Leavitt, C. E., & Lefkowitz, E. S. (2018). Erectile dysfunction. In Bornstein, M. (Ed.), The Sage Encyclopedia of Lifespan Human Development (pp. 766-768). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications Inc.

Waterman, E. A., & Lefkowitz, E. S. (2018). Sexuality. In Bornstein, M. (Ed.), The Sage Encyclopedia of Lifespan Human Development (pp. 1984-1988). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications Inc.
 
About three years ago I was invited to write a couple of chapters for this encyclopedia. Two of my students expressed interest in taking the lead on the entries, so we went ahead with them. Although I’ve written book chapters before, this may have been my first experience with encyclopedia entries. They were fun to (co-)write in that they were less technical and more summarizing than the average journal article or chapter. I think that encyclopedia entries could be a good opportunity for a student, particularly a student around the time of comprehensive exams. They require you to be relatively comprehensive with an area of literature, but also to be able to write about it in a clear, straightforward, succinct way.
 
One strange component (in stark contrast to comprehensive exams) was that we were not allowed to include citations. After a career of carefully citing every point and teaching students to do the same, it was strange not to do so in the entries. We had a further reading section, but no references for specific points. Another challenge was to write only 9 pages of text on all of sexuality across the lifespan for one entry. I think Emily did an excellent job with this entry. She covered childhood through later adulthood, and touched on a number of important topics in the process.
 
The other chapter was 6 pages, but on such a specific topic, erectile dysfunction, that it was relatively easy for Chelom to cover the relevant material. It serves a very different purpose than the overarching sexuality one, but could serve as a good resource for people looking for a summary of what is known on this topic. 
 
We enjoyed writing both of these chapters. My only regret is that I just saw the huge price tag on the encyclopedia. I hope that some people will have access to the chapters through their university libraries, because I can’t imagine any individuals being able to afford the full set.
 
“Our Entries in the Encyclopedia of Lifespan Human Development first appeared on Eva Lefkowitz’s blog on August 7, 2018.”

I recently described my Supermom/A Student syndrome. That’s a characteristic I have always had. That is, I’ve always felt the need to do the hardest/additional work if offered. Extra credit? Check. Take the harder level class? Check. Join the Honors Society? Check.
 
I have one child who takes after me in this respect. Do music practice every day because you are supposed to? Check. Do extra credit for elementary school classes? Check. Pick the hardest of three options for the 4th grade math project? Check. Do the PA reading challenge and read every book on the K – 3 and the 3 – 6 grade lists because you’re in 3rd grade? Check, and must be first in the school to finish. This past year, this child participated in the National History Day Competition because, in the child’s words, “It was clear from the teachers’ presentation about it that it’s what the smart kids do.” The same kid, in kindergarten, was in a study where they had to push a button to earn some kind of food reward. The kid wouldn’t stop pushing the button and finally had to be cut off due to time constraints [oh look, I found the published paper].
 
The other child, while also smart and creative and motivated in many ways (parent requirement to add this disclaimer here), doesn’t have the same inclination. This child often chose not to do extra credit – for this child, homework involves more breaks to read and stare off into space, so who has time for extra credit? This child only read the books on the PA reading challenge that were in the fantasy category – the child only wanted to read books of interest to the child. Music practice happens, sometimes, with prodding/reminders.
 
It’s my parenting inclination to try to push this child to do every extra thing. No you can’t play Wii if you haven’t done the extra credit assignment (“But Mama, I did all my homework…”). Why wouldn’t you try the National History Day Competition? “Because it just didn’t sound like fun to me and my friend.”
 
And so one day, in fourth grade, I noticed in this child’s homework planner something about bringing in a bean dish for extra credit. The child never raised it again. I asked about it a couple of times, and the child didn’t bite. Finally, I said okay, I’d let it drop. But somehow I couldn’t, so the morning of the sharing beans activity in school (honestly, it was a couple of years ago and I can’t remember the actual lesson plan), I ended up, without prompting, roasting chickpeas before school (an easy recipe that didn’t require a trip to the store). The child was grateful I had done it, but also would have been completely fine if I had not.
 
