I am currently the Assistant Director of the Honors Program in LSA. I have a Ph.D. and M.A. in English from UM; an M.Phil. in 19th century studies from Oxford; an A. B. in English and French from Miami (Ohio). I have worked previously in the Honors Program, I have written, edited, and done index preparation on a free-lance basis, and have worked for the Episcopal Church and in campus ministry.

• What are the advantages of a position in academic administration vs. a faculty job? What are the disadvantages?

What I love about my job most is being surrounded, for the most part, by intelligent and interesting people: students, staff, and faculty. What I like least is poor performance, whether that is a class reputed to be weak, students who want accreditation rather than an education, or staff who would want to put in the time but not necessarily do the job. Fortunately, these problems do not abound at UM. What I miss most about faculty/grad school days is my summer off!

• Could you describe an average day in your job?

I work 8-5, often eating at my desk. I do a variety of tasks, centered around admissions to the Honors Program, academic advising, curriculum, and other related issues. I have a good mix of meetings and solo work.

• Did you ever consider leaving the university and why did you decide to stay associated with it?

I chose to work for the university primarily for its atmosphere, and because I felt my skills would be best utilized there. Also, this is work I don't have to take home to my active family, whereas teaching is (at least for me) completely compulsive.

• What, if anything, do you miss about the life of a faculty member/graduate student?

Good organization; flexibility; the creativity to see how my own skills & background can meet the job at hand, and how to find tasks in the job that meet my interests & develop my skills.

• One of the issues that often worries PhDs as they contemplate work outside of their academic departments is that their intellectual lives will be impoverished by the move. Could your describe your experience with this issue relative to your work?

My intellectual life has been improved! I now meet & talk to a much wider range people with a wider range of expertise than I ever did in graduate school. I hear about books & films, and am expected to know about issues that I did not hear of while studying literature. However, I do work quite hard to keep up with reading books and reviews, and the New York Times.

• What were the skills/knowledge that translated most easily from your graduate training to your current job (or first job in administration)? What were the areas in which you had to do the most learning?

Snobbery, in both directions, is a great danger. It is easy to assume that non-teaching staff are stupid or not thoughtful; it is easy for staff to assume faculty are hopelessly out of touch with practical realities. Adjusting to a regular work day and work schedule is a big challenge, especially with children. I had to learn to listen carefully to people, and to hear things in a different vocabulary. Literature is a great training ground for empathy; that came in handy! Also, in graduate school I learned how to look things up--I have applied that to a wide variety of tasks, from finding a phone number to making sure a database query is asking the right questions. Computer usage has been the most easily identifiable skill area where I have learned a great deal.

• Do you have any advice about how to get into your area of administration? For example, are there any special challenges faced by PhDs trying to enter administration?

Graduate students thinking about academic administration should serve on committees, talk to staff, and think hard about how things work and why they work that way. They should also start to think deeply about the overall mission of higher education: why we do what we do, what changes might enhance the mission, and which would diminish it, and how each job one might do contributes (or does not) to the goals. A person who has thought about the whole endeavor is not only better prepared to do mid-level functions, but is also readier to step into leadership roles at higher levels of administration

• Do you have any advice about how PhDs should present themselves on paper (resume, cover letter) when applying for an administrative job?

I think those guides in the Chronicle about how to turn a c.v. into a resume are quite good; and for an administrative position one needs a resume, not a c.v. A cover letter should explain why the candidate is moving from academics to administration, to describe why that's not a second-best choice that will be resented and resisted throughout the career.

I think it is important to keep in mind that the world is a wide and interesting place, and that much of it happens outside the academy. We tend to think we are the only people who read, think, and pursue the life of the mind. That's just not true. By keeping one's eyes open, one can find interesting work and congenial companions in a wide range of jobs.