Early Career Profile: Anisa Goforth

November 3, 2015

What are your current position and responsibilities?I am an Assistant Professor of Psychology at the University of Montana. I am one of three faculty members in the Educational Specialist and Doctoral School Psychology Programs, which are housed in the Department of Psychology. As a department, we have a strong emphasis on both teaching and research. In fact, there is a strong emphasis on teaching at the undergraduate and graduate levels, so I have a 2-2 load and typically teach one undergraduate course and three school psychology graduate courses (practicum and educational assessment and intervention) per year.I am also involved in research and created a lab called the Culturally Responsive Evidence-based Practices in School Psychology (CRESP) lab. CRESP Lab includes my doctoral students in school psychology as well as 3 to 5 undergraduate research assistants. My undergraduates are expected to learn about the science of school psychology and disseminate presentations at our university research conference as well as regional or national conferences. I am also involved in service, particularly at the program and departmental levels. I am in several national committees (for example, on the Trainers of School Psychologists board and member of the NASP Research Committee).What are your primary research interests and activities?I am interested in understanding ways that school psychologists can use evidence-based practices to meet the academic and mental health needs of children and families from diverse backgrounds. I am also interested in furthering school psychologists' professional development as it relates to cultural competence and use of technology and social media. A third line of research also focuses on evidence-based practices within group social skills interventions for children with autism and related disorders. In collaboration with a faculty member in communicative sciences and disorders, I developed Youth Engagement Through Intervention, which is a framework for conducting group social skills interventions using a modular approach.How did your training and experiences prepare you for your current position? Were you mentored for an academic career?As a doctoral student at Michigan State University’s school psychology program, I had a number of training experiences that prepared me for an academic career. I had the opportunity to be the primary instructor for an undergraduate course on applied psychology, which helped me develop my skills in course development and pedagogy. Teaching as the primary instructor in the course (rather than a TA who primarily graded) was very important in furthering my skills.An important experience was being part of an Office of Special Education Program (OSEP) Leadership Training Fellowship. Through this fellowship, I had opportunities to participate in a seminar about being a faculty member and was encouraged to disseminate papers. I published a couple of peer-reviewed journal articles as either a first author or co-author that introduced me to the process (and challenges) of submitting manuscripts. My primary mentor and advisor was Dr. Evelyn Oka who specialized in researching underserved youth. She provided me with the support to become a faculty member as well as supported my interest in research with culturally and linguistically diverse youth. Dr. John Carlson also played an important role as a mentor, providing advice about ways to be successful in graduate school to prepare for a faculty role.Finally, I was also a pre-doctoral intern at the Psychological Services Center through the Illinois School Psychology Internship Consortium where I did the assessment, treatment and consultation for children and families, but also had the opportunity to teach an undergraduate course on psychology and diversity. These activities allowed me to prepare myself as a psychologist as well as an academic. Specifically, I had opportunities to supervise ISU graduate students under the supervision of Dr. Mark Swerdlik that allowed me to practice some key supervisions kills (e.g., providing feedback on clinical skills).Are there any training or mentoring experiences you wish you had early in your career?Ultimately, I felt very prepared to become a faculty member. The mentorship and training I received at Michigan State University prepared me well, especially through the Leadership Fellowship, which had a primary goal of preparing future faculty. I do wish I had participated in a grant-writing course, which would have prepared me with the skills and knowledge of applying to competitive R01 grants. Some of my students take a grant-writing course at UM and I’d take the course myself if I wasn’t so busy!How do you balance your teaching, research and service responsibilities?Balancing teaching, research and service is always a challenge. At UM, we are evaluated primarily on our research and teaching, although there is a general trend to put more emphasis on research and obtaining grants. As a result, it can be difficult to ensure that I make time to conduct my research. I have created ways to ensure I give myself time to write (see strategies below) which have allowed me to be productive. I have begun to have more and more doctoral students in my lab, and that has also helped me conduct my research.I have been very purposeful in choosing my service activities. We have a small school psychology program (3 faculty members), so my primary efforts are dedicated to administration and service associated with our Ed.S. and Ph.D. programs. When I first began my career, I also valued connections with colleagues and networking was a priority. As a result, I joined several committees in NASP and APA to facilitate this. Thus, it was an opportunity to maintain professional relationships while also providing service.How has mentoring or collaboration advanced your research? One of the most rewarding ways I have been able to make time for my research is doing more collaborative writing with colleagues. I have realized that if I am accountable to a colleague, then I am more likely to accomplish the tasks on time and more efficiently. For example, I am currently writing a manuscript with Andy Pham at Florida International University. We are both Michigan State alum and knew each other prior to becoming faculty members. We also both participated in the School Psychology Research Collaboration Conference (SPRCC), which is hosted by SSSP, and that collaboration has led to two manuscripts being published or submitted. I have also been collaborating with Natasha Segool at the University of Hartford (also a Michigan State alum!). Through our discussions of professional issues, we became interested in examining ethical challenges associated with social media use among school psychologists. These discussions have led to a large project and a few publications.  Collaborations have made research a great deal more fun!What strategies, resources, or practices contribute most to your success?One specific strategy I have used to make sure that my research is a priority is through a scheduling. I delegate a minimum of 2 hours each morning (8:00-10:00am) during the week in which I only allow myself to do writing activities related to research (manuscripts, grant submissions, etc.). I have recognized that my best writing occurs in the morning (I also go to bed early and rise early) and that my energy and motivation significantly decreases in the afternoon. As a result, I schedule my student and faculty meetings after 10am.My typical schedule is as follows: When I arrive at my office, I close my door and give myself 15 minutes to get into a mindset to work. I turn off my email during these two hours so I don’t get distracted. I also have my rituals, which involves having a cup of coffee, a clean desk and writing a to-do list of what I want to accomplish for the day. I’m very specific. For example, I might write, “Complete one paragraph of introduction” or “Finish Table 1 and Table 2.” I usually underestimate what I accomplish so if I do more (like complete 2 paragraphs), I feel really good and reward myself (usually with a latte or a cookie). I also recognize when my mind wanders or I get tired, so when this happens, I transition to completing writing tasks that are less mentally taxing. For example, I might start with writing paragraphs and when I get mentally fatigued, I change to working on other parts of the manuscript like creating tables or figures.Lastly, please tell us something unique about yourself and how this has been influential in your career.The reason I accepted a position at the University of Montana is because there was an intrinsic culture in the department of a good work-life balance. Most faculty members in our department are outdoor enthusiasts—mountain bikers, backpackers, hikers, skiers—so there is a real passion for working hard and playing hard. I knew UM was a perfect fit.  I work very hard during the day, but when I go home at the end of the day, I enjoy time with my fiancé and go for hike with my dog Luna.

Academic Parenthood: When I Figure it Out, I'll Let You Know

September 28, 2015

This is the third installment of a mini-series on academic parenthood, a follow up to the ECF session at the 2015 NASP Convention. In the first two installment, Bryn Harris and Jessica Hoffman discussed their perspectives as mothers pre- and post-tenure. In this installment, Sterett Mercer provides a father’s perspective on academic parenthood.By Sterett Mercer, The University of British ColumbiaUpon receiving the invitation to write this column, I was stuck with a general sense that I didn’t have any useful advice or profound perspective to provide…this is very much a work in progress. That said, I am a father of two girls (ages 5 and 7), in my first year post-tenure, and part of a dual-academic family; and that does at least make for some interesting stories.Our first daughter was born while I was working as a research associate for a company that developed and evaluated social-emotional interventions for children. At that point, I hadn’t published much (and probably didn’t write all that well, to be honest), but I was determined to keep writing and get some work under review. During the first month after my daughter was born, I did manage to get most of an introduction to an article down on paper before having to move on to a major period of data collection and other projects. There were probably some times of waking up with keyboard prints on my forehead, but fortunately sleep deprivation seems to impair memory formation. A few months later (in a slightly better-rested state), I returned to the draft, read it twice, and deleted the file. I can only describe that draft as lacking what I would now refer to as ‘lexical cohesion’—at the time, I described it as word salad.

