Teaching and Professional Practice

M01(a) - Academic Parenting

Date: Jun 4 | Time: 08:45am to 10:15am | Location: SCRF 1024

Chair/Président/Présidente : Veronica Kitchen (University of Waterloo)

Academic Parenting:

Luc Turgeon (University of Ottawa)
Emily Regan Wills (University of Ottawa)
Gina Starblanket (University of Calgary)
Anessa Kimball (Université Laval)

Abstract: This roundtable brings together parents who have young children and are at different stages in their careers to discuss common challenges, practical solutions, and advocacy opportunities relating to academic parenting. Topics to be discussed will include: managing intrusions of work into parental leave; navigating job searches, tenure applications, career planning and sessional work with small children; being a student-parent; parenting and the two-body problem; how parenting affects career choices (e.g., whether or how to do fieldwork, attending conferences, changing jobs, etc.); as well as the particular dynamics of being an academic with small children in Canada, which are somewhat unique due to the strong norm of taking parental leave of several months or longer and the potential access to government support or university top-ups during leaves. Panellists will draw on their own experiences to speak the "truth" to other parents and potential parents.