Academic Career Research Articles

Mental health and early career adaptation challenges of Chinese returnees and Korean ambitionists among the STEAM doctoral cohorts in the post-pandemic academic job market

ABSTRACT This longitudinal study presents a critical phenomenological comparison of mental health and early career adaptation challenges encountered by Chinese returnees and Korean ambitionists in the post-pandemic academic job market. They were international doctoral candidates in American higher education pursuing academic careers in science, technology, engineering, arts, and mathematics (STEAM) but failed to secure tenure-track faculty positions. Consequently, all Chinese returned to their home country, while all Koreans remained in the United States. Findings demonstrate that both groups commonly experienced racial trauma, career anxiety, and ambiguous loss, albeit within each group’s diverse circumstances and immigration status, since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. The study suggests implementing trauma-informed care within the chaos theory of careers. Therefore, this study calls upon the global public, intellectual societies, policymakers, and counsellors in comparative and international education to develop appropriate coping strategies and provide these emerging scholars with mental health counselling and career support services.

Us and IT: Capacity-building for blended learning

When Victoria University (VU) Australia, adopted a new learning management system (LMS) as part of its Blended Learning Strategy and Operational Plan in 2014, it introduced a range of support structures including a staff support and training program. Complementing this, the Graduate Certificate in Higher Education (the course providing professional development for early career academic staff) offered an elective AET4010 Blended Learning Design and Development fusing the pedagogical and theoretical aspects of blended learning to foster teaching as a design science. In this study we investigate the effectiveness of AET4010 in developing participants’ capacity to design and, develop blended learning. In this paper we report on the data from the first stage of this investigation. Data is derived from assessment rubrics. Complementary qualitative data will be collected in the second stage via interviews conducted after the participants complete the unit. We analyse our findings against the JISC Building Digital Capability Framework mapped to the UK Professional Standards Framework. This Framework identifies early career academics’ capabilities (Associate Fellows). The emerging findings indicated the value of capacity building through a structured unit of study enabling participants to experience learning from their own learner’s standpoint while reflecting on pedagogical perspectives and ‘teaching as design’.

Stepping into the Future of Project Studies: Establishing the PMJ College for Early Career Researchers in Project Studies

With the support of the Project Management Institute (PMI), we are excited to launch the PMJ College, a global, cross-journal initiative to nurture future leading academics in project studies. The initiative is important now, as academia struggles to attract and retain talent, yet really needs academics. Society requires good projects and project management to survive and hence also a vibrant academic project ecology to extend knowledge and help project practice. The PMJ College aims to attract, retain, and help early career academics through a series of workshops and mentorship, fostering passionate and engaged scholarship. Applications are open, and its process is described in this editorial.

Anti-Blackness in Schools of Social Work: A Black Feminist Polyethnography

ABSTRACT Considering the significant contributions of Black women social workers to our profession, and the unyielding stressors and expectations disproportionately affecting Black women in the context of Black Lives Matter and COVID-19, addressing anti-Blackness and understanding the lived experiences of Black women within higher education are essential first steps toward eliminating racism, the 13th and most recently adopted Grand Challenge. Guided by Black feminist polyethnography, this study examined how anti-Blackness is collectively felt and experienced by six Black and mixed Black women faculty and graduate students in schools of social work over their academic careers. Initial steps schools of social work can take to acknowledge and address manifestations of anti-Blackness within existing policies, procedures, curriculum, and dominant school culture are discussed.

The National MD-PhD Program Outcomes Study: career paths followed by Black and Hispanic graduates.

Previous studies on attrition from MD-PhD programs have shown that students who self-identify as Black are more likely to withdraw before graduating than Hispanic students and students not from groups underrepresented in medicine (non-UIM). Here, we analyzed data collected for the National MD-PhD Program Outcomes Study, a national effort to track the careers of over 10,000 individuals who have graduated from MD-PhD programs over the past 60 years. On average, Black trainees took slightly longer to graduate, were less likely to choose careers in academia, and were more likely to enter nonacademic clinical practice; although, none of these differences were large. Black graduates were also more likely to choose careers in surgery or internal medicine, or entirely forego residency, and less likely to choose pediatrics, pathology, or neurology. Among those in academia, average research effort rates self-reported by Black, Hispanic, and non-UIM alumni were indistinguishable, as were rates of obtaining research grants and mentored training awards. However, the proportion of Black and Hispanic alumni who reported having NIH research grants was lower than that of non-UIM alumni, and the NIH career development to research project grant (K-to-R) conversion rate was lower for Black alumni. We propose that the reasons for these differences reflect experiences before, during, and after training and, therefore, conclude with action items that address each of these stages.