• Lesson Learned:It is important to match tasks with current capabilities. For me at least, it is generally a waste of time to write first drafts when sleep-deprived, sick, upset, etc. Of course, we don’t have full control of these factors, but I try to fill those non-optimal hours and days (sometimes weeks, occasionally months…) with less involved tasks like answering email, course planning, editing, reviewing manuscripts, and other service-related tasks so that I can take the time to write when in the right state of mind.

Four or so years later, I was in my first year of employment as an assistant professor at my second academic institution.  My wife was completing a post-doc in another country, and I was the primary caretaker for our girls (then ages 2 and 4). While teaching a new course (and really struggling to stay afloat in general), I had the bright idea to submit a proposal for a modest federal grant. At the time, I thought that it would be a great opportunity to learn the format for Canadian grants and get some feedback on the proposal, but the only way to get the grant completed by the deadline was to work on it during nights in a cycle of heavy childcare disruption due to child illnesses (and eventually me being sick too) in that critical period before the deadline. The grant ended up being submitted, and amazingly enough it was funded. Success, right? Not really. The idea wasn’t all that great, and the project was a very poor contextual fit for the local schools. Recruitment and data collection (which I also didn’t really have time for) were a nightmare, and overall, I would describe this project as one of my least successful to date.

• Lesson Learned: (See the prior lesson that I obviously did not learn the first time around.) Clearly there are some times when it is best to work on other things and prioritize other areas. Planning and initiating a major project at a low point during academic parenthood may not be the best use of time.

In the first year post-tenure, I am increasingly aware that academic careers are marathons, not sprints, and managing burnout will most likely be the key to successfully navigating the 30+ years to go in my academic career. Although some academics can maintain a consistent schedule of work and writing on evenings and weekends, it’s typically a waste of time for me if it extends beyond the (very) short term. I drop off and pick up our kids from daycare/school most days of the week, so I typically have 7.5 to 8 hours of potential work time on campus, and I do my best to optimize that time. When I don’t use that time well, then work drifts back into evenings and weekends, I get annoyed and burnout increases, and then my overall productivity drops even though I end up working more hours. Eventually I start to think that leaving academia to pursue [insert half-baked career idea of the moment] is a great idea, but if I start brewing beer as a job, what would I do as a hobby?

• Lesson Learned: I try to be aware of the cycles of the work week and academic year. Some times of year those daytime hours tend to be full of meetings and course times, but Friday afternoons, times between academic terms, and summers tend to be less heavily scheduled; thus, those are the times that I need to read, plan, and write so that research productivity stays on track.

I would stress that you have to decide what kind of academic you want to be. Even without kids as part of the equation, you have to decide which aspects of research, teaching, and service you are going to do well, which ones you are going to ‘just do,’ and which ones you are going to avoid at all costs. Ideally, the parts you decide to do well will correspond to parts of the job that you enjoy and that are also valued in terms of merit and promotion at your university…for me, I enjoy the feeling of being immersed in a research problem, fitting complex statistical models (including hours of code debugging), uninterrupted writing time, teaching courses closely related to my research interests, and student research mentoring. In academia, we have quite a bit of control over our schedule, so I do my best to make sure I maintain a healthy diet of these activities in the work day to fight off burnout. When I’m in the midst of times that don’t allow those activities due to overscheduling of meetings or other tasks, I look ahead in the calendar and think about what I will do when the schedule opens up again. The need to protect time for these activities is even more important with kids in the equation and the compression of the work day that school and childcare schedules create.You also have to decide what sort of parent you will be. Just like you can’t successfully be awesome at all aspects of the academic job, I don’t think it’s possible to be awesome at all aspects of parenthood. Compared to the families with a stay-at-home or part-time working parent, my wife and I are probably not going to win any awards for school involvement any time soon. Our kids’ school projects are completed solely by them (for the most part), we routinely miss a few food groups in the school lunches we pack, our kids’ wardrobes get pretty rough some times of the year, homework doesn’t always get done as well as it should, the house is pretty much a perpetual mess, and we don’t push the kids to do tons of extra-curricular activities (and actively try to limit them to some extent). I do, however, do my best to keep work out of weekday and weekend family times, and the kids seem to be happy and reasonably well-adjusted. They are also aware that mom and dad both have productive careers working at universities while having some time to play, and I think that’s pretty awesome.

• Lesson Learned: “Relax, don’t worry, have a homebrew”[1]...protect time for writing and parenting, and hopefully we’ll all stay in the game over the next 30+ years.

[1]Quote from Charlie Papazian (1984). The Complete Joy of Homebrewing. New York: Avon Books.

