Monday, November 30, 2015

Pleasure verses meaning

Philosophers may take me to task on several of my armature assertions here, but allow me to be inexact for the sake of a blog post. This blog is to help scholars write and thrive, not to debate the intricacies (however important) of key concepts to philosophical thought.

So, with that caveat....

Throughout the ages, philosophers and others have debated about what makes a life worth living: meaning or pleasure.

If if we are speaking of pleasure, do we speak of hedonistic pleasures, such as eating or sex, or pleasures of a different sort.

Writing is not very satisfying, from a sensory or sensual perspective. We take in nothing and experience very little physically, other than perhaps tightness and discomfort.

Yet, the potential deep joy that we can feel, or meaning can be profound.

Consider how to make writing a source of meaning in your life, even when it cannot be a source of pleasure. It can be for many, but to believe that writing must always, or ever, be extremely pleasurable may contribute to some people's resistance to it.

Friday, November 27, 2015

Thursday, November 26, 2015

Thank you

I have spent three or four hours writing a Thanksgiving blog post. However, there are times when a few simple words really convey what we wish to share. And this is it today....

Thanks to all those who have touched my heart this year, and even more, to those who have let me touch theirs.

Wednesday, November 25, 2015

Exercise: Thinking Back Upon "Amy Week"

One of the key principles of psychosocial education is that processing what we read is an essential part of learning. Over the last two weeks, I explored several topics for "Amy week". Read over the posts again, and do some reflective writing about how you can apply some of the lessons to your own work and life.


Monday, November 23, 2015

Bringing your right (write) eyes

"Nowhere is magical unless you bring the right eyes to it." Pico Iyer.

Those of you who have read my blog will no doubt not be surprised that I appreciate the above quote. This sentiment can be found within many spiritual traditions and systems of psychotherapeutic change. The universe exists as it exists, and it inherently neither good or bad, but is. We bring our own evaluations to it, or as I explore throughout this blog, or own capacity for either seeing the wonder in it or having existence clouded by our own psychosocial "gunk."

Over the last six months, I have had my willingness to practice what I preach tested. A divorce that I did not plan for, and my daughter leaving the country for a gap year have changed my world in ways I had no anticipated. The very structure of my life, heading toward my fiftieth year, was rocked.

The discourse(s) in my head reflect this change, and are characterized by an essential "awfulness" about this transition. And while my loss is real and my grief is simply grief, it has been important to place this within the context of other fundamental truths.

For example, I am now afforded the opportunity to reinvent myself in a way that I would not otherwise have. I am afforded the opportunity for sinking into myself in a new way, and have opened up a new space in which to be of service to others. I can engage the world in a new way, from a new place- a new me.

What do you need to bring your right eyes to? How do your "wrong eyes" impact your writing, your capacity to write, your scholarship? Consider what you need to do to bring your right (write) eyes to your life.



Sunday, November 22, 2015

Amy "Week"-Encouraging Graduate Student Writing and Research

Amy week has gone on for a a bit longer than I thought it would. Part of that was due to the richness of Amy's questions- a couple I explored more than once. Dealing with a flood in my home, fodder for some future posts, I am sure, was also part of it. 

So, without further delay, Amy's last issue: How to work effectively with graduate students to continue writing and research.

I love this question, and really, I could approach it in a bunch of different ways. The most seemingly flip, yet most honest, is that it depends on the actual issues that are stopping the graduate student from writing. The reasons why graduate students do not write and publish are as diverse as those that inhibit faculty. If there was one reason, I would not be approaching 500 posts, and would not have a coaching practice. Really, from my experience, few graduate schools really teach method of writing and writing productivity; we erroneously assume that if you have made it this far, must have mastered such pedestrian skills.

Just like we assume all faculty have these skills, right?

Ummmm.

Now, if my premise here is true, than there is one main answer to Amy's querry: Faculty must really understand writing productivity.

Sadly, the vast majority do not. 


Some of the big issues: Evidence based approaches to writing a lot, The use of calendars; Writing rituals; The mode of academic writing (free writing, focused free writing, analytical writing, administrative writing, and editing), The magic paragraph and its relationship to the architecture of an article, and of course, the various psychosocial barriers to writing and productivity that I frequently explore in my blog. There are so many tools.

The best thing you can do for your own career as a scholar is to really master these and other methods. The best thing you can do to help others write and publish is to really understand what blocks people, and understand the tools that help people over come their barriers, and how to help them maximize their strengths. 