William Lawrence Tower's Beetles: Experimental Evolution and the Manipulation of Inheritance.

William Lawrence Tower's work on the evolution of the Colorado Potato Beetle (Leptinotarsa decemlineata), documenting the environmental induction of mutation and speciation, made him a leading figure in experimental genetics during the first decade of the 20th century. His research program served as a model for other experimental evolution studies seeking to demonstrate the environmental modification of inheritance. Tower enjoyed the support of influential figures in the field, despite well-known problems that plagued Tower's earlier academic career. The validity of his genetic work, and other findings reported by Tower, were later challenged. The Tower affair illustrates how questionable and possibly fraudulent scientific practices can be tolerated to explore certain experimental directions and theoretical frameworks, particularly at the frontier of expanding disciplines. When needed, those explorations can be forestalled or extinguished by exploiting conspicuous vulnerabilities of rogue practitioners. In Tower's case, both unrefuted allegations of scientific misconduct and personal problems dissolved his institutional support, leading to a swift ouster from academic science. Tower's downfall discredited soft inheritance and neo-Lamarckian conceptions in the field of experimental genetics, facilitating the discipline's embrace of a hard inheritance model that featured a hereditary material resistant to environmental modification.

Counteroffers for faculty at research universities: who gets them, who doesn’t, and what factors produce them?

AbstractIn US higher education, faculty members may receive an outside offer of employment from an external organization, and then receive a corresponding counteroffer from their current institution. Counteroffers are written contracts made to individuals — either prematurely in anticipation of an outside offer, but most often after an outside offer — that outline improved salary, benefits, and/or other employment conditions with the hopes of retaining them. Though the norm of the “retention offer” is pervasive in the academy, in practice it can be much more nebulous, inefficient, discretionary, and inequitable. Few studies, however, empirically examine this process. In this study, we analyze quantitative institutional and survey data collected from 650 faculty by the Collaborative on Academic Careers in Higher Education (COACHE) to explore whether certain populations of faculty are more likely to receive counteroffers, and why. We found that women and racially minoritized scholars were less likely to receive counteroffers, and identified other factors that impact reception of counteroffers like faculty members’ desire to leave and their notification of leadership. We conclude by situating findings within extant research and offering implications for future research on counteroffers and their practice in faculty retention.

Awarding academic titles as a public service: Optimization of administrative procedures and transition to a digital model

The transition to a digital model of providing the public service of conferring academic titles implies fundamental changes in this public institution, which are associated with both the need to make a technological map for digitizing the service and optimization of the very procedure for awarding academic titles. The paper discusses technological and institutional aspects of providing the public service of conferring academic titles in a digital form. The theories of public administration and public services, digitalization, jurisprudence and project management constitute the methodological framework of the article. The classical research methods, such as analysis and synthesis, are used. The empirical data are obtained through integration of the legal acts regulating the principles and mechanisms for rendering public services and conferring academic titles with the project documents of the Department of Scientific and Scientific-Pedagogical Workers Certification of the Ministry of Science and Higher Education of the Russian Federation. We indicate the need to legalize the procedures for initiating the nomination of an applicant for academic titles and justify the attribution of academic titles to the academic rights of scientific and scientific-pedagogical workers. Special focus of the study is on the reorganization of the academic titles institution and its role in assessing scientific qualifications and developing academic career. We address the controversial issue of granting the leading universities the right to independently confer academic titles (transition to a hybrid format) and emphasize the importance of balance between local and centralized regulation. In prospect the initiative to update the quantitative requirements and criteria for applicants for academic titles should be a key tool in revising the content of academic titles.