Foundations for Successful Scholarship in School Psychology

August 31, 2015

This year, the ECF invited Randy Floyd, professor at the University of Memphis and previous editor of SSSP’s Journal of School Psychology to share his advice for early career researchers. In this first installment, Randy offers general recommendations for successful scholarship in school psychology.  Foundations for Successful Scholarship in School PsychologyBy Randy G. Floyd, The University of MemphisAs a participant in the 2005 School Psychology Research Collaborative Conference, I am the beneficiary of the numerous, ongoing efforts of the Society for the Study of School Psychology (SSSP) to enhance the scholarship of the field through professional development activities and generous funding of several initiatives. Thus, I appreciate this opportunity to contribute to the SSSP Early Career Forum and focus on publishing and the peer-review process. I hope to offer, in a series of five blog posts, (a) practical insights from both my experience as a university professor and as a former editor of one of the major journals in the field and (b) information from reviews of the literature and research with close colleagues (including Craig Albers, Tom Fagan, Rebecca Martinez, and Sterett Mercer). Future posts will address employing specific strategies (and avoiding common mistakes) in submitting to peer-reviewed journals, finding the best resources to which to turn, and responding to reviewer and editor feedback. In this post, I want to offer 10 broad recommendations for scholarly success:1.      Be a student of the game. Devote time, money, and effort to securing resources and participate in trainings that will enhance your skill set and strategy use as a scholar. Although the strongest scholars continue to expand their competencies throughout their development, your early career is the time to establish a strong foundation on which the remainder of your career can rest. It is likely, too, that you will have more time early in your career to reach this goal than later in your career, when service responsibilities tend to increase. Find articles, book chapters, books, and blogs that address career success (see for example, Prinstein, 2013), and read voraciously. Seek out and attend presentations at professional conferences and use start-up monies and department funding to attend specialized workshops (e.g., focused on grant writing and advanced statistics and research designs). I will address some of these resources in my next blog post.2.      Finish what you started as a graduate student, intern, post-doc, or early career practitioner. If you have not already, work to publish your thesis and dissertation research. In the same vein, discuss with your major professor, supervisors, and research team members ways to present and publish research results or other projects from your graduate training, post-doctoral experience, or earlier career in practice. Find ways to channel what you have learned from those experiences into other published products (e.g., a narrative review of the literature, a test review, a newsletter article, or a guide for practitioners).3.      Collaborate selectively with others who have a scientific orientation, data analysis skills, or are generally good at writing. The best collaborations are synergistic—or at least mutually beneficial. There is no sense in collaborating for its own sake; some collaborations may produce more cost than gain. As you establish your competencies, know where you are weakest and seek out others who will complement you. Unless you anticipate more cost than gain, continue research and writing collaborations with major professors, supervisors, and research team members (as previously noted). Do not hesitate to contact more senior members in the field about collaborating in areas of their most intense interest. They may be overjoyed to team with energetic early career scholars and very willing to provide guidance. Their contributions will likely complement your own; they will be less likely to generate text for a manuscript but more likely to offer advice regarding study conceptualization, manuscript preparation, and viable publication outlets.4.      Identify when and where you work best and protect it. Focused, productive writing and thinking time is vital to the success of an early career scholar, so give generously of your time to service throughout the week, but do not hesitate to say (without elaboration) that you cannot meet during sacred periods. In selecting them, reflect on what time of the day you are at your cognitive best, and complete your most challenging work then. Save less demanding tasks (e.g., responding to emails) for when you are not at your cognitive peak. Although these periods may change throughout your career (and due to variable home and work schedules), strive foremost to protect your best time. In addition, work where there are few distractions—which often means not in your university office. Many of the most productive faculty work at home—often staying home at least a day a week or during long mornings or afternoons throughout the week. Others find hiding places on the university campus (including library study carrels or empty classrooms) or in coffee shops (when neither home nor work offices are quiet options). Consider employing time management strategies (see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pomodoro_Technique), but whenever and wherever, turn off email, text, and phone message notifications during these thinking and writing sessions.5.      Spend at least 8 hours (1 work day) a week writing. As you consider your schedule each week, stay aware of the amount of time you engage in writing activities (see Silva, 2007). Writing in the broad sense includes everything supporting scholarship and manuscript development. For example, when you feel unable to produce some semblance of coherent text during a scheduled writing period, reading and taking notes from articles, adding and formatting references, and writing incomplete sentences in manuscripts will support your broad writing goals. Write what comes easiest to you, which rarely reflects the standard Introduction, Method, Results, and Discussion sequence of manuscripts. When writing, many productive scholars start with the most concrete elements—in Method and Results sections—and extend writing from there. For me, each section of the manuscript requires different thinking and text construction processes, so I tend to develop those sections somewhat independently. Reviewing the text structure and content of articles and other publications as models as well as journal article reporting standards (see Cooper, 2011) will assist you in developing manuscripts.6.      Use your breadth of experiences as a foundation for your research. For professors, use readings from your courses, student questions, and student projects to generate ideas and projects to enhance your research agenda. For practitioners, develop manuscripts focusing on research based on single-case studies and program evaluations to address practical questions in the field. Generate ideas for literature reviews from questions posed to you during workshops or from pressing issues facing practitioners and administrators in schools and clinics. You should strive to never be without data or an idea for your next manuscript.7.      Find your publishing niche (or niches). With a variety of publishing outlets—including journals, newsletters, and books—you should consider your interests and skills and how they might be best aligned with these outlets. Rather than always striving to publish in journals, some scholars with strong writing and editing skills publish more authored and edited books than research articles. Others with a strong leaning toward practice-based issues publish in professional newsletters. Still others publish commercially developed assessment instruments, test reviews, and book reviews. In the same vein, let your data analytic skills help fill a niche. Consider ways to develop skills in specific areas that will allow you to use them repeatedly to answer questions in a novel way across parallel projects. For example, some research teams focus on publishing meta-analyses or qualitative analyses and publish multiple studies using these methodologies. Others employ sophisticated quantitative analyses (e.g., structural equation modeling) and archival data sets from test publishers or longitudinal data bases to produce a series of related articles.8.      Consider multiple outlets for your publications. It is easy to gravitate toward submitting manuscripts first to the journals you know best and then giving up when these journals do not agree to publish your work. Do not be disheartened. There are a wide variety of school psychology generalist and specialty journals and professional newsletters that target and publish quantitative and qualitative research, systematic and narrative reviews, descriptions of best practices for the field, test reviews, book reviews, and “thought pieces.” Another blog post in this series will focus on this array of publishing outlets.9.      Use national presentations as motivation. Professional publications (even books and associated chapters) rarely have hard deadlines associated with them. As such, determining when to submit your manuscripts to journals is almost always completely up to you. Some of the strongest scholars in the field (and their students) appear to use (a) proposals for presentations (as posters or papers) at national conventions and (b) the presentations themselves to motivate them to complete their projects. Frequently, these presentations yield feedback that can be used to refine subsequent manuscript development. Plus, each presentation will add to your count on your curriculum vitae.10.     Be a strong mentor in guiding students toward publishing. Just like your collaborations with your major professor and supervisors, your efforts with your students can produce publications about which you can be proud. When well designed, theses and dissertations developed under your mentorship should be publishable. Additional scholarly projects with individual students or across your research team members not only assist the development of your students’ skills and careers but also increase your publishing productivity.ReferencesCooper, H. (2011). Reporting research in psychology: How to meet journal article reporting standards. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.Prinstein, M. J. (Ed.). (2013). The portable mentor: Expert guide to a successful career in psychology (2nd ed.) New York, NY: Springer.Silva, P. (2007). How to write a lot. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.The author would like to thank Dr. Ryan Farmer, Dr. Xu (Lilya) Jiang, Dr. Beth Meisinger, and Dr. Colby Taylor for their feedback on earlier drafts of this post.

