FIRST PERSON Betrayed by Your Adviser A dissertation shows your potential as a scholar; it shouldn't simply be a long footnote to your mentor's glorious career. THE TWO-YEAR TRACK The Community-College Interview The odds are against candidates who are unfamiliar with our values and don't speak our lingo. FIRST PERSON Sabbatical Blues You don't ask for a yearlong leave to do some ordinary piece of work, but to produce the "big one." It seemed feasible at the start. FIRST PERSON Ready for Round 2 What is the best way to respond to a conference interviewer who says, "I don't see the scholarly value of your work. Care to comment?" BALANCING ACT Working Toward Motherhood If male academics don't have to choose between their personal and professional goals, an assistant professor wonders, why should she? An Academic in America Leaving the Academic Village It's time for professors to abandon the genteel pose of being aloof from the sordid marketplace. CAREER TALK Switching Sides For Ph.D.'s who can't find, or don't want, a teaching job, but would like a career on a campus, what are the options? HEADS UP What Conspiracy? Faculty members are all too willing to adopt an "us versus them" attitude toward administrators but it's never that simple. FIRST PERSON Were the Road Signs Wrong? A junior scholar reconsiders the advice he got from senior professors on how to win tenure. FIRST PERSON The Professor as Instant Messenger Determined not to be left behind, a faculty member decides to become IM buddies with her students. MS. MENTOR Isn't It Romantic? Eager scholars could spend years reading up on how hard it is to have a romance in academe, without ever emerging to see if it's true. FIRST PERSON Not a Counselor What, exactly, is a professor to do when confronted by a student with psychological problems? FIRST PERSON What Next? Awaiting word on his tenure case, an assistant professor finds himself starting, and abandoning, new projects. FIRST PERSON Yielding to Convention Instead of merely torturing himself at one big academic conference, an assistant professor opts to attend two. HEADS UP Facing the Facebook Unless we reassess our high-tech priorities, issues of student insensitivity, indiscretion, bias, and fabrication will consume us. MS. MENTOR What if I Don't Know the Ropes? Just because most of the rules for academicians are unwritten doesn't mean you're not supposed to learn them. AN ACADEMIC IN AMERICA Don't Call Me Thomas How can I give a C to someone who is close enough to me to use my first name? FIRST PERSON A New Job and a Hurricane As she heads back to work, an assistant professor feels lucky to have only lost the experience of being a new faculty member in the normal way. FIRST PERSON The Academic Path to Hollywood You, too, can guide famous filmmakers through the thickets of historical or scientific accuracy. FIRST PERSON Cutting the Cord When it's time for some Big Life Decisions, it's eerie to discover that your advisers can no longer make them for you. FIRST PERSON Vertigo on the Market Combine a new baby, a full teaching schedule, and a job search, and your head would be spinning, too. An Academic in America Reference Works and Academic Celebrity The unsung heroes of the humanities are the anonymous editors of books that most of us use nearly every day. FIRST PERSON With a Little Help From My Enemies The writing was slow-going, and she felt herself losing interest. She needed motivation. She needed a nemesis. CATALYST So Happy Together If you're a scientist who is not used to collaborating with nonscientists, you'd better get used to it. FIRST PERSON On Guard When you're up for tenure at a teaching-oriented college, every time you teach feels like it has to be a masterwork of pedagogical achievement. BALANCING ACT Keeping Up Appearances A Ph.D. thought her transition from graduate student to faculty member would be a good time to lose weight. Somehow, things got out of hand. FIRST PERSON Do Not Fear the Blog Until recently, it had never occurred to a graduate student that her blog and her professional fate might be connected. FIRST PERSON My Credentials Gap He has a Ph.D., publications, a book contract, great teaching evaluations, and experience. What he doesn't have is the right pedigree. CAREER TALK Go Ahead, Haggle Fail to negotiate your first job offer and you risk sacrificing thousands of dollars in potential income. AN ACADEMIC IN AMERICA Principled Mediocrity How many of us, as teachers, have encountered a student or colleague whose talents were greater than our own? FIRST PERSON Entering the Fog A green professor is tapped to serve on a curriculum-policy committee and learns how faculty governance really works. FIRST PERSON Plotting Our Strategy An academic couple begins a search for two tenure-track jobs in the same field and the same city. THE TWO-YEAR TRACK Crisis Management You're teaching a night class when a student confesses to suicidal thoughts. The counseling office is closed. What should you do? HEADS UP We Want Change; No We Don't An outside candidate for a department chairmanship finds himself asked to pick a side before he's even joined the battle. FIRST PERSON The Smell of Indoctrination in the Morning Why can't an undergraduate think more like a Ph.D.? FIRST PERSON Going on Sabbatical The gap can be wide between what you hope to achieve during a year off and what you actually do. FIRST PERSON The Dark Side of the Moon A Ph.D. in history who landed a great job on the wrong continent wants to come home. AN ACADEMIC IN AMERICA Productive Procrastination Avoidance can be highly fruitful, provided you have plenty of things to do while postponing the most dreaded task. HEADS UP Interim and Untenured An assistant professor who used to wonder what his department chairman did all day finds out the hard way. FIRST PERSON By the Numbers, Please Writing a self-evaluation for his tenure case, an assistant professor wishes someone would just tell him what to say. THE TWO-YEAR TRACK Know Thy Students The truth about community-college students often flies in the face of long-established stereotypes. FIRST PERSON Have Baby, Will Travel An assistant professor with a good tenure-track job decides it's not quite good enough. FIRST PERSON The Sixth Time's the Charm A Ph.D. in the social sciences shares a few lessons she's learned after five years on the market. FIRST PERSON Turn and Face the Strange Is it ever a good idea for an applicant to