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[anonrightnow]

After reading the posts under "Balancing", specifically about how women are paid less and have a hard time on the tenure track with children. . .I am wondering, "Am I crazy for applying to be chair of a department?" 

I have recently been awarded tenure and I have young(er) children.  I wouldn't mind leaving my current job (for various reasons), and  have applied for a of couple chairships. I am starting to wonder if I can do the job and do it well.  I have an extremely supportive spouse and, depending on location of the job, might have family support.  However, after reading various posts, I am starting to wonder if a chairship can be balanced with my family life.  Of course I wouldn't take a chair position without tenure, but I want to do a good job and be a positive influence on the department in which I work.

Anyone women with children out there having success being a chair, professor, and a mom?  I would love to hear if you think it's doable and how you do it.

[ursula]

Perhaps the thread title should read "Mothers and chairships", to reflect what you're really asking about?

[tenured_feminist]

What kind of job are you looking for? Because if it's at a R1, do NOT accept a headship until you have your research ducks in a row to go up for full. You will get tagged as a service hound and an administrator, and in 15 years all you'll get is a nice lunch at which everyone thanks you for your selfless devotion to the department before you head back to a full teaching load with no prospects for promotion.

This, by the way, applies to anyone thinking about moving into a chair role of a medium-to-large department at an R1, regardless of family circumstances.

[anonrightnow]

"What kind of job are you looking for?"

Well, I am looking at a chair position at a medium-sized, state/regional university.  I have been promoted to Assoc. Prof. recently, but I would like to move on.  I do want to move into a chair position, but still have some time for my family/children.  I was just wondering if there were any other mothers in fora land who were chairs and how they were doing.

I don't want to have to do tenure all over again, and have always been interested in chairing a department.

Perhaps the lack of responses is providing me with the answer I seek, or perhaps ursula is correct, so I changed the subject line.  We'll see.

[prytania3]

I've had two women chairs and both had grown children. I would not have considered the job until my kid was grown, but then I'm a single parent. From what I could see, they put in a lot of hours.

[drdrdr]

I am a few weeks in to being chair of my department (not huge, absolutely speaking, but good-sized for our school- about 22 full-time faculty, plus others).

My children range from 7-13; I am already neglecting them more as chair than I did before.

With administrative jobs, you lose the flexibility of being able to displace work to a more convenient time for you.

The beauty of my job, prior to being chair, was that I was able to work around my children's needs.

Small children are not usually able to put off their needs and problems until it is convenient for you to deal with them.

If you take a chair position, I can foresee irresolveable conflicts in the demands on your time from the position as chair and the need to care for your children, unless you have somebody in one or both positions to take up the slack (an associate chair at work, or a spouse or other caregiver at home).

This applies to fathers, as well as to mothers, in such positions.

[anthroid]

It really depends.  Note:  I don't have kids, but I do have an active life away from the university.  I roll into the office around 7:30 and, most days, I'm gone by 2 or 2:30; I rarely if ever take a lunch and just eat at my desk.  Granted, I do some work at home and, occasionally, on the weekends (mainly class prep or scholarship).  Sure, occasionally there are meetings that may last until 4 or so, and there are the occasional Saturday recruiting or academic advising sessions (every few months--and I get my faculty to help out).  But most of the time this is an incredibly manageable job.  The only difference, really, is that there is more face time--I'm on campus every day, including during breaks--and that I'm in the classroom less.  I have less time with students but more leadership possibilities.  Now, folks sometimes say that the pay reflects the effort you make.  My faculty frequently say, "well, that's why you're paid the big bucks"--while I make more than many of them, it's because I have an 11 month contract instead of their 9 month one, and I work during those other 2 months.  I earn a reasonable associate professor's salary in 9 months and get 2 extra months to reflect 2 months of campus presence.

I have a great administrative assistant who takes much of the clerical burden off my shoulders, and a faculty who are, by and large, quite committed to the endeavor as well.  I could not have the flexibility I have if that was not the case.

But folks who give you horror stories about how hard the job is, and how many hours it requires, don't reflect everyone's experience.  True, it can be very hard, but it isn't necessarily because it's a 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. day.  It also can be very, very gratifying.  So go ahead and give it a shot.  BTW, I'm at a regional state u myself.

[derosa]

My two cents...

I am a father.  I became chair of a 15-member department when my daughter was a year old.  She's 5 now.  My wife's profession allows for much less time flexibility than mine.  One might consider me the primary caretaker of our daughter (although I really don't like the sound of that...nor would my wife).

Clearly flexibility in scheduling is a real advantage for academics.  After that it is about organization and working efficiently.  I certainly don't put in 7am to 6pm-type hours.  In addition to managing the department, I am fairly heavily involved in service to the institution beyond my department.

For me, over the last few years, my scholarship has suffered.  But that is fairly common for chairs, I suppose.

So, for me, I have been able make it work just fine.

[dundee]

My previous department's chair was the mother of grown children, so childcare was not an issue for her. However, I do want to say that while she worked hard and was the best boss I've ever had, she certainly wasn't in the office every day, nor for really long hours. I'd estimate that she was on campus four days a week for six hours at a time, on average, plus the occasional evening and weekend events. It was a department of about 20 people, with a great administrative assistant and a few student workers.