Study on One-Stop Student Community Education Management and Services in Higher Education Institutions

In the contemporary era of rapid advancements in information technology, the domain of higher education administration and services is also experiencing a new wave of transformation. Particularly concerning the management and provision of services to student communities, the limitations of traditional fragmented and departmentalized models are gradually becoming apparent. Against this backdrop, the emergence of a "one-stop" model for student community education management and services seeks to integrate a comprehensive range of support, encompassing academic guidance, psychological counseling, lifestyle amenities, and career planning, through a unified service platform. This model not only optimizes resource allocation and enhances service efficiency but, more importantly, significantly augments students' sense of attainment and satisfaction. Nevertheless, to realize this objective, universities must delve deeply into exploration and innovation across multiple dimensions, including administrative structures, information technology infrastructure, human resources, and student feedback.

Caught between a rock and a hard place: the liminality of the sport coaching ‘pracademic’

ABSTRACT The emergence of “pracademics” in the field of sport coaching, individuals who blend practical coaching expertise with scientific enquiry, has garnered increasing attention. Positioned to bridge the gap between academia and practice, pracademics are expected to bring practical wisdom and contextual knowledge into scholarly activities. However, we pose the need to critically examine the concept of the pracademic, and their service to both industry and academia while sounding a note of caution in an increasingly commercialised sector. We do so by exploring the retrospective reflections of an early career researcher (the lead author) in navigating the role of pracademic in an increasingly neoliberal space. We contend that caution is needed in the blind pursual towards the role of the pracademic, calling on greater collaborative efforts to protect early career academics, challenge neoliberal structures and for the continued engagement with thoughtful and critical research and knowledge exchange in sport coaching.

Dental hygiene students' and recent graduates' intentions, attitudes, and perceptions of academic careers.

The purpose of this study was to explore dental hygiene students' and recent graduates' awareness, attitudes, perceived barriers, motivators, and intentions to pursue a career in academia as a dental hygiene educator. Cross-sectional survey research was conducted with a non-probability sample of dental hygiene students and recent graduates (n=451). The survey included sections for familiarity regarding academic careers for dental hygienists, attitudes toward academic careers, barriers and motivating factors for this career path, and future academic career intentions. Analysis included descriptive, correlations, and regression. Of 451 surveys started, 296 were at least 80% complete for a completion rate of 66%. The most reported barrier to a career in academia was the cost to obtain the required degree to become an educator (67.6%, n=200), and for motivating factors was a sense of accomplishment (62.8%, n=186). Regression analysis of likelihood to pursue a higher education degree showed two main predictors; belief that higher education would advance the dental hygiene profession (β=0.35, p<0.001) and willingness to take a pay cut to become an educator (β=0.24, p<0.001). Overall dental hygiene students and recent graduates were familiar with and had a positive view of careers in academia. However, barriers included cost and time for obtaining a higher degree, as well as the pay differential between academia and private practice. The educator shortage in dental hygiene may be alleviated by providing educators with loan forgiveness and offering salaries comparable to clinical practice.

Parenthood and Academic Career Trajectories

Women continue to be underrepresented in the field of economics, especially among permanent faculty. As parenthood is an important driver of gender inequality in the labor market, we study the impact of children on the academic careers of economists. We find no evidence of delayed or reduced fertility among researchers. Event study estimates reveal that both men's and women's career trajectories are affected by parenthood and face increasing attrition from universities. Men move into the broader research sector, while women leave research completely. We also find a gender gap in the promotion to tenured faculty in the years following parenthood.

Understanding college success through the lens of first-generation students in China: An interpretative phenomenological analysis

BackgroundFirst-generation college students face unique challenges in navigating the higher education system, and understanding their perceptions of college success is crucial for providing appropriate support. ObjectiveThis qualitative study aimed to explore the perceptions of 15 first-generation college students regarding college success and to identify the factors they consider important for achieving success in college. MethodSemi-structured interviews were conducted with the participants, and the data were analyzed using interpretative phenomenological analysis. ResultsThis study explores the varied perceptions of success among first-generation college students (FGCS) through five themes: Academic Achievement, Personal Development, Personal Well-being, Personal Fulfillment, and Career Success. ConclusionThis study provides valuable insights into the perceptions of first-generation college students regarding college success. The identified themes shed light on the multifaceted nature of success in higher education. These findings have implications for supporting first-generation college students and developing targeted interventions to enhance their overall success and well-being.

