Podcast #7: “See what it feels like to wake up on Sunday morning and not have to grade papers.”

I first heard of Rebecca Steinitz way back in 2006 when I was making the decision about whether or not to leave academia. The once-tenured professor had written an article for Inside Higher Ed about why she chose to leave academia that; it was a piece that, at the time, reassured me that my thoughts about getting out of the scholarship trade weren’t completely crazy. The piece is well worth reading if you’re someone who has ever wrestled with yourself over whether or not to ditch the ivory tower (and if you’re reading this blog, that probably means you). It was my pleasure, then, to phone Dr. Steinitz at her home in Boston and talk a little bit about her former life in academe, her choice to leave and the eminently satisfying work that she does now.

Click on the “play” triangle below to hear the podcast.

Some of the highlights include:

• 1:30 – 2:15  Why she wrote her article for IHE–and the one thing she’d change.
• 2:15 – 8:00  She was a successful academic, yet she had to face up to the aspects of the academic life she didn’t like–and discovered that she wasn’t unique in thinking about leaving.
• 8:00 – 11:00 Academia creates abjection; while your non-academic friends are developing their lives, academics are continually in a subordinate position, depending on the approval of others, not feeling grownup, leading to an acute self-doubt.
• 11:00 – 12:30  The hostile comments at her IHE article demonstrates how defensive people were about Rebecca speaking the truth about the lives of so many academics–and no, not the happy ones.
• 12:30 – 14:45  Why getting tenure doesn’t always make you happy; how external measures of her success suggested that she stay in the profession.
• 14:45 – 16:45  How well she’s “hacking it” in the real world as a writer, editor and educational consultant, and how this work emerges out of her former academic work
• 16:45 – 20:45  How she transitioned into her post-academic career, including the 1.5 years she spent networking and job-hunting before she left her tenured post. “It’s work that I’m passionate about, it’s work that feels very meaningful to me, it’s work that uses my skills.”
• 20:45 – 22:45  Networking, saying yes to opportunity and staying flexible have been the keys to her success. She left academia because she said to herself, “I don’t feel about my life the way I want to feel about my life.” Having  multifaceted career works for her. Luck plays a role.
• 22:45 – 26:15  Her advice is to look at your reasons for wanting to leave: how much is it about you or your circumstances? Her other suggestion is to try to arrange for a substantive leave of absence: “It doesn’t have to be all or nothing.”

Listen to the podcast here.

Apologies, listeners! The last 20 seconds of the podcast (you know, the part where I give my contact info and tell you the music is by Soft Copy) got cut off for some reason. Computer: 1. Me: 0.

Related posts:

1. Podcast #1: “There are places that would walk over their own mother to hire you.”
2. Podcast #4: “There are a million problems here and there are, therefore, a million opportunities.”
3. Podcast #3: “There is no provision in academia to care for or nurture the physical self.”
4. Podcast #6: “Grab a mitt and get in the game.”
5. Podcast #2: From linguist to TV producer

Tagged as: podcast