tell an interviewer that he looks like an aging androgynous rock star? MS. MENTOR Bored by Department Meetings Few faculty meetings are actually dull, Ms. Mentor says, because almost all have hidden agendas. FIRST PERSON Being Bad A job candidate makes a case for misbehaving a bit during the interview. FIRST PERSON Free Fall Two job offers would seem an embarrassment of riches, except when you have to make a decision on the first with no assurance that the second will even be offered. FIRST PERSON Pushing Them Through To be a strong dissertation adviser, you have to learn to distinguish your own skills and limitations from those of your students. AN ACADEMIC IN AMERICA Saving Secondhand Bookstores Used bookshops are as essential to scholarship as the availability of open stacks in campus libraries. FIRST PERSON A Lateral Move A dual-career couple moves to a university that looks a lot like their old one -- with a few crucial differences. FIRST PERSON The Hollywood Mouse and the Ivory Tower Mouse The glamorous lives of Los Angeles yuppies can inspire jealousy in a Ph.D. student, but only for an evening. FIRST PERSON E-Application Etiquette An online application system is convenient but it can lead to a glut of candidates and other problems for search committees. FIRST PERSON What Small Colleges Really Want If you're applying to a college that emphasizes teaching, ignore your mentor's advice about what to include in your cover letter. FIRST PERSON When Hitting Reply Means Forever The problem with using an e-mail list to discuss a search is that the new hire can go back and read what everyone wrote. It's not always pretty. FIRST PERSON Talking About It Why do academics never talk openly about sexual attraction between professors and students? FIRST PERSON How I Learned to Love Economics A new Ph.D. emerges from the the stresses of the academic job market with a new appreciation for her field. CATALYST Playing It Safe With Research Risk Fail to follow the rules and you could conduct an entire project and be forbidden to publish the results. Here's what you need to know. FIRST PERSON Dressing the Part Unlike their male counterparts, female professors have little choice but to watch what they wear in the classroom. FIRST PERSON Tenure Epiphanies Two years after earning tenure, an associate professor finally comes to realize what it means for his career. FIRST PERSON Master (or Mistress) of Your Domain Creating a Web site for your latest book will not only showcase the work, it will help your case for tenure and promotion. FIRST PERSON Celebrated, not Just Tolerated A black economist chooses a supportive department in a nowhere town over chilly colleagues in a more vibrant city. FIRST PERSON The Perfect Offer An academic couple learns the crucial different between recruitment and retention. FIRST PERSON Teaching With MS Part of the challenge for a professor with multiple sclerosis is figuring out what to tell her students. BALANCING ACT The Dual-Career Divorce You negotiated a job for your partner as part of your hiring package. Then he dumped you. Can't you negotiate his firing? FIRST PERSON Looking Like a Professor Does how you dress in the classroom say anything about your teaching style? FIRST PERSON Arrested Development? The elimination of an academic unit is not unlike the cancellation of a television sitcom, with one glaring exception. FIRST PERSON Stacks' Appeal Even if you never have sex in a great library, you can have moments there that are almost erotic in their intellectual intensity. FIRST PERSON Death and Wheatgrass An assistant professor finds that teaching and grieving are a surprisingly well-matched pair. ACADEMIC ASSETS The Bankrupt Professor A tenure-track faculty member who once succumbed to the lure of plastic tries to dig herself out. FIRST PERSON Ph.D. in Hand One half of an academic couple hopes that those three words will make all the difference in his job search come fall. BALANCING ACT Getting Back on Track A Ph.D. in sociology who left academe to raise a family finds few departments welcoming her return. FIRST PERSON The Grass Isn't Greener A senior professor who spent the spring teaching in Europe finds that faculty work there can be far more problematic than in the States. MS. MENTOR Lab or Love Nest? In the heat of the summer, Ms. Mentor finds that some of her correspondents have very humid imaginations. FIRST PERSON Let the Experiment Be Made It's easy to panic about online education at liberal-arts colleges, but one faculty member makes the case. FIRST PERSON Game Over A couple of game-studies scholars, who aren't a couple in the romantic sense, come up short in their dual job search. CATALYST Postdocs Across the Pond If you can work out the logistics, Europe offers plenty of opportunities to American postdocs in the sciences. BALANCING ACT So, What's in It for Me? When faculty members ask that question, what they really mean is "What's in it for my family?" FIRST PERSON Me and My Big Ideas An assistant professor finds that you can make a difference at a small college, but not without a lot of work. THE TWO-YEAR TRACK The Impersonal Touch Too many community colleges put themselves at a serious disadvantage in recruiting with perfunctory job interviews. FIRST PERSON Academic Flame Wars Not only are blogs and online forums potential time wasters, they also breed civil war and anarchy within departments. FIRST PERSON Scholarly Debts The problem with taking a research sabbatical at partial pay is that your expenses aren't reduced by the same proportion. FIRST PERSON All Humanists Will Be Assimilated An English professor confesses that some educational technologies actually make teaching more enjoyable and intellectually exciting. FIRST PERSON No Harm Intended Teaching a class on torts offers a new law professor endless opportunity for dark humor -- until she realizes that a few students aren't laughing. CATALYST The Mysteries of Grant Budgeting Let the sponsored-projects folks spend years mastering federal rules about research costs. Here's what you need to know as an investigator. FIRST PERSON A Short, Strange Trip A Ph.D. in English from a mid-tier university finds his dream job just down the road. FIRST PERSON The Price of Indifference Even in academe's tight labor market, the hiring committee is supposed to woo you a little bit, isn't it? THE ADJUNCT TRACK Integrated and Informed It's not too much to ask, says a part-time