Of course, you can have your graduate students (or yourself), attend my Eight Week Online Workshop on writing and publishing! I promise you after that, you will have the skills you need to empower students to write, publish and thrive. (shameless plug over, sorry).

No easy platitudes are going to really do the trick here; there are so many issues.

Finally, thanks Amy for all the great topics. Feel free to keep them coming!


Thursday, November 19, 2015

Some Flooding, Will Post Soon!

Groundwater saturation has been taking up some of my time (read, flooding in what was once a very dry and finished basement!), so I will be posting again soon. 

Sunday, November 15, 2015

Amy Week: Is An Administrative Position Right for You?

The answer: No.

Next question.

Ok, enough of being cute, cynical and/or glib; let me wax about this some.

For three years I was the director of our social work program at the University of Washington Tacoma. Prior to that, I was a program coordinator at UNC Charlotte. As a bit of context, I had a half a dozen or so years in administrative roles in human service organizations, which provides a wee bit of credibility to my book, Navigating Human Service Organizations.

The University of Washington Tacoma is small but growing campus of the University of Washington. When I arrived 7 plus years ago, we had 2600 students. Now, we are approaching 5,000. As a small campus, our structure has been a bit funky (and is changing with growth)- directors really were both department chairs and deans. So, I had the opportunity and the burden of holding a position that allowed me to do both roles; I learned a lot. It was also a ton of work and really not the best representation off typical administrative roles (or, maybe it was- they are all a ton of work!).

I also learned that it was not for me. Frankly, I don't like having to be "on" each and every day. I far prefer the professorial life; I work really hard on my research and teaching, but do so largely at my own pace, and  on my own schedule. Paradoxically, the higher up the organizational ladder you climb, the less your time is your own. Your schedule is not your own; you must attend meetings that you do not have control over. You must like meetings, and see them as being of great value.

I also loved, however, being able to grow and develop programs. That was the joy of being in leadership on a rapidly growing campus, I got to be part of a lot of change, transition, and development.

Being the director is what got me here; my forever academic and physical home. For that, I am grateful, and in truth, for those of us who don't have grant funding and don't need it for our research, taking an administrative position the easiest way to move to a new university. Even productive scholars, unless you bring some type of rock star reputation with you, have a hard time moving unless it is for an administrative position.

But, all that is all about me. How do YOU decide?

First, you have to be real about teaching and research. How important are both to you? You are largely going to trade teaching for administrative work/being of service to your campus. You can do scholarship, but in small blocks of time only, so the nature of your scholarship must fit within that constraint. Most people's scholarship tanks once you become an administrator. It does not have to be that way, but it is what happens to most.

Here are some questions for you to consider.

Do you like to be on campus 9-5?
Are you ready to let go of teaching?
Do you wish to put others' needs before your own?
Do you enjoy helping others' develop their career (although many will ignore your help)?
Do you wish to "climb" to higher organizational positions?
Do you want to move to another university but feel stuck?
Do you love being involved in organizational life each and every day?
Are you cool with your colleagues not seeing you as their "friend" but as their boss, and all the implications of that? (and that does not go away if you step down, at least not right away, as you may have had to hurt some feelings and set some limits with people- not easy on relationships).

There are a lot more questions that I could ask, but I think the truth is, you have to spend a good deal of time reflecting on your motivations, and seeing if they are coming from a good and healthy place. At the least, engaging in some good reflective writing would be in order. Given the magnitude of the change, perhaps discussing it with colleagues, mentors, a therapist, a coach, a rabbi, other religious leaders, ect. It makes sense to discuss it with someone who knows the ins and outs of  university life, but it is perhaps even more important to explore it with someone you feel really safe opening up to (yes, you probably predicted that response, based upon my social work background).

On the other hand, if you are not planning on a move to another university but are considering trying out an administrative position, you can always do so and then step down. However, do be aware that depending on your role, as I mentioned, you may make some enemies in the process.

I realize that this questions is one that really demands a great deal more time, but at least I gave Amy (and other readers) a bit to think about (I hope).

I have one more question to address for "Amy week," and if I do a good job of focusing on my work today, I may even do it tonight, thus actually doing it within a week's time.

Rich loves challenges!


Saturday, November 14, 2015

Amy Week Question: Funding

One of Amy's questions/issues: How to manage university pressures to secure grant funding when research time is becoming less and less available.

Now,  my response is for the already tenured, mid-career or later career professor, not those still needing to achieve tenure or secure a job. That seems to be where Amy is in her career, and I do not write enough for this audience anyhow.

