This is Episode #14 of the A-KID-EMIA podcast, the home for parent-scholars looking to balance personal and professional goals. This is the fifth of an eight-part monthly series generously funded by the American Philosophical Association.

Questions about whether to pursue a tenure-track job are perhaps more pressing than ever. Market and political pressures have shrunk what was already a saturated competition for far fewer jobs than there are applicants. Those who survive this State of Nature are often confronted with a similarly inhumane work culture. Various studies have found many moms and dads at their brink, with some leaving higher ed altogether before they’ve even had a chance to mint their PhDs. Subjects reported pressure to delay or downplay their stated family goals, and to keep quiet about the tensions between them and work expectations.

A-KID-EMIA exists to pierce that silence, usually by showcasing the solutions of scholars who chose to pursue a full-time position usually on the tenure track. But today’s episode is different. Our guest, Dr. Laurie Tollefsen, broke a more unconventional path. Married to another academic (and former guest of this show) with whom she had a very large family, both scholars had to discern high parental demand plus the ‘Two-Body Problem’ starting in grad school. Laurie’s eventual solution: long-term adjuncting at her spouse’s institution, the University of South Carolina. From her unique vantage point, she shares how she discerned leaving the tenure track, lessons from her window into her spouse’s job, the unsung privileges of adjuncting, teaching hacks, and more.

For additional information on other part-time options at the postdoctoral and full-rank tenure-track level, toggle over to our episode with Catherine Pakaluk.

Chapters

00:00 - Introduction & Laurie’s Experience As a New Parent in and After Grad School

07:24 - Teaching the Same Courses vs. Different Ones

8:50 - Managing One’s Lack of Control Over Courses

13:13 - Homeschooling vs. Regular Schooling: Which is Actually Harder?

16:50 - How Adjuncting Benefits Family Life

21:20 - Teaching Hacks

24:42: Discerning the Tenure Track

27:00 - Sharing Parental Responsibilities in Graduate School

29:15 - Intellectual Fulfillment Through Adjuncting

33:08 - Bringing Children on Campus

34:06 - Homeschooling as a Limit Case: How to Know Whether a Tenure-Track Job is Possible

37:16 - The Hidden Privileges of Adjunct Life

39:12 - Being “In the Shadows” Outside Traditional Academic Positions

40:33 - The Intellectual Life & Final Reflections