Pathfinder Career Narratives 49: Associate Professor

Pathfinder Career Narratives is an ongoing series tracking the career choices and experiences of doctoral graduates. You can see all of the posts in the series here. You can find all the Pathfinder resources and opportunities here. Today’s blog is written by Dr Kait Pinder, Associate Professor in the Department of English at Acadia University. You can find more about Dr Pinder’s research and teaching here.

Photo courtesy of Can Mutlu

Name: Kait Pinder

Doctorate subject area and year of completion: English Literature, 2015

Role and employer: Associate Professor, Acadia University

Approximate salary bracket for this type of role: 100 000 CDN

I began a PhD in English at McGill University in 2009 after completing an MA in Comparative Literature at the University of Western Ontario. I hoped that my studies would lead to a career in academia, but I knew that such jobs were difficult to get. Perhaps because I grew up in a rural area and didn’t know anyone who was a professor or who had gone to grad school, I always assumed I wouldn’t get an academic job. Nevertheless, I love the optimism and energy you can find at universities, and I wanted to be part of that for as long as possible. While I was deeply committed to my degree, I also used the time in my PhD to become more involved in student government and on-campus unions, and I started an online review of books with a friend, which ran for about seven years. I aimed to gain transferable skills for future non-academic jobs and to meet new people. It turns out that these activities helped me define my values as an academic, and, in the end, I believe they have been crucial in securing me every academic position I have been hired into.

I am now an Associate Professor in the Department of English and Theatre at a small, liberal arts university on Canada’s east coast. This is my dream job, and I feel very lucky to have landed here. I teach in the two areas that I am most interested in––Canadian literature and literary theory––and I am able to get to know my students quite well over the course of their degree. The smaller university environment also means that I can collaborate with faculty members in lots of different programs, whether through writing groups, research talks, involvement in interdisciplinary programs, or through various service commitments on campus. Before taking my position at Acadia, I was a Faculty Fellow for three years in the Foundation Year Programme at the University of King’s College and held a post-doc in Canadian Studies at Mount Allison University. Although larger research universities have the benefit of having a lot of people working in your specific research area, the smaller universities where I have been employed have taught me a lot about other disciplines and other ways of thinking about big ideas. I’m a better scholar for it.

A typical week for me really involves trying to do a little bit of everything. I have a long-running practice of working on my research for at least one hour every morning, usually before the sun is up. Additionally, I write online with a friend who also studies Canadian literature for a couple of hours every Tuesday––this practice has been important in keeping me connected to my field even while working in a smaller institution. I teach either two or three courses a term, ranging from introductory courses to seminars with MA and honours students. The commitments I made during my PhD to student government and union work have translated into an enthusiasm for the service part of my job. On any given week, I might be attending a university senate meeting, working on a new strategic research plan with colleagues from across the campus, meeting with the executive of associations in my field, advising thesis students, organizing faculty-wide research talks, or working for my union. While there can be a perception among some faculty members that service work distracts from research and teaching, I have more often found that these tasks motivate me and clarify my values in other areas of my job.

Probably because I’m so willing to join committees and do service tasks, I have had the opportunity to take on a number of different kinds of roles, including union president and co-ordinator of an interdisciplinary MA program in Social and Political Thought. Each new role has triggered anxieties about my own belonging in the university as an institution and internal questions about whether I will be able to rise to new challenges. I’ve learned to recognize these doubts as less about my ability than about the ways these institutions are still places of gatekeeping and privilege (of which, admittedly, I have a fair bit). Ironically, these are the very reasons that motivate me to take on leadership roles. It’s my responsibility now to make meaningful changes so that higher education can be more inclusive.

The transition from PhD student to Associate Professor has involved learning to trust myself, as cliché as that sounds. In terms of my research, it has meant moving away from what I studied during my PhD and developing projects that are more uniquely mine, including my current research on the literary history of the impostor syndrome, which has grown out of my own experiences with crippling self-doubt. In terms of service, it has meant trusting myself to work through problems as they arise. I had an epiphany the first week I was graduate coordinator in my department. Something pretty major went wrong, but, since I had just stepped into the role, it wasn’t something I could have prevented from happening. My first reaction was to feel that I had already failed. Then I realized that leadership isn’t about perfectionism, even though perfectionism is so prevalent in academia. Things will always go wrong. For me, leadership is about taking responsibility and fixing problems when they arise. I’ve had to learn that I will make mistakes, and to trust myself that I’ll put in the work to fix them.

Reflecting back, I realize that I have sought out community and mentorship not only in my academic programs, but in the extra-curricular and service work that I have taken on. In these tasks, especially in the work that I have done for unions and faculty associations, I have learned the most important lessons about what I value in this profession. I’d encourage every PhD student or early-career academic to get involved in their faculty association, if their institution has one. Ultimately, when we talk about careers, we are talking about jobs; we are talking about labour. Find the people who will help you advocate for what you need as a worker. If I could chat with myself in September 2009 as I entered my PhD program, I would tell myself that it’s good to be a well-rounded academic, in fact it might be what sets you apart when you apply for your dream job. I’d also say that it’s important to identify what your broader values are and to work with those in mind. Far from distracting you from the “serious” work of research and writing, these will be a source of inspiration that keeps on giving.