June 7, 2002

An Immodest Proposal: Have Children in Graduate School

By KATHRYN LYNCH

I have an immodest proposal for academic women: If you have the desire and a willing partner, don't be afraid to have children while you are in graduate school.

Combining parenthood and professional life is particularly difficult for academic women. That is a truism I have heard from colleagues, encountered in the pages of The Chronicle and other publications, and even repeated myself to administrators. But for a long time, I resisted it in my heart. It didn't square with my own

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