Jo VanEvery, Academic Career Guide · Spotlight On: Burnout I published my first post with “burnout” in the title, “Burnout is real”, in 2022. We were just coming out of the most intense phase of the COVID pandemic disruptions. The term was familiar to people, but the idea that it might be a real diagnosable […]
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Do you hate writing your author bio?
Aimée Morrison, writing at Hook & Eye, raises an interesting point about writing academic bios: One thing that’s increasingly becoming clear to me is that the bios that accompany Serious Scholarly Writing, like a peer-reviewed article, don’t mention teaching. Better more words devoted to where you’ve published and who funded your work, than to describe […]
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How grading has ruined peer review
Jo VanEvery, Academic Career Guide · How grading ruined peer review “Academics should not be terrified of one another’s judgments, just as students should not be afraid of their teachers. … we need to imagine things as they might be otherwise; in this case, a world where evaluation of others isn’t part of the daily […]
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Spotlight On: Saying No
Jo VanEvery, Academic Career Guide · Spotlight On: Saying No Have you ever been told “You need to get better at saying no?” Or maybe the ubiquity of that kind of advice means you’ve told yourself that before anyone else had to. It might be true. We could all get better at that. But […]
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What if you need an extension?
Jo VanEvery, Academic Career Guide · What if *you* need an extension? I’ve been seeing a lot of conversation on Twitter about granting extensions to students. Much of it is framed in terms of compassion and kindness. There seems to be a prominent school of thought that you should just do this, almost automatically. That […]
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Making Decisions: meetings
This post was originally written in February 2021 as a follow up to Planning Your Winter Semester and was shared in the Academic Writing Studio. It has been edited and divided into a series of shorter posts for ease of reading. The general principles—habits, routines, and default responses—are explained in the first post in the […]
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Making Decisions: planning & scheduling
This post was originally written in February 2021 as a follow up to Planning Your Winter Semester and was shared in the Academic Writing Studio. It has been edited and divided into a series of shorter posts for ease of reading. The general principles—habits, routines, and default responses—are explained in the first post in the […]
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Why join the Studio in the summer?
You probably think of summer as the easiest time of year to focus on research and writing. You’ve probably been looking forward to it for months because of that. So why would you want to join the Studio? Some people who attend A Meeting With Your Writing regularly during the main part of the year, […]
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Starting your academic writing year in mid-summer
Jo VanEvery, Academic Career Guide · Starting your academic year in mid-summer When do academics celebrate the new year? This is a serious question for those of us who live in the northern hemisphere, where the beginning of the calendar year in January is more like the middle of the academic year. It seems like […]
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Thoughts on wrapping up your teaching for summer
Jo VanEvery, Academic Career Guide · Thoughts on wrapping up teaching for the summer Academic work is cyclical. There are seasons to the work. You need to account for those cycles when you plan. Summer may feel like the research & writing part of the year. If you value teaching and being a good teacher, […]
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Managing your energy.
This post was originally written during a time when many universities and workplaces had shifted to remote work in response to the COVID pandemic. Although circumstances have now changed for many people, much of what I say in this post still applies. Jo VanEvery, Academic Career Guide · Managing your energy The academic year varies […]
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The value of intellectual engagement
Jo VanEvery, Academic Career Guide · Valuing Intellectual Engagement Burnout and stress are not just about the quantity of work you have to do. Lack of control and a sense of meaninglessness are major contributors to burnout. It has become very clear that your difficulty managing your workload is not a personal failing. You are […]
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