Speak out!

I just spent the past two days in a seminar hosted by Catherine Orenstein, founder of the OpEd Project, on how to write and pitch an opinion piece. She has amazing experience of freelance writing to share, and a host of great ideas. Do you have something you want to say? Did you know that over 90% of op-ed pieces in newspapers are written by white men? Speak out! Take a look at the Op-Ed Project's website and see if they are hosting an event near you soon. You'll be surprised to learn that YOU are an expert too!

Dual-Career report update

Only 6 days to go till we launch our Dual-Career Academic Couples report. Watch out for a story in the Chronicle of Higher Education on August 20.

Dual-Careers report coming soon

It's been a busy time at the Clayman Institute as we prepare our new report, Dual-Career Academic Couples: What Universities Need to Know, to go to press. It went off to the printers (at last!!) yesterday, and we will be launching the report on Wednesday August 20.

The report is based on over 9,000 responses to a survey we rolled out in the early months of 2006 at thirteen of the US's top research universities (all shall remain nameless). We have an incredible wealth of information on all kinds of aspects of academic life through this survey, from data on partnering patterns to who does the laundry. This new report is on just one aspect of the survey data: the extent to which academics partner with each other - including how that affects their view of their career, the career decisions they make, and the ways universities deal with the dual-career phenomenon in their role as employers. The report also makes suggestions based on current best practice for how they might deal with dual-career couples more effectively.