FOCUS ON ETHICSJeffrey E. Barnett, EditorEthics and Mu.docx
Negotiating the middle: Mid-career mothers in student affairs
1. Negotiating the middle:
Mid-career mothers in
student affairs
NASPA Conference- Philadelphia
Educating for Lives of Purpose
March 14, 2011
2. Program format
Introductions
Index cards for participants to write down questions,
comments, tips, and/or strategies to share
Learning objectives
Brief overview of relevant literature
Stories from panelists
Small group sharing
Questions/discussion with participants and panelists
(index cards)
3. Index cards
On the card provided, please write down:
Question for panelist or large group
Tips or strategies you use to help you
negotiate the middle
Examples of institutional “best practice”
related to mothers in student affairs
Suggestions for future education sessions,
panels
4. Why this topic?
Mid-career is a time of personal & professional convergence,
requiring almost constant negotiation of various roles
Existing stu aff literature does not address intersections of
career stage and motherhood
To educate others for lives of purpose, we must first live our own
lives in purposeful way
It is important for the student affairs profession to understand
why women choose to have careers and families
the specifics of how they manage those choices
and the practical tools and support structures that can be
implemented to support professionals with children
5. Learning objectives
Gain knowledge of existing literature relevant to
women’s career development, the mid-career stage,
student affairs professionals with children, and work-
life negotiation/balance
Evaluate the efficacy of own work-life negotiation and
career decision-making strategies
Leave with tangible resources for future reference:
list of relevant literature, names and contact
information of panelists and colleagues, tips and
strategies for negotiating the middle
6. Relevant literature
Women’s career development (Carter,
2002; O’Neill, et al, 2008; Schreiber, 2008)
Ideal worker theory (Acker, 2000)
Career development in student affairs
(Bender, 1980; Berwick, 1992; Blackhurst,
2000; Blackhurst et al, 1998; Burns, 1982;
Evans, 1988; Ward, 1995; Wood et al, 1983)
Mid-career (Belch, 1991; Belch & Strange,
1995; Houdyshell, 2007; Renn & Hughes,
2004; Scott, 1980; Young, et al, 1990)
7. Relevant literature cont’d.
Student affairs professionals with children
(Fochtman, 2010; Marshall & Jones, 1990;
Marshall, 2002; Nobbe & Manning, 1997;
Renn & Hughes, 2004)
Work-life/family negotiation (Curtis, 2004;
Drago et al, 2005; Williams, 2004; Ward &
Wolf-Wendel, 2004a)
8. Fochtman, 2010
How do mid-career women student affairs
administrators with young children negotiate
and make sense of their multiple roles?
Negotiate
Practical tools
Strategies
Coping mechanisms
Make sense
Multiple roles
Meaning making
Rewards, benefits, challenges, obstacles
9. How do they do it?
Like clockwork
Multiple roles
Timing and alignment
Make it count
Negotiate and maximize, not manage
Compartmentalize, be mindful, be present
Scaffolding
Personal & professional support structures
10. Why do they do it?
Mid-career agency
Maximize time to achieve other objectives
Actively staying
Blazing a path
Themselves
Children
Students & institutions
Next generation
11. Topics covered today
Negotiating multiple realities
Career trajectories and mobility
Parenthood
The decision to “doctor”
12. Jody Jessup-Anger
Becoming comfortable owning my choices
about work and family
Living my values
Being a role model for other women
13. Niki Rudolph
4 brothers to 100s of sisters
The mirror and birthdays
Strengths and my smartphone
Tweets and my sweets
14. DeAnna Burt
My story- African American, self-identity,
Christian, parent philanthropists, urban
environment
Where I am today- wife, mom of 2, one
autistic, CAO/provost, young and the first
black
Tools- finding purpose, philosophy about
success, love and care for me, “balance”
15. Monica Marcelis Fochtman
Roles and choices
Mother to child in crisis
Living three lives
Transition and moving on
16. Small group sharing
Name
Current roles
Why consider self mid-career, or why interest
in topic
Strategies you use to negotiate the middle
How does all of this play itself out in your
work with students, staff, colleagues,
supervisors?
17. Large group sharing
Questions, comments
Tips, strategies from small group sharing
Where should the field go next?
18. Implications for practice
Re-frame mid-career
Mid-career time for growth
Push back against obstacles
Make change on micro level
Question the 24/7 nature of stu aff
Re-frame work-life “balance”
Multi-faceted, not dualistic
Relationship that requires negotiation
Family-friendly policies AND practice