Let me start with a bold assertion: The push for gratuitous funding, or funding for the sake of funding, is one of the worst trends in higher education over the last two decades. It is anti-intellectual, anti-intellectual freedom, and encourages conformity and mediocrity.

Bold, eh?

Let me explain.

There is nothing wrong with funding. Funding is great, if, and this is a big if, you need it to do your scholarship.  The purpose of the institution of the university is to create and disseminate knowledge. It is not to chase an ever increasingly shrinking and increasingly pursued stream of funding. A university that wishes to encourage innovation, true innovation, academic freedom, and the best within faculty will create incentives for faculty to follow their passions. What their passions are really does not matter; that is the nature of academic freedom. When faculty are freed to pressure their passions that are most dear to their heart, that is when they will create magic. 

Faculty that pursue grants for the sake of grants will engage in status quo oriented research that merely greases the wheel. They will use accepted methodologies about accepted issues. If your research is aligned with big grant funding mechanisms, fantastic. If not, then why would you give up your whole life to pressure funding? ( a bit of a hyperbole, whole life, perhaps, but...)

Why? As Amy's questions implies, the pressure of the all mighty buck, and the institutional, structural, and administrative demands to do otherwise.

And yes, dear associate and full professors, I know that the pressures are great. Deans, administrators, department chairs, and others engage in subtle and not so subtle influence on us. But, remember; You are tenured!  Tenure means that you get to pursue your passions and dreams and that you are mandated, required, and morally obligated to do so. I am not suggesting that you neglect your scholarship here; I am suggesting that you do so in a way that pleases you. Grant funding is a means, not the ends. Dissemination is the ends! Yes, we all have to do a good job of selling what we do; that is just part of life. And, I do see it is a moral responsibility not to pack it in and coast once you receive tenure or final promotion to full; in fact that really pisses me off! Yet, we are far more secure than we sometimes feel, and we have a great deal more choice than we sometimes believe. It is a pretty rare situation in which a tenured professor is fired for not receiving funding (has it happened??). 

So, do your scholarship, and do it well. Use the tools suggested in this blog to carve out blocks of time each and every day to become the type of scholars that you wish to be. I know, it is not as simple as that; that is why I have going on 500 posts!! 

Sooner rather than later, we will all be dead. Live hard,  love hard, play hard, research hard, rest deeply. Do not be seduced by those who seek to bend us to their will; especially post tenure!

Not sure if this is what Amy hand in mind, but it is what is on my mind :).


Friday, November 13, 2015

Amy week Question 1C: Goal Attainment

Here is a simple one. One of the problems that mid and advanced career professors have is that we really don't have very good work and productivity skill and habits. Many have gotten by on their smarts, drive, and doing great work. Yet, how they do this work often is really not very efficient, evidence based or wise. It is way so many full professors give such awful advice on writing, publishing, peer review, ect. Their tools are often very flawed, but they have gotten due to other skills and strengths.

If you know you need to learn some new skills, what you need to do is really fess up and admit that you have some deficits. This is harder to do at this stage of our careers, as we are presumed to "get it." Yet, starting with a good assessment of your work habits is a good way of jumpstarting your career. Check out this blog for ideas on self assessment. Pick up one of the many books on work productivity, writing productivity, or other such resources. It also starts with the humility of saying that now that you can do whatever you want, you own it to yourself to learn to do it with as little wasted effort as possible.

Thursday, November 12, 2015

December New Client/ Winter Break Coaching Package

Once classes are over, December is a relatively quiet time for academics. It is also a good time to take a step back, consider where we are, evaluate how we have been doing, and plan moving forward.

So, since December is a mellow time for me, I am going to be offering a coaching package for those who would like to try out writing/publishing/academic coaching, and do so in an intensive manner.

For this package, you get five sessions to be used all between December 7th and January 3rd. This is for new clients only, and is $300 (less than half my regular rate).

Please email me if you are interested in talking about it, or even better, taking a chance and signing up! I can promise you a great deal of new insights to help you start your new year!

Amy Week Question 1B: The Real Work, Self Discovery

Let's jump into Amy Week Question 1, part B. As a reminder, Amy brought of up the following issue: How to set goals/direction when all the external "gold rings" (tenure and promotion) are done.

My previous post suggested that one must accept this lack of external direction as a loss, and grieve the loss of this part of our movement toward a next phase of professional and personal development. The need to climb is over; one must grieve this reality as a loss of a significant part of our live structure, and even our identity.