Capitalizing on Technology to Facilitate Writing Partnerships

August 3, 2015

By Anisa N. Goforth, University of Montana and Natasha K. Segool, University of HartfordHere’s the challenge: Get two highly motivated research partners and friends to work together on research studies and manuscript writing, while one is working at a young doctoral program that is focused on APA-accreditation in frontier Montana and the other is balancing different priorities in a teaching-focused specialist program across in Connecticut. It’s no small feat, and one with which that we have grappled with for four years. Yet, we have been very successful in developing two large-scale studies and data collection efforts, producing three peer-reviewed articles, two peer-reviewed conference papers, and three peer-reviewed conference posters, with more scholarship underway.The BackstoryWe met in graduate school at Michigan State University’s school psychology program. Currently, Natasha is an assistant professor at the University of Hartford in West Hartford, Connecticut and Anisa is an assistant professor at the University of Montana in Missoula, Montana. Natasha was able to provide some support and advice to Anisa during her academic job hunt and during her transition into her academic position, which followed a year after Natasha’s own career started at the University of Hartford. Given our distance from one another, our friendship has mostly occurred through phone conversations and visits during academic conferences.As early career faculty, we often talked about the challenges of academic life, particularly developing and growing a research agenda amid multiple competing demands for our time. During one of our discussions, we talked about our mutual concerns and questions about the use of social media among our graduate students, some of whom did not appear to have a sense of professional etiquette online.  It was our big “Aha!” moment and we encourage everyone to look out for theirs—it is easy to miss. Prior to this, we had discussed doing research together, but those plans never took shape. We had tried to brainstorm research ideas, often forcing projects in which we had some shared experience. Yet, without passion and genuine interest, these ideas perished tragically in our shared Dropbox with documents that went unedited, and frankly unseen, for months at a time.The key to our success has been capitalizing on our shared questions and curiosity. Once we realized that we were both having similar conversations in our classrooms about professional behavior and etiquette online, we wanted to examine these issues further. However, we were traversing an area of professional psychology that had limited research to turn to related to the ethical and legal ramifications of social networking use. Thus, with little fanfare, we launched into a new phase of our relationship. From friendship alone, we added “collaborative researchers” to our identity. Technology helped with this immensely.The LogisticsOver the past two years, we have designed and conducted two studies related to social media in school psychology. Both projects have led to peer-reviewed journal articles (one article in the Trainer’s Forum, one articleled by our colleague and another MSU alum Andy Pham, and another one currently under review) and conference presentations. All of these projects have been developed and written collaboratively using various technologies. Through these projects, we problem-solved through trial and error to develop working habits that were efficient and effective.Creating accountability.We set up bi-weekly meetings to ensure accountability and keep our projects moving forward. Like many of us who are early career faculty (or mid- or later-career!), competing responsibilities seep in, and consequently, our work often occurred just prior to the upcoming meeting, knowing that our colleague was relying on the other to complete tasks. Our meetings were held using Google Hangouts, which allowed us to use the video call feature from our computers. After our meetings, the project leader sent an email with assigned tasks discussed during the meeting.To organize the meetings, we often used Doodlebecause our schedules were already busy and our two time zones made it difficult to find overlapping work hours. Although it was only a two-hour difference (EST and MST), we had to balance meetings around students, teaching, writing times, and truthfully, our personal lives! Between other responsibilities and our desire to not schedule meetings after 5pm, we were left with a single hour from noon to 1pm on Fridays.  Protecting this time for our meetings was essential, and by prioritizing it, we believe this resulted in our success.Although we did not always have significant progress to report, by meeting face-to-face every two weeks, we held each other accountable. In addition, we were able to consistently discuss our project, our expectations of ourselves and each other, and we were able to problem-solve before major barriers arose and derailed our vision. By seeing each other, we maintained a close working relationship together and communicated effectively.  In retrospect, in the rare circumstances when we canceled our meetings, our emails to one another were indications of being side-tracked or caught up with other competing responsibilities. It was our face-to-face meetings, however, that got us back on track and moving forward.Writing and research materials. In order to collectively work on our project, we primarily used DropBoxto share research documents (e.g., IRB documents, research questionnaires, manuscript drafts, etc.). The key advantages to DropBox were that 1) we were both already using it for our other professional responsibilities, 2) we could easily use it from our work and home computers, 3) it provided notifications to us whenever a document was updated document, and 4) it retained documents in typical formats (e.g., Microsoft Word). At other times, other writing tools have been more helpful. We have used Google Driveand its tools (Docs, Sheets, Slides) while on a Google Hangoutvideo call so that we could work collaboratively on content in real time.Challenges and RecommendationsThere were a number of challenges that we needed to problem-solve, including time zones, accessing files, and troubleshooting technology (e.g., connectivity problems, dropped video call, camera errors). At times, this certainly hampered productivity in addition to causing frustration when we had set aside precious time to work together. In the end, however, we firmly believe that use of video-calling technology and file-sharing technology has facilitated much more productivity and accountability in our work together.  The technology allowed us to meet frequently, feel connected with one another, and have the opportunity to incrementally advance our work. More often than not, we spent our first five to ten minutes checking in with each other about our personal and professional lives before launching into our work, which was important for us to maintain and grow our friendship as well. We see our work together as a win-win!A few other things to consider:

• Some researchers are going to be more adept to technology than others. Expect to provide some on-the-go tech support in addition to developing unique research ideas and empirically rigorous studies.
• Compromise on technology options and choose ones that suit the needs of mostof the researchers. We recommend considering the reliability of the technology, ease of use, and cost effectiveness.
• Be patient when there are technology issues (internet connectivity, video chat drops). Sometimes you just have to shrug your shoulders and laugh.
• Designate one person to be the group leader for the meeting (perhaps the PI or another researcher). As with in-person meetings, virtual meetings are more efficient and effective when someone keeps the meeting on track.
• Designate someone to email everyone after the meeting with a summary and specific tasks, including due dates.
• Build in time to socialize. Expect to spend 5 to 10 minutes chatting and updating about each other’s lives. This is a surprisingly important and rich part of research collaboration!

Resources for Interactive Research CollaborationsVideoconferencing and Communication Tools:Google Hangouts·         Advantages: Allows for video calls with up to 10 people; group conversations are easy and video facilitates understanding and quality interactions; allows for screen sharing to discuss specific issues (i.e., data analysis); integrated with the Google platform, facilitating communication across email, documents, and video.·         Disadvantages: User interface is difficult to navigate and can result in delays making initial connection; requires a Google or Gmail account; requires one time download of Google voice and video free plugin.Skype·         Advantages: Allows for video calls with up to 5 people; screen sharing is free.·         Disadvantages: Requires installing a program onto a computer.GoToMeeting·      Advantages: Allows users to share screen; personal “meeting room” for users; users can connect by computer or phone; can set up a schedule of repeated meetings.·      Disadvantages: Costs $24 to $49 per month; must install a program; voice calls often have feedback.FaceTime·      Advantages: Since many people use iPhones, video calls are easy.·      Disadvantages: Inconvenient for those without an iPhone or Mac; does not yet have a group video chat option.File Sharing Tools:DropBox·      Advantages: Allows users to share documents with a group; documents retain formating (e.g., Word, Excel); backups of files are created and files can be recovered for up to 30 days.·      Disadvantages: Editing must be done one person at a time, otherwise conflicted files are created; any change by a collaborator affects everyone else who has the shared file (e.g., it could be deleted).Google Drive·      Advantages: Allows for real-time simultaneous editing; facilitates team writing and collaboration.·      Disadvantages: Formatting between Google Drive files and mainstream Microsoft documents is problematic.Box·      Advantages: Allows for real-time simultaneous editing.·      Disadvantages: Less commonly used among researchers.

