Hello all,

I would like to learn from you, Nicole. It sounds like you may be in the best position to say what you would like to be mentored about. What are the things you will be doing in your job that someone more experienced could help with? I imagine that questions of work/life balancing, dealing with administrators to get your educational projects off the ground, issues with troubled students - these are things any teachers will have in common. But I'd like to hear you say more about how the work will be different for you. Because there are a lot of aspiring philosophy teachers who are not finding tenure-track work, and a lot of those are interested in working in an environment that is more supportive, less competitive and where the teachers feel like their students are learning and loving it.

So anyway, say more about the kind of stuff you'd like to get from a mentor, and then Shay (and everyone) can see whether anyone has some relevant experience to share. For example, in my (nonacademic) job, mentors help me break big projects down into small, manageable steps, they help me learn the jargon, they give strategies for not getting overloaded and share the workload when I do. I bet lots of FEAST mentors could teach some of those, if I needed it.  So I bet they can be even more helpful in a nontraditional academic job.

In general, I'd like to see the list turn into a space where we all feel safe expressing different perspectives, and where we all feel safe listening to other people expressing their perspectives. When we feel suddenly different, I think it can trigger some powerful old feelings on all sides, whether it's a different career path or a different wave of feminism, or different levels of activism. But those feelings shouldn't obscure the things we have in common. So when people feel unsafe or threatened, we ought to figure out ways to reaffirm the mutual support while expressing differences.  I don't know how, but I'd like to help make this list feel safe for everyone.

best, Karen

Karen Rothkin