Women in Academia panel discusses burnout, graduate degrees, sexism, and more.
As a disadvantaged group, women often face opposition when pursuing a career in academia or academic leadership roles. For the last seven years, the BYU English symposium has hosted the Women in Academia panel, which brings professional women together to mentor the growing number of aspiring women academics.
This year, the English Department renamed the panel in honor of English professor Brandie R. Sigfried, a champion of women’s education who died of cancer in 2021. The panelists Karen Brown (English Education), Katie Palfreyman (English), Ann Dee Ellis (Youth and Young Adult Fiction, Creative Writing), and Makayla Steiner (American Literature) answered audience questions about their careers and experiences and provided insight into the academic landscape for women in English.
Questions and responses have been edited for length and clarity.
Q: I’ve recently realized I want to pursue a graduate degree. I feel late to the game because I haven't been building a portfolio during my undergrad. Is it too late for me to keep going?
Steiner: It's never too late. My mom went to school for the first time when she was 47 and she's getting her master's degree now. But I know what you mean when you say, “I feel like I'm behind.” I think, if you're feeling that way, great. Make a plan. Make appointments. Which classes did you like best? Go see that professor during their office hours and say, “Hey, I was in your class; I really liked it; I am thinking about graduate school. What should I be doing?” Get some people to help you, and they will. You don't have to apply right this very second, but start looking at programs you might be interested in; see what they require, and then go back to those teachers again and say, “Okay, this is what I'm finding. What do I do next?”
As a professor, I am happy to help my students. That is part of my job. It's not an imposition. You're not bugging me. And I think that's maybe one of the hardest things to get over. I hate asking people, “Can you write me another letter? Oh, and one more? And can you do one more?” It's awkward, and I know that, but that is what we do. And so that's where I would start. Find the professors that you feel will be helpful to you and let them be helpful to you. But it’s not too late. Make a plan.
Q: What are your tips and suggestions for avoiding burnout in teaching and academia? And if you get burned out, how do you get out of that swamp?
Palfreyman: I just read a good article about this. It said that sometimes it's good to throw your energy into something completely opposite. Like, weeding, gardening—a totally different passion. She [the author] is a writer. She said, “I found that physical stuff helped me have balance,” and so she would start home renovation or something. But that's just one I have done in the past, and it has helped. I'm getting better at having boundaries and just setting aside time. Teaching can take all your time, because it's always on your mind. Every article I read, I'm like, “Oh, this is a good one, I could use this in my class.” It's just always on your mind. But yeah, set time limits and find your own stuff to be interested in.
Brown: I think the biggest thing is to do new things every year. And that goes along with your personal things, but also with your teaching. Teach something new and different, don't bring up the same old things. My son was talking to me the other night about a teacher he had. He graduated high school not long ago and he said he remembers his concurrent enrollment teacher bringing out the old acetate transparencies that he introduced however long ago, and putting them on the document reader so that the students could read them. And I just thought, you know, that's how you can kind of get stuck in a rut and maybe suffer a little bit of burnout. So, try new things. Always be willing to say, “Okay, this worked for this class, but what can I tweak about it?” Look at what your students are doing and what they're interested in. And then also, you know, find time to do things that you love.
Q: Do you have any tips for navigating the world of monetizing your art and supporting yourself while pursuing writing?
Palfreyman: I think it hurts the creative process when I'm thinking about money all the time, but also you want to make a living, and you want to do what you love. There was a balance I had to strike where I thought, “I'm going to teach, but I'm also going to write.” I love writing, but before being full-time, it couldn't have supported me. But I think it can, especially if you have different avenues of writing. I have friends who work at Qualtrics or somewhere like that, where it's still writing and it's creative, but then they do their stuff, which is the most creative, on the side. And they're selling books. It can happen, but it is a balancing act.
Ellis: I wanted to keep my foot in the door. So, I made a commitment that I would try to submit something at least every year, maybe every semester.
Q: What has your experience with sexism been as a woman in academia—whether that’s explicit remarks or implicit biases or being just outnumbered?
Palfreyman: I've always felt respected by my colleagues, but the biggest thing I've had is the conversation within myself. I'm an adjunct (most of the adjuncts here at BYU are female). We have a tendency, as adjuncts, to see ourselves as less-than. When I first arrived, I'd walk in the JFSB and see all these doors closed and imagine men behind them working. I’d think, “Oh, if only I was full-time, but I can’t be because I’m juggling a lot.” I was resentful, and I saw myself as lesser-than because I was just part-time. And I just had a master’s degree. Then I realized, teaching is a career, you can be good at it, you can work on your craft, just like any other profession. Speak positively to yourself. I am a professional, and I know what I'm doing. I can have confidence in that, even though I am part-time.
Brown: This came into play more for me was when I was a principal at high school. I didn't coach, and I had different goals in mind than a lot of the principals that I met with. I felt that sometimes when we would meet for our region meetings, it was more about whether or not to have lacrosse than it was about, “How can we raise the reading scores for students at our school?” I was the only one that said, “But what about these kids that are struggling at our school?” It was an interesting thing to be the only woman with this group of great leaders. One thing that I hung onto was a quote from Al Capone. He said, “Don't mistake my kindness for weakness.” Sometimes people mistake that if we’re gentle or soft spoken, or show a kinder side, that we can't be a strong leader. And I completely disagree with that. I think that leadership is born of kindness and listening and being there for people. So that's how I managed that.
Q: Women are often adjunct faculty rather than full-time, and making the switch [between work and personal life] is difficult because of other life demands. How do you navigate the world of academia and balance your life and your career?
Palfreyman: I think you're right. I don't know how you can go from adjunct to being full-time without getting the PhD and becoming part of that world. Education is very traditional, and they have that system. I don't want to get a PhD, but I'm sure there's a lot of my colleagues who would like to get a PhD, and it just didn't work out that way for them.
I once heard an author say, “Everyone in the household deserves to be happy.” We have to figure out a plan in my house to help everyone to do what they feel like is right. Sometimes women, especially in our culture, feel like they’re the ones that are going to move around with their husbands. But husbands are also mobile, and they can move around with wives. It's just having conversations like that to get where you want to be.
Ellis: I have a great partner, but it took a lot of me explaining what I needed to have for me to be able to do the things I wanted to do. I'm going to take time for myself to keep doing the thing that I love. In addition to having kids or other responsibilities, I have to keep writing. It's important to make space for yourself to do what you care about, even if it’s a little bit every day or a little bit every month, if that's where you are. But, you know, kids grow up and things change, and you can adjust. But it is a hard thing.
I was adjunct for 19 years, and then I moved into a full-time position. I'm in creative writing, so it's about trying to publish novels. For me, it was really important to try to keep up my creative writing, even when I could barely even lock myself in the closet to get a breather. I had to say to myself, “I am a writer, and I also need time for my writing.” If I can just write a little bit each day, and then get some really intense time where I can just go away and be in my work, I can finish novels. I can finish things that I never would have otherwise with the chaos of the household.
Steiner: My mom says, “You're always in the life you're in, but your life isn't always going to be what it is right now.” Oprah says this too, that you can have it all—you just can't have all at once. And as it turns out, your life doesn't end when you turn 40, or when you turn 60, or even when you turn 80 for some people. You don't always know what's coming. There are chances to do things you can't anticipate, because you've never been 50 before. So, keep at it. And when your opportunities come, take them.
Learn more about the English Symposium here.