Mama PhD

Considering options for new career directions....

While I normally see higher education from the point of view of a professor, I am nearing the time when I will begin to look at it from the point of view of a parent of a child who will someday go to college.

On ads, their parodies, and their meanings....

First day of school ... what am I going to wear?

Several weeks ago, after a successful class show, I was invited to try out for the national touring wing of a wonderful improv company.

There is a concept in math in which we describe a “supporting line.” Such a line is a line that...

The other day I was reading to my children the book Ish by Peter Reynolds. It is the story of a boy who becomes frustrated with his artistic ability until he learns that his work does not need to be perfect, just good enough. My children love this book as well as another one like it called The OK Book by Amy Krouse Rosenthal, which is about a stick figure OK who informs its readers that it is fine to not be great at everything they do.

Almost five years ago I wrote my first blog post for Inside Higher Ed. At the time I had a daughter about to graduate from high school, and a son just finishing elementary school. While my child care needs were vastly different from those of my colleagues with children in pre-school, still in many ways I planned my days and my semesters around my children’s schedules. In that first post, I noted the many things I no longer needed as an academic parent—“a lactation room, on-site daycare, or reduced work hours to be with an infant . . .. a referral to a good nanny, or a preschool that's open in the summer, or help installing a carseat.”