Humans of the Academy Submission

Help us demonstrate that academia is made up of a wide variety of people, with broad-ranging passions, positions, and reasons for doing what we do. What do you wish people knew about your slice of the academic world? Choose 1-3 of the questions to answer below that would give people insight into the humanity of those who do (and have) made up the often misunderstood academy. Please limit yourself to a few sentences or a paragraph per question, and write as you might speak to a student – with patience and making your best effort to engage.

Not sure you’re “in the academy”? We seek submissions from people around the world who are currently in PhD programs, people who teach in colleges and universities, people who conduct scholarly research, librarians and administrators who work in colleges, universities, or other academic institutions, and people who used to be/do any of these things. If you currently or ever in the past identified yourself as an academic, we would like to hear from you.

We ask that you submit your name and e-mail address only so that we can contact you if we have any questions or problems with the information you have provided. We will not include names or affiliations in shared posts because the focus should be on something deeper than your credentials or work history. Please be aware, however, that you may be identifiable by photo or details you mention here – your participation and what you choose to include is entirely voluntary.

Name

E-mail

Why are, or were, you in academia?

Where do you come from, and how has that influenced where you are now?

How much of your work life is devoted to research, teaching, or other professional activities? How do you feel about those proportions?

If you do research, what's it about, and why should people care about it?

What do you hope your research will achieve? How do you think your work contributes to the world?

If you teach, what do you learn from your students, and what do you hope they learn from you?

What's your favorite thing to teach, and what kinds of things happen in your classroom?

What do you hope for your students?

How do you build or serve communities outside your institution through your academic work? Why do you do those activities?

If you are in administration, how did you land on that path, and what do you find rewarding or frustrating about it?

In what ways do you, as part of your job, help your institution or discipline?

In what ways do you, or have you in the past, also worked outside the academy? Is that work connected to your academic research or teaching?

What’s a common myth about your field?

What are the perks or rewards of your job?

What have you sacrificed to get where you are?

What do you value?

What do you do outside of your academic work?

If you have left academia, why did you leave?

If you have left academia, what do you miss, and not miss, about it?

If you are an aspiring academic, what are your hopes and fears about the future?

If you are currently an academic, have you considered leaving? Why? Why are you staying?

Please upload a photo of yourself. We're looking for a casual photo, such as a selfie or a candid shot, not a professional headshot, portrait, or faculty photo. Take a photo that you feel captures who you are. It doesn't have to show your face, though it must show some part of you that is engaging and representative (and obviously nothing NSFW!).

Photos should be no smaller than 1200x1200 pixels at 72dpi (a standard phone camera will produce an image bigger than this). Allowable file types include jpg, jpeg, png, and gif. Maximum file size is 1024KB (1MB).