Academic Career Coaching & Developmental Book Editing

Building upon my successful decade+ academic career, I find satisfaction working with future and emerging scholars. It brings me great joy to draw on my experience to strengthen their position to create the careers and research programs they want, through academic career coaching and/or developmental book editing. I’ve supported hundreds of MA and PhD students in the social sciences and humanities with all aspects of their work. You can read testimonials below.

Reach out with your information on my Contact page.

Services

Publishing: books and book proposals, peer-reviewed papers, book chapters, academic blog posts, book reviews, encyclopedia entries, and digital humanities projects
Coaching to develop and organize priorities toward academic success at all levels
Developmental book editing (with or distinct from coaching)
Devise, grow, and/or write personal research grants (NEH, ACLS, NSF, etc.)
Presenting for conferences, keynotes, interviews, and job talks
Finishing a MA, PhD, or book, including work that may have stalled or faced great difficulties (hallo from a pandemic and/or adult responsibilities)
Crafting and maintaining a viable social media presence to share your work with broader audiences and be part of the conversations that excite you
Launching a strong, targeted academic book promotion in and beyond academic audiences
Honing mentor relationships and navigating department and personal priorities
Demonstrating research relevance regarding marginalized populations, as well as undervalued approaches like digital humanities projects
Integrating data visualizations (maps, graphs, social network analyses, text analyses, and so on) into research to share work with a broader audience
Potentiating research into public humanities scholarship and other public-facing work
Structuring and building a first research project, or a second research project after the thesis or dissertation
Selecting the appropriate methods, analytics, and scope for social science research
Navigating peer review revisions for academic papers and books
Learning from and strengthening your academic writing style
Discerning whether if leaving the tenure-track job market or a professorial position may be what allows your work to flourish

Support Across Levels

Selecting and applying to the right MA or PhD program
Finishing a MA or PhD with confidence
Shaping a PhD career for an academic job
Navigating the academic job market
Building a strong third year review
Submitting a strong tenure review
Working directly with university DEI leaders and other administrators to support the retention, development, and success of junior scholars

Success looks different for each person. I believe everyone can use their research and expertise from higher education to both better the world and their own career prospects. I am especially excited to coach and consult with those researchers whose work and/or identities are often underserved within the primarily cis, white, heterosexual, able-bodied academy. I prioritize working with women, trans, nb, BIPOC, queer, disabled, and/or first-generation clients, scholars who research these groups, and/or scholars who are concerned or have been told they or their work may not be “academic enough.”

I’ll get back to you soon to talk about fit, timeline, and costs. A full list of my offerings are below, which can take place through one-on-one or small group coaching, workshops (check back regularly for updates), or line-level feedback on materials via email. I offer a sliding scale fee base. I look forward to working with you.

Testimonials

Jack is the mentor we all want. Caring and enthusiastic, reflective and incisive, Jack cuts to the heart of the matter for whatever it is you are seeking guidance or support. He provides thoughtful, targeted coaching for those immediate tasks that feel high stakes, such as how to phrase an important email, as well as an expansive perspective to exploring the multiplicity of academic paths and approaches to find one (or more!) that works for you.

The breadth of Jack’s experience – from their wide-ranging publishing and editing record, experience in multiple academic settings, and work in public and digital humanities – means that there are few topics that they have not yet navigated or considered. I would especially recommend Jack’s expertise as a coach to interdisciplinary scholars who work simultaneously in the humanities and social sciences and are publishing and applying for jobs and grants across fields. Their coaching on zoom interviews and the academic job talk was essential when I was on the job market and, in my experience to date, is unmatched.

Beyond the specifics of navigating academic milestones and developing a robust scholarly skillset, what I most appreciate about Jack’s mentorship is the way he facilitates introductions between scholarly communities. Jack helped me navigate social media to make and nurture connections to scholars beyond my institution who are now not only intellectual interlocutors who inform my work but are also friends who give me a sense of place and community within the academy.

– Elspeth Iralu, Mellon Fellow at the Stanford Center for Humanities

One of Jack’s greatest strengths as an academic coach is his ability to help you see clearly what contributions your research makes or could make, and how to communicate those contributions effectively to others. These are crucially important skills, not only to build a successful academic career (from applying to graduate school to publishing and preparing a tenure file), but also to maintain a strong sense of purpose and belonging in the academy. If you tend to doubt the value of your ideas, or if you are simply seeking help to make your writing the most powerful it can be, I highly recommend seeking out Jack’s mentorship.

– Anna Terwiel, Assistant Professor of Political Science, Trinity College

Jack has consistently been a supportive, reliable, and caring academic guide during my search for and entrance into a tenure-track position. His advice is motivating and wise, strategic and realistic, providing balanced and personally tailored insight into the often-times serpentine path that are academic positions. Whether guidance on teaching, research, or service commitments is sought, Jack consistently heard my priorities while shining a light on considerations in the immediate, medium, and long-term trajectories. I am consistently grateful for Jack’s guidance and have no doubt others will feel the same.

– Onyx Sloan Morgan, Assistant Professor, UBC Okanagan