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Dr. Judith Lakamper and Dr. Erin Bell share their experiences being parents in academia and academics at home. Your co-hosts discuss life with children during and after graduate school as they highlight scholarly research regarding parenting, marriage, gender, and other pertinent topics as well as their own experiences as both mothers and scholars.
Episodes

Tuesday Aug 04, 2020
Back to School? (Part One)
Tuesday Aug 04, 2020
Tuesday Aug 04, 2020
With the "back to school" season only weeks away, Judith and Erin talk through some of their concerns about what their children's day to day could look like this fall. As your hosts address their own thoughts about their children's wellbeing, they also discuss what research from the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in the United States suggests about children and COVID-19 as well as the role of schools in many communities as a hub for support and resources.
This episode features research from the CDC located at https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/community/schools-childcare/prepare-safe-return.html#fn4
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

Tuesday Jul 28, 2020
Tuesday Jul 28, 2020
In this episode, Judith and Erin have a conversation with scholar LaToya Faulk about her experiences as a Black female/single mother in the academy. Please read the message below from LaToya about this meaningful discussion:
Post Talk Message from LaToya Faulk:
The relationship I describe at this time in my life was an unhealthy one. These sorts of relationships have the potential to impact work production in academic settings and your mental health. It’s imperative that women, but particularly women of color working in academic institutions, find healthy and steady partnerships that provide them with an equity of support which will be needed to counter the insurmountable stress and systemic injustices of higher education.
Moreover, I don’t want listeners to presume access to a library database substitutes for comprehensive mental health services. It is, however, important that we recognize that access to quality mental health services can be limited even for women of color who are single mothers with advanced degrees.
References:
"Seeking Emancipation from Gender Regulation: Reflections on Home space for a Black Woman Academic/Single Mother" by Lisa William-White.
Available Means: An Anthology Of Women's Rhetoric(s), edited By Joy S. Ritchie and Kate Ronald
https://upittpress.org/books/9780822957539/
Presumed Incompetent: The Intersections of Race and Class for Women in Academia, edited by Gabriella Gutiérrez y Muhs, Yolanda Flores Niemann, Carmen G. Gonzalez and Angela P. Harris.
https://upcolorado.com/utah-state-university-press/item/2338-presumed-incompetent

Tuesday Jul 21, 2020
Mental Health During Grad School, a Pandemic, and Beyond
Tuesday Jul 21, 2020
Tuesday Jul 21, 2020
In this episode, Judith and Erin discuss mental health for those preparing for or working in an academic field. The hosts have a candid conversation about their own mental health during the stages of their respective PhD studies as well as consider how the pandemic is impacting themselves and others.
DISCLAIMER: Neither host is an expert in mental health. This episode represents an informal conversation about the topic. Listeners in the US that feel they need assistance can visit https://www.mentalhealth.gov/get-help/immediate-help for a list of services and connections to receive immediate assistance.
References for this episode include:
Levecque, K., Anseel, F., De Beuckelaer, A., Van der Heyden, J., & Gisle, L. (2017). Work organization and mental health problems in PhD students. Research Policy, 46(4), 868-879.
Lashuel H. A. (2020). What about faculty?. eLife, 9, e54551. https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.54551
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

Tuesday Jul 14, 2020
The Mental Load
Tuesday Jul 14, 2020
Tuesday Jul 14, 2020
Remembering doctor's appointments. Balancing the budget. Buying birthday presents. Keeping track of groceries. Meal planning. The list goes on.
In this episode, Judith and Erin explain and discuss the concept of the "mental load," or the oftentimes invisible labor that parents must balance with their professional work. Citing examples from their own lives, Judith and Erin take a look and the research and discuss what works in their lives (and what doesn't).
This episode refers to the important book: Second Shift: Working Families and the Revolution at Home by Arlie Hochschild and Anne Machung: https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/310593/the-second-shift-by-arlie-hochschild-with-anne-machung/
The hosts also describe and discuss French comic artist Emma's visual representation of the mental load found here:
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/may/26/gender-wars-household-chores-comic
Finally, Judith explains how bullet journaling helps her bring organization to her life. This quick video offers a brief tutorial on how to create a bullet journal: https://bulletjournal.com/pages/learn
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

Tuesday Jul 07, 2020
Balancing Teaching, Parenting, Marriage, and More During Grad School
Tuesday Jul 07, 2020
Tuesday Jul 07, 2020
In this episode, Judith and Erin discuss their individual journeys through their Ph.D. program, including getting married, having children, moving into the prospectus and qualifying exam, managing the dissertation process, and the successful defense of their projects.
This episode refers to the book Do Babies Matter?: Gender and Family in the Ivory Tower
by Mary Ann Mason, Nicholas H. Wolfinger, Marc Goulden.
Publication details are available at https://www.rutgersuniversitypress.org/do-babies-matter/9780813567150.
This episode also refers to the article: "What took them so long? Explaining PhD delays among doctoral candidates" by Rens Van de Schoot, Mara A. Yerkes, Jolien M. Mouw, and Hans Sonneveld.
Publication details and article PDF are available at: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0068839
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

Tuesday Jun 30, 2020
Meet Your Hosts as they Aim for Work/Life Balance during the Pandemic
Tuesday Jun 30, 2020
Tuesday Jun 30, 2020
In this episode, you'll meet your hosts, Judith and Erin, as they grapple with big changes related to statewide stay-at-home orders. Judith and Erin talk about how they continue to cope with working as academics from their home offices, using remote learning with their children, and finding some balance between these roles. You'll get a chance to hear about their work, their families, and the hosts will provide a helpful hack along the way.
This episode refers to research by Dr. Megan Frederickson, culminated in her article title: "COVID-19’s gendered impact on academic productivity." Her research can be found here: https://github.com/drfreder/pandemic-pub-bias/blob/master/README.md
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