Wednesday, June 23, 2010

Dr. Jane (Ph.D.) Can't Network, Either - THE DAILY RIFF - Be Smarter. About Education.

Dr. Jane (Ph.D.) Can't Network, Either - THE DAILY RIFF - Be Smarter. About Education.

Dr. Jane (Ph.D.) Can't Network, Either



"Dr. Jane knows how to narrowly present herself
to a unique audience of like-minded individuals.
Is it any surprise that students aren't well-equipped for our present economy?
"


Dr. Jane Can't Network, Either
Johnny Can't (Net) Work, But neither can Dr. Jane


By Dr. Lee E. Skallerup, Ph.D

As academics (especially in the humanities), we are trained to network as academics, in order to be academics. Conferences are spent meeting other academics, creating valuable links that will either lead to jobs or academic collaborations (which lead to jobs). We shouldn't waste our time meeting people outside of academia, heck, outside of our field, because what good would that serve?

We work -- as pointed out by a recent article in Inside Higher Ed -- as teachers or researchers inside our discipline and sometimes even more narrowly in our specialty. Why work outside of