Have you ever stopped to consider how many different hats you typically have to wear as a professor? Or in other words, how many different roles are you expected to perform in your job as a professor on the tenure track?
As women of color faculty, you not only serve as professors in the classroom, you also have to take on a wide range of activities as researchers, scientists, advisors, and administrators—just to name a few.
But have you ever realized that some hats may be rather ill-fitting, while others are tailor made for you? As you move forward on the tenure track, how can you better assess which hats or professorial roles you want to invest further in and prioritize? This may be especially important if you are having difficulty balancing several roles on a daily basis.
This episode provides some insights for WOC faculty as they navigate the multifaceted roles they have to take on as professors in today’s higher ed environment.
How Many Different Roles Do you Perform as a Professor?
Now it’s true that all professors have to wear multiple hats in their jobs. In a single day, you could be delivering a lecture to a 300-person undergraduate course, chairing a faculty meeting, hosting a talk, serving on a committee, and offering feedback on a dissertation chapter.
There are so many different skill sets involved with being a professor. Aside from research, many of these skill sets are not something that we have received explicit training on during graduate school, but they’re rather skills that you’ve had to learn and cultivate. Prior to your first job on the tenure track, how many of you, for instance, already knew how to:
• Effectively lead a graduate seminar?
• Be a good mentor to both undergraduate and graduate students?
• Offer helpful and constructive feedback on dissertation chapters?
• Host or moderate events?
• Fundraise?
• Manage a tight departmental budget, and allocate for TA-ships and fellowships?
And if you’re in the sciences, how many of you already had experience with:
• Running a lab and overseeing budgets as well as managing post-docs?
• Being a PI?
• Applying for NSF grants?
Moreover, if you’re a woman of color professor on the tenure track, you probably have additional roles that you are expected to fulfill by:
• Being a mentor to undergraduate and graduate students of color
• Being the token representative on a committee to demonstrate your institution’s commitment to diversity
• Being asked by journalists or the Office of Communications to provide commentary on events related to your community
• Being asked to lead or serve on DEI or Anti-Racism committees
• Being a role model for minoritized students on campus
Does this sound like a lot? Well, yes, because it is! And I haven’t even mentioned the toll that the pandemic took on higher ed, as we all had to learn how to be nimble and develop asynchronous, synchronous, and hybrid courses during a very short amount of time. Nor have I mentioned the fact that some of you may have parenting or caregiving duties at home.
How To Evaluate Which Professorial Hats are a Better Fit for You
So, how can you learn to balance some of these roles while also evaluating which professorial activities are going to be worth prioritizing in the long run for you?
One simple exercise that you can do right now is to track your energy levels during a typical week.
- Which activities deplete your energy?
- Which activities light you up and provide you with a deep sense of satisfaction or gratification?
Let’s consider an example.
Are you the type of scholar who loves the quietude of archival research, discovering findings, and producing innovative scholarship? Do you feel like you’re in a state of flow and energized when you’re sitting down to write up your research? If so, then on a scale of 1-10 (with 1 being the lowest in terms of energy levels and 10 being the highest), mark this as a 9 or a 10.
Next, assess your energy levels when you are in front of the classroom. Let’s take a large, undergraduate survey course of about 100 students. Do you feel energized or depleted at the end of the lecture? If you feel utterly spent and need to decompress immediately afterwards, then consider marking this as a 2 or a 3.
Continue to take stock of how you feel, energy wise, as you go about your weekly activities. And be honest here. Keep in mind that just because you have the skill set or are good at something, that it does not necessarily correlate to how you feel this energy in your body.
By paying close attention to what energizes or depletes you, you may have a better idea of which activities you want to prioritize and try to advocate for in the future.
In my own case, after a few years on the tenure track, I realized that event planning was a form of service that I enjoyed and found energizing. Prior to starting my PhD, I had experiences working for a well-known musical ensemble known as SamulNori Hanullim in South Korea.
My experiences in arts administration and event planning in East Asia carried over easily into organizing a conference in graduate school and later, when I organized and hosted a lecture series at my first job.
In comparison to being a tour manager, organizing large-scale music festivals and high-profile performances, hosting one scholar for a 50-minute talk once a term was pretty manageable for me. Plus, I was able to invite scholars that I wanted to connect with and learn from. Since there were no objections from my colleagues at the time, I was able to serve as the host and organizer of the lecture series, every term, for five years.
You may not always have a choice as to which courses you have to teach or what committees you must serve on, but you can start to develop a finer sense of which roles invigorate you vs. actively drain you. This information can help you to advocate for yourself as you proceed on the tenure track. Or it could give you important clues as to where you might want to pivot after tenure.
When I work with WOC faculty, I serve as your thinking partner, helping you to identify which of those faculty hats are the perfect fit for you so that you can focus your efforts on activities that ultimately illuminate you. If you’re interested in working with me, feel free to reach out and send me an e-mail at Katherine at RisewithClarity.com. I look forward to hearing from you!
