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The Professor Is In

Guidance for all things PhD: Graduate School, Job Market and Careers

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2025 Updates

Academia is in turmoil; You are not alone.

 

We offer support on:

1) your academic career

      [from job search through retirement]

2) your sustainable productivity and success

3) your post-ac transition

 

We reduce rates to be accessible to as many as possible.  Don’t let finances stop you from reaching out.

 

GET IN TOUCH; TALK IT THROUGH

 

Academic Career Help*:  email us at gettenure@gmail.com

*Learn more about Dr. Karen Kelsky and academic job application, grant proposal/book proposal editing,  tenure and promotion statement editing, interview and campus visit prep, and career consultations/negotiating help we offer.

 

Productivity Help*:  email us at tnl@theprofessorisin.com.

*Learn more about Kel Weinhold’s productivity coaching options. Includes individual or group coaching with Kel on getting your writing done at any stage of the academic career, overcoming writers block, finishing your dissertation, establishing a *sustainable* work-life balance and writing routine, and/or finding a supportive writing accountability group. Learn more about current coaching programs here.

 

Leaving Academia Help: email us at postaccareers@gmail.com.

One-on-one coaching with Dr. Karen Kelsky and Kel Weinhold; find information here.  Also visit The Professor Is /Out/ private Facebook group for more!

Visit our On-Demand Courses page and explore resources in “The Professor Is Out” dropdown menu above for more Post-Ac Guidance. It’s Ok to Quit.


 

CORE COMMITMENTS

 

1) Your Mental, Physical and Financial Health Matters More Than Any Career.

Academia is a system of external validation and nobody can change that, but you CAN find autonomy vis-a-vis that system, reclaim your own values, and establish boundaries that allow for a healthy, balanced life.

2) #BlackLivesMatter #LandBack

Since 2017, our publicly posted company policy has been to support Black and Indigenous women in the academy. Contact us for reduced rates.

3) We Support the Trans Community Unconditionally

If you need help moving away from a job/location that is dangerous to you, contact us for reduced rates.


 

CONTACT INFORMATION:

We can be reached any time 7 days a week (although we only answer during West Coast business hours!) at

gettenure@gmail.com (academic careers)

You will reach Dr. Karen Kelsky.

postaccareers@gmail.com (leaving academia)

You will reach our ace post-ac coach Kel Weinhold.

tnl@theprofessorisin.com (productivity and wellness)

You will reach productivity coach Kel Weinhold.


 

More Information:

Are You Tired of the Academic Run-Around?

…an Advisor Who’s Never In, a Grad Program That Doesn’t Care, Funding That’s Never Enough, a Job Market That’s in The Tank, and a Tenure System That’s a Total Mystery—And No One to Give You an Honest Answer

I am here to help.  I am Karen L. Kelsky, Ph.D.. I spent 15 years as an R1 tenured professor, department head, and university advisor, and now over ten years as an academic career coach. I tell you the truth: the truth about grad school, the job market, and tenure.  To the best of my ability.

On the ‘Pearls of Wisdom’ Blog (see the categories to the right), I offer the  hands-on information you need now to get through the hoops of academia.

I also work with you, one-on-one, with complete confidentiality, on the writing, speaking, and interview skills you need to move closer to your professional goals. I focus on your particular strengths and challenges, and outline the steps you need to take to be successful in each of your specific applications and projects.  Together we chart a path to make you competitive.  I can’t guarantee a particular outcome, but I can guarantee that I will deliver to you, to the best of my ability, bullshit-free advising on your grants, writing, the job market, and tenure, as well as coaching on professional and career dilemmas.

I am the available and career-savvy adviser you need, that you should already have, but probably don’t.

Interested?  Learn more about why to trust me and get in touch.

Testimonials

The result has been eventual success in a place beyond what I’d dared to hope. After five years on the market (four after attaining the PhD) and about 325 applications in total (including temporary positions and postdocs) in four countries, I landed a tenure-track job in a major metropolitan area two hours from my home city.
Former Clientnow a Tenure-Track Professor
I went from a ball of stress, having trouble eating and sleeping, to a confident candidate as I learned how to take the reigns and drive the offer negotiation process.
Former ClientNow working outside the academy
Karen is honest in a way that is refreshing in an environment in which advisors too often offer platitudes about how great and wonderful their students are.... my conversations with Karen were empowering, rather than condescending. They inspired me to respect myself enough on the market to get what I want, to judge healthy and unhealthy situations, and above all to be more confident in my own intellectual identity.
Former ClientGraduate Student

Recent Posts

The Intoxicating Power of Quitting – Guest Post

Karen Kelsky September 30, 2025

Kia Sorensen, Ph.D. serves as the Deputy Director of Academic Policy and Authorization (APA) at the Higher Education Coordinating Commission (HECC) in Oregon.  In her

Academic Auto-Depreciation – Guest Post by Deepa Das Acevedo

Karen Kelsky September 15, 2025

Deepa Das Acevedo is a legal anthropologist, a tenured associate professor at Emory University School of Law, and Editor-in-Chief of PoLAR: Political and Legal Anthropology

12 Steps to a New Job, Step 11: Pursue Clarity and Resist Denial

Karen Kelsky September 9, 2025

In light of the shit show of unprecedented proportions that is academia at the present moment, post-ac coach Kel Weinhold and I have launched a

Our Podcast

The Professor Is In
3.29: How to Keep Going When You Don’t Feel Like It
byThe Professor Is In

We continue with vintage – yet evergreen – recordings. It seems like everyone struggles with the desire to quit at times. It’s a natural response to external forces, but you can summon internal forces to manage that impulse. We’re not saying don’t quit! We’re just saying, act deliberately. In this episode, Karen and Kel talk […]

3.29: How to Keep Going When You Don’t Feel Like It
3.29: How to Keep Going When You Don’t Feel Like It
August 9, 2022
The Professor Is In
Ep 3:27 #LeavingAcademia: The Great Quitting
June 20, 2022
The Professor Is In
Ep 3:26 Overcoming Perfectionism
June 13, 2022
The Professor Is In
Episode 3:25 Burnout Part II – Academia Has It Bad
June 8, 2022
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Ep 3:24 Academic Burnout: What It Is, Where It Comes From
May 12, 2022
The Professor Is In
Ep 3:23 Prepping for Next Year’s Job Market
May 6, 2022
The Professor Is In
Ep 2:22 The Violence of Professionalism
April 27, 2022
The Professor Is In
Ep 3:21 Surviving Your New Academic Thing
April 22, 2022
The Professor Is In
Ep 3:20 What Even Is Sick Leave For an Academic?
April 10, 2022
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Ep 3:19 Academic Labor Is Labor
March 29, 2022
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Latest From the Blog

  • The Intoxicating Power of Quitting – Guest Post
  • Academic Auto-Depreciation – Guest Post by Deepa Das Acevedo

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In addition to our blog and book, we have upcoming live webinars, pre-recorded webinars and other programs that you can get started on right away:

The Art of the Academic Cover Letter
The Art of the Article
Unstuck: The Art of Productivity
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Free Productivity Webinars

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