Beyond Publications & Tenure: Unwritten Rules for Sustaining a Life in Academia
R&Rs, networks, identity, AI, the work-life myth. Eight panelists on the curriculum nobody taught you in your PhD.
Chair: Sheen S. Levine (UT Dallas & Columbia)
Speakers: Linus Dahlander (ESMT Berlin) Corinne Low (U. Penn.) Helena Miton (Stanford) Mike Peng (UT Dallas) David Stark (Columbia) Mirjam Van Praag (VU Amsterdam) Ed Zajac (Northwestern) Minyuan Zhao (Washington, St. Louis)
There are many sessions at AoM about theory and methods. This is not one of them. This workshop addresses the other curriculum — the one nobody taught you in your PhD program but that determines whether your career is sustainable, satisfying, or simply survivable.
We tackle seven domains: building a research stream beyond the dissertation (or beyond tenure); the art of writing, revising, and responding to reviewers; moving past the fiction of "work-life balance" toward something more honest; composing a support network to weather the inevitable setbacks; sustaining physical and mental health as cognitive infrastructure; navigating the fault lines of gender, race, ethnicity, and identity; and understanding how AI is reshaping research, teaching, and the economics of academic labor.
The format is participatory — pre-conference Breakout Learning sessions, lightning "war stories" from panelists who have seen things, roundtable discussions, and structured exercises. You will leave with three concrete artifacts: a personal support map, an R&R playbook, and a sustainability code tailored to your own life. Bring your questions. We will bring the candor.
New this year: A limited number of pre-conference online peer sessions, powered by Breakout Learning. Interested? Contact Dr. Levine.
📅 Sat Aug 1 · 12:00–16:00 · Sheraton, Liberty Ballroom A
🔗 All sessions → https://l.sslevine.com/AoM2026
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Sheen S. Levine, PhD
https://twitter.com/sslevine------------------------------