The Carolina Seminars Program’s Altacs in Academe Seminar invites all faculty to a public lecture by Dr. Brenda Bethman from the University of Missouri at Kansas City (UMKC) on April 9, from 5:00 to 6:30 pm in the Incubator Room at the Institute for Arts and Humanities (Hyde Hall).
With full-time, tenure-track jobs increasingly scarce, more Ph.D.’s are going into #altac (alternative academic) positions. As a result, altac professionals are becoming essential personnel upon whom universities and faculty rely; however, it is not always clear what the role of Ph.D.-credentialed #altac staff is (or should be) within the university and what value they bring to the research and teaching missions of the university. This talk will examine the role of #altac staff and suggest strategies for how universities can better understand the contributions of this cohort and support them.
Dr. Bethman holds a Ph.D. in Modern German Studies from UMass Amherst and is the co-founder of Alt/Academix, a consulting firm that provides workshops and individual consultations to help graduate students and PhDs make themselves marketable for academic administrative positions. She has been the Director of the UMKC Women’s Center since January 2007. In addition, she serves as Acting Director of the Women’s and Gender Studies Program, and teaches for the Department of Foreign Languages and Literatures and the Honors Program.
