As part of the SAP Early Career Program, Katharina Dittrich, David Oliver, and Robert Wright are offering a PDW on “Rhythms of Academic Life – Insights and Advice for Academic Scholars at All Career Stages” at this year’s AOM in Chicago. This PDW builds on the legacy of Frost and Taylor’s (1996) edited collection, which focused on