By Dr. Bedelia Richards Bio: Bedelia Nicola Richards, PhD is an Associate Professor of Sociology in the Department of Sociology and Anthropology at the University of Richmond. Her scholarship is motivated by the desire to transform higher education institutions into spaces where students and faculty from historically excluded and marginalized groups can thrive. Her prior research has […] The post How White People Weaponize “Expertise” in Conversations about Race(ism) – Guest Post appeared first on The Professor Is In ..read more

Guest Post by Dr. Tamara Yakaboski BIO: After two decades as a professor and administrator, Tamara Yakaboski, PhD, works as a resilience coach and organizational consultant help individuals, leaders and their teams, and community shift into regenerative resilience and reconnection with purpose and values to make a positive impact in life, work, community, and Earth. She […] The post Leaving Academia: The Ins and Outs of Career Grief – Guest Post appeared first on The Professor Is In ..read more

#Dispatches Returns: How are you navigating ChatGPT in the classroom?  After a hiatus, #Dispatches From the Frontlines returns! This series crowdsources questions of interest to our followers. From the wild to the weird, we ask you–and you deliver! This week’s question – How are you navigating ChatGPT in your teaching and assignments? We all see that […] The post #Dispatches ChatGPT in the Classroom appeared first on The Professor Is In ..read more

Guest Post by Dr. Lillian Banks ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ These days, cautionary tales about “pretendians” abound in academic circles. And with good reason—non-Indians cashing in on the currency of genocide is not a good look. This is not that kind of tale: it’s a story about what happens when ethnic identity is reduced to looks. I am […] The post Careful What You Look Like – a Guest Post appeared first on The Professor Is In ..read more

by Finnegan Shepard Finnegan Shepard is a trans writer, entrepreneur, and ex-classicist with 1/3 of a Phd in philosophy from the University of Cambridge and 3/4s of an MFA in fiction from UNM. He is the founder of Both&, the fastest growing brand serving the emergent market of trans and nonbinary consumers. He is also […] The post Both-And: Non-Binary Style in Academia – A Guest Post appeared first on The Professor Is In ..read more

The pressures of academia helped fuel over a decade of addiction for me. How many of our colleagues suffer in silence? Guest Post by Dr. Bryan Pitts   My name is Bryan, and I’m a drug addict. It’s one thing to say this in a 12-step meeting, quite another to admit it in a public […] The post Addiction and the Unmanageability of an Academic Career – Guest Post appeared first on The Professor Is In ..read more

Our last post was a guest post about Weaponized Incompetence in Academia.  The author, Susan Cholette, wrote: “Do you find yourself pulling together the materials for the multi-section introductory course tutoring site because your fellow instructor complains about how that newfangled LMS system confounds them? Or do you always bring the cupcakes for orientation sessions because others bemoan how they are hopeless in the kitchen? Dealing with weaponized incompetence in academia is especially challenging because it tends to pop its lazy head up in that third part of the job that Administr ..read more

Guest Post by Dr. Susan Cholette Do you feel like your job description is Mom and that some of your colleagues act more like flaky teenagers when it comes to certain chores? Are you writing that report because you can’t trust that other committee members will turn in their part on-time or without serious flaws? Are you organizing a communal event with a fellow faculty that can’t or won’t help with any of the planning details?    You may be a casualty of Weaponized Incompetence.* Weaponized Incompetence is when someone feigns being unable to do a task well so that another will en ..read more

I know, I know it’s summer (actually writing this on July 4 which I do not celebrate) but Fall is coming and if you know you’re going to be applying for academic jobs (because we are all, every one of us, suckers for punishment in one way or another), then here is help at a special reduced price. Because everything is just really weird, and hard right now, and it’s my first and foremost goal to deliver advice for the academic job search that a) does not gaslight you; and b) prioritizes your mental, physical, and financial health. And while offering job search advice in July might seem co ..read more

I just finished another Interview Intervention (a service where you hire me to conduct a role play interview based on the ad and institution; right now it’s slow season and we can get you on the calendar almost immediately) and once again found myself explaining to the client that the interview is a *performance*, a performance which bears very little relation to the work you’ll actually do if hired. Allow me to present: The Interview Dance (TM) Ballet The Greatest Dancer GIF   Yes, academic interviews are places to deliver well organized and brief sound bytes that efficiently communicate ..read more