#makingresearchmatter

July 8, 2015

By Julia Ogg, University of South FloridaWhen thinking about dissemination and impact, those of us on the tenure-track typically focus on peer-reviewed journal articles and professional conference presentations. However, a presentation I recently attended at my university showed me how non-traditional outlets such as social media and mainstream publications can extend the reach of our scholarship. Indeed the popularity of TED Talks and websites devoted to making science interesting and understandable illustrate the public’s interest in obtaining information about contemporary research topics. Using non-traditional outlets could increase the impact of our research by creating an opportunity for people to be exposed to our work who would not see it otherwise. This could ultimately lead people to our more traditional and detailed dissemination efforts. Despite recognizing the potential of these venues for getting our research distributed broadly, many in academic positions (including myself) have reservations.  Below I consider a few common concerns in regard to dissemination through popular media and potential solutions.Concern: You are hesitant to share your research in non-traditional outlets like social media or mainstream publications because the information we generate from research is so nuanced.  That is, you do not want to oversimplify or fail to share the intricate nature of your findings.Potential Solution: This is a valid concern; however, one perspective is that getting evidence-based information out there may encourage people to read more in depth on the topic. Although the message may not be understood in the exact way you intended it, by sharing you may open doors. This point was made very eloquently by Jonah Berger, a professor of business and social media expert, when asked if he has ever seen any of his studies misquoted, “That is the danger. And there are definitely quotes where you talk to someone for a half-hour, and they pick out the one thing that you said that you wish you didn’t say. And then you have a choice though. Do you not want to speak at all about your work or do you want to do your best to get it out there in a rigorous way. And if it takes a life of its own, try to correct that. And I think, personally at least, I am interested in making sure that my work is useful to people, and so that’s a risk you have to take” (Scott, 2012). Another point to consider here is that it is important for us to learn how to talk about our research in a way that is both understandable and engaging to the public. Certainly publications in peer-reviewed journals are essential to advance science, but also making our work useful to more people can also be considered an important goal. These two goals do not have to be in opposition. When it comes to writing for mainstream publications, just like writing for peer-reviewed journals, practice and experience will help.  Learn and practice how to succinctly share what you are learning with your research.  What we are doing when presenting our research is telling a story (a non-fiction story of course). Any good story-teller appreciates the utility of a narrative arc.  Authors like Malcolm Gladwell have made a career publishing popular books (i.e., Outliers, The Tipping Point) known for integrating research with a human-interest story.  In addition, adopting other strategies, such as using infographics or pictures, can help draw people into your message in a powerful way.Concern:I don’t have time or this is too overwhelming. This will be way too difficult to sustain. Potential Solution: You do not have to become a media guru by tomorrow, but you do something as simple as joining Twitter and start following others with similar interests.  By becoming a consumer, you can learn about ways to use social media and other non-traditional outlets for disseminating your research. You may also gain information you would not have gotten via more traditional formats. It may be helpful to look at how other faculty use social media to share their work and I have provided a link below to an article on 50 media savvy professors.In terms of sustaining your efforts, one strategy is to try and find ways to make this part of your routine by building in a short block of time to engage each day or week. Using features like scheduling when a tweet goes out (which can be accomplished through Twitter add-ons such as Hootsuite), you can be present at times beyond when you are online.  One other nice factor is that you can also be on Twitter even when you have just a short period of time (e.g., while waiting at the doctor’s office).  Ultimately, you could consider institutionalizing your efforts by including a graduate assistant on grants that assists with disseminating results via these methods.I still have a lot to learn about how to effectively use and manage media to help disseminate my work; however, I think this is a topic that needs to be considered.  Sharing in these non-traditional ways may not be for everyone, but recognizing that the world we live in is changing and that these are increasingly widespread ways for interacting with others is important.  As academics we should consider how we can embrace these changes and use them to help our work inform policy and practice.ReferencesScott, M. (September 28, 2012). Good bye ivory tower, hello social media: academics struggle to make ideas accessible. The Pulse. 50 most social media savvy professors in America.Related Resources of Interest

• The Just a Click Away column in the Communiquéby Dr. Dan Florell is a great way to stay on top of emerging technologies.
• Reviews on mobile Apps on the NASP webpage
• The Best Educational Apps of 2014(these are apps for kids)
• Excellent example of a psychology professor who uses a variety of media outlets for his work ( Todd Kashdan)

In the comments section, please share any apps you use professionally that may be beneficial for others.

Academic Parenthood: A Post-Tenure Perspective

May 25, 2015

This is the second installment of a mini-series on academic parenthood, a follow up to the ECF session at the 2015 NASP Convention. In the first installment, Bryn Harris discussed her experiences as a mother and pre-tenure assistant professor. Below, Jessica Hoffman discusses her experiences as a parent and tenured associate professor.Academic Parenthood: A Post-tenure PerspectiveBy Jessica Hoffman, PhD, NCSP, Northeastern UniversityI found myself at my doctor’s office after a series of awful, no good, very bad days.  For the past four months my kids had been sick with all types of things that go around daycares and preschools—particularly when you have a baby in an infant room (fortunately not lice, though).  My doctor was listening to my chest and asked me to sit up straighter so she could hear me breathe.  I realized that it hurt to sit up straight.  I was so tired.  It was two days before the NASP convention and I was secretly hoping she’d declare me too sick to travel, and at the same time hoping I’d be fine to travel so I could get just two days away and maybe, just maybe, a full night’s sleep.This blog is about academic parenthood, something I’ve become quite familiar with.  I have three kids ages five, two and one.  My first was born a little over a year after I received tenure and promotion to associate professor.  Having children after receiving tenure in some ways would seem much easier than having children at other points in one’s academic career, say, in graduate school or when on the tenure track.  The pressures of tenure have been removed, there is job security, and academic jobs are very flexible.  As my husband (also an academic) says, we can choose the 60 hours of the week that we want to work.  So, when the kids get sick, or there’s a snow day (we had quite a few in Boston this past winter!), or there’s a school vacation, we have much more flexibility compared with parents employed outside the academy.Since becoming a mom the academic pressures that I’ve been struggling with mostly are the internal ones; the drive to work those long, uninterrupted hours that were a luxury before having kids.  The ability to read, to think, to write productively—these are more of a challenge than ever right now particularly because of the young ages of my kids. Although I mentioned earlier that one advantage of an academic job is the flexibility—we can work pretty much wherever, whenever, the major disadvantage to this flexibility is that work can be very difficult to turn off.  It can seep easily into family time and the boundaries between work and non-work time can become very blurry.  Another of my struggles is turning work off and learning to be OK with projects left hanging at less than ideal points, at unanswered emails that continue to mount, and saying no to interesting, career advancing opportunities because I “just can’t put anything more on my plate right now.” I tell myself that this is OK because my academic career is long and I know that this precious early childhood period will go by in the blink of an eye.Learning to say no without feeling badly or regretful is a skill I acquired some time ago that has been really important.  Other strategies that are getting me through this crazy, wonderful, exhausting time are:

• Having clear goals and being flexible to adjust my goals.  Being aware of and realistic about my personal and professional goals (both short term and long term) is really important.  Having personal and professional goals that don’t jive with the reality of what I can reasonably accomplish in the time available is a recipe for stress and distress.  Being in touch with my own values and those of my institution has been important in the goal setting process.  For me, promotion to full professor is important, but it will take longer to accomplish now that I have three young children.
• Being incredibly organized, careful planning, and excellent time management.  These are my three main survival skills these days.  I find myself continually prioritizing and reprioritizing daily, weekly and monthly tasks at work and at home.  Staying ahead of deadlines is incredibly important because I never know who is going to get sick next and how that will affect my work schedule.  I can’t rely on being able to get things done at the last minute.  Fortunately, many of our deadlines can get extended.  Those timelines that are less flexible are class meetings and grant application due dates.  Often, I feel as if time is a commodity that just evaporates into the ether—I find that most things take longer than expected, and leaving things to the last minute contributes to increased stress.
• Collaborating with exceptionally talented colleagues and students.  I am so fortunate to have wonderful colleagues and graduate students to collaborate with on research projects.  I strive to always take the lead on at least one study or grant proposal, and I am more productive when I collaborate with teams that produce consistently high quality work.
• Accepting help.  Accepting help from others is essential.  High quality, reliable child care is very expensive, but is worth every penny.  At this point, I also pay for services that take up time that otherwise can be spent with my family or working.
• Having a support system of other academic parents.  It’s been really important to me to connect with other parents of young children in the academy, both in school psychology and in other fields.  Surprisingly, a lot of this support has come from friends and colleagues who are at a distance via social networking.  These supportive relationships help me feel less isolated when life gets stressful.  It’s nice to have a group of people who understand the daily struggles of trying to survive and succeed in academia while nurturing a family.

Other things that make life somewhat easier:

• Cooking on days that I work from home, making double portions and freezing them so healthy meals are ready available—especially when I teach at night.
• Making lunches at night—getting three kids out of the house in the morning is exhausting enough without the lunches.
• Shopping in bulk so supplies are readily available
• Writing at home two days per week.  I tend to be more distracted in the office and I can also avoid time wasted in traffic.
• Turning off the email notification when I’m writing also helps to lessen distractions.
• Not even attempting to work in the house when my kids are at home.
• A steady intake of coffee.