The Impact of Gaokao High-Stakes Testing on Student Mental Health in China: An Analysis of Stress Levels and Coping Mechanisms Among Senior High School Students

The Gaokao, China’s National College Entrance Examination, is a high-stakes test that significantly impacts students’ academic futures and career opportunities. This paper examines the mental health implications of the Gaokao, focusing on stress levels and coping mechanisms among senior high school students. It explores the societal and educational significance of the Gaokao, identifies specific stressors related to its preparation and performance, and analyzes the correlation between stress levels and academic performance. Additionally, the paper discusses the short-term and long-term effects of stress on students’ overall well-being and offers recommendations for immediate and long-term interventions. These strategies aim to reduce the adverse effects of stress, enhance students’ mental health, and improve academic outcomes. The findings highlight the need for a balanced approach to stress management and support systems to ensure students’ success and well-being in the face of high-stakes examinations.

A Retrospective Analysis of Career Outcomes in Neuroscience.

What factors are associated with career outcomes among biomedical PhDs? Research to date has focused on drivers of interest in (and intention to pursue) various careers, especially during graduate school, but fewer studies have investigated participants' ultimate career outcomes. Even less is known about what factors matter for groups historically underrepresented in the US science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) workforce, such as women, some racial and ethnic groups, and persons with disabilities ( National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics (NCSES), 2021a). This study reports a new analysis of data from 781 PhD neuroscientists that were obtained from a retrospective survey ( Ullrich et al., 2021) to investigate the factors that influence the career sector in which neuroscience PhDs are employed and whether there were group differences according to social identity. We find evidence of academia as a "default path" for incoming PhD students, but interest in different careers increases over time. Those who remained in academia had greater acceptance of the structural aspects of academic careers, such as promotion and tenure processes, and greater faculty support during postdoctoral training. Conversely, prioritizing monetary compensation and/or varied work were associated with not being in academia, while a strong interest in research was positively associated with being in nonacademic research. Somewhat surprisingly, there were few interactions with gender, and no interactions with underrepresentation status, although perhaps this was due to lower statistical power for these analyses. Our findings also underscore the role of advisors, networking, and personal relationships in securing employment in STEM.

Recognising the importance and impact of Imaging Scientists: Global guidelines for establishing career paths within core facilities.

In the dynamic landscape of scientific research, imaging core facilities are vital hubs propelling collaboration and innovation at the technology development and dissemination frontier. Here, we present a collaborative effort led by Global BioImaging (GBI), introducing international recommendations geared towards elevating the careers of Imaging Scientists in core facilities. Despite the critical role of Imaging Scientists in modern research ecosystems, challenges persist in recognising their value, aligning performance metrics and providing avenues for career progression and job security. The challenges encompass a mismatch between classic academic career paths and service-oriented roles, resulting in a lack of understanding regarding the value and impact of Imaging Scientists and core facilities and how to evaluate them properly. They further include challenges around sustainability, dedicated training opportunities and the recruitment and retention of talent. Structured across these interrelated sections, the recommendations within this publication aim to propose globally applicable solutions to navigate these challenges. These recommendations apply equally to colleagues working in other core facilities and research institutions through which access to technologies is facilitated and supported. This publication emphasises the pivotal role of Imaging Scientists in advancing research programs and presents a blueprint for fostering their career progression within institutions all around the world.

Overstaying our welcome: On the rise of women's seniority in the academy

AbstractIssues surrounding gender equality are—and should be—front and centre in the water resources community, and other science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) fields. Very necessarily, the focus tends to be on recruitment, offering support for students and early career academics. The leaky pipeline concept used to describe the incremental loss of women from STEM fields with career duration describes a disproportionate loss of senior women, creating a parallel problem where highly qualified, top tier academics are lost from the system after significant financial and personnel investment by institutions. Ultimately, the leaky pipeline undermines the extensive investment of the hydrology and other STEM communities in equity, diversity, inclusion and accessibility (EDIA) recruitment and retention programmes by cutting short career ambitions and the trajectories of diverse top performing individuals, resulting in no net benefit of EDIA policy investments and a lack of diversity with seniority. Addressing this critical gender gap requires the attention and support of the hydrology community of practice with specific focus on generating opportunities for advancement, confronting systemic and structural biases and improving education around allyship. Institutions and professional organizations need to consciously grow diversity in leadership and recognize and outwardly manage the perception of academic excellence around slow research and education that attracts increased diversity. Supporting allyship, reducing competitiveness among community members and reinforcing collaboration will not only attract, but retain, a higher proportion of diversity in the hydrology community, academia and STEM professions in general. It is time for the water resources (and other STEM) communities to demand broader accountability and recognition of the barriers to women, implement and reward more diverse definitions of research excellence, and offer allyship training to the community of practice at large.

