New Paradigms in Graduate Education
May 2013
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Contents: In this newsletter, we highlightnew perspectives in the debate over the value of the humanities and graduate education; reflections on the state of the academic job market; resources on alternative academic careers; analysis of a new study on alternative academic careers; resources on dealing with loans and finding health insurance post-PhD; debates on adjuncts and health care; advice for current faculty; and descriptions of the two New Paradigms in Graduate Educationsessions at ASTR 2013.
The Humanities and the Value of Graduate Education
Joshua Rothman, “The Impossible Decision,” The New Yorker, 23 April 2013.
An opinion piece about the decision to attend to graduate school
Tressie McMillan Cottom, “Does Blanket 'Don't Go to Graduate School!' Advice Ignore Race and Reality?,”The Chronicle of Higher Education, 15 April 2013.
Cottom considers the value of a graduate degree for black students.
On the Academic Job Market
Thomas J. Straka, “The Déjà Vu of Today’s Application Files,” The Chronicle of Higher Education, 7 May 2013.
Advice on how to make your job application stand out
“Play the Role of the Search Committee,” The Chronicle of Higher Education, 19 May 2013.
This interactive feature allows you to assess a field of job candidates, narrow down the pool of finalists, and choose someone to hire. The feature then reveals the search committee’s actual choice.
Lee Skallerup Bessette, “One of 500,” Insider Higher Ed, 20 May 2013.
Bessette reflects on the odds of obtaining a tenure track job.
John Warner, “Not Lottery/Not Meritocracy, What Is It?,” Inside Higher Ed, 22 May 2013.
Warner reacts to the Chronicle and Bessette pieces and the current state of the market.
On Alternative Academic Careers
How to Leave Academiacompiles a range of information and opinions on alternative academic careers. Aside from maintaining a list of relevant blogs, the site also collects information and personal essays that speak to the practical challenges and emotional transitions surrounding unemployment and leaving academia.
Resources for an Expansive Job Search: Humanities and Social Sciences
Katina Rogers, “Humanities Unbound: Careers & Scholarship Beyond the Tenure Track”
Rogers presents preliminary data and analysis from the Scholarly Communication Institute’s study on career preparation in the humanities.
Carl Straumsheim, “‘Alt-Ac’ Realities,” Inside Higher Ed, 30 April 2013.
Straumsheim responds to the data presented by Rogers in “Humanities Unbound.”
Brenda Bethman and C. Shaun Longstreet, “Beyond the Tenure Track,” Inside Higher Ed, 24 April 2013.
On the importance of alternative academic employees for higher education
Brenda Bethman and C. Shaun Longstreet, “Defining Terms,” Inside Higher Ed, 22 May 2013.
On the range of “Alt-Ac” careers. Also includes links to resources.
On Financial ConsiderationsPost-PhD
Dealing with Student Loans
Health Insurance
On finding health insurance
On finding health insurance when you have a pre-existing condition (includes state by state links)
On Medicaid and medical assistance plans (includes state by state links)
For Adjuncts
Sydni Dunn, “Colleges Curb Adjunct Hours,” The Chronicle of Higher Education, 22 April 2013.
On colleges cutting adjunct hours to avoid providing workers with health insurance
Sydni Dunn, “Adjuncts’ Advocates Call for Fair Treatment on Work-Hours Calculations,” The Chronicle of Higher Education, 23 April 2013.
On adjuncts’ advocates expressing concerns about proposed health benefits regulations to representatives of the IRS
Kenneth H. Ryesky, “Counting, Not Curtailing, Adjuncts’ Work,” The Chronicle of Higher Education, 6 May 2013.
A reaction to the IRS’s April 23rd hearings on employee healthcare and the Affordable Care Act
For Current Faculty
Robert J. Sternberg, “Self-Sabotage in the Academic Career, The Chronicle of Higher Education, 29 April 2013.
Advice for assistant professors
Michael J. Spires, “Rejection and Its Discontents,”The Chronicle of Higher Education, 20 May 2013.
Advice on assessing and revising a rejected grant proposal
New Paradigms in Graduate Education Sessions at ASTR
The Applied PhD (2 Hour Session)
Conveners:Valleri Hohman, University of Illinois () and Jen Schlueter, Ohio State University ()
This Working Session, sponsored by the New Paradigms in Graduate Education Committee, focuses on reconsidering applications of the doctoral degree in Theatre and Performance Studies. While traditional scholarship and academic positions may be one aim of students earning doctoral degrees in theatre and performance studies, graduates are increasingly applying their skills and knowledge outside academia. This roundtable will feature 5-6 panelists who are working in exciting arenas beyond academe in conversation with a university administrator who helps students navigate the diverse marketplace. The participants will discuss the various strategies they have used to find and/or make appealing opportunities, build networks, and apply for positions in government, arts administration, and industry. The roundtable will also point to the ways that our colleagues are still teaching, researching, writing, and creative problem-solving in their new careers. In their recent book,So What are You Going to Do With That? Finding Careers Outside Academia,authors Susan Basalla and Maggie Debelius use the term “post-academic” to refer to jobs and careers outside of the traditional scope of academia. They write about the continuity, rather than a rupture, that exists between academic work and careers outside of academia. In keeping with the post-thematic conference, this roundtable hopes to encourage expansive thinking about our work and its potential impact beyond traditional boundaries of “academic” and “non-academic.”
Invited Panelists are:
·Dr. Carolyn Bain, President, Bain Pugh and Associates, Inc. Strategic Communication/Creative Media
·Dr. Heather Barfield, CFO/ Business Director, Austin Creative Alliance
·Dr. Rebecca Hewett, Fellow, New York City Department of Cultural Affairs
·Dr. Wendy Meier, New media artist, interviewer, researcher and archivist
·Dr. Elizabeth Reitz Mullenix, Chair of the Department of Theatre, Miami University
·Dr. Judith Sebesta, Director of Distance Learning, Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board
·Dr. Richard Tharp, Director, Educational Theatre Programs and Workforce Development at Kaiser Foundation Health Plan
Format:
This working session is open to all ASTR attendees. Feel free to contact the conveners with any questions.
Career Session: Avoiding the A.B.D Cliff; Saturday, 7:30-8:45am
The time to degree for graduate students in the Humanities currently stands at a stunning 9.5 years with the majority of these years spent A.B.D.Attrition without completion is a growing concern for many doctoral programs in Theatre and Performance Studies.As an outreach of the Committee on New Paradigms in Graduate Education, this session provides resources and strategies for completing the dissertation in a timely manner to help graduate students avoid the “A.B.D Cliff.”
Facilitator:Michael Morris, Graduate Student, Tufts University
Respondents:Valleri Hohman, Assistant Professor, University of Illinois Urbana-Champagne
Elizabeth Son, Assistant Professor, Northwestern University
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