Now, once this loss is grieved, guess what?

You get to be yourself! You now can do what you wish to do with your career. By having moved through the grief and loss, you are afforded a powerful freedom that very few on the planet have. This truly is an amazing privilege. Take it in. Take in that feeling of safety that you were not able to experience before. Breath. Breaking is good. Really. Short of doing something really stupid, you have a stable work situation for as long as you wish!

Now, enjoying this new sense of freedom assumes that you have some sense of direction, or some sense of the areas in which you want to work. If you don't, or if it is murky, I would suggest that no simple tools, tricks, or blog posts are going to be the magic bullet for what ails you. You are going to want to spend some time with a mentor, coach, or therapist that can really help you do some "soul" work. I know, this is not what you wanted to hear, but it is the truth (or the way I see the truth, anyhow, but perhaps I am biased by coaching practice and training as a clinical social worker). There is little substitute for quality conversations in which a caring and empathic, skillful other who can help you uncover your passions and dreams. Now that you are freed from the shackles of must, you are called upon to look into the reflective pool of self. This is why we have sabbaticals, although we don't often use them for this.

Once you have your goals and dreams uncovered, the rest is easy, right?

Well, maybe not- part three coming up soon :).

Behind on Amy Week!

Sorry I am a couple of days behind folks; I will be catching up soon!! Doing a revise and resubmit, and have been on fire on three autoethnographies on which I am working. Stay tuned!

Monday, November 9, 2015

My Online Workshop On Writing and Publishing with The Taos Institute!

It is now official, I am conducting an online workshop with the wonderful Taos Institute. Register soon, as spaces are going to be somewhat limited. I will write more, but I have never been so excited about a collaboration!

A Taos Institute Workshop




Facilitator/Presenter
Rich Furman, MSW, PhD


Dates: January 25 – March 18, 2016 (an 8-week online workshop)


This eight-week online workshop is designed to empower scholars and doctoral students to increase their ability to write and publish. It adopts a strengths-based, developmental approach that deconstructs evidence-based strategies unknown to most scholars. Conducted by an internationally known writing coach, therapist and professor, participants personalize lessons to meet their scholarly goals and dreams through writing exercises, on-line discussions, weekly group conference calls and video lectures. This workshop helps participants master skills and knowledge within four domains:


1) Writing productivity
2) The ins and outs of writing articles, books and dissertations
3) Managing the journal selection, submission and peer review processes
4) The psychosocial barriers that inhibit these three other domains. This last area is a special focus and expertise of the facilitator and makes this course a unique and fulfilling experience.  

Outcomes
  1. Master methods of writing productivity.
  2. Make significant progress on longer projects (books and dissertations), or complete and submit an academic article.
  3. Develop tools for breaking through personal blocks and barriers that hinder writing productivity and scholarly success.
  4. Develop life-long and regular practices for successful writing


Live Group Calls:
  1. Each week for the 8 weeks everyone will participate in a group conference call.
  2. Calls will be held on Wednesdays each week for 1.5 hours.
  3. The time for the calls is 11:00 AM NY time/ Eastern US Time – please see the WorldClock website to convert to your own time zone.
How to register:
Go to this link, (Register Now!) complete and submit the form, and then make your payment. Your registration is complete only upon receipt of the registration fee. If you need assistance, email info@taosinstitute.net.


Registration Fee: (US dollars)
Student - $450(register by Dec. 15th)
General - $700 (register by Dec. 15th)


Late registration fee (after Dec. 15th) add $75


Registration due no later than January 15th.


Bio


Rich Furman, MSW, PhD, is Professor of Social Work at the University of Washington Tacoma and author of the acclaimed, “Practical Tips for Publishing Scholarly Articles.”  Rich’s mission is to empower academics to maximize their strengths and transcend their psychosocial barriers so they can build powerful careers and thrive. In addition to having conducted workshops around the world on scholarly writing and publishing, he provides individualized coaching to doctoral students and scholars of all academics ranks, in all academic and professional disciplines. He is the author of over 15 books and over 120 peer-reviewed articles. His areas of interest include globalization and social work, men and masculinities, the criminalization of immigration, and expressive qualitative methodologies.

Sunday, November 8, 2015

Question 1 of Amy Week Part A: The Dilemma of Being Yourself


Well, I thought I was going to be able to address each of Amy's week question in one post each, but as I consider question number one,  I am going to have to explore it in several posts. So, Amy week may turn out to be Amy month (says Rich with tongue planted very firmly in check). So, without any more contextualization, lets begin on question number one.

