Mothers in Academia

Acknowledgments

Introduction: Speaking Truth to Power to Change the Ivory Tower

Mari Castañeda and Kirsten Isgro

PART I WORKING/LEARNING IN THE ACADEMY WHILE WORKING/LEARNING AS A MOM

1. How We Learned to Stop Worrying and to Enjoy Having It All

Michelle Kuhl, Michelle Mouton, Margaret Hostetler, Druscilla Scribner, Tracy Slagter, and Orlee Hauser

2. Academia or Bust: Feeding the Hungry Mouths of the University, Babies, and Ourselves

Larissa M. Mercado-López

3. Diverse Academic Support for an Employee, Mother, and Nontraditional Student

Wendy K. Wilde

4. Breaking the Glass Ceiling While Being a Mother: Parenting, Teaching, Research, and Administration

Kim Powell

5. To Tell or Not to Tell: Single Motherhood and the Academic Job Market

Virginia L. Lewis

6. Class, Race, and Motherhood: Raising Children of Color in a Space of Privilege

Irene Mata

PART II UNEXPECTED CHALLENGES AND MOMENTOUS REVELATIONS

7. Four Kids and a Dissertation: Queering the Balance Between Family and Academia

Vanessa Adel

8. “Tía María de la Maternity Leave”: Reflections on Race, Class, and the Natural-Birth Experience

Susana L. Gallardo

9. Threads That Bind: A Testimonio to Puerto Rican Working Mothers

Maura I. Toro-Morn

10. Parenting Within the Nexus of Race, Class, and Gender Oppression in Graduate School at a Historically Black College/University

Olivia Perlow

11. Sobreviviendo (and Thriving) in the Academy: My Tías’ Counterconsejos and Advice

J. Estrella Torrez

12. Revolving Doors: Mother-Woman Rhythms in Academic Spaces

Allia A. Matta

PART III CREATING MORE PARENT-FRIENDLY INSTITUTIONS OF HIGHER LEARNING

13. Academic Library Policies: Advocating for Mothers’ Research and Service Needs

Gilda Baeza Ortego

14. Reimagining the Fairytale of Motherhood in the Academy

Barbara A. W. Eversole, Darlene M. Hantzis, and Mandy A. Reid

15. Tales from the Tenure Track: The Necessity of Social Support in Balancing the Challenges of Tenure and Motherhood

Sandra L. French and Lisa Baker-Webster

16. How Higher Education Became Accessible to Single Mothers: An Unfinished Story

Summer R. Cunningham

17. Making It Work: Success Strategies for Graduate Student Mothers

Erynn Masi de Casanova and Tamara Mose Brown

18. Academic Mothers on Leave (but on the Clock), on the Line (and off the Record): Toward Improving Parental-Leave Policies and Practices

Colleen S. Conley and Devin C. Carey

19. Supporting Academic Mothers: Creating a Work Environment with Choices

Brenda K. Bushouse

Epilogue: Final Reflections

Mari Castañeda and Kirsten Isgro

List of Contributors