Based on interviews with 31 academics and 5 nonacademic partners, this article explores the experiences of academics in commuting couples, or those who live apart for work-related reasons. Using identity theory as a guide, this article explores how participants navigate their competing identities of academic and partner (and, for some, parent) to…

Background/Context: As the academic job market becomes more competitive, some faculty find it necessary to move away from their partners in order to secure a position, thus leading them to become part of a commuting couple. Despite their presence in the academy, little research exists on how commuting shapes academics' personal and professional…

Given the declining number of tenure-track positions, the academic job market has become fiercely competitive, often forcing faculty to make difficult choices, including living apart from their partners and children. These individuals become commuting couples, neatly segmenting their professional and personal lives, and thus creating a…

Based on interviews with 24 student affairs professionals, this article uses ideal worker norms and hegemonic masculinity as theoretical guides to compare the ways in which straight versus gay and queer fathers working in student affairs navigate the demands of the profession and those of parenthood. While all fathers reported feeling the demands…

For the past two decades, colleges and universities have focused significant attention on helping female faculty balance work and family by implementing a series of family-friendly policies. Although most policies were targeted at men and women alike, women were intended as the primary targets and recipients. This groundbreaking book makes clear…

Based on interviews with 18 parents who were enrolled in higher education and student affairs master's programs and also employed on college and university campuses, this article explores the ways that student parents navigate their academic, familial, and professional responsibilities. Using role conflict theory as a theoretical guide, this study…

This article investigates the role that gender norms and expectations about parenting play in establishing the family-friendly versus the father-friendly university. Using interviews with 51 male faculty at three research universities, the article considers how faculty and administrators' actions perpetuate cultures that promote or hinder…

This article focuses on the ways that three feminist theories--liberal feminism, cultural feminism, and feminist poststructuralism--might be used to craft parental leave policies. After examining each theory in detail, the article concludes by offering one example of an ideal parental leave policy that combines the best features of each theory to…

Although work-family balance policies are slowly becoming the norm at four-year institutions, they are not equally common at community colleges. In part, this discrepancy is due to the cost of providing assistance to faculty. Unlike community colleges, research institutions tend to have sufficient resources to offer accommodations for faculty,…