It’s taken me some time as a parent to recognize that sometimes it’s not my job as a parent to push my children to do things they are not motivated to do, or more specifically, to push my nature on my child. Yes, I should make sure that my child finishes homework – but perhaps extra credit homework should rely on intrinsic motivation and not parental nagging. Honestly, this particular child sometimes doesn’t finish all of the regular homework, and sometimes, that’s okay too.
 
I find it easy to parent the child who is similar to me, at least around issues of school and achievement. It’s more trying to parent the other child because the choices made aren’t always the ones I would make. It’s easy to want to push that child to make the choices I would make. But I’ve definitely worked on not pushing daily music practice if that’s going to make the child miserable or want to quit playing an instrument, or to let the child decide about extra credit work without my forcing the issue.
 
I think parenting this specific child has provided helpful life lessons to me. First, as an advisor -- I don’t always have to push each student to do every possible thing if the student isn’t motivated to do so, but instead, should support the student’s decisions, within reason. And also, for myself, I’ve learned a bit more that I don’t have to say yes to everything just because it’s one more thing I COULD do or because everyone else is doing it. I try to say no to more things at times, so that I am saying yes to the things that are important to me or that I’m passionate about, and so I can do the things that I say yes to better.
 
I think this lesson is important for graduate students as well. There are certain things that graduate students HAVE to do – there are required course and graduate milestones, there’s your dissertation. But beyond that, you don’t have to say yes to things just because someone thinks you should. Instead, you should be strategic about what you want to do. Let’s say you are being pushed to teach a class, because most students do so during their graduate career. If your career goal is to become a faculty member, then it may make sense to do so. But if your career goal has nothing to do with teaching, perhaps teaching isn’t the best use of your time. You do not have to go to every conference that your advisor goes to just because that’s what’s done. The list goes on… think about what is important for your career, and what is valuable to you, and focus on those decisions.
 
Yesterday I bumped into a former colleague who had been invited to be an associate editor. She said that her current colleagues were all telling her that it’s a great opportunity and it is great for her CV, and that she should do it. It seemed pretty obvious in talking to her that she wasn’t motivated to do it –that it wasn’t a task that interests her. I think the message she was receiving was that it would be helpful for going up for full professor. Yes, it’s important to get service to the profession in order to get promoted to full professor. But there are many pathways to get there, and being an associate editor is only one. For some people, editing tasks are really unpleasant, and I wouldn’t recommend someone take on that role unless they are excited about it. Which is what I told her. Don’t just say yes to something because you might be good at it – pick the things that you WANT to do.
 
I still have to fight the Straight A Student tendencies in myself, frequently. Sometimes it helps to have someone remind you that doing everything you COULD do isn’t always the best path for your goals.
  
“Why I roasted chickpeas at 7:30 AM first appeared on Eva Lefkowitz’s blog on August 2, 2018.”

Our first paper written in Google Docs
 
Recently I described our paper in a special issue on relationship dissolution. Writing this paper was a completely collaborative experience, and my first time doing it this way, so I thought I’d describe how that process went for us.
 
We read a call for papers for a special issue on romantic relationship dissolution in Emerging Adulthood.  I had three doctoral students at the time, so at our research group meeting we discussed whether we had any data that might fit the special issue. The thing about special issues is that the turnaround time is generally relatively short, certainly shorter than my usual time from paper conceptualization to submission.  It would be challenging to collect data for a special issue in time to write it up, and even challenging (not impossible) to start entirely new analyses on a brand new paper.
 
If you can pull it off, though, there’s value in submitting to a special issue. First, your submission is not a shot in the dark – you know the journal is interested in the topic, so if you submit something of good quality, I believe your likelihood of acceptance is higher. Of course it depends on the submission rate, but the guest editors need a certain number of papers to fill the issue. Second, you are then grouped with similar papers, increasing the likelihood that researchers interested in the topic will stumble upon your paper.
 
In our discussion, we realized we had a conference presentation submitted on long distance dating relationships (LDDRs), and that it wouldn’t be that challenging to subsequently look at breakups in this sub-group to fit the special issue. But, given time constraints, and that all of us were in the middle of multiple other papers, we would need a highly collaborative process among the four of us.
 
