PhD in Parenting Podcast

Saving Graces: What's Carrying Us Through the Pandemic

It's been over one year since the pandemic brought a halt to many of our day-to-day lives, and all signs point to it being with us well into the summer. In this week’s episode, the hosts reflect on what has carried them through thus far and what they plan to rely on in order to bring some sense of normalcy to their lives in spite of living amidst pandemic conditions. From small everyday enjoyments to weekly habits and from guilty pleasures to general outlooks on life, the hosts share their pandemic favorites as both reflection and inspiration for the next stretch.   

The Advantages of an Alt-Ac Career

In addition to the challenges many academics are facing with various work-from-home-arrangements, the pandemic has put economic strains on universities and other organizations, leading to a drop in traditional employment opportunities for academics. In this episode, the hosts consider the so-called alt-ac career as a possibility for academics to look outside of the narrow confines of tenure track positions and other teaching-centered appointments. Addressing alt-ac positions both as a long term career plan and as a way to "pivot" during these challenging times, the hosts outline their own experiences applying to as well as working in such roles in humanities-based fields. 

The Benefits of Collaboration in Higher Education

Collaborations with colleagues can be a source of strength and inspiration. Some collaborations, like this podcast, for example, allow colleagues and friends to pursue their mutual interests while receiving feedback and support via a social outlet. Amidst this pandemic, forging and maintaining such relationships is more important than ever. Join Judith and Erin as they discuss different types of collaborations in the academy, ways to connect and network with like-minded scholars, the benefits such working relationships may provide, and how to set ground rules and boundaries in collaborative environments.

 

This episode references:

The Maynooth University Motherhood Project virtual conference on the topic of ‘Motherhood and Work’ (June 24th and 25th, 2021), call for papers located here: .

 

Two facebook groups for academic mothers:

IAMAS connects those interested in feminist mothering and the progressive change that needs to happen including scholars, media, politicians, and others:

https://www.facebook.com/iamafeministmom

PhD Mamas:

https://www.facebook.com/groups/852878781433293

Mom is "Resilient" and other Pandemic Takeaways

Almost a year into the COVID-19 pandemic, mothers all around the world are feeling overworked and burnt out but continue to shoulder many of the responsibilities that have been added to family life. Popular cultural narratives about what mothers are currently going through and how they are coping with this current reality tell stories about struggles and resilience.

In this episode, Erin and Judith review pre-pandemic ideologies of motherhood like intensive mothering and attachment parenting and ask how these have changed and further intensified over the course of the pandemic. The hosts discuss what current cultural narratives tell us about what it means to be a “good mom” and how particularly mothers of young children have been impacted by ideological developments. Drawing on their own history of responding to and engaging with various motherhood ideologies, they reflect on the added pressures mothers are currently facing, both from the perspective of day-to-day life and the ideals that circulate our culture.

 

The podcast refers to the following articles:

New York Times: This is a Primal Scream

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2021/02/04/parenting/working-moms-coronavirus.html?campaign_id=118&emc=edit_ptg_20210205&instance_id=26775&nl=nyt-parenting®i_id=92733318&segment_id=51050&te=1&user_id=025aee249190f832df090cdae779c3ff

“Uplifting the Rights of Girls and Women in the U.S. and Around the World”: Biden and Harris Announce New White House Gender Policy Council

https://msmagazine.com/2021/01/26/white-house-gender-policy-council-biden-harris-tina-tchen/

 

The opening and closing song, "Vienna Beat"  by  Blue Dot Sessions  is licensed under an Attribution-NonCommercial License and shared through the Free Music Archive: https://freemusicarchive.org/music/Blue_Dot_Sessions/RadioPink/Vienna_Beat 

Resilience and Rejection

Most academic careers are built around applications for jobs, grants, awards, stipends, scholarships, and so forth. Competition is generally strong and as such, academics are frequently faced with rejection. In this episode, Erin and Judith ask what is so difficult about facing academic and other professional rejections and how to move forward from that initial sting.

 

Drawing on their experiences facing rejected publications proposals, job applications, award applications, and more, the hosts share some of their disappointments, their ways of making sense of various rejections, and their strategies for building resilience in light of adversity. As parents, they also discuss how they use their own strategies to help their children overcome the fear of rejection and process their disappointment when they actually experience rejection in their own lives.

