014: Positioning Women in Academia to Succeed with Dr. Kerry Ann Rockquemore, Founder of National Center for Faculty Development & Diversity

Fed up with campus politics and the “good old boys’” club, Kerry Ann Rockquemore moved out of academia to found an organization to help women navigate the brutal “publish or perish” world of academia. The National Center for Faculty Development and Diversity works with over 77,000 professors. Kerry’s experience in the academic world was very difficult, “miserable” as she says. She didn’t feel that academia was very open to women and particularly women of color and moved out to build an opportunity for women to live a great life AND be successful in academia. She doesn’t think of herself as an entrepreneur though much of what she’s working toward is identical to the motivations of the average entrepreneur. This conversation is a refreshing boost to anyone who’s struggling with the time crunch and demands of business.

She got fired from a program that she created… and that was her blessing in disguise.

Kerry Ann was a tenured professor. Her position was very secure and she loved the opportunity to teach eager new minds. Over the course of a few years she had conceived of and developed a very successful program of instruction that was working very well in her university. She was called in for a meeting to hear that the program was being promoted to a higher level within the school and would receive all kinds of funding. She was very excited, until her superiors told her that she wouldn’t be running the upgraded program. They wanted an “elder statesman” to be the figurehead and leader. That was her decision moment and the blessing in disguise that moved her to step out of academia and create a program of her own that she was free to run in the ways she wanted. You can hear how she turned this terrible turn of events to her advantage and moved into the entrepreneurial world in this episode of New SuperWoman Entrepreneur.

You have to become comfortable with experimenting if you’re going to succeed.

To learn more about Dr. Kerry Ann Rockquemore, visit www.EnoughPoint.com

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