The Coach's Guide for Women Professors

Book excerpt: If you find yourself thinking or saying any of the following, this is a book you need to pick up.I know or suspect that I am underpaid, but I hate negotiating. I do everything else first and then write in the time left over.I’m not sure exactly what the promotion requirements are in my department.Since earning tenure, my service load has increased and my research is suffering. I don’t get enough time with my family.This is a practical guide for women in academe – whether adjuncts, professors or administrators – who often encounter barriers and hostility, especially women of color, and generally carry a heavier load of service, as well as household and care responsibilities, than their male colleagues. Rena Seltzer, a respected life coach and trainer who has worked with women professors and academic leaders for many years, offers succinct advice on how you can prioritize the multiplicity of demands on your life, negotiate better, create support networks, and move your career forward. Using telling but disguised vignettes of the experiences of women she has mentored, Rena Seltzer offers insights and strategies for managing the situations that all women face – such as challenges to their authority – while also paying attention to how they often play out differently for Latinas, Black and Asian women. She covers issues that arise from early career to senior administrator positions. This is a book you can read cover to cover or dip into as you encounter concerns about time management; your authority and influence; work/life balance; problems with teaching; leadership; negotiating better; finding time to write; developing your networks and social support; or navigating tenure and promotion and your career beyond.