instructor, that she be treated as if she belonged on the campus. FIRST PERSON I Walk the Line A professor at a small college finds that the boundary between friendliness and friendship can get very blurry in dealing with students. FIRST PERSON Wake Us When It's Over A married couple of assistant professors -- he a psychologist and she a chemist -- await word on their promotions. THE TWO-YEAR TRACK Don't Waste My Time Why do so many community-college instructors who go back to graduate school find it tedious and unrewarding? MS. MENTOR How Dysfunctional Is Your Department? You cannot force people to be warm, wise, or witty, but most can be taught to be civil. FIRST PERSON No Extra Credit For You If it's exam week, it must be time for students to make those last-minute pleas for leniency. FIRST PERSON Life After the Death of Theory An assistant professor in the humanities tries to teach himself not to care about the Next Big Thing. FIRST PERSON No Longer a Desperado Come fall, a Ph.D. in religious studies finds he will actually be teaching on the tenure track, instead of making sushi or parking cars. CATALYST Reproductive Success for Working Scientists As a female ready to contribute your highly trained brain and your genetic material to society, what can you do to succeed at both? FIRST PERSON Becoming a Learner Again In order to be a better teacher, sometimes you have to become a student again. FIRST PERSON Grading Blues When you sit before a stack of ungraded blue-book exams, anything seems preferable to the task at hand. FIRST PERSON A Career-Making Performance For music professors, one of the keys to getting that first tenure-track job is a strong showing during the interview recital. BALANCING ACT It's All an Illusion An untenured academic mother decides that she can't do it all, so she's just trying to look like she can. CATALYST Words Worth Their Weight in Cash The narrative section can make or break a grant proposal. Don't make yours easy to eliminate. FIRST PERSON Diary of a Joint Search, Part 3 How does an area-studies program maneuver to gain the upper hand in a joint search with a more powerful department? FIRST PERSON Class Notes More than ever, faculty members are being recruited to raise money for their departments. headsup The Necessity of Mobility A chairman explains why departments often shy away from hiring too many Ph.D.'s from local universities. BALANCING ACT When You Don't Fit In A biologist wonders why, after five years, her small-town college still doesn't feel like home. FIRST PERSON The Worst Building on the Campus Tired of aging facilities, a humanities professor arranges to teach in his college's new science center. But are the scientists on to him? FIRST PERSON Part Gatekeeper, Part Huckster A graduate-studies director finds that the admissions season demands a Dr. Jekyll-and-Mr. Hyde approach to applicants. FIRST PERSON Team Job Interviews Two scholars in game studies share what it's like to perform the interview gantlet with a partner. FIRST PERSON Settling In An assistant professor realizes in his fifth year on the tenure track that he's actually come to view his college as home. THE ADJUNCT TRACK Dear Adjunct Faculty Member So maybe the official memorandum didn't exactly read like this one. But it might as well have. FIRST PERSON Teaching: the View From Poland The realities of working in an overstressed educational system hit home for an American scholar on a Fulbright. FIRST PERSON An Academic Wanderer Accepts Tenure The intoxication of dreaming about the next new place has left a Ph.D. with a hangover, and a desire, finally, to stay put. FIRST PERSON A God in Colchester It is probably inevitable that some variety of "celebrity" will become a quantifiable part of the average academic job. FIRST PERSON Deadlines and Due Dates In academe, the work of teaching and research never really ends, and that is the reward. FIRST PERSON In Search of a Room With a View While he's not proposing an academic version of feng shui, a professor does believe a course can be different depending on the classroom. CATALYST The Buck Starts Here An experienced grant writer offers tips on how to improve the odds that your grant request will get financed. FIRST PERSON Becoming More Productive Are you spending more time on tasks that will not help your tenure case than on work that will? Here are some tips for turning that ratio around. HEADS UP The Fourth Factor for Hiring Research, teaching, and service are the big three, but there's one more criterion that interviewers need to evaluate -- attitude. THE TW0-YEAR TRACK Cattle Call About to serve on a search committee at a community college? Here are two common complaints to avoid. FIRST PERSON Too Many Dissonant Notes A music professor who prides himself on his cultural sensitivity suddenly finds it wanting in the classroom of an urban university. FIRST PERSON Up for Tenure Together A married couple of assistant professors -- he a psychologist and she a chemist -- await word on their promotions. BALANCING ACT Are Your Parental-Leave Policies Legal? Many institutions' aren't, says a law professor, but a best-practices model is now available that is worth adopting. ALL IN THE GAME Who's In Charge Here? For Stanley Fish, the evaluation of teaching by students amounts to a whole lot of machinery with a very small and dubious yield. FIRST PERSON Conference Man Returns to the MLA A tenure-track professor thinks that maybe it's time to stop attending his discipline's annual convention. CAREER TALK Next Question? Two graduate career counselors answer questions from Ph.D.'s about the academic job market. FIRST PERSON All Dressed Up ... An ecologist goes on the job market again, and finds that he is not the same candidate this time around. BALANCING ACT The Bachelorette in Academe A Ph.D. in history finds that a rural, small-town campus is no place to be single. FIRST PERSON Who Really Benefits? An academic parent sees his employee tuition benefit as a boon for his pocketbook but wonders if it will limit his children's educational options. FIRST PERSON Should a Mentor Be a Friend? A tenured mentor fears that he is too emotionally invested in his relationship with a young colleague. FIRST PERSON A Couple of Rare Birds How can you summarize two scholarly careers in a single two-page cover letter? THE TWO-YEAR TRACK Are 2 Master's Better Than 1? A veteran of the two-year-college market mulls the advantages