 

This week's hack comes from Nir Eyal's article, "The Case Against To-Do Lists (and What to Use Instead)" which can be found at:

https://forge.medium.com/be-a-schedule-builder-not-a-to-do-list-maker-396096a7486a

 

 

The opening and closing song, "Vienna Beat"  by  Blue Dot Sessions  is licensed under an Attribution-NonCommercial License and shared through the Free Music Archive: https://freemusicarchive.org/music/Blue_Dot_Sessions/RadioPink/Vienna_Beat 

The Adjunctification of Higher Education

Most of us working as educators in higher education realize the key role that adjunct instructors fulfill within the academy. Educators in adjunct positions often teach the lion's share of courses at colleges and universities but do not necessarily reap the rewards such as benefits or job stability that their tenure-track and full-time colleagues do.

With that in mind, Judith and Erin discuss whether or not there are any positive aspects to working in an adjunct capacity, especially for working parents. The conversation is contextualized by informal data gleaned from the podcast audience and current coverage in the media. 

This episode refers to the poignant and important essay by Adam Harris titled "The Death of an Adjunct" found here at The Atlantic Online: https://www.theatlantic.com/author/adam-harris/

We also refer to "How to Fix The Adjunct Crisis" in The Chronicle of Higher Education which can be found at https://www.chronicle.com/article/how-to-fix-the-adjunct-crisis/?cid2=gen_login_refresh&cid=gen_sign_in

and data about U of C-Boulder shared at Inside Higher Ed posted at https://www.insidehighered.com/college/126614/university-colorado-boulder

and in the article "Never Waste a good Pandemic" at https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2020/12/04/boulder-arts-and-sciences-dean-wants-build-back-faculty-post-pandemic-one-non-tenure

 

The opening and closing song, "Vienna Beat"  by  Blue Dot Sessions  is licensed under an Attribution-NonCommercial License and shared through the Free Music Archive: https://freemusicarchive.org/music/Blue_Dot_Sessions/RadioPink/Vienna_Beat 

 

 

Teaching in 2021

With 2020 in the rearview mirror and a new semester underway, Judith and Erin discuss how the pandemic has shaped current pedagogical practice in higher education. Whether your college has changed its mode of delivery to virtual learning, switched to a hybrid model, or returned to face-to-face instruction, your pedagogical approaches might have gone through some transformations over the last couple of semesters. In this episode, the hosts glean insights from listener feedback as well as their own research to address the challenges of teaching during the pandemic as well as various tools and technologies that can be used to meet some of those challenges, including student engagement, Zoom etiquette, and more.

 

The opening and closing song, "Vienna Beat"  by  Blue Dot Sessions  is licensed under an Attribution-NonCommercial License and shared through the Free Music Archive: https://freemusicarchive.org/music/Blue_Dot_Sessions/RadioPink/Vienna_Beat 

 

MotherScholars with Jessica Spott

Join Judith and Erin as they have an illuminating conversation with Jessica Spott, Ph.D. candidate in Educational Psychology at Texas Tech University and the mother of two young boys. Jessica is also the Director of the STEM Center for Outreach, Research & Education at Texas Tech. In this episode, Jessica shares some of the roadblocks that have occurred on her journey to her Ph.D. as well as her important research project which examines the experiences of MotherScholars in STEM fields. Tune in as Jessica explores the notion of the MotherScholar and gives important insight into the experiential similarities and differences between MotherScholars in STEM and non-STEM fields.

 

 

The opening and closing song, "Vienna Beat"  by  Blue Dot Sessions  is licensed under an Attribution-NonCommercial License and shared through the Free Music Archive: https://freemusicarchive.org/music/Blue_Dot_Sessions/RadioPink/Vienna_Beat 

When Does The Pressure to Stay Positive Become Toxic?

For many, the hope and optimism tied to a new year are especially promising as 2021 begins. In this episode, Erin and Judith discuss what happens when the pressure to be positive becomes toxic. Drawing on examples from research and their own experiences, they discuss what toxic positivity looks like at home, in the workplace, and in the academy, and how they avoid passing it on to their children. 

Here's a link to the article from the Psychology Group that is referred to in the episode:

https://thepsychologygroup.com/toxic-positivity/

 

The opening and closing song, "Vienna Beat"  by  Blue Dot Sessions  is licensed under an Attribution-NonCommercial License and shared through the Free Music Archive: https://freemusicarchive.org/music/Blue_Dot_Sessions/RadioPink/Vienna_Beat 

What We Learned from 2020

As 2020 (finally!) comes to an end, it would be easy to enumerate all the challenges and disappointments that the year brought. In this episode, however, Judith and Erin re-center the conversation about the year and bring focus to what they learned about themselves, their children, and their work/life this year.

 

The opening and closing song, "Vienna Beat"  by  Blue Dot Sessions  is licensed under an Attribution-NonCommercial License and shared through the Free Music Archive: https://freemusicarchive.org/music/Blue_Dot_Sessions/RadioPink/Vienna_Beat