Given the ubiquity of recommendation letters in graduate school admissions processes, fellowship applications, job searches, and promotion cases—particularly in North America, it’s pretty wild that there isn’t more attention paid to this genre of writing. 

Why is it that faculty receive such little training on how to craft letters of recommendation? Especially when these letters can have a critical impact in an evaluation process? 

In this 29th episode of the Rise with Clarity Podcast, I’m going to be reflecting on this mysterious, yet ubiquitous genre of writing. I also provide some strategies on how to better manage the labor that is entailed in writing these letters.

Find the full transcript for this episode at RisewithClarity.com/29, along with all of my other podcast episodes and other useful resources for women of color faculty in higher education.

Dr. Katherine Lee is a Higher Ed Coach and Career Strategist and a former tenured professor at an R1 university. She helps women of color faculty to manage the tenure track, navigate politics, and take the next steps to advance their careers. To find more resources or to work with Katherine, check out her website at: Rise with Clarity.

It’s now been a little over one year since I’ve left my tenured faculty position and launched Rise with Clarity, my coaching and consulting business for women of color faculty. In this 28th episode of the Rise with Clarity Podcast, I wanted to offer some of my reflections on having left academia, one year out. Find the full transcript for this episode at RisewithClarity.com/28, along with other useful resources for women of color faculty.

Dr. Katherine Lee is a Higher Ed Coach and Career Strategist and a former tenured professor at an R1 university. She helps women of color faculty to manage the tenure track, navigate politics, and take the next steps to advance their careers. To find more resources or to work with Katherine, check out her website at: Rise with Clarity.

As you probably already know, grant writing usually involves a significant investment of time and labor. And after a long period of waiting to hear from the funding agency, this process may or may not yield a positive result for you.

But one thing is for sure. If you don’t apply for the grant, you will certainly NOT receive it.

In this 27th episode of the Rise with Clarity Podcast, I’m going to be talking about applying for grants and fellowships as part of your life as an academic. And I want to reflect on the planning phase as well as setting expectations for yourself during the grant application season.

Find the full transcript for this episode at RisewithClarity.com/27, along with all of my other podcast episodes and other useful resources for women of color faculty in higher education.

Dr. Katherine Lee is a Higher Ed Coach and Career Strategist and a former tenured professor at an R1 university. She helps women of color faculty to manage the tenure track, navigate politics, and take the next steps to advance their careers. To find more resources or to work with Katherine, check out her website at: Rise with Clarity.

For many of you, you’ve likely made it through your first week or two of classes and you’re slowly starting to get back into the rhythm of teaching, research, and writing. But if this is your very first time on the tenure track, all of these new experiences can feel quite overwhelming and sometimes disconcerting. And because you have 6 years to achieve tenure at your institution, the stakes feel high to you.

In this encore broadcast of the third episode of the Rise with Clarity Podcast, host Dr. Katherine Lee offers some guidance on how to better manage your first semester as a WOC faculty on the tenure track.

Find the full transcript at RisewithClarity.com/26, along with other resources for women of color faculty.

Dr. Katherine Lee is a Higher Ed Coach and Career Strategist and a former tenured professor at an R1 university. She helps women of color faculty to manage the tenure track, navigate politics, and take the next steps to advance their careers. To find more resources or to work with Katherine, check out her website at: Rise with Clarity.

This episode reflects on the narrow set of expectations that are often cast upon academics in higher ed. In North American institutions of higher ed, there are prescribed milestones set up for us, like landing a tenure track position and achieving tenure. In this 25th episode of the Rise with Clarity Podcast, I talk about the importance of being able to name and honor your personal milestones as well as your academic ones.

Find the full transcript for this episode at RisewithClarity.com/25, along with all of my other podcast episodes and resources for women of color faculty.

Dr. Katherine Lee is a Higher Ed Coach and Career Strategist and a former tenured professor at an R1 university. She helps women of color faculty to manage the tenure track, navigate politics, and take the next steps to advance their careers. To find more resources or to work with Katherine, check out her website at: Rise with Clarity.

Is this fall going to be your first semester teaching as a professor on the tenure track? If so, congratulations on your new position and this big transition to the professoriate.

Conceptualizing and developing a course syllabus may be a first-time experience for you. And it may seem daunting. You might feel compelled to devote the entire summer to crafting your syllabi.