I believe the process from start to finish (other than the original analyses for the conference submission, which were only part of the final analyses) was 6 months. 
 
One key feature in making this process work (for us) was that we identified a project leader. Emily had been lead author on the conference submission, and so she agreed to be project leader and first author on the manuscript. She set up timelines and tables, helped distribute tasks, ran the discussions at our group meetings, and kept us on track.
 
We had one google doc that we used for everything related to the project. It started with timelines and outlines and eventually had the fully drafted manuscript. Everyone had full rights on the doc so they could choose to write directly, or to edit/suggest.
 
Emily created timelines to keep us on track. The only one I could quickly find is this one, from the second half of the process:

We started with a lit review, divvying up the literature for different authors to summarize. I really appreciate the note that some of the reviewing is copy and pasted so needs to be reworded. Good reminder and good practice in general.

Then as each author tackled different sections, we could work on it simultaneously. I generally appreciate track changes in editing manuscripts, but one challenge is having two or more people editing simultaneously. Yes, you can merge changes, but I always find it cumbersome to receive three edited versions of the same paper and to try to merge them. In contrast, with everyone working in one google doc, there was no concern about order or turn taking. In addition, if each person was writing a separate section, they could simply write. But if they wanted to edit someone else’s text and wait on approval from the other author, they could use suggest mode.
 
Eventually, when we wanted to finalize formatting and make sure things looked pretty, we switched to a Word version and passed it along in a more traditional way. I appreciated seeing this heading at the top when I opened the original document this week:

Documentation of process is so important for continuity and I really appreciated finding this heading there.
 
Overall, I think all four of us would describe the experience as very positive. I can’t think of any negatives of doing it in google docs, besides having to fix formatting later. I don’t know that I would automatically write a manuscript I first author in google docs, simply because I’m more comfortable with MS Word. But, I wouldn’t hesitate to do it again through google docs as a fully collaborative paper. My life doesn’t always have space for writing a manuscript in 6 months, but for my research group at the time, it worked, and we are pleased with the result. 
 
“Our First Paper Written in Google Docs first appeared on Eva Lefkowitz’s blog on July 26, 2018.”

In what contexts do you use the phrase “I’m sorry”?
 
I have found that people – probably more likely women, though I don’t have data on it – tend to use the phrase “I’m sorry” in contexts other than when they are actually apologizing.
 
[As a side note, I did just in a quick search find evidence that women apologize more than men do, because women believe they commit more offenses than men do. That’s relevant to my second major point here, so stay tuned.]
 
My general advice is that in professional (work) contexts, if something happens and it’s not your fault, don’t apologize. As an example, if you are meeting with a student who plagiarized, don't say, "I'm sorry this is happening to you." Even if it feels natural to say it. It's not your fault, so don't apologize. You can say, "It's an unfortunate situation" or "I know you must be feeling disappointed." But using “I’m sorry” implies that you are somehow to blame in this situation, when the student is the one who plagiarized – you are not actually sorry that you have a policy against plagiarism. Or that you plan to enforce it.
 
I frequently notice young women (often graduate students) apologize in these types of situations, and I don't think it helps their interactions. Of course, if you are at fault, do apologize. People often get defensive when they are actually at fault, and a swift apology can avoid a prolonged game of blame hot potato.
 
When I posted this idea on social media a few years ago, someone responded by saying that the phrase “I’m sorry” has many different meanings in the United States, and that we often use it to express compassion. I agree, but I also think that’s part of the problem. We often DO use “I’m sorry” to express compassion. And that’s fine in certain contexts where it could not be interpreted as accepting blame – for instance, if a colleague tells you they are sick and you say “I’m sorry to hear that.”  But the other meaning of “I’m sorry” Is “I did something wrong,” and that can be misperceived. Thus, I recommend avoiding it in situations where it could all be perceived as your fault, and thus, accepting any blame. That’s why it’s helpful to think of other phrases, such as “I know you must feel…” or “I imagine you are really upset about it…” Those phrases express compassion without taking on any blame.
 