Having an online discussion forum to share ideas about how to survive and succeed in the academy while raising children is important.  What strategies and supports have you found to be helpful?Jessica Hoffman is an Associate Professor at Northeastern University where she directs the MS/CAGS and PhD programs in school psychology.  She is a licensed psychologist and nationally certified school psychologist.  Her research is in the area of early childhood obesity prevention.  Her work has been funded by the National Institutes of Health and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.  She is a member of the Society for the Study of School Psychology.  

Fostering Research Partnerships as New Faculty: Making Inroads with Local Agencies and Communities

April 27, 2015

During the early career faculty meeting at NASP, participants asked for ideas on how to build research partnerships when they are new to a university and the surrounding community. Below, two early career faculty share their experience for doing just that. By Daniel Gadke& Kasee Stratton, Mississippi State UniversityIn November, Milena Keller-Margulis wrote a great post on developing a research agenda. As junior faculty we find ourselves regularly honing our research agendas and determining how to build them from the ground up.  Personally, our broad strokes research agenda involves the exploration of strategies rooted in applied behavior analysis to address behavioral and academic needs in children with disabilities. Depending on which of us you approach, you may find that we spend most of that time targeting children with autism spectrum and related disorders, or children with complex genetic disorders (e.g., CHARGE Syndrome) and children who present as deaf-blind. As new faculty, we recognize that starting up at a new university and getting your agenda to take off can prove difficult.It is our experience that successful research agendas, particularly in school psychology, involve positive partnerships with local agencies (e.g., schools, daycares, hospitals, etc.). Developing these partnerships and getting your name out there may be difficult regardless of your institution; however, we found this to be particularly difficult joining the faculty at a major university in the rural south. The number of local agencies within the town is limited, and other major cities are at least 100 miles away.  We had heard that many academics working with schools and other agencies in the area sometimes offered pro-bono services in hopes that this relationship would lead to a collaborative arrangement allowing the faculty member to engage in research at the location. Some mentors told stories of their efforts taking several years before paying off, and, in some instances, not working out at all.  They were often lost in the service only shuffle without seeing the benefits to their research agenda.  That being said, we took a different approach: we decided to figure out a way to bring as many agencies representatives to us as possible by offering them continuing education units. Our goal was not only to be able to go out to these agencies and conduct research on-site, but to have these agencies send participants to us for our on-campus labs.Capitalizing on Practitioners’ Need for Continuing Education. At one of our alma maters, Illinois State University, the faculty host an annual School Psychology Appreciation Day where professionals from around the state are offered free CEUs at a workshop held at the university every April. For school psychologists in the state, NASP-approved CEUs are provided at no cost, as they are a NASP-approved CEU provider. Additionally, Illinois State Board of Education CEUs were offered at no cost. We took a similar approach by offering a two-day workshop for educators at Mississippi State University in January 2014, which was our second semester as faculty.  In order to recruit additional school personnel and those familiar with autism, we partnered with a speech pathologist colleague who was well known for assistive technology to offer speech pathology CEUs as well.  Our presentations included talks on classroom behavior management, changes to autism criteria in the DSM-V, sleep maintenance, and creating individualized behavioral goals for BIPs.  All of the topics aligned well with our research interests, allowing us to capitalize on sharing our expertise and research outcomes.Participant recruitment.Our college assisted with advertising on the university website and we sent the information to schools, hospitals, and other agencies across the state.  We were also sure to send personalized emails to directors of special education.  When it was all said and done, we ended up with 100 professionals in attendance from all over the state. We had now shared our research endeavors with 100 individuals who showed their excitement by staying after the workshop to ask questions and to inquire about assistance and research for their employer.Seeing results.As new faculty, the payoff was huge. We quickly had folks inviting us into their schools to do additional staff development trainings or to help with individual students. Those 100 attendees also told their other colleagues about how we could collaborate and parents about how we could help. By the end of the semester, our programs of research were positively impacted in a variety of ways. We were able to establish partnerships with schools, which allowed for our students to engage in research on-site and in additional practicum activities.  We also have a waitlist for all service and research activities, which is not a bad problem to have—a built in control group.Unanticipated benefits.We have had so many clients referred to us, we were able to formalize what we now refer to as our School Psychology Service Center on campus. The Service Center allows us to actively engage in research, training, and service to the community.  Additionally, our practicum students have been provided with a wealth of experiences through the Center from difficult psychoeducational evaluations, challenging behavior cases, to first-hand intervention experience with some extremely rare genetic conditions.  More recently, the upper-level students have begun to express what a unique addition the Center has been to the program and their training experience. The clinic has become so active in the areas of research, training, and services that administrators have started to take notice, now considering it an integral part of the college.Making this approach work for you. We hope this simple idea can be particularly useful for junior faculty in establishing collaborative relationships with community agencies.  We leave you with a few tips; some of which we learned along the way and others that we would have changed if we did it all over again.Gain the support of your department head and college.  Do not be shy about your ideas.

• Identify early on a location on campus to host the event (our location was free, but we had to book early!).
• Determine if you are going to offer the CEUs free or charge a fee (we would suggest offering them for free, especially if you are able to avoid any overhead costs with the university). This may vary state by state and university by university.
• Partner with other colleagues on campus whom might enrich the topics you are able to provide or who are well-respected in the community.
• Offer trainings that map directly onto your areas of expertise and research interests and plug your research needs throughout your presentations.
• yourself ample time to market the event throughout your state or region (we had approximately 3 months, but wished we had longer).
• Leave time for lots of questions and answers or offer a post-workshop reception to allow more informal connections while your research is fresh on the attendants’ minds.

How do you see this idea working for you? What other approaches have you taken to foster research partnerships in your community?

