Reflections on Alt-Ac Careers
Nine years ago, I sat in front of a laptop in a cold, stale, tiny room no bigger than the average bathroom, finishing up my comprehensive exams for graduate school. While I should have given a breath of relief or a celebratory dance, I instead met this moment with a…
Preparing for an Alt-Ac Career on Campus
We have always been eager to talk with people about the “authentic higher education job market.” We used to talk with people as they came to grips with losing some imagined faculty life of musing over books and sharing their passion with eager students. Attaining tenured positions has not been…
Entering the Academy after a Career in Industry
There are still moments when I wake up in the middle of the night because I cannot stop thinking about the bureaucracy, the politics, the things people argue about, and, most of all, the time it takes to accomplish things in academia. Don’t get me wrong – I love being…
The One Reason to Pursue an Alt-Ac Career
There is really only one reason you should pursue an Alt-Ac career: Because it is what you want to do. I do not consider my work to be an alternative to anything. It is just what I do. If someone refers to my work as an alternative to their work,…