More generally, I recommend avoiding apologizing when you feel inadequate. Again, apologizing makes sense if you wronged someone (e.g., you missed a deadline) or possibly if you disappointed them (e.g., you have the thesis draft for the deadline, but you really didn’t spend as much time as you should have). But don’t apologize just because you aren’t feeling confident. I initially received related advice during my first year of grad school. The four first year grad students in our cohort presented our thesis ideas at proseminar and each starting with "I'm sorry I'm not very far along" or "mine's not as interesting as hers was...". A professor told us never to start a talk with an apology, but to be strong and confident in our ideas. I believe she pointed out that we were all women standing up there starting our talks with an apology rather than presenting our ideas with confidence. Of course, in this instance, we likely all WERE intentionally taking on blame, in that we all DID feel bad that we weren’t far along or that our ideas weren’t as developed as someone else.
 
But why start a presentation, or a lecture, with an acknowledgement that you could have done better, or that you aren’t proud of what you’re about to say? That sets the audience up to think you have somehow failed.
 
I know how easy it is to default to apologizing. One year at SRCD I had confused the days of my 2 talks and had not at all prepared for the talk I was giving.  I had spent the last 2 days practicing my other talk. My instinct was to start the presentation with the story of what had happened, and an explanation/apology for not being as polished as I would like to be. But instead, I just gave the talk. It was certainly not my best presentation ever. But it also wasn’t terrible.
 
Just this week, I met with a job candidate. I was toward the end of her schedule on day two, and I imagined that my colleagues had asked her similar questions. So I automatically said something like, “I’m sorry that you probably have had to answer these questions already.” And then I realized, actually, I do not need to be sorry about that. It’s my job to evaluate this candidate, and she likely expects to answer some of the same questions in different meetings (in fact, how much harder would interviews be if each half hour meeting contained completely new questions?).  
 
In summary:

• If you have wronged someone somehow, be quick to apologize.
• When you didn’t do anything wrong and you don’t want the other person to think you are taking on blame, don’t apologize.
• When you think you are less than your best (or others’ best), try to suppress that feeling and instead be confident.

 
Follow these guidelines, and when you truly do apologize, it will mean that you are recognizing you are at fault for something, and that apology will not be empty.
 
“Don’t apologize unless you did something wrong first appeared on Eva Lefkowitz’s blog on June 7, 2018.”

In the physical sciences, postdoctoral positions appear to be all but necessary if you want an academic position. In the humanities, post docs are relatively uncommon. And in social science, post docs are increasingly common, but not necessary 100% of the time. Among graduates of our program in 2015-2016, we have 9 going into postdoctoral positions, 3 alt-academic positions, 2 research-focused tenure line positions, 1 teaching-focused tenure line position, and 1 still searching. Academic positions straight from grad programs in the social sciences are becoming rarer, but are not impossible.
 
I recommend to most students that even if they are doing an academic job search, they apply for post docs as well. It is hard to know what will happen in the market in a particular year, and much like an undergraduate safety school, knowing that you could go to a post doc if you don’t get an academic position is extremely helpful. But post docs aren’t simply back up plans. For many students, post docs are the best choice after grad school. Here are some suggestions for figuring out if a post doc is right for you:
 
How strong is your record? The most obvious question. If you are finishing grad school with few publications, you will need a post doc to be competitive. If you have a very strong record of publications (and, a huge plus, external funding), then you may be able to land a tenure line position without doing a post doc first.
 
What are your career goals? If your career goal is a tenure line position at a top research university, then having a couple of years more to improve your publication and grant-getting record, to demonstrate a more independent line of research, and to gain additional experiences before launching a truly independent career can be useful. If your career goal is a teaching position, than staying in graduate school for an extra year to gain more teaching experience might be a better CV builder. And if your goal is an alt-academic career, at, for instance, an applied research institute, then a post doc might not be the best use of time.
 
How ideal of a job do you want? If your goal is to find your dream job and stay there forever, then 2 years at a post doc might help you better position yourself. If your goal is to get into a tenure line position as soon as possible, to have a higher income quickly, or to not have to move twice in the next 3 years, then you may want to apply for tenure line positions broadly to see where you land.
 
