New Book Helps Academics Find Work-life Balance

Finding work-life balance is extremely challenging for professors, according to Bonnie Fusarelli who co-edited a new book “Juggling Flaming Chain Saws: Academics in Educational Leadership Try to Balance Work and Family.” The book is now available on Amazon and includes chapters by the College of Education’s higher education faculty, Audrey Jaeger, Matt Militello, Lisa Bass and Susan Faircloth.

Fusarelli, an associate professor in educational leadership and policy studies, argues that policies and practices within academia remain from when higher education was dominated by married white male faculty. Those faculty were successful in their academic work because they depended upon the support of their wives to manage many of the personal aspects of their lives, she says.

“Juggling Flaming Chain Saws” introduces the work-life issues faced by scholars in educational leadership. While the experiences of scholars are echoed across other fields in higher education, educational leadership is unique because of its emphasis on preparing people for leadership roles within higher education and for preK-12 schools.