[anonrightnow]

Thanks for the responses thus far.  I couldn't figure out how to change the subject heading, but I'm am thankful for all the responses. I am interested in how people with lives outside of academia (males and females) are making chairships work and not engulf them/their lives.

A position I am keen on, and have applied for, is a dept. of about ten faculty/staff. The other position is a department of three/four (including the chair). 

Although I believe I would enjoy (and be good at) chairing a dept., I keep thinking I am crazy to move my family after having just secured tenure. 

I was recently invited to a campus interview for a non-chair position, (I applied before the tenure decision) and turned it down because I don't want to go through the tenure process again.  But, a chair position (with tenure) is different......

Ugh, all experiences/thoughts welcome.

[pixel]

I see you made your decision. I will tell you that IMHO you did the right thing. The Chair position has got to be one of the hardest on campus. You're faculty ranked, (and do have to go up for tenure) but you are not necessarily teaching. The hours are long, and with small children, and keeping up with your research, well...

[mellonia]

I'd like to echo tenured_feminist, and suggest that if you aren't close to becoming a full prof, even with tenure this move can be risky for your career.  I am female but childless, and am associate chair of my 40-member department, and a tenured associate prof.  The (male) chair's term ends in August and I was asked to step up.  And I won't.  So I guess I'm projecting on to you, but my experience is different from what some others have said--my chair is on campus every day, all day (he leaves 'early', at ~5, to get his kids from after-school care), 11 months a year.  I know he works at home evenings and on weekends to keep his research going.  And still his research has suffered, as did that of his predecessor, as has mine as associate chair.  Though I get brownie points for service, of course, when I eventually go up for full prof my research program will absolutely be paramount--because the standards for promotion are clearly written in my university's policies, and a strong research program is expected.  And that is the point.  If you are within a year-ish of throwing your hat in the ring for promotion, OK.  But otherwise, you run the risk of scuppering your career prospects, and being seen as a service provider but not a fellow academic.

And I guess that I think that administrative service by women, though adored by upper admin (you're a diversity statistic!), is often perceived as 'less than' among the ranks (because service is natural for nurturing females or some such nonsense).  As associate chair, it was appropriate that I be nominated to be the next chair.  But some people with no admin experience (ie never even ran a committee within the dept), same exact career stage as me (we went up for tenure at the same time), but with grey hair and testicles, were courted more strenuously than I was.  I laugh about it, but really, give me a break.  I'll probably be chair at some point but will have to weigh what I believe I can accomplish against the problem of being taken less than seriously because I am female and look younger than my age, no matter what my record shows I've managed to do.  If you do go on campus interviews, I think keeping your antennae tuned for subtle sexism would be a good idea.  It will of course depend on the department and university culture--and hopefully it won't be an issue, but on top of the difficulty balancing work and family, and being an associate rather than a full professor, being female might make it hard to be effective as a chair.  Older kids, and full prof rank, and you just have one thing impacting your potential effectiveness, is I guess how I see it.

Sorry that was so long!  Good luck with your decision.

[anonrightnow]

I see you made your decision. I will tell you that IMHO you did the right thing. The Chair position has got to be one of the hardest on campus. You're faculty ranked, (and do have to go up for tenure) but you are not necessarily teaching. The hours are long, and with small children, and keeping up with your research, well...

Actually, I haven't made any decision. I did turn down an interview for an Asst. Professor position, but that's it thus far.  I am still waiting to hear about the chair positions I have applied for thus far.  I am reading, with great interest, all the advice; I am taking it all in, believe me.

My research falls under creative activity, so, in a sense, it's a bit different.  However, I realize that creative activity would lessen if I'm the chair of a department. 

My children are young, but the position I would really like would provide me grandparent support, so I that's why I'm considering/wanting it!

[sheinthespirit]

Well, this is interesting, because I stepped down as chair.  For all the reasons you and the others have stated.  Some other things too, but mostly because of the havoc it wreaked on my personal life.

I have a small child (under 5) and full time daycare, when I don't have to do it is expensive and feels wrong.  When I know/knew that I could work 3-4 days (with exceptions) and spend more time nurturing my child.

It is a huge divide. The newest chair has kids, attending school full time.

My only advice is to think about it long and hard. I loved the work.  I was good at it.  I would do it again under different circumstances (and more money). But, I would definitely wait until my child was in school full time (by law) not by force. Then I could avoid the guilt I experienced.   

Also, I am not condemning folks who send kids to childcare every day.  It just doesn't feel right for me for so many hours a day.

All the best.

[bigsky]

It sounds like you do not have previous chair experience, is that true? I can't imagine going to a new institution, tenured or not, and trying to learn the ropes as a new faculty member AND new chair. Honestly, when I look at the time my chair (single, female, grown children) puts in and all the crap she puts up with it makes me wonder why anyone in their right mind would want to be chair. She definitely seems to like it and has grown into the position. I really couldn't imagine doing it with young kids though.