In this 24th episode of the Rise with Clarity Podcast, I’m going to be sharing some observations as well as some tips on course and syllabus prep for those of you who are brand new to teaching. And I hope that some of these observations and tips will be helpful for you in your preparations.

Find the full transcript for this episode at RisewithClarity.com/24, along with all of my other podcast episodes and other resources for women of color faculty.  

Dr. Katherine Lee is a Higher Ed Coach and Career Strategist and a former tenured professor at an R1 university. She helps women of color faculty to manage the tenure track, navigate politics, and take the next steps to advance their careers. To find more resources or to work with Katherine, check out her website at: Rise with Clarity.

For today’s episode, I want to open up a discussion on some of the unique challenges that foreign-born faculty, in particular women faculty, face in universities and colleges in the United States. 

I come from a place of seeing and knowing former classmates, friends, colleagues, and acquaintances who have gone through different hurdles than what I have experienced as an Asian American who was raised in the United States by immigrant parents from South Korea. 

And I also come from a place of deep curiosity, because I know that there is a wide spectrum of experiences that we don’t hear very much about.

So I’d like to invite you to share your own stories, experiences, and challenges with me or more publicly if you prefer. 

I think that people in higher education—especially in the US context—can really benefit from hearing more of your candid stories and your experiences.

You can find the full transcript for today’s episode at RisewithClarity.com/23 along with all of my previous podcast episodes and other resources for women of color faculty.

Dr. Katherine Lee is a Higher Ed Coach and Career Strategist and a former tenured professor at an R1 university. She helps women of color faculty to manage the tenure track, navigate politics, and take the next steps to advance their careers. To find more resources or to work with Katherine, check out her website at: Rise with Clarity.

Are you in a toxic higher ed work environment?

Should you stay or should you leave? 

There’s no easy answer to these questions…especially if you have invested a lot of time and energy in landing a tenure track position in today’s higher ed job market. 

Deciding whether to stay or leave entails a lot of reflection, some soul searching, the weighing of pros and cons, and if you do end up leaving--planning out your next moves. And unfortunately, this is often a decision that you can’t speak that openly about. 

In today’s episode, I discuss questions you may want to ask yourself if you want to leave your toxic work environment. I’ll be introducing the concept of “Change Talk” as a way to engage more concretely in your thinking and any next steps that you may want to take.

Find the full transcript for this episode, along with other resources for women of color faculty at RisewithClarity.com/22.

Dr. Katherine Lee is a Higher Ed Coach and Career Strategist and a former tenured professor at an R1 university. She helps women of color faculty to manage the tenure track, navigate politics, and take the next steps to advance their careers. To find more resources or to work with Katherine, check out her website at: Rise with Clarity.

It’s one thing to identify and acknowledge that you are in a toxic higher ed workplace, and another thing to figure out what you’re going to do about it. 

What are your next steps?

In this 21st episode of the Rise with Clarity Podcast, I’m going to be offering  6 questions that you can ask yourself if you want to stay at your current institution.

Find the full transcript for this episode as well as additional resources that I’ll include in the transcript at RisewithClarity.com/21.

Dr. Katherine Lee is a Higher Ed Coach and Career Strategist and a former tenured professor at an R1 university. She helps women of color faculty to manage the tenure track, navigate politics, and take the next steps to advance their careers. To find more resources or to work with Katherine, check out her website at: Rise with Clarity.

How do you respond to your various deadlines and projects in higher education? In my case, I wasn’t very skilled at managing my deadlines at the beginning of my academic career. Over the years, I’ve had to learn how to cultivate time management skills, prioritize, and create systems to support my various projects. 

Most importantly, I’ve become more aware of how I personally approach and handle deadlines that involve research and writing.

In this 20th episode of the Rise with Clarity Podcast, I want to talk about deadlines in higher ed. Because this is something that all academics have to deal with on a regular basis. And I’d like to offer you some insights on how to manage your deadlines with more ease and even grace. 

Find the full transcript for this episode, as well as links to additional resources that I will include at the end of the transcript at RisewithClarity.com/20.

Dr. Katherine Lee is a Higher Ed Coach and Career Strategist and a former tenured professor at an R1 university. She helps women of color faculty to manage the tenure track, navigate politics, and take the next steps to advance their careers. To find more resources or to work with Katherine, check out her website at: Rise with Clarity.