for applicants prepared to teach in more than one field. FIRST PERSON Diary of Joint Search, Part 2 An area-studies program maneuvers to overcome its weak position in a joint search with a traditional department. MS. MENTOR Don't Be Docile Ms. Mentor advises some overworked female faculty members to stop being stoic workhorses. ALL IN THE GAME> One University Under God? What will succeed high theory and race, gender, and class as the center of intellectual energy in academe? Religion, says Stanley Fish. FIRST PERSON Just What Is a Dossier? A job-seeking couple would gladly provide a department with any information it wants, if only the pair could figure out what that is. FIRST PERSON My Secret Stash of Books on Tape An English professor confesses that it was the spoken word, and not the written one, that first drew him to literature. FIRST PERSON Being There At first, a scholar on a Fulbright kicks himself for not requesting a better location. But soon his temporary home reveals its charms. FIRST PERSON In but Not Of Academe A new assistant professor finds that his conservative politics mean he will never quite fit in on a campus. THE ADJUNCT TRACK Not Exploited A Ph.D. who toiled in low-paid academic jobs for four years says he would rather be called a fool than a pawn. BALANCING ACT Part-Time Single Parent When you love your family and your job, sometimes you've got to put pressure on one to enhance the other. MS. MENTOR They're Just Not That Into You Sometimes, Ms. Mentor says, winning over your foes is impossible and your best course of action is to move on. FIRST PERSON Failing to Motivate Why does a poor grade inspire one student to do better and cause another to do worse? FIRST PERSON 4th Quarter and the Home Team's Behind A married couple of assistant professors -- he a psychologist and she a chemist -- prepare to go up for tenure this year. FIRST PERSON Tireless Research Assistants Every RA needs to understand that the job is mostly about protecting your faculty employer's time and mental energy. CAREER TALK Next Question? Two graduate career counselors answer questions from Ph.D.'s about the academic job market. BALANCING ACT Cancer, Children, and Career For a pregnant professor, diagnosed with cancer, suddenly earning tenure was no longer her life's biggest challenge. FIRST PERSON Doctoral Student, Scholar, Baby Sitter? In the annals of graduate-student exploitation, there's one form of mistreatment that has gotten little attention. FIRST PERSON Polish Autumn An associate professor of history continues to chronicle his Fulbright year in Poland. MS. MENTOR Where Are the Bodies Buried? Should senior professors air the department's dirty laundry with new recruits or keep a demure silence? FIRST PERSON Expatriate Teaching In his first year teaching overseas, a historian experiences culture shock, budget woes, and more than a little anti-Americanism. FIRST PERSON A Cheating Heart Three years into the relationship, an assistant professor in the sciences begins to get cold feet. FIRST PERSON Doing My Best? A veteran faculty member who has landed three community-college jobs wonders why a fourth has eluded her. FIRST PERSON My Own Private Library An assistant professor suspects that he is a scholar because he is a bibliophile -- rather than the other way around. FIRST PERSON My Four Minutes The key to a successful television interview, a professor learns, is finding a way to give the answers you've prepared, no matter what questions are asked. BALANCING ACT Part-Timers on the Tenure Track More women are persuading their institutions to let them work a reduced schedule on the tenure track. THE ADJUNCT TRACK Why Do I Do This? Teaching here, writes a lecturer, is like being in a bad marriage that looks good to outsiders. FIRST PERSON Game for Anything Academic couple seeks open-minded institution for nontraditional relationship. FIRST PERSON Starting Over An assistant professor with a drinking problem tries to regain control over his life and work. FIRST PERSON Missing Summer Already Back on campus, an assistant professor mulls the wisdom of the faculty tradition of summers off. FIRST PERSON Trailing Spousedom Watching Gwyneth Paltrow, as Sylvia Plath, fume at being stuck in her husband's shadow, a pair of spousal hires get a jolt of recognition. FIRST PERSON Prepare for Departure A historian begins a chronicle of his Fulbright year in Poland. FIRST PERSON Just Deserts A new assistant professor wonders about the price of ascending the academic ranks. FIRST PERSON Diary of a Joint Search An assistant professor begins a three-part series on how a traditional department and an area-studies program go about hiring a faculty member together. MS. MENTOR Her Partner Stole My Job Aside from murder, does a job candidate who lost out to a spousal hire have any options? FIRST PERSON The Attrition Bug With his junior colleagues departing for greener pastures, an assistant professor fears for the future of his department, and his social life. FIRST PERSON Dead Professor Walking Besieged by admirers after being denied tenure, an assistant professor feels like she's attending her own funeral. FIRST PERSON On Being a Fat Professor Summer means there's time to get in shape, but fall returns with the usual temptations. FIRST PERSON Searching for Sinister Motives A new assistant professor learns how not to start off on the right foot. BALANCING ACT Stuck in Transition In the weeks after a miscarriage, a young scholar finds writing about her professional development to be too daunting. CAREER TALK How to Get Unstuck Readers share their stories about how they got themselves out of a career rut. FIRST PERSON A Good Speech Asked to deliver a baccalaureate address, an assistant professor reflects on some of the speeches he has had to endure. FIRST PERSON What Savings? Academe, says a soon-to-retire professor, is not structured to help faculty members accumulate savings early in their careers. FIRST PERSON A Comedy of Errors Is it too much to ask applicants to spell my name correctly, a vice president wonders? FIRST PERSON Silencing Huck Finn A professor sets out to teach students a lesson on censorship and book banning, and learns one himself. BALANCING ACT Making Time Faculty members who are not teaching during the summer have all the time in the world to do research. That's the problem. FIRST PERSON Collegiality Lessons The one skill that her mentors in graduate school