What are your geographic and/or family constraints? Constraints could lean you either one way or another. If you feel like you can’t move multiple times in the next couple of years because of a spouse’s job or children’s needs, you might want to skip a post doc and take a job right after grad school. Alternatively, if you know your long term goal is a job in a particular region of the country, limiting your search, you may need a post doc, both to wait for the right job to become available, and to make yourself competitive for it.
 
There are a few other reasons that you might want a post doc, even if you could land a top tenure line job right now:
 
Post docs increase your network. You have your mentor, dissertation committee, and other faculty and colleagues at your graduate school program. But if you do a post doc, you substantially increase your lifelong network with a new set of colleagues and collaborators. Each senior person tends to have a relatively large network, and if a post doc doubles yours, that’s can be a substantial difference. I’ve seen at conferences that people who did post docs generally have much larger networks.
 
Improve your record. As described, post docs provide time to add publications and grants to your CV. Even if you could land a tenure line position right now, extending your record before doing so does not only help you get the right job, it helps your record when you go up for tenure.
 
Publish from your dissertation. Many post doc positions will provide time to write up your dissertation work in addition to joining new projects.
 
Breathing room. Are you ready to launch into a tenure line position where you truly need to balance research, teaching, and service? Perhaps you are. But if not, a post doc gives you a period where you can almost exclusively focus on research.
 
Post docs may be the emerging adulthood of the academic career.  You are not a mentee in the same way that you were in graduate school, but you have not yet fully launched an independent career. During emerging adulthood, assuming adequate resources, individuals have more leisure time than during any other period of development. Emerging adulthood is an excellent time for identity exploration with fewer consequences than one would have in adulthood. Similarly, post docs provide a period where exploration is less costly than in a tenure line position with 6 years on the clock. Post docs are a bridge period between graduate school and independent researcher.
 
In my last year of graduate school, I went on 4 interviews for tenure line positions. I became nervous, and started applying for post docs. Soon after I went on my first (and only) post doc interview. I did a there and back in one day, leaving on the 6:00 AM flight, having meetings all day, and flying back on the last flight of the day. I came home a bit discouraged, in that I felt ready to be a grownup, and it was clear to me on the interview that I would be expected to be, well, an emerging adult. And when I returned home, I had a message to call the department head at Penn State, who offered me my current position the next day. I was elated that I would not have to do a post doc and would instead get to, well, be a grownup.
 
I do not regret my decision or my career trajectory. And yet, it was a rough couple of years, and in sharp contrast to a good friend from grad school, who also interviewed for both academic and postdoctoral positions, and chose to do a post doc. In my first year I taught 3 classes (2 preps; 400 students total), served on a search committee, supervised graduate and undergraduate research, worked to publish my dissertation, worked to start a new program of research, all while living in a small college town as a 30-year-old single woman. Simultaneously, my friend worked to publish his dissertation, worked on a new program of research, and lived in Toronto where he had plenty of time to enjoy city life. In the end, we both ended up where we wanted to be, we just took different paths there. Neither one was right or wrong, but I was frequently jealous of him in those 2 years.
 
So, should you do a post doc? Only you know, and there probably isn’t one right answer for you. Just remember – becoming an adult is great in many ways, but many of us wouldn’t mind extending the years before a bit more if we could do it all over again.
 
 
“The post Should you do a post doc? was first published on Eva Lefkowitz’s blog on April 11, 2016.”

At Society for Research in Adolescence (SRA) this year, two young scholars announced to me and my friend/colleague, “We’ve known each other for 7 years!” I may have audibly scoffed (sorry!) when I replied, “come to me when you can say 23 years, then we’ll talk.”

Rose is my person. We met early in grad school and worked together in the same lab for 5 years. She has been my conference buddy since our first conference together in the 1990’s. In grad school at conferences, we would scout out places to watch March Madness. Actually, not much has changed except the atmosphere of where we watch and the type of drink we consume.