Question (or issue) one from Amy: How to set goals/direction when all of the external "gold rings" (tenure and promotion) are done.

I actually addressed this question indirectly last year a couple of times during my sabbatical, but let me explore it in more depth, and with fresh eyes.

I begin with my own paraphrasing of Henry Miller from Tropic of Capricorn: When you reach the limits of what is demanding of you, you reach the same dilemma, to be yourself. Dilemma is often not fully accurate; the better word often is crisis.

It is hard to imagine when one is a doctoral student seeking a tenure track position, or an assistant professor fighting for survival, but tenure and then promotion to full professor actually present and represent profound developmental shifts that can sink scholars into deep emotional water. Perhaps some of you are thinking, boo hoo, poor privileged tenured associate professor or full professor with your cushy salary and life time job security. "First world problems" is sometimes how these conundrums are labeled.

And this is partially why working through such a crisis is difficult; many do not accept or believe they are entitled to the powerfully mixed feelings that one goes through when the reach such a milestone. By not believing that their feelings are normal, the newly promoted professor sweeps their feelings under the rug, put on their happy and grateful masks, and only allows themselves their more cheery and institutionally accepted feelings.

Yet with this denial, as with all denials, come powerful costs. Without the external pushes and threats, scholars are forced to recognize that for the first time in their lives, perhaps, they are not having to respond to the demands of others. As the existentialists knew, with freedom comes anxiety. And with all losses, there is grief. This grief, the loss on connection to a community of expectations, can create powerful anxiety, loss, and leave us feeling without direction.

The problem is this: if you do not make space for taking in all of the feelings that go with this developmental shift, you cannot fully move past it. Without winter, there is no spring. Without allowing for the difficult fallow of not knowing who you now are supposed to be, many find themslves running form project to project, without coherence, or struggle with that they view as "low motivation."

So for now, for post number one of Amy week, I suggest that one piece of unpacking this dilemmas of self direction is to allow oneself to feel lost and aimless for a while. We need to experience the totality of our humanness, of our loss, not just the gratitude of promotion.

Stay tuned for post number two of Amy week :).


Saturday, November 7, 2015

Its "Amy" Week!

I have been writing this blog since 2012.  Perhaps once a year or so, I have asked readers to send me question to write about; other times, readers have sent me unsolicited questions. It's been really helpful; your questions provide me inspiration and ideas when my own personal well runs dry, or a sense of meaning when I am feeling as if I am writing into a black whole (a common feeling for writers and scholars, at times).

Yet, never have I received a group of questions so relevant, so well written, and so worthy of exploration as those I received a few days ago from  "Amy".

The next week or so I am referring to as Amy week, as I will be taking each of her questions and exploring them here. As I think you will find, there is some overlap in questions one and two, but there are a few ways of approaching and unpacking the issues implicated in each question. So, I will address them both. Below are Amy's five questions; lets see how long it takes me to tackle them.

Its on Amy!!

 (1) how to set goals/direction when all of the external 'gold rings' (i.e., tenure, promotion) are done; (2) how to find research and writing topics that are motivating when one is mid-career and not as excited by previous research areas; (3) how to work effectively with graduate students to continue researching and writing; (4) how to decide if an administrative track (chair, dean, etc.) is a good option for one's career; and (5) how to manage university pressures to secure grant funding when research time is becoming less and less available.

Friday, November 6, 2015

Poems for a Narrative Non-fiction Book?

I am playing with the idea of a longer narrative nonfiction piece, memoir or autoethnography about a group of friends that I have loved for nearly thirty years. One has been dead for a decade, one is still close, one lost to me, and one only a casual contact. I still love them all.


I thought I would share, for fun and perhaps inspiration, a couple from my book of prose poems, Companero. I may explore some of my ideas publicly for a new book idea at some point, but am just working it through now. For now, enjoy. These two are about my dear friend who I have been disconnected from for about 6 years. If you read this, Will, I am here, and will always be here.


My Friend Will


The night she left I took the train under the bay to drink with my friend Will. Throwing down bottles of amnesia, stopped crying long enough to hold his convulsing head vomiting into the toilet, one of those porcelain, bobbing headed Jesus dolls. I held my feelings like he held his booze: both suffocating us, the stench of something buried, needing to be forgotten. Cleaned his face with a wet salmon rag, took an hour to take off his slumping mad laughing clothes, tucked him in bed. Decided not to sob without audience. Out the beige, oval framed Berkeley window, my finger tracing each plane dissecting the blackest sky, wondering which one she was on.

