As middle managers in higher education, department chairs play a critical role in the university structure while operating in an ambiguous location between faculty and senior administration. This paper will take a closer look at the role of department chair, how chairs are selected and prepared for the position, what the job entails, qualities of…

In this article, we theorize the disciplinary lifecycle as an alternative to the limited metaphor of the "career arc." We argue that theorizing career trajectories as lifecycles resonates more fully with the experiences that are common to careers in rhetoric, composition, and writing studies (RCWS), thereby providing more possibilities…

The author of this article discusses how personal and professional guideposts helped him to have a fulfilling life and a 40-plus-year career in university administration as a student affairs vice president, dean, and professor. With examples, he demonstrates how his guideposts for life and career--"Home," "Love,"…

This study explores how a variety of music alumni perceive the skills that they learned at their institutions in comparison to their diverse career outcomes using data from the Strategic National Arts Alumni Project (SNAAP). Focusing on alumni with music education, music theory, and music performance majors (16,317 respondents from 105 different…

This article aims to deconstruct the underpinning tenets of the term "newer researcher into higher education." In recognition of the ambiguities of the term, we begin by questioning the nature of the field(s) of research into higher education (HE). Secondly, we critique the policy discourses associated with the term "newer…

This study concerns a qualitative investigation of the views toward higher education and its importance to hospitality career success among hotel professionals in the Las Vegas, Nevada area. Existing literature supported the premise that education may be important to professional career success in several different ways, and that values concerning…

Purpose: This paper aims to explore the contrast between stable and dynamic labour markets in academe in light of career theories that were originally developed for business environments. Design/methodology/approach: A conceptual design, offering the eco-system as a framework. Findings: It evaluates their relevance and applicability to dynamic and…

For too many young people, the transition from high school to college or a career poses significant challenges. In Boston alone, nearly 5,000 16- to 24-year-olds are not in school or employed. This group, known as Opportunity Youth, represents incredible untapped promise and potential. Our latest report takes an in-depth look at what career…

This article deals with the PhD phase of tertiary higher education (in Slovakia), which is here considered as the specific phase of the academic career. It tries to answer the question: what is the PhD, in the context of research, theoretically and methodologically approached as a critical ethnography of higher education. It is focused on the…

While the majority of creative, performing and literary artists are self-employed, relatively few tertiary arts schools attempt to develop capabilities for venture creation and management (and entrepreneurship more broadly) and still fewer do so effectively. This article asks why this is the case. It addresses underlying conceptual and…

This study investigates the experiences of academics who became department heads in a post-1992 UK university and explores the influence that being in the position has on their planned future academic career. Drawing on life history interviews undertaken with 17 male and female heads of department, the paper constitutes an in-depth study of their…

The National High School Center has created a college and career development organizer to synthesize and organize an increasingly complicated and crowded field of college and career readiness initiatives. The organizer, composed of three strands, can be used to map the efforts of state education agencies (SEAs) and local education agencies (LEAs)…

While years of effort to attract more women into higher education careers in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (collectively known as STEM disciplines) has shown some success, retaining women faculty once they are hired has been much less successful. Their retention is essential in order to maintain diversity among faculty.…

In order to ensure that middle school youth are on a path toward higher education and careers, an early introduction to the importance of continuing education past high school is necessary. The middle school years are a vital time to teach the importance of college and career readiness and the linkages to success in life. This issue brief…

Entry into a successful academic career is often an arduous process. From career preparation through to doctoral studies and beyond, the journey can be fraught with trials. Why do many academics find difficulty in completing their studies in the minimum time and publishing afterwards? As the University of the Witwatersrand has a strategic goal of…