failed to teach her was how to schmooze. ALL IN THE GAME The Case for Academic Autonomy A prerequisite for academe's survival is distinctiveness. Without it, says Stanley Fish, we haven't got a prayer. FIRST PERSON An Adviser Without Advice Hadn't I learned from my own experiences the folly of giving career advice to young people? FIRST PERSON Taking Care of Your Life No one survives a 40-year career in this business, or any business, without confronting personal tragedy. FIRST PERSON When the Honeymoon Is Over At some point, the courting ends and the hot young Ph.D. has to peel potatoes like the rest of us. FIRST PERSON Fending Off a Plagiarist An assistant professor found herself having to prove that her dissertation was really hers. MS. MENTOR A Fraud and a Great Teacher Should a cheater who also happens to be a great teacher be outed or protected? FIRST PERSON Is Graduate School a Cult? For anyone who has been in graduate school, the mind-control practices of cults will seem weirdly familiar. FIRST PERSON It's OK to Say No Rejection -- whether you're the one being turned down or the one declining an offer -- is not always a bad thing. FIRST PERSON On Your Marks We are not alone, those of us who indulge in procrastination and get irritable when grading. We are legion. FIRST PERSON Life Lessons from Football To appreciate the rush of work and life, a Ph.D. reminds himself to ponder less and yield more. FIRST PERSON Grateful for Tenure, but ... Is it normal to feel trapped once you finally earn tenure? FIRST PERSON Switching Disciplines A Ph.D. in psychology struck out on the market in his own field, but landed on the tenure track in a related one. FIRST PERSON Music to My Ears A highly regarded music program wouldn't be interested in hiring a community-college teacher, would it? FIRST PERSON Office Doors What do the images and captions that professors tape on their doors say about the occupants inside? FIRST PERSON A Good Search The academic market is rough, jobs are in short supply, and hiring committees can be cruel. But those aren't the only stories. FIRST PERSON Notes From the Hiring Season A department completes another round of faculty hiring, despite badly worded job ads and internal philosophical disputes. MS. MENTOR Academic Failure Ms. Mentor counsels an academic spouse who fears that her husband is going to be denied tenure. BALANCING ACT Falsely Accused A Ph.D. sacrifices her career to follow her academic spouse and finds herself accused of sexual harassment. FIRST PERSON Enjoy the Walk Now that his search for a tenure-track job is over, a Ph.D. in English savors the journey. FIRST PERSON Shyness and Academe For the introverted scholar, who happily spends days alone, the social interactions of academic life can be brutal. FIRST PERSON Two Lives Become One Just when she had reconciled herself to living 1,000 miles from her partner indefinitely, a Ph.D.'s luck changes. ACADEMIC ASSETS Taking Your Questions A financial planner with expertise in advising academics answers questions from our readers about Social Security and other money matters. FIRST PERSON The Benefits of Eavesdropping An assistant professor improves his teaching by "invading" his colleagues' privacy. BALANCING ACT Not the Catch Can a trailing spouse ever make it to the tenure track? A Ph.D. who landed a job through her husband's appointment has her doubts. FIRST PERSON Death of the Reader When a young scholar's mentor dies suddenly, she realizes the profound loss of the one person who understood her work completely. MS. MENTOR Terrified by Graduate Students A new assistant professor who feels inadequate teaching graduate seminars seeks Ms. Mentor's counsel. FIRST PERSON On the Market An assistant professor of music continues her search for an opening at a college where the students want to learn what she has to teach. FIRST PERSON Living Well A house, a family, a garden, possessions -- all of those things undermine professional mobility in academe. FIRST PERSON Remembering the Old Lions For all their gruff aloofness, the old lions of the faculty were extraordinarily effective teachers. FIRST PERSON A Search Committee Starts Over After being snubbed at the last minute by its top candidate, a department in the rural South tries again. FIRST PERSON Getting Tenure After years of anxiety on the path to tenure, a newly promoted professor tries to appreciate the moment. FIRST PERSON Adventures in Trade Publishing Having written his first trade book, an assistant professor wonders why he has to hawk it, too. THE ADJUNCT TRACK The Half-Time Track After 16 years of splitting his time between two campuses, an adjunct decides he wouldn't have it any other way. FIRST PERSON I'm Professor Nobody After 13 years as a "visiting lecturer," an adjunct makes it to the full-time ranks as a "lecturer," and finds she is still invisible. FIRST PERSON Teaching and the Butterfly Effect Can the small events that transpire over the course of a 60-minute class period change someone, somehow, for the better, for a lifetime? FIRST PERSON Complain, Complain A scholar who has never taken a sabbatical wonders why so many academics gripe so much about their work. MS. MENTOR Are You the Retiring Sort? Retirement, says Ms. Mentor, crouches like an elephant in the middle of the floor at countless faculty meetings. FIRST PERSON On the Market An assistant professor of music who is searching for a new job wonders if she has the right kind of doctoral degree. BALANCING ACT So, What's the Inside Scoop? An insider's information about a job opening can be as off-base as an outsider's ignorance. FIRST PERSON Eccentric Professors With their bizarre behavior and magnificent obsessions, oddball academics are a glue that holds together the culture of an institution. ACADEMIC ASSETS How to Prosper Your ability to make sound investment decisions at each stage of your campus career can influence how everything else turns out. FIRST PERSON Hung Over Again An assistant professor fears he is throwing away his career one drink at a time. BALANCING ACT From Spousal Hire to Single Mom What happens when an academic couple breaks up and the spousal hire with a half-time appointment needs a full-time job? FIRST PERSON Road Signs to Tenure A junior scholar asks his elders about what to keep in mind as he prepares his bid for tenure. ALL IN THE GAME Intellectual Diversity As a genuine academic value, intellectual diversity is a nonstarter. As