Self-Compassionate Professor

Dr. Angela Gist-Mackey explains that her career journey began in advertising, but eventually she realized that not only was academia a better fit for her, it paved a path for her to fulfill a larger purpose. While in her advertising career, she experienced bullying by supervisors and was struck by the sharp differences in the organizational cultures in which she worked. Angela was fascinated by th...

Sarah Dobson tells her story about how her health challenges changed her career trajectory, how she maintained a foot in her research even after leaving the traditional academic path, and how she ultimately turned that work into her own business: helping researchers to write strong and persuasive grant proposals. Sarah also discusses how she has learned--and continues to learn--about self care. Sh...

Michelle Wilson describes her own experiences with toxic workplaces and bullying as well as her research and coaching on the topic. She explains that people who find themselves in such environments should do four things: 1) find a support system, 2) document, document, document, 3) engage in self-care, and 4) create an exit plan as soon as possible, even if it's ultimately not used. Find Michelle...

Dr. Jane Jones discusses her work as a book-writing coach to academics, how she came to create and build a business, and the identity work she did in order to feel strong and stable in her new work. Jane talks about why academia was not a good fit and how once she left, the heaviness of the burnout she had accumulated in academia dissipated quickly. Jane also explains why "alt-ac," as a term, is p...

Dr. Jennifer Scott tells her story about turning down her dream job for her "dream life." She also discusses how her love for teaching sustained her while she was on the difficult academic job market and describes how her post-ac job presented itself after someone who liked her tweets, offered her a job. Jennifer also imparts invaluable wisdom about creating and sustaining a career/life vision inc...

Angela Han talks about how she navigates two careers: lawyer and life-coach. She also talks about how breakthroughs often come after breakdowns, the discomfort of listening to and following your intuition, how she has found a way to rest on a foundation of self-trust, how personal growth is ongoing, and the importance of challenging your closely held beliefs. Angela's philosophies and practices ar...

Dr. Nicole Papaioannou discusses her journey from academia, to full-time work in instructional design, and finally, to freelancing/consulting work in instructional design. She discusses the wellness gap in her life when she was an academic and how, in her first full-time post-ac job, she was able to finally not only meet her needs for meaningful and challenging work, but also satisfy her needs for...

Dr. Kemi Doll explains that we need to clear our own compasses so that we know how to navigate our academic careers with meaning and purpose. She describes how she keeps her own compass clear with self-care, self-examination, taking time with herself, as well as planning and prioritizing her academic work according to her own true north. Kemi notes that many academics lose themselves to academic c...

Dr. Emily Crookston describes her reasons for becoming an academic and her realization, in a yoga class, that her life as an academic was one of suffering. In this episode, Emily describes the joys and challenges of pursuing an entrepreneurial path, including the freedom she has to create anything she wants and live wherever she wants as well as the uncertainty that characterizes such a path. She...

Dr. Brandy L. Simula explains how pandemic burnout is still very much with us and that it's important for us to give ourselves space to be human as opposed to expecting ourselves to show up fully--with 100% effort and totally on top of it--in everything we do. She explains how to make choices about what we put full effort into and what we don't, how to acknowledge to ourselves and others that life...

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 chang...

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...

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...

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 crea...

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...

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 transitio...

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 mor...

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...

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 n...

Dr. Shikta Das tells her story about transitioning from academia to industry. She talks about the challenge and importance of breaking free of social and cultural expectations as well as the necessity of acknowledging and acting on her own values so that she can leave a legacy she is proud of. 

Dr. Amani Said teaches us that doing the inner work of observing and changing our thoughts is key not only to finding peace, joy, and gratitude in the present, but also necessary for paving a dream career. She describes her own career transition journey, explaining that it was not until she became content in her present situation that she could begin to visualize her big career dreams. We discuss...

Dr. Mike Farmer discusses his search for workplace stability over the course of his career in industry and then in academia, where he first served as tenure-track faculty at a public university. More recently, he finds himself at a small private university where, as he explains, the university environment is more collaborative compared to the often competitive nature often found at larger public i...

In this solo episode, I show you how to answer the first set of questions on the decision guide for tenure-track faculty (Find the guide at https://selfcompassionateprofessor.com.). In this episode, we go deep! I ask you to get really honest with yourself about what you like and dislike about your current academic work and because this question may challenge your identity and the culture(s) of whi...

Dr. Gertrude "Gee" Nonterah discusses her decision to leave academia as well as her entrepreneurial spirit. She explains how she has leveraged her scientific background and online marketing expertise to not only create opportunities for herself in the freelance world, but also more recently, find her dream job as a science writer. Gee offers advice to other academics who also want to build a perso...

After two years unpaid leave from her position as a full tenured professor at the University of Puerto Rico, Dr. Cathy Mazak is about to finally exit the academy. Her once side hustle is now a thriving business where she earns much more money than she ever earned as a professor. In this episode, Cathy argues that academic work is actually more risky than entrepreneurship because at the university,...