Every academic needs a best friend who doesn’t assume you get summers off or doesn’t wonder what you do with all that free time between the only 2 classes you teach per week. Who in grad school sometimes made you take a break from presentations to go for a long walk or actually see the outside of the convention center (these days, I’m more likely to do that to her). With whom you have code names for other people at the conference (but not for you, dear reader, definitely not for you). Who can sleep right through your insomnia when you share a hotel room. Whom your students are excited to get to meet, and you can say, I know her. It’s so helpful to have someone in the same career and stage as you, but not at your same institution, to check in about prickly work situations. You know you will never have to walk into an intimidating reception alone because you will always have her by your side. It is in conference hotel rooms and on the streets of conference cities that we have confided in each other about many of life’s stressors, whether work or children.
In grad school, we were usually crammed 4 to a room, negotiating shower schedules and bed sharing.  These days it’s usually the two of us, going to sleep earlier than we used to, but still having plenty of time to chat and catch up. Or to ignore each other while we get work done or zone out after a long day of professional social interactions. One year we were given a suite, and we invited a friend up to hang out. When she showed up she saw us each with laptops in front of us and said, “I’m sorry, I didn’t know you were both working.” But no, that’s just us hanging out in a hotel room, reading emails between conversations about our latest administrative headache or student accomplishment.

When my kids were babies, she was the one who, even though replaced as my conference roommate for a few years by my husband and kids, immediately came up to the room after getting a text that said “help!” and entertained babies  while my husband and I packed. She’s the one who, when my kids were toddlers and I had to give a presentation, went to Reading Terminal with my husband and kids and helped chase them down when they took off in opposite directions.

When my kids were 2 ½, I attended my first conference without them since their birth. Rose was happy (I think) to get me back as a roommate. I was feeling very confident. I had presentations two days in a row scheduled, and this was my first chance in years to show competent-conference-Eva rather than scattered-Mama-conference-Eva. On the first day, I was at the front table right before it started, when I wondered, why is everyone from tomorrow’s panel here but no one from today’s panel here? Oh. I had mixed up my talks, and had not only been practicing the wrong talk, but also had the notes for the wrong talk. Rose, from the audience, immediately saw the panic in my eyes, and texted to ask what was wrong. I texted her back. And Rose ran the 1 mile back to the hotel room, texting me from the room to find the talk, and ran it back to me in the middle of our session. Not my most polished presentation, but a lot better than it would have been if I hadn’t had my person there.

I like to think I occasionally do things for her as well. For instance, there are few other people I’d do this for:

When I make a list of things that I gained in grad school, there’s writing and stats skills and professional development. But more than any of those things, I gained my person. I don’t think I could have navigated this career these past 23 years without her. It’s hard to convey to grad students the value of the friends you make in grad school. It’s not just the conferences, it’s all of the in betweens, whether work or standing up at each others' weddings or visiting with families in tow. So every year, I know I’m going to end the conference with sushi, wine, and my person. Sometimes a movie, too. But always the sushi, wine, and Rose.

“The post Find your lifelong conference buddy was first posted on Eva Lefkowitz’s blog on April 7, 2016”

I’m not trying to single anyone out, so apologies in advance if you read this post and feel spotlighted. But in the last few weeks I’ve received some rather ineffective doodle polls, so I decided to do the universe – well, at least students and faculty – a favor and provide some quick advice on setting up an effective doodle poll.  These suggestions mostly apply to students who are trying to schedule a meeting (e.g., dissertation defense, comps exam), but I guess could be applied more generally.
The goal of your doodle poll should be to have a reasonable number of options. What’s reasonable?  I would say about 10 – 20. Anything less, and you’re not going to find a time that works for everyone. But anything much more, and people are going to be more particular about which times they say they’re available.  For instance, I recently filled out a doodle poll that had 56 options. In doing so, I didn’t take the time to consider, for each time there was something on my calendar, was it a movable meeting? Given that I was providing a number of available times, I didn’t feel pushed to make myself more available. However, if there had been 10 carefully selected options, I would have spent more time considering each possibility, whether it was a meeting I might be able to move in a pinch, or a time that I usually work at home but would make an exception in this case.
But how do you get to 10-20 carefully selected options? Here are my suggestions:

1. Schedule far enough in advance. Sometimes I’m not sure that students realize how busy faculty’s schedules are. Next week, I currently have one 2-hour block available. The week after, I have a couple. But that’s just me, and you’re going to need to cross my schedule with 3-5 other faculty’s schedules. So you should be planning these things at least a month out, frequently more if you have very busy people.
2. Do whatever you can to eliminate options. Obviously, don’t include any times you absolutely can’t be there (but be as flexible as you can). Then meet with your adviser and remove times that she absolutely can’t be there. Next, take the time to go online and check the teaching schedules of anyone on your committee, and eliminate those times as possibilities. A few minutes of your time is completely worth the investment at this point. After these steps, you have probably substantially narrowed down your options well below 50.
3. If your meeting is at an odd time of year, like summer, check with committee members in advance on their travel schedules. No sense sending out a poll based on a week that a committee member will be in France.
4. Once you’ve narrowed down your options, choose a 1-2 week timeframe (depending on how many options you have) and make the poll. Even if you are scheduling a 2-hour meeting, use 1-hour, not 2-hour blocks. I may be free 10:00 – 12:00, but if the options are 9:00 – 11:00 and 11:00 – 1:00, I will not mark either as available. So make a poll that has 1-hour blocks to maximize everyone’s “yes” responses. Similarly, if someone teaches at 1:45, don’t exclude the 1:00 -2:00 time frame completely. You can have a block that is 12:00 – 1:00 and a separate 12:30 – 1:30. If you find a 1.5 hour block that everyone is available, but not everyone is available the 1 hour block before, you can follow up to see if you can squeeze a ½ hour out of them.
5. Finally, make sure that you email everyone as soon as possible with the scheduled date/time. It’s frustrating for all if you wait so long that one or more people have already scheduled meetings in the time you picked.
   

And viola. You have scheduled a meeting, without (hopefully) having to do a second or third poll, and without overwhelming people with too many choices.
“The post How to set up a doodle poll first appeared on Eva Lefkowitz’s blog on February 6, 2016.

There are a number of posts out there about mental health during graduate school. Some good sources include The Professor Is In’s posts on mental illness and academia, Tenure She Wrote, and ProfHacker’s section on wellness.
As Graduate Professor-in-Charge, I meet with students frequently, and concerns around stress and mental health arise in a range of contexts. A while ago, a student expressed some concern about there being a stigma on mental health issues, and so I spent some time considering how I, as Grad Director (and as a non-clinician), could address these concerns without sounding preachy or condescending. After consulting with some of our clinically trained faculty, I sent the following email to our graduate students to provide students with thoughts and resources on the topic. I also forwarded it to faculty so that they could see the messages I was communicating to students. How does your department address student mental health and wellbeing?

Dear HDFS graduate students,
 
I hope that you had a wonderful break, and found time for sleep, relaxation, and engagement in whatever activities bring you joy.
 
I wanted to write to bring up the subject of mental health, and how important it is to be aware of your own mental health and wellbeing, now and throughout graduate school. The period of personal and professional development that you are currently in is one where rates of some mental health issues increase and/or peak. Sometimes, the stress of graduate school can intensify previous mental health issues, and sometimes new issues emerge. In addition, some of the topics covered in HDFS courses can at times trigger personal issues that could bring up mental health concerns. 
 
Your own personal wellbeing, whether physical, mental, or social, is always going to be more important than excelling in classes or getting another manuscript submitted. Do be aware of your own wellbeing, and take the time to nurture it.  Monitor your own stress levels, and make sure to engage in activities that will help you alleviate some stress, whatever those activities may be for you – yoga, meditation, or mindfulness practice; exercise, long walks, or time spent in nature; reading or listening to music; spending time with friends… There is free yoga available in State College, both on campus  and in town. And there are many opportunities for recreational activities on campus.
 
If you have concerns about your own stress levels or mental health, do seek out help. You can always talk to your adviser, to me, or to other faculty for advice, although they/I cannot serve as a professional counselor or therapist.
 