an imposed imperative, it is a disaster. FIRST PERSON In Defense of LPU's A dean of science makes the case for publishing research results piecemeal to boost your CV. MS. MENTOR Private Lives Volunteering too much information is not in your best interest, Ms. Mentor says, and it might "frighten the horses." SPOTLIGHT Fewer Jobs in Foreign Languages The number of faculty openings in foreign languages this academic year is projected to decline by more than 10 percent. BALANCING ACT Job Sharing on the Tenure Track Two academics opt to share a faculty position and a half to make time for their children. FIRST PERSON Ignoring My Inner Lawyer A former adjunct finds that the tenure track gives him the freedom to be a better teacher. CAREER TALK Answering the Mail Should a tenured professor explain to hiring committees why he is on the job market? Our columnist answers that question and others. FIRST PERSON Search Committee Virgin An assistant professor serves on his first search committee and picks up a few pointers for his own dossier. FIRST PERSON The Academic Pyramid Club The getting and giving of letters of recommendation is a chain of favors constantly repaid. FIRST PERSON Never Mind An assistant professor who thought about quitting academe has a change of heart. FIRST PERSON Interviewing at a Two-Year College A veteran faculty member offers advice on how best to prepare for a job interview at a community college. FIRST PERSON To Spurn a Star Big-name scholars are used to being courted, but sometimes they're just not right for the job. MS. MENTOR The Tenure Gloat You've won tenure despite your critics' best efforts. Is it OK to rub it in? FIRST PERSON Just Another Leftist Loon A new assistant professor pens an Op-Ed piece criticizing President Bush and gets an earful. FIRST PERSON No Respect When students are disrespectful, it is usually because they feel disrespected by the teacher. FIRST PERSON Faith, Persistence, and Luck An assistant professor of English needed all three to survive the academic job market. FIRST PERSON Lessons in Time Management For new assistant professors, the most difficult challenge is learning how to schedule their time. FIRST PERSON Number Crunching A new assistant professor takes a peek at his colleagues' salaries and sees his future. FIRST PERSON RateMyBuns.com Ask a stupid question -- How sexy is your professor -- and you'll get a lot of stupid answers. FIRST PERSON To Retire or Not? Professors hired back in the era of mandatory retirement are caught between the instinct to leave at 70 and the drive to keep going. BALANCING ACT A Family Affair When an assistant professor of English goes out on the academic job market, it's not just his future at stake. FIRST PERSON Grading on My Nerves Faced with the chore of grading papers, a professor develops a powerful aptitude for evasion, delay, and self-protection. CATALYST Raising the Research Bar? Science professors at teaching-oriented universities say the pressure to get grants has intensified. MS. MENTOR Academic Frauds Should a doctoral student be allowed to hire an editor to help write her dissertation? FIRST PERSON On the Market An assistant professor, who looks likely to win tenure this year, is nonetheless going on the job market. Why? BALANCING ACT When Tenure Isn't Enough Overworked and unhappy, a tenured professor decides she wants out. FIRST PERSON College and the Fall Settling in to the rhythms of academic life, an assistant professor wonders what happened to his self-righteous anger? CAREER TALK Pregnant on the Job Market If you are pregnant and interviewing for a job, what should you tell potential employers? And when? FIRST PERSON Equal Pay for Equal Work A part-time faculty member makes the case for paying adjuncts proportionately to full-time professors. SPOTLIGHT Beauty and the Brains Good-looking professors consistently outscore less attractive ones on student evaluations of teaching, a new study finds. FIRST PERSON The Tenure-Track Diaries How many times can you recycle lesson plans before you, and your students, get bored? MS. MENTOR Keeping a Lid on Your Blog Should a young student be dissuaded from revealing too much on his blog? FIRST PERSON Give Us a Chance Job candidates are desperate for tenure-track openings. So why does a department in the rural South keep getting the brushoff? FIRST PERSON On the Market Sophie Ruscello likes almost everything about her first tenure-track job -- except for the students. BALANCING ACT Part Time by Choice A tenured professor goes out on a professional limb to get a life. CAREER TALK The CV Doctor Returns Our experts evaluate the vitas of four faculty-job candidates and an administrator seeking to move up. FIRST PERSON Life in Mutation A historian adapts both personally and professionally to his wife's cancer. BEYOND THE IVORY TOWER Cappuccino Dreams You've just quit the tenure-track job for which you've trained your entire life. Now what? FIRST PERSON On the Market An assistant professor, fearful that his college may shut down, starts searching for a new job. FIRST PERSON Shameless Self-Promotion Having a successful academic career largely depends upon your talents at tooting your own horn. MS. MENTOR In a Fall Funk Ms. Mentor observes that many academics feel victimized in the autumn by the clueless and the uncaring. MS. MENTOR In a Fall Funk Ms. Mentor observes that many academics feel victimized in the fall by the clueless and the uncaring. ALL IN THE GAME Let Them Teach at Stanford When a public university hires "rock star professors," does it translate into any benefits for undergraduate education? Stanley Fish thinks so. FIRST PERSON Rescuing My Manuscript For an associate professor, the publication of her first book was exhilarating. The editing process was not. FIRST PERSON On the Market Captivated by a glitzy fellowship opportunity, an assistant professor nearly bungles a shot at a new tenure-track job. FIRST PERSON Some Reflection on Rejection For all the advice offered on landing a faculty job, not much is said about dealing with the other side of the coin -- not getting one. MS. MENTOR It's All About Fit Dr. Good Fit teaches superbly, seeks advice, shares research, joins committees, makes lasagna, smiles a lot, and is fictional. SPOTLIGHT Nontraditional Ph.D.'s Can applicants with doctorates from distance-learning programs land tenure-track jobs in academe? BALANCING ACT Out of Sync Harmony derives from