well, most of them wish you no harm. Bottom line- learning about your career options from academics…who work inside higher ed institutions…who work at your home institution…who work in your home department, is dangerous for you.

Conflicts of interest

What if you want to talk about leaving your institution? What if you want to consider leaving academia for corporate or non-profit work? What if you need advice on how to DO LESS? What if you want to pursue leadership opportunities? Internal friends and colleagues are going to have a difficult time processing these types of career moves with you. No doubt, there are golden, yet rare, academics who can put you first instead of prioritizing the university’s or department’s needs. In other words, your internal colleagues are likely to prioritize the dysfunctional systems over any one individual (you). But this is uncommon.



If you talk about spending less time on service, they may assume that means they end up on more committees in the future. As you contemplate leaving academia, they may feel threatened simply because leaving a faculty position feels scary for them. If your goal is to spend less time grading, that may have implications for their own sense of self as someone who kills themselves grading 600 papers each semester. And your leadership goals? Maybe they want to pursue the same paths and see you as the competition. Many (most?) people are unable to separate their own interests from your goals and what you are seeking out of life.

The career community you need

As social justice academics (SJAs), or any kind of academic, we need solid advice free of conflicting interests. We desperately need trusted confidantes and spaces for freely expressing what we are going through. More than we know, we need people and community connections that will prioritize our well-being and are not personally or organizationally invested in our career decisions. Compassionate communities outside one’s university may be the most underutilized, yet most essential, career resource for SJAs.



That brings me to my current mission in life. Over the past few years, I designed and facilitated a group program, called Choose Your Own Adventure, for SJA’s to dig into what they truly want out of life and career (recognizing those are not separate spheres). I also hosted a few weekend retreats designed with compassion and community at the core of our creative career goal-setting. We deprogrammed harmful academic socialization, made revolutionary transformations, and embarked on creative career paths with the utmost vulnerability and community support for each individual. 



All of this is great, but so few people can access the experience. How do I get this information, the process, and the community to MORE social justice academics so that we can thrive as whole humans?



Two things I am going to do about it

"Choose Your Own Adventure" course series



One way I can get this transformational program to more of you is to convert the curriculum to a course-series. So that’s what I can going to do. At $1500, the group falls outside of the professional funds we can access via our institutions or our own personal finances. The Choose Your Own Adventure course series will be much more affordable, accessible, self-paced, and available on demand when you need it. This summer, I hope to make several of these available to you. Courses will cover figuring out what you REALLY want in this life, embracing your inner badass, letting go of fear-based decisions, decluttering your career, clarifying your goals, and curating your most supportive and reliable community. That last one leads me to my next solution:



Your community and SJA family



In some ways, this solution already exists. I already host a community of SJA’s on the Mighty Networks platform. All too often, programs come and go in our lives, and we are left with isolation trying to figure out how to apply information and make huge changes in our lives. That’s too hard to do alone. We all know that mega change requires a solid support system. With that in mind, I am working on a new model for bringing people into the community with an annual fee or a one-time lifetime fee. I can tell you that this space is brave, vulnerable, caring, ultra-supportive, and has each individual member’s best interests at the forefront. My vision is to provide monthly (or more) themed sessions for our SJA community focused on curating creative careers as well as topics of interest to the community as they arise. Stay tuned!



What do you need from your SJA community?

If you have ideas, drop me a note. My individual client consultations and group program revealed a long list of SJA needs that home institutions fail to address.
You are welcome to add your voice to that list.