If you think that you would benefit from professional help, do not hesitate to take advantage of the services offered by the University’s Counseling and Psychological Services Center (CAPS).  CAPS provides up to 6 free sessions with professional therapists on their staff. CAPS staff includes psychologists as well as psychiatrists, for those for whom medication might be helpful. CAPS also offers a number of group sessions during the semester, some of which are specifically designed for graduate students. Other helpful resources on campus include the Center for Women Students and the LGBTQA Student Resource Center. Finally, there are useful self-help resources on the CAPS website, including videos.
 
There are also many highly skilled therapists in the community. CAPS has a list of community-based mental health providers with current openings. I’m happy to make suggestions if you ever need such advice.
 
There are many useful resources for crisis situations that you should know about. The CAPS website has a comprehensive list:
 
There are also some hotlines for urgent situations:
Centre County CAN HELP Line: (1-800-643-5432)
Sexual assault and relationship violence hotline: (1-800-560-1637)
Centre County Women’s Resource Center: (814-234-5050)
The Meadows Psychiatric Center: (1-800-641-7529)
National Suicide Prevention Lifeline: (1-800-273-8255)
 
Here are some other suggested readings if you’d like to learn more on the topic:
 
APA
Gradhacker
 
As always, don’t hesitate to be in touch if you have any questions.
 
Eva

“The post Prioritizing wellbeing during graduate school first appeared on Eva Lefkowitz’s blog on January 17, 2016.

Really excited to be teaching my graduate seminar, Professional and ethical issues in Human Development and Family Studies, for the second time this semester. I've added a number of new readings since last year, and I've also assigned Karen Kelsky's book, The Professor Is In.  

My learning objectives:

1. Describe general ethical principles that guide the professional and scholarly behavior of developmental and social scientists
2. Negotiate ethical and fair research collaborations and collaborative writing projects, including those with mentors
3. Navigate responsible reporting of research and peer review
4. Identify career goals, and/or how to develop career goals, and the tools needed to obtain these goals
5. Write a clear CV, research statement, and professional website
6. Understand the requirements for a strong job talk, interview, and grant proposal (we will not be able to spend enough time on these topics that you will come out fully developed in these areas)
7. Recognize the boundaries, including fuzzy boundaries, of academic freedom

Topics include ethics of data management, reporting, publishing and peer review; mentoring and co-authorship; publishing and peer review; career planning, CVs, statements, job interviews and job talks; grant writing; academic freedom.

Here is the full syllabus.

"The post: Course: Professional development and ethics first appeared on Eva Lefkowitz's blog on January 12, 2016"

As the semester wraps up, I wanted to say a few words about effective studying.

A New York Times article did a great job of summarizing research on studying, and why some traditional advice may actually be incorrect

Four more tips that you may find useful over the next 2 weeks:

• Retrieval is a potent learning event. Recognition is not. This is the #1 thing I learned from my graduate course on memory (and I still remember, more than 20 years later). If you just look at a fact or definition over and over, or keep reading it, you are unlikely to learn it well. If you actually make yourself remember it without looking at it (e.g., cover up the definition and produce it from memory), you are improving your ability to remember it at a much greater rate.
• Use review questions. Many professors provide review questions, at least in undergraduate courses. Don't just skim them. Make yourself answer them to be certain you truly know the answers. If your professor doesn't provide review questions, go through the textbook and your notes and write your own.
• If you didn't do well on an earlier exam or quiz, ask to meet with the professor to go over it. Even if the material on the next quiz/exam does not overlap at all, seeing the questions you got wrong, and understanding why, will help you approach the next exam. Maybe you struggle more with multiple choice problems and you can talk through strategies for answering them. Maybe you forget to read the full question. Maybe you have trouble recalling material. You won't know until you see your past performance.
• Take breaks, please! Yes, you have limited time left before your exams. Of course you want to do well. But you will be more functional if you take occasional breaks to eat, stretch, sleep, etc. Don't just eat while you study -- take 15 minutes to eat and chat with a friend or watch a bit of TV. Have a dance party. Stretch every hour. Make sure you get enough rest. Really, these things will help you be able to study better, and think better the day of the exam.

 
“The post Effective study habits first appeared on Eva Lefkowitz’s blog on December 8, 2015"