a sense of personal control over our work and our lives. CAREER TALK A Summer Reading List For those preparing to go on the job market in the fall, Mary Morris Heiberger and Julia Miller Vick offer a little required reading. SPOTLIGHT Canceled Searches Even the normally robust job market in economics has slowed down lately. FIRST PERSON On Camera A veteran television producer asks you to appear in a documentary as an academic expert. Here's what to expect. SPOTLIGHT Do the Math Professors are retiring in mathematics but many departments don't have the money to replace them with tenure-track hires. FIRST PERSON On the Market A historian's search for a new tenure-track job comes up empty. So why isn't he upset? FIRST PERSON Life After Tenure Even when your promotion goes well, the up-or-out experience colors the quality of academic life. MS. MENTOR Tone it Down Ms. Mentor explains why most high-pitched voices get weeded out of academe. ALL IN THE GAME The Same Old Song It is only by remaining distinct -- by remaining narrow -- that an enterprise can ensure its survival and its utility. SPOTLIGHT Jobs in History It was a bad year to be a senior professor on the market in history. BALANCING ACT When to Procreate Is it better to have children in graduate school than on the tenure track? A young scholar finds out. FIRST PERSON The Other Candidate Is it wrong to wonder how heavily race worked in the other guy's favor and against mine? FIRST PERSON Debunking the Myths Grant writing is an essential skill for academics. So why is it so difficult and so mysterious? SPOTLIGHT Jobs in Physics A wave of faculty retirements is under way in physics but not all departments can afford to replace the retirees. FIRST PERSON Learning a Little Discipline A new assistant professor credits the pressures of graduate school with preparing her for the tenure track. FIRST PERSON When Tenure Fails The experience of not getting tenure can affect a lot more than just your employment status. CAREER TALK The Best Home Pages Our columnists take a look at the Web pages of academics and offer critiques of what works and what doesn't. FIRST PERSON Double Jeopardy Being black and female may have helped a young Ph.D. land tenure-track jobs, but they have also kept her on the job market. FIRST PERSON Don't Go The best piece of advice you can give an undergraduate who wants to go to graduate school in the humanities is, don't. FIRST PERSON No Contest An assistant professor decides he would rather withdraw from competition than sell his soul to win a teaching award. FIRST PERSON Wrong Answers The chairman of an English department at a teaching-focused university advises job candidates on what not to say in the interview. FIRST PERSON The Decision A diary of a faculty search in history comes to a close as the committee makes an offer. MS. MENTOR When to Remain Silent Ms. Mentor knows when you should speak up and when you should shut up. ALL IN THE GAME Aim Low Democratic values and academic values are not the same, says Stanley Fish, and confusing the two can easily damage the quality of education. FIRST PERSON Addicted to Realtor.com Some academics obsessively troll the job ads. But it's the real-estate listings that have one academic couple hooked. FIRST PERSON Office Hours You can tell a lot about faculty members by how they set up their office hours. ACADEMIC ASSETS Planning Ahead Just starting out as a new faculty member? It's time to start thinking about your retirement, advises a retiring professor. FIRST PERSON So Why Are You Really Leaving? An assistant professor leaves a plum job and her colleagues wonder: Is it the tug of family? Divorce? Is it us? FIRST PERSON Turned Down How do you learn to live with faculty colleagues who voted against your promotion? CATALYST Beating the Odds How two doctoral students in the sciences made it straight to the tenure track. MS. MENTOR Sullen Spouses She's got her dream job. He hates the location. What to do? Ms. Mentor knows. FIRST PERSON Is Untenured Untenable? A newly appointed but untenured department chairwoman wonders if she will regret taking the job. FIRST PERSON The Annual Move After a series of one-year faculty positions, an M.F.A. decides her visiting days are over. BALANCING ACT Salary Games Linking merit raises to outside offers is one of several practices in academe that discriminate against female professors with families. CAREER TALK Good References You have a job, but you want another. When should you ask your department head for a recommendation? FIRST PERSON The Seven Digital Sins An ethicist devises a list of the seven digital sins infecting academe. BEYOND THE IVORY TOWER Giving Up a Good Thing An assistant professor explains why she is leaving a plum tenure-track job for an unknown future outside academe. FIRST PERSON Skipping Maternity Leave A new assistant professor questions her decision to not take a maternity leave and return to work. SPOTLIGHT What's Your Philosophy? Job applicants are increasingly asked to submit a statement of their teaching philosophy. But do departments really use them? SPOTLIGHT Dos and Don'ts Need help writing a statement of your teaching philosophy? Here are some tips on what to write, and what not to write. FIRST PERSON Making the Deal "That's your final position?" the candidate asks. "I'm afraid so," I reply. "Take it or leave it," I think but don't say. MS. MENTOR Tormented by Evaluations Ms. Mentor's mailbag is full of complaints about student evaluations of teaching -- none of them from students. FIRST PERSON Choosing the Finalists In a diary of a faculty search in history, the committee settles on four finalists. ACADEMIC ASSETS Politics and Portfolios Socially responsible mutual funds appeal to academics hoping to mesh their investments and their politics. Here's what to consider before investing in one. BALANCING ACT Joyous Interruptions A Dad-to-be describes how he used technology to fulfill his teaching duties and plan for a family leave. CAREER TALK Answering Your Questions How sincere are job ads about diversity? Mary Morris Heiberger and Julia Miller Vick answer that and other questions from readers. FIRST PERSON Settling In, or Settling? An assistant professor of English mulls whether he should be applying for other jobs or just happy to have one. BEYOND THE IVORY TOWER Leaving a Faculty Job The right way to leave a tenure-track job -- and it does happen -- depends on whether you're