Self-Compassionate Professor

Dr. Suchitra Shenoy Packer left her tenure-track job in order to relocate for her husband's new job. She did not want to give up her academic job, but she was committed to her family and marriage. Although she describes her exit from academia as emotionally difficult, she was comforted by her research about the diversity of meanings people attribute to their work and as she grappled with her changing identity, she started a blog for multicultural families, became an artist, and began working toward elementary teaching. She is now grateful for all the opportunities for self-discovery she has had since leaving academia and explains that had she not left, she would never have known all that she was capable of. You may reach Dr. Suchitra Shenoy Packer at [email protected]. 

Dr. Özgün Ünver explains how academics may be at greater risk of burnout compared to the rest of the population. She also describes how burnout manifests differently for different people, types of support one might want to seek when in burnout, as well as her own experience with burnout. Özgün also discusses the necessity of turning into difficult emotions as well as practicing self-acceptance and self-compassion when healing from burnout. Registration for her 4-week free course on burnout closes August 1, 2021. Sign up at https://www.mindyourownrevisions.com. 

Dr. Carol Parker Walsh explains the importance of listening to the inner voice that is telling you to do something else in your career. If you do not listen, she explains, you will not only continue an unmotivated and uninspired existence in your current career, but you will likely experience a spiritual-emotional-intellectual death. Carol explains that we regret not what we have done, but what we haven't done in our lives. Her coaching work addresses these issues, helping high-achieving (mostly) women to develop deeper relationships with themselves so they not only hear their inner voices, but listen to them, and take action on their behalf. Find Dr. Carol Parker Walsh at https://www.carolparkerwalsh.com. 

The Sabbatical Program holds space for YOU so you can find the inner peace necessary to make a sound, clear, and confident career decision about whether or not to leave academia as well as what career pieces you want to try on, and what career pieces you want to put down. I will teach you how to rest, how to create a career vision, and how to take concrete steps toward that vision. The Fall 2021 Sabbatical Program includes a private weekly podcast, weekly self-study exercises, weekly group coaching sessions, and if you choose, up to three discounted one-to-one coaching sessions. Sign up at https://danielledelamare.com. Doors close July 22. See you there! 

Dr. James Hedges, Director of Professional and Continuing Education at Westminster College, is devoted to understanding, negotiating, and managing the relationship his institution has to the chaotic and shifting environment within which it now finds itself. James describes his work, compares it to the work he did as a faculty member, and offers lessons learned from his current role: chaos can create opportunities, negotiation and confidence is key, discussing workplace issues with colleagues is important and therapeutic, and opening to and accepting ambiguity and failure is necessary, among others.  

In this solo episode, I continue what I started in Episode 62: I walk you through how to answer the questions on the decision guide about whether or not to leave academia for tenure-track faculty (Find the decision guide at https://selfcompassionateprofessor.com). I discuss how to create enough space for yourself so that you can answer the second set of questions as fully as possible. And drawing on research in Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, Mindful Self-Compassion, and Organizational Behavior, I show you how to create space for your career vision by clearing space in your mind, identity, emotions, and present experience as well as explain how to make space for your values and inspired career actions. Creating such space will help you to answer the second set of questions in the guide and help you to begin building a vision infused with integrity. 

Randy Olson left his tenured professorship twenty-five years ago to attend film school in California. There, he learned how to use narrative to improve science communication and now, as he puts it, he runs "Randy Olson University," where he teaches scientists and others to communicate using the framework he has poured many years of work into, writing five books on the subject. The career transition he made was long and difficult, but as he explains, having fun and accepting "slow periods" when they emerge are key to resilience.  

Dr. Malik Boykin discusses the important role "self-authorization" has played in his career as both an academic and hip hop artist. That is, rather than allowing others to direct his path, he authorizes himself to do the things that are important to him: setting big career goals, prioritizing his mentorship and research, and being willing to change course if his academic career becomes nothing more than stress. In this conversation, Dr. Boykin explains how his music is heavily influenced by his academic work as well as how self-authorization helps him to find wellness and balance. Find him at https://www.malikstarx.com/.  

Interpersonal development coach, Thomas Gelmi, explains how cultivating a deep relationship to self is key to fostering safe working environments, connecting authentically to others, collaborating, as well as experiencing clarity, creativity, and peace. Whether you are trying to repair broken working relationships, feel healthier in your academic career, decide whether or not to leave academia, or make a career pivot, this episode offers helpful tools and inspiring advice.  

Dr. Liz Smith explains how women often discount their own potential to run for public office, the necessity for women to be surrounded by a supportive community when taking the leap into a political career, and the challenges of running a campaign. Liz also talks about being called to run for office and how, despite great risk and uncertainty, she summoned the courage to do so and won! Liz Smith now holds the Office of Gunnison County Commissioner in Colorado. This episode is full of hope.