Disappeared


Penniless, he flew out for my wedding. He asked, do you really want a fat old Jew boy so close to your bride? May wilt the flowers in her hand, the wild daisies on the hill below your mountain alter. Scare off the gods, demoralize the armies. Do you remember, Will, years ago, when another had also left? We drank sour mash and watched her plane dissect the sky in a miserable geometry. You said, do you really want to mourn with a fat old Jew boy? Sicken your heart, already battered, contracting barnacles? Held your head as you heaved that fowl, cheap whisky. Tucked you into bed. I found a good spot of the floor, somehow she had disappeared.

Thursday, November 5, 2015

Pico Iyer, The Art of Stillness

Pico Iyer is one of my favorite writers. If you have not checked him out, his Video Night in Kathmandu is a stunning travel memoir/narrative non-fiction, East meets West globalizations explorations. Perhaps I will explore this more fully in another blog post, but do check it out.

Pico is also a wonderful commentator on the importance of meditation, self-reflection, and the need to go within. I just watched an excellent Ted Talks video, in which he explores this need for writers, creatives, and frankly, all humans.

In my coaching practice, I frequently am called upon to help clients quiet their internal critic: a more noxious and nefarious manifestation of our general tendency toward internal chatter. Meditation, contemplation, mindfulness, and other reflective practices are valuable tools (although calling them tools may dismiss their importance) toward helping writers and scholars meet their goals. During "psychosocial summer" I present several other tools as well to help you control your self-downing and other difficult internal dialogues.

Please watch this wonderful video by a wonderfully thoughtful writer and human being.


Wednesday, November 4, 2015

Topics for My Blog?

I have now written nearly 450 blog posts in Write, Publish, Thrive. Not bad, as many blogs seem to lose steam well before that! I do feel like I am in a bit of an idea rut, after a really active few months, so would love for my readers to make suggestions. As I have written about, scholarship is a collaborative process; we all need each other.

So, what would you like me to write about? What would you like me to explore in more depth, or perhaps take another look at? Feel free to challenge me, push me; I do it to you!!

Post here, or send me an email :). 

Tuesday, November 3, 2015

Fall Job Hunting Package!

Well, some of you took advantage of the summer job hunting package, so let's do it this fall!

Are you on the academic job market? Preparing to start your search? Are you prepared? Do you have the mentorship and coaching you need to thrive on the market?  Do you want to work with someone who has coached dozens of doctoral students and faculty and has helped them find positions that match their needs, values and desires? I have the coaching, psychotherapy, and academic skills and experience to help you approach your search with confidence!

I am offering a job-hunting preparation package which includes well over ten hours of coaching at far less than my normal rate.  If you know of anyone who is on the academic job-hunting market, do let them know!
This coaching package includes:
1.     Seven hours of individual coaching sessions on job hunting skills and strategies, how to conduct your job talk and interviews, working together to identify and remove the psychosocial barriers that inhibit job hunting and interviewing, preparing for and role-playing interviews, and other topics individualized to your particular needs (including discussions of writing and scholarship, as desired)
2.     Three hours of individual consultation to review your CV and cover letter including in-depth feedback  (initial review and final review once initial changes are made)
3.     Two hours of follow-up coaching during the fall and winter interview seasons

$750 total! Discounts for those in-need and from developing countries.
I am also open to taking new clients who want to work on their writing and publishing for a similar package, if you know anyone. My coaching practice focuses on helping doctoral students and faculty thrive as publishing scholars. I do have special rates for scholars from developing countries and doctoral students in need.

Please contact me for a free half hour consultation to see how I can help you in your job search, or to Write, Publish and Thrive. richfurmanphd@gmail.com

Rich Furman, PhD, is professor at the University of Washington Tacoma and the author of over 120 articles and 15 books. He has mentored and coached faculty on writing and publishing for a decade and a half, and is passionate about empowering doctoral students and faculty to have powerful, meaningful, and joyous careers.

Monday, November 2, 2015

No one makes it alone...

Why do academics need help and support to thrive?

Consider a quote from the book Outliers, by journalist and writer Malcolm  Gladwell: "No one- not rock stars, not professional athletes, not software billionaires, not even geniuses- ever make it alone."

In other words, academics are human. Nuff' said.