WISA Knowledge Community Sponsored Presentation, NASPA, 3/2011

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

19. Panelist contact information
 DeAnna Burt- dburt002@baker.edu
 Jody Jessup-Anger-
jody.jessup-anger@marquette.edu
 Monica Marcelis Fochtman-
mfochtman@madonna.edu
 Niki Rudolph- nrudolph@msu.edu