went for a run and had to stop to wait for some goslings to cross the road and also had some reflections on my medieval academy talk today that I wanted share.
I'm thinking about two questions I got after my talk.
First, from a professor: we do lots of alt-ac programming, but no one comes.
Second, from a student: I feel like if I prepare for alt-ac I'll damage my chances on the job market.
First, from a professor: we do lots of alt-ac programming, but no one comes.
Second, from a student: I feel like if I prepare for alt-ac I'll damage my chances on the job market.
To the student: I have no data about this, and I haven't sat on a search committee. But I bet you're right.
I started doing 'alt ac' work very early in my grad career. It made my work 1000x better. I don't regret it. But I suspect it made me illegible to academic departments.
I started doing 'alt ac' work very early in my grad career. It made my work 1000x better. I don't regret it. But I suspect it made me illegible to academic departments.
It's not random that I had multiple postdoc offers in alt-ac, but zero designed to lead me toward the tenure track.
I had co-authored publications, written grants, worked with librarians and archivists, and built digital projects. Departments didn't see me as one of their own.
I had co-authored publications, written grants, worked with librarians and archivists, and built digital projects. Departments didn't see me as one of their own.
So why don't students want to do alt-ac work? I have a few ideas.
First, most students are working two jobs: getting an education, and getting that education funded. Unless you are at the most elite institutions, time spent earning a stipend is time lost to research.
First, most students are working two jobs: getting an education, and getting that education funded. Unless you are at the most elite institutions, time spent earning a stipend is time lost to research.
Asking students to gain alt-ac preparation on top of these other workloads is untenable. Something has to give. So if you're going to implement professionalization training, you have to take something else away. My recommendation: replace teaching with professional training.
Second, students don't enter a phd to serve as unpaid or low-wage interns. If they wanted that, they could get an MLIS. They accept the low stipend because it is the price for a unique scholarly education.
To make professional training work, we have to rethink scholarship.
To make professional training work, we have to rethink scholarship.
This is what & so many DH people before me have done. We learned 'professional' or 'alt-ac' skills because we saw that the most interesting work in our fields required those skills. It made us better researchers & and better teachers. AND it opened new professional doors.
The shame is that higher ed has not caught up to us, and in fact views so many of us as tainted or less qualified. The joke is that the opposite is true. All signs point to us being the future of higher education.
So look: if you want students to get alt-ac training, you're going to have to pay them for it. And you're going to have to incorporate into your grad program. You might have to co-teach with alt-ac workers. You might have to change your definition of a dissertation. Or tenure.
You're going to have to learn to value other kinds of work or students will never believe that you truly value them and the future they are pursuing.
Once you do that, though, higher ed is going to be so much better for it.
Once you do that, though, higher ed is going to be so much better for it.