leaving academe for good. SPOTLIGHT The Two-Year Attraction Frustrated with conditions at four-year colleges, many faculty members embrace the two-year mission. CATALYST The Community College Scientist The benefits and sacrifices of a career in the sciences at community colleges. MS. MENTOR Survivor Guilt Ms. Mentor explains why guilt plagues so many academics who've made it on the tenure track. FIRST PERSON Under the Knife A new assistant professor chronicles the uncertainties of life at a public university in a time of budget woes. FIRST PERSON The Tenure Files In his series on the tenure process, Dennis Baron looks at what it takes to get a case successfully past the college committee. FIRST PERSON Too Much Money An assistant professor with a few years' experience finds that his salary is a few thousand more than departments are willing to spend on a new junior scholar. FIRST PERSON Looking for Lincoln An assistant professor with second thoughts about the tenure track continues her search for alternative careers. FIRST PERSON A Long Shortlist A committee creates a shortlist of 12 candidates in the latest installment of a diary about a faculty search in history. FIRST PERSON Bennington or Tenure? A nearly tenured professor mulls the risks of giving it up for a job at a better college. CATALYST The Scientist as Manager Like any business, a laboratory can flourish or flounder by the quality of its management. FIRST PERSON Newly Hired and Pregnant Jeanne S. Zaino wouldn't recommend getting pregnant in your first year on the tenure track, but so far, she's found it's not a career killer. ALL IN THE GAME Saving the World If you want to save the world as a university administrator, says Stanley Fish, do it on your own time. SPOTLIGHT Lessons in Grantsmanship After hiring 11 new assistant professors, SMU's engineering school takes the unusual step of training them in how to get grants. BALANCING ACT Which Half Is Yours? Excessive attention to who deserves the credit in collaborative ventures defeats the whole point. FIRST PERSON My First Shipwreck Like many an academic, James M. Lang was entranced by the siren song of the commercial publishing market. FIRST PERSON External Reviewers The third article in a series on how the tenure process works in one English department. SPOTLIGHT Jobs for Historians History departments had expected to be doing a lot of hiring to replace retirees, but the economy has put a damper on that. FIRST PERSON Conference Man An academic superhero plans to use his X-ray vision to look into the unacknowledged hearts of job candidates at the MLA convention. CATALYST Competing for Students Recruiting top graduate students to your laboratory can help ignite your career. Here's what to look for. MS.MENTOR 'I Don't Fit In' Sure you do, says Ms. Mentor. Academics just like to think they're especially unique. FIRST PERSON A History Search A senior historian who is leading a hiring committee begins a chronicle of the search. FIRST PERSON Where I Belong A self-described "white Canadian heathen" finds her niche teaching at a historically black university. BALANCING ACT The Trailing Spouse Elizabeth Gilbey didn't particularly enjoy being spurned by her husband's department, but the experience did solidify her career goals. FIRST PERSON A Digression on Digression For all the stress placed on order and proper planning in the classroom, sometimes digression is what works. SPOTLIGHT Demanding Full Credit When most colleges calculate faculty workload, they only give science professors partial credit for teaching laboratory courses. Is that fair? BEYOND THE IVORY TOWER Your Secret Desire Why do so many academics secretly want to be freelance magazine writers? FIRST PERSON In the Minority Forced to resign after only a year on the job, a new assistant professor sees an insidious force at work: racial discrimination. FIRST PERSON The Weasel Clause When your tenure-track career is derailed by the weasel clause, the options are grim. CATALYST A Couple of Scientists The scientific life seems suited to being single. Here's how a few academic couples have managed to combine love and research. MS. MENTOR The Art of Not Making Enemies Ms. Mentor rarely gets to tell all of her correspondents that they have done wrong. Now's her chance. ALL IN THE GAME Discipline and Punish The general reluctance in academe to dismiss or even discipline a professor stems from class prejudice, says Stanley Fish. FIRST PERSON Dreaming of 6 Figures Academics like to say they're not in it for the money. Would it be so bad, asks Thomas H. Benton, if they were? BALANCING ACT Your Money or Your Time? Academic employers need to learn that many professors, given the choice, would take time off over more money any day. FIRST PERSON A Look at the Record Here's the second in a series of articles by Dennis Baron on how the tenure process works in one English department. SPOTLIGHT In Charge Without Tenure Departments are increasingly tapping untenured faculty members to serve as chairmen. FIRST PERSON Tenure-Track Heaven For three years, her college held her tenure-track job for her while she finished her Ph.D. Now she's not sure she wants it anymore. FIRST PERSON The Faculty Spouse Academic life is stressful for the tenure-track professor. What is it like for the professor's nonacademic spouse? SPOTLIGHT Tomorrow's Professor A small but growing e-mail list offers "desktop faculty development" to new academics and future ones. FIRST PERSON Redefining Myself Your courseload may be heavier at a teaching-oriented college, but the chains that can constrict your scholarly work will be lighter. CATALYST Small-Scale Science You may have pictured yourself at a major research university. Here's how to know if you should give small-college science a try. MS. MENTOR Kicking the Competition Just because a colleague is undermining you, Ms. Mentor says, doesn't mean you should respond in kind. SPOTLIGHT Post-Tenure Review Whether you think it has saved tenure or eroded it, post-tenure review is an unavoidable reality at most public institutions. SPOTLIGHT What to Expect Professors who have been through post-tenure review offer advice on what to expect. FIRST PERSON Trial and Error A Ph.D. who tried out administrative work decides to go back on the market for a tenure-track job. CAREER TALK The CV Doctor Returns Our experts evaluate the CVs of three recent Ph.D.'s, a community-college instructor, and an |