Academic Parenthood: Lessons Learned Along the Tenure Track

March 30, 2015

This is the first in a mini-series on Academic Parenthood, a follow up to the ECF session at the 2015 NASP Convention. The presentation is available here. Given the strong interest in the session, we are featuring two of the presenters' perspectives. In the first installment below, session lead Bryn Harris discusses her experiences as a parent and tenure-track assistant professor at the University of Colorado Denver.Academic Parenthood: Lessons Learned Along the Tenure TrackBy Bryn Harris, PhDI want to start this post by saying that raising a family as an academic has many advantages, but is also very challenging. Careers in academia provide flexibility which can allow for unique childcare arrangements; working hours that fit with your family’s schedule (rather than typical business hours); balancing teaching, research and service around family dynamics; and often an academic calendar that coincides with school breaks, among others. However, we also know that women are less likely to get tenure or advance to full professor than men (D’Amico, Vermigili, and Canetto, 2011) and that women with children on the tenure track are much more likely to drop off the tenure track than men (Ginther & Kahn, 2006). Furthermore, among tenured faculty, 70 percent of men are married with children compared with 44 percent of women (Ward & Wolf-Wendell, 2012). While I recognize this issue includes men and women, it is clear that women are impacted by academic parenthood in a unique way and thus my post will focus on my personal experiences as a mother on the tenure track.After reading the above paragraph, you might be surprised to learn that I willingly had two children while on the tenure track—I have a 2 year old and a 3 month old and I submit my tenure dossier this summer—and am so glad I did. I realize the decision to have children is a personal one, and for me I felt it was important to have children when my partner and I were ready, rather than waiting until after tenure. Below, I will provide some suggestions for people considering having children while on the tenure track. I realize that every university setting and personal situation will be different, but I hope these suggestions will be beneficial and promote your own success along the tenure track.Institutional Support. One of the main reasons that I feel I have been successful as an academic parent is the institutional support I received. When negotiating my leave length and responsibilities with my Dean, I prepared a proposal with my ideal scenario and shared this with her. Others might find it helpful to consider working more the semester prior to your leave to give you more time during your leave or other creative options. Could you teach a class during the summer to count toward your future load? Can you teach an online class after you return to allow you more flexibility in your schedule? Is a reduction in administrative responsibilities possible? Having conversations with your program faculty about your leave will also be beneficial. After you return, can you teach classes that you have taught before so as not to have new course preparation? Can another faculty member cover you advising responsibilities during your leave? Now is not the time to take on significantly more responsibilities – especially as you work toward tenure. Advocate for yourself! If you are unsure or uncomfortable with how to advocate for yourself, consider contacting university offices or committees that may be of help. For example, at my institution, the Women’s Issues Committee provides resources to faculty members and the Ombuds Office helps faculty negotiate leave or other responsibilities when there may be contentious relationships at play.Surround Yourself with Supportive Colleagues. I was surprised to find myself in a situation at my institution where there were no colleagues with young children when I had my son. Within the next couple of years, more of my colleagues were having children and somehow that felt less isolating. I found that I gravitated toward collaborating with other colleagues with young children at other universities as well. If I had to miss a conference call because my son was sick, they understood. This made the guilt I felt about missing work or a deadline more bearable. It was also nice to talk to these individuals about their own experiences in academic parenthood. One of my colleagues and I have a monthly phone call where we talk primarily about our success and challenges as parents. I feel this has made our working relationship stronger as well. It is not necessarily important that you surround yourself with colleagues that only have young children, but my point is to surround yourself with people who are supportive and understanding as much as possible.Know the HR Policies. It is important to know the requirements and processes within your own institution regarding leave, FMLA, and short-term disability (if applicable). I believe this should be done far before you think about having children. For example, at my institution we accrue sick leave each year to be used for events such as childbirth. If you do not have sufficient sick time accrued, people are eligible to purchase short-term disability insurance, which would cover additional weeks of leave at full pay. However, this has to be purchased during an open enrollment period prior to having your child. Be careful not to get all of your information from a colleague at your university that recently went on leave. You might fall under different leave policies if you are on a 9-month contract and they are on a 12-month contract, for example. Lastly, it is important to discuss whether you will stop your tenure clock. Some institutions allow faculty to pause or stop their tenure clocks so that the time does not count towards their probationary period when they have children, which can be beneficial when it is difficult to maintain productivity while caring for your new family member. This is a personal decision that should be discussed with your Dean, colleagues within your institution, and other mentors.Publication Pipeline. Hardly anyone I know has been able to time their pregnancy to the exact time they are hoping to have the baby. That being said, I do think this should be something you consider. I had one of my babies in September and enjoyed having the time during the summer to get some publications out the door and prepare for the baby’s arrival. I had my second baby in December (at the end of the semester) and was able to take off the spring semester from my teaching responsibilities, which meant 8 months off from teaching. In terms of research, pregnancy impacts your productivity more than you can imagine and most people find the second trimester to be the most productive time for them. I spent some time during the first trimester planning out all of the projects I would like to finish before I had the baby. I also tried to make my life easier after the baby came by having data collected by the end of my pregnancy so that I could write during my maternity leave. However, I truly believe that spending time with my baby is what maternity leave is for, they are only this young once! Once I returned to work full-time, I had several writing projects that I could delve into right away. This made returning to research tasks much easier. I also broke down my days so that certain days of the week were research-focused days and others were focused on teaching and service. I found that teaching responsibilities easily crept into research days and thus I gave myself a time limit of how much time I would spend preparing for classes each week. Amazingly, I feel just as prepared now than when I spent much more time preparing for my classes. I think that giving myself a time limit to prepare for teaching allows me to be more focused and efficient. There are always more research tasks I would like to be working on, but that was the same scenario prior to having my son. I do feel like I could be more productive with my research if I sacrificed more time with my family—which I am not willing to do right now. I allow myself to work during their naps on the weekend if necessary, but I also value the time I have with my husband and time I can focus on my own self-care.Be Kind to Yourself. When I came back from maternity leave with my son, I felt like I had been gone for years! It seemed like everything had changed at work and I needed some time to catch up. Furthermore, when it came to teaching I found that my confidence was lower and that I had a hard time getting into a “groove.” I think more than anything I was dealing with the fact that I was now a parent and an academic, and trying to balance these roles was tough. Give yourself some credit. You just had a baby. Returning to work can be challenging. But I also enjoyed having an identity other than being a mom when I went to work.Returning to work. Think about when are you the most productive. Do you normally work from home? It will be helpful to think about how the baby might impact your productivity and try to modify your surroundings. I thought I would be able to work from home when I went back to work. We hired a nanny who came to our house to care for my son. I quickly realized that I was incredibly distracted whenever I heard my son cry. I even bought noise-cancelling headphones to help! But I realized that I needed to physically separate myself from my son in order to be more productive. You will need to be patient with yourself as you re-learn how to be the most productive upon your return to work.Set Priorities. When you have children on the tenure track, you need to be especially focused on your productivity. Intimately knowing the requirements for tenure at your institution is the first step. I also recommend having regular meetings with the Dean or Department Chair regarding your productivity, establishing mentorship relationships with people who are also aware of the tenure requirements at your institution, and holding yourself accountable for your own successes. I encourage you to map out your projects and responsibilities as you work towards tenure. These goals can be broken down into 1 month, 6 month, or yearly increments. I also spend 30 minutes every Sunday mapping out my priorities for the week. My research priorities come first since research is incredibly valuable to achieving tenure at my university. It may help to share your priorities with others so you are held accountable.Flexibility. I used to be a person that always got things done on time, usually before I needed to. Those days may have passed! But I have embraced that. I focus on getting my priorities done on time, this allows me to feel productive. But I also know that my son will likely get sick at the worst time possible and that my daughter will refuse to take naps at all some days. I had to let some of that control go. Remember that your career will likely last for many, many more years. You will have other opportunities to do work.Practice Self Care. I find that it is increasingly difficult to find time for myself after my second child, but it is crucial. Maintaining your individual identity is important and makes you a better parent. If you currently have hobbies, think about how you might incorporate your baby or family into them – or how you can continue to do these things by yourself. Spending time with friends is also a critical part of my life and reduces feelings of isolation that you may have. You may consider joining a parent group in your neighborhood to meet other families with young children. This may be incredibly important for people without family members nearby as you can receive support from other parents (and maybe even a babysitting trade!). In addition, eating well and exercising are also important. I find that when I am not eating well I am more likely to get sick. We teach our graduate students about the importance of self-care, now is the time to practice what we preach!Supportive Partners are Instrumental. This may seem like common knowledge but it might be the most important factor of all. Have conversations with your partner ahead of time regarding your pregnancy and leave. What types of supports may you need during your pregnancy? How will you divide responsibilities during your leave? When you go back to work, how will you equitably provide care when a child is sick? When I had my son, I somehow thought I would have time to do the cooking, cleaning and care for my son during my leave. Reality check: if I took a shower that felt like an accomplishment. We are productive people or we would not be in academia. But you will need the support of others, and you will need to ask for help.One of the best things about being a parent is that it adds a new perspective to my research and teaching. It has allowed me to set greater limits with my work hours. I am more focused when I work since I know I have less time to work on something later and I want to spend time with my kids! Finally, careers in academia allow us flexibility that other careers may not and this lends itself well to parenthood. I hope we will all support other faculty members who have children, especially those working towards tenure.What other ideas can you share with us? What scares you the most about academic parenthood? What do you think will be the best parts of academic parenthood?