How metric-based performance evaluation systems fuel the growth of questionable publications?

The proliferation of questionable publishing practices has raised serious concerns in academia, prompting numerous discussions and investigations into the motivations behind researchers’ preference for such journals. In this study, we aimed to explore the impact of current academic performance evaluation systems on scholars’ questionable journal preferences in Turkey. Utilizing data from the comprehensive study conducted by Kulczycki et al. (2021) on questionable journals, we analyzed the academic careers of 398 researchers who authored 417 articles in this context. Our findings reveal a clear association between current research evaluation systems and journal selection, particularly during the process of applying for associate professorship. Notably, 96% of the articles published in questionable journals were listed in scholars’ academic profiles, indicating their use in academic promotion or incentive portfolios. While this study contributes valuable insights into the relationship between academic performance evaluation systems and questionable journal preferences, additional research is required to comprehensively understand the motivations behind scholars’ publishing choices and to devise effective strategies to combat questionable publishing practices in academia.

F. A. Mann – Výjimečná osobnost a jeho odkaz

The subject of this paper is a description and analysis of the life and work of the extraor¬dinary personality of the exiled lawyer F. A. Mann who became an extraordinary expert in public international law, private international law, comparative law and commercial law, who, moreover, laid the foundations of monetary law as a special subject of legal doctrine. As the famous English judge, Lord Denning, would say: “Mann contributed more than anyone else to the development the science of law in our time.” Born in a German Jewish family, he studied and began an academic career in Berlin. He was then forced to flee to Great Britain, where he studied law again and became a renowned solicitor and legal scholar. His career was crowned after World War II, when he became a leading figure in international legal organizations, leaving a far-reaching influence in English and international jurisprudence. In the 1960s and 1970s, he lectured at German universities in particular, where he received the highest honours, and also influenced German jurisprudence.

The Johns Hopkins Physician-Scientist Training Program to Enhance Institutional Retention and Entry Into Academic Positions: An Evaluation of Program Effectiveness and Outcomes.

The Johns Hopkins Physician-Scientist Training Program (PSTP) was implemented to overcome well-documented challenges in training and retaining physician-scientists by providing physician-scientist pathway training for residents and clinical fellows. The program's core tenets include monthly seminars, individualized feedback on project proposals, access to mentors, and institutional funding opportunities. This study evaluated the effectiveness and outcomes of the PTSP and provides a framework for replication. A query of institutional demographic data and bibliometric variables of the PSTP participants (2017-2020) at a single academic medical center was conducted in 2021. In addition, a voluntary survey collected personal and program evaluation information. Of 145 PSTP scholars, 59 (41%) were women, and 41 (31%), 8 (6%), and 6 (5%) of scholars self-identified as Asian, Hispanic, and Black, respectively. Thirty-three (23%) scholars received PSTP research support or career development microgrants. Of 66 PSTP graduates, 29 (44%) remained at Johns Hopkins as clinical fellows or faculty. Of 48 PSTP graduates in a post-training position, 42 (88%) were in academia, with the majority, 29 (76%), holding the rank of assistant professor. Fifty-nine of 140 available participants responded to the survey (42% response rate). The top-cited reason for joining the PSTP was exposure to mentors and administration (50/58 respondents, 86%), followed by seeking scholarly opportunities (37/58 respondents, 64%). Most scholars intended to continue a career as a physician-scientist. The PSTP provides internal research support and institutional oversight. Although establishing close mentor-mentee relationships requires individualized approaches, the PSTP provided structured academic pathways that enhanced participating scholars' ability to apply for grants and jobs. The vast majority continued their careers as physician-scientists after training. In light of the national evidence of a "leaky physician-scientist pipeline," programs such as the PSTP can be critical to entry into early academic career positions and institutional retention.