A brief thread:

I have found that most people don't know that being a professor entails more than teaching.

#AcademicTwitter #AcademicChatter #phdchat

1/

It's easy to get frustrated when you tell someone that you are a professor and they say something like, "oh like a teacher...just say that then."

2/

But as the first Ph.D. in my family, I have to remember that many of us didn't grow up in families or communities with a lot of postsecondary education access and/or attainment.

#AcademicTwitter #AcademicChatter #phdchat

3/

I didn't even know what a Ph.D. was prior to college.

@ELove1911 introduced me to a music professor who folks were calling "Doc" (the late, great Dr. James E. Mumford at Indiana University) and I was really confused because he wasn't a medical doctor.

4/

So I have had to train myself to use these conversations as an opportunity to share information.

I will say that I am a professor and when they ask what I teach (always the 1st question) I do tell them but I always follow it with "and I conduct research about..."

5/

I may also talk about mentoring/advising undergrad and grad students, service to the profession, and public/community engagement.

#AcademicTwitter #AcademicChatter #phdchat

6/

Of course, there are many structural barriers, but one way to strengthen the #phdpipeline for marginalized communities is to be more transparent about what our roles entail, how we got here, and why we're passionate about what we do.

Let's talk about it early and often.

/end.