Developing a Research Agenda

November 12, 2014

By Milena A. Keller-Margulis, University of HoustonDespite how much and how often the term “research agenda” is used, there seems to be no agreed-upon, or formalized definition to be found. Many different entities may have a research agenda including entire fields of study, funding agencies, and of course individuals. We propose the following definition of a research agenda; a roadmap or framework that guides inquiry. A research agenda may be both global and specific. Ideally it is used to specify gaps in knowledge in a specific area and serves to guide the direction and development of new projects and research questions. A clear research agenda serves two important purposes. First, it can help you communicate to others what you study and the area in which you have developed (or are developing) expertise.  Second, it serves to guide your decision-making about what projects or specific research questions to pursue. Ultimately, you must be interested in and excited about the topic(s) at the heart of your research agenda.Strategies for Defining Your AgendaIt is never too early or too late to begin to develop your research agenda. It should not be considered static, as the process of developing an agenda is inherently reflective and ongoing. The best way to determine the general topic of your research agenda is to pay attention to the topics that interest you the most. You might discover this through reading the literature but these ideas may also surface through your practical or field-based experiences. These opportunities help to refine what might be a more global topic area into more specific or narrow research questions that have practical significance. Lastly, do not be afraid to test drive some areas of interest by getting involved in research, seeking out opportunities to explore new areas, and talking to other people with similar interests. These activities will help you narrow your focus to the topics and questions that are the most interesting to you.How to Put Your Agenda into ActionOnce you determine your general topic(s) of interest, the actions you take are what solidify your agenda. The two key ways to accomplish this are to (1) conduct research in the areasthat are the focus of your research agenda, and (2) disseminate the products of your research agenda. Generating new research and then disseminating it through writing for publication is the most critical way to further your developing agenda, and of course, contribute to the scientific literature. This can take many forms including writing proposals for conference presentations, writing grant proposals (small or large), and writing for publication. Dissemination can also be informal and involve reaching out to others who are doing similar work in order to identify potential collaborative relationships. All of these actions serve to communicate your agenda to others while at the same time developing and further refining your ideas.  Ultimately, having a research agenda means that you not only have specific topics that you are interested in studying but that you actively engage in research to advance that literature base.Here are some general tips to consider:

• Use your Research Agenda as your Roadmap: One of the most exciting aspects of working in academia and engaging in research is the limitless topics and projects you can pursue. This is also a challenge because you have to make choices as to where you will invest your time. Evaluate each potential research opportunity for the degree to which it is consistent with your agenda.
• Develop an Infrastructure: There are some logistic or infrastructure elements that you might consider in the early stages of developing your agenda. You should consider what you need to facilitate your work. Do you need space or support in the form of research assistants? Materials? Access to certain settings or populations of interest? Build a team of students to help you advance your agenda.
• Get Connected: Another strategy to further develop your research agenda is to collaborate with other scholars who are interested in the same topics. This can be accomplished in an informal way by meeting at conferences (e.g. attend social hours or networking events) or sending a friendly email but there are also structured mentoring/networking opportunities you can utilize. For example, the Society for the Study of School Psychology (SSSP) hosts the School Psychology Research Collaboration Conference every other year. This opportunity brings together junior and senior scholars to support the development of collaborative relationships. Reaching out to other professionals who work in settings that serve populations you want to study is also a great way to develop field-based research partnerships that are mutually beneficial.

Developing and furthering a research agenda takes time and commitment but having a clear area of interest that you find exciting, ensures that it will be a very rewarding endeavor.

How Can You Progress Towards Better Work-Life Balance?

April 14, 2014

Last month, we turned our attention to work-life balance and posed several questions for scholars to consider. This month, we highlight some strategies that may be effective for you, as you progress towards better work-life balance.Set BoundariesSetting clear boundaries about one’s time and attention may alleviate the sense that one’s professional activities are all-encompassing since there always seems to be something on which we could be working. In our own experience, colleagues have reported or demonstrated a number of strategies for establishing boundaries such as:·       checking emails only at designated intervals or times;·       developing an email communication policy;·       protecting specific personal/family times (e.g., family dinner, daughter’s volleyball games, yoga class) when scheduling meetings or classes;·       maintaining a “traditional” work schedule to ensure time with non-academic partners;·       scheduling non-negotiable writing time;·       maintaining rigid office hours;·       scheduling work time around child-care activities;·       delaying responses to requests for new projects or service activities at least 24 hours to allow careful deliberation (e.g., allowing oneself to say no); and·       working behind closed doors or from home to minimize potential interruptions and maximize on-task time.Such boundaries are dynamic and may shift as professional and personal priorities change.Sometimes, it is helpful to communicate these boundaries to colleagues and students (e.g., developing an electronic communication policy for inclusion in syllabi). This may shape their expectations about how they use your time and reduce ongoing confrontations or intrusions. At the same time, it is important to remember that people do not need to know what you are doing at all times or why you are not available; often it is fine to simply say, “Sorry, I am not available then” (Jones, 2011). The goal is to develop some autonomy over one’s work life. This sense of control over one’s schedule has been shown to be the strongest predictor of work-life balance (Berry, 2010).Work SmarterFor many faculty, having the feeling that there isn’t enough time to accomplish everything that must be done may be one of the greatest hindrances to a sense of balance or satisfaction. Competing and seemingly endless demands make time management and efforts to increase organization and productivity critical to success. Faculty can assess ways they can be more productive by documenting and reviewing their work tasks, monitoring time on-task and progress toward goals, and eliminating time spent on tasks that do not align with goals (e.g., web surfing, spending hours a day on emails). Others suggest making daily or weekly lists of action items organized by type of work (e.g., reading, writing, class, emails, calls, errands), rather than on relying on to-do lists of general tasks (Cavendar, 2010). At the same time, creating—and reviewing regularly—lists of short and long-term goals can be important to keeping track of the bigger picture.Some early career scholars have reported tracking and charting time spent writing, words or pages written per day, and other key behaviors. A simple web search for “productivity tools” or “time management tools” yields numerous free applications that can be used to self-monitor. Amanda likes the free app for computers and mobile devices from Rescue Time because it does all the monitoring for her, allows for categorization of specific applications and websites, permits goal setting, and automatically generates reports on productivity. Mac users like Bryn may enjoy apps such as Concentrate or Anti-Social. Such resources can be used to determine how you actually use your time and where potential inefficiencies lie so that you can address them. Rob uses a digital chess timer to keep track of on-task and off-task time, but only uses it when starting new tasks, which is particularly challenging for most of us. He has also used a repeating alarm on his digital watch as a self-monitoring strategy. Setting a repeating alarm (it just beeps for a second and then starts counting again) is a useful way avoid getting too far off-task. Faculty members should share resources on these topics and provide support to each other in an effort to improve work-life balance within the professional community.ConclusionsReflecting upon one’s work-life balance is the first step in improving areas in need of change. Faculty members may choose to focus on improving one aspect of their situation at a time, or to increase the positive aspects of their job to increase their sense of satisfaction. It is important to note that this process is not simple or quick. As such, it evolves and continues throughout one’s career. However, faculty members are better teachers, researchers, and administrators when perceptions of work-life balance are positive.What strategies do you use to improve work-life balance?Have these strategies changed over time?Also, stay tuned for the next blog post focusing on self-care, another important aspect of work-life balance.ReferencesBerry, E. (2010). Achieving work-life balance: More than just a juggling act. American Medical News. Retrieved from http://ama-assn.org/amednews/2010/01/04/bisa0104.htmCavendar, A. (2010, February 5). The balancing act. Chronicle of Higher Education.Jones, J. B. (2011, May 27). Expecting balance. Chronicle of Higher Education.