Mentoring in the Age of Academic Self-Promotion: Or How I Became a Curmudgeon

Authors

  • John A Kayser University of Denver

Abstract

The quality of our work as teachers and scholars used to stand for itself.  That's not so true in this day of ‘publish-or-perish,’ where it seems that self-promotion may have eclipsed the ideal of sharing and mentoring.  This narrative will articulate the changes I've experienced in the academic environment during the last 20 years, as it has become increasingly corporate, image-conscious, homogenized, and risk-adverse.  I will explore why mentoring has become so difficult, given the challenges that new faculty typically encounter when leadership opportunities in the school or profession arise.  This narrative serves as the concluding bookend to the forward looking one written at the outset of my career, titled “Narratives of the Novice Educator” (Kayser, 1995).

Author Biography

John A Kayser, University of Denver

About the Author: John A. Kayser is Professor, Graduate School of Social Work, University of Denver (303-871-2915; John.Kayser.du@gmail.com).

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Published

2013-12-22

How to Cite

Kayser, J. A. (2013). Mentoring in the Age of Academic Self-Promotion: Or How I Became a Curmudgeon. Reflections: Narratives of Professional Helping, 18(3), 47–54. Retrieved from https://reflectionsnarrativesofprofessionalhelping.org/index.php/Reflections/article/view/133