Insights from AERA Emerging Scholars Workshop

This week, I was fortunate enough to take part in a workshop for emerging scholars of AERA - Division J (higher education). It was a wonderful opportunity to meet late-stage doctoral students in higher education, as well as a few people who, like me, are embarking on new careers as assistant professors. Facilitating the workshop were two senior scholars in the field, James Antony of Yale University and Susan Gardner of the University of Maine. Over the course of the workshop, we discussed various facets of an academic career, particularly the processes of applying, interviewing, and negotiating. Many of us took copious notes throughout the workshop, but in the spirit of diffusing the knowledge more broadly, I am sharing a few of the insights I learned here.

1. There is no "path." A recurring theme throughout the workshop is that we need to think more broadly about what a successful career means and how we get there. Rather than become preoccupied with the extent to which our first job is perfect or positions us well, we should focus upon doing good work no matter where we are. As James put it, "Bloom wherever you are planted." The reason that this insight was useful to me is because I often think that senior academics and higher education leaders have followed a similar trajectory, one that is rather traditional and involves little meandering. James and Susan both illustrated that there is no single path to follow and opportunities arise for which you cannot possibly plan. Don't count on a linear, sequential plan.

2. Seek out synergies in faculty life. One of the advantages of being a higher education scholar is that it is possible to make all three pillars of the profession (research, teaching, and service) align so that, instead of wearing and switching several hats, you can sport just one. As examples, James and Susan suggested serving on committees that intersect with your research interests. If you research doctoral education, take part in university service that draws upon and refines your expertise. The idea is to turn committee work into something productive and avoid segmenting life. "Something magical may come out of committee work."

3. Pay attention to context, beware of comparison. Many questions were raised during the workshop that cannot be answered without knowing the precise institutional parameters. That is, James and Susan often answered our questions with, "It depends upon the institution." They urged us to do our homework and not apply our experiences at one type of institution to questions regarding a different type of institution. Along these lines, a strand of thought running throughout the workshop is that comparison should be approached with some caution. This is particularly true when it comes to CVs: two people can be equally successful academics and have very different CVs. Startup packages at a research university should not necessarily inform negotiations at a comprehensive college.

4. Practice your pitch. All of us have already been asked, "What do you do?" Many of us are still searching for a good answer to this question, the magic bullet that somehow ties together our diverse interests. James and Susan suggested we write down a clear answer to this question, as it will come up frequently at conferences and in committees. Most importantly, when talking about your research and teaching, James pushed us to talk about it with some verve. Don't downplay your work. Convey your excitement and show that you believe it is important.

5. Work at the level to which you aspire. This point requires a preliminary caveat. The idea of switching schools was raised often, and it seemed to me that faculty mobility is more of a possibility than I realized. That being said, several people made the point that you shouldn't take a job just to get somewhere else. If you have aspirations to be at a certain type of institution or reach a high-level administrative office, position yourself for options by working at the standard of the places to which you aspire. Even if you decide never to leave, you will have excelled and added value at your institution, which is always a good thing. Again, simply do good work wherever you are.

6. Surviving the search. I wrote down a number of notes regarding the search for a faculty position. I'm going to throw out a few of them in list form. This is in no way, shape, or form exhaustive. I'll write a post with my experiences on the job market in the future.

• Don't pad your CV - stick to things that are truly in development, under review, or in press
• Give up on the 1 page cover letter - faculty jobs are multifaceted, and your skill set is too developed for a single page; at minimum, cover letters should cover research, teaching, and service
• There are widely varying levels of search sophistication - there are few rules, and someone you encounter will likely be an idiot who asks an offensive question
• Your negotiation does not stop after the offer - while remaining sensitive to context, don't be the person who doesn't receive anything because you never asked

7. Don't get caught up in the hype. This insight struck me because I often feel as though academic life is a never-ending quest for prestige that entails a fair amount of shameless self-promotion. And that can be uncomfortable, particularly for introverts. James reiterated that what matters most is that we stay true to ourselves. Working at a research university and publishing is one means of doing work that matters. However, it is certainly not the only way. In fact, most of us will likely end up at institutions that are not research universities. Colleges and universities of all types need intellectual, research-driven professionals. We should rise above our socialization as doctoral students at research universities, it seems.

8. Community! This wasn't verbalized during the workshop, but it was patently evident. One of the true joys of working in higher education and engaging in scholarly work is finding others who understand your experience in some way and help you process what I have come to see as one of the most strategic, mysterious, and folkloric careers imaginable. Quite simply, we need one another to collaborate, commiserate, and remind us that we are part of a long tradition of advancing knowledge and training the next generation of thinkers.

I'm grateful for the experience at AERA and look forward to seeing where we end up in the future. We can expect that higher education will undergo a phenomenal amount of change in the coming decades, meaning we can all plan for a fair amount of meandering as we continue our careers. Amidst all of the pessimism and critique of higher education, I saw a room full of leaders and scholars capable of bringing about dramatic change for the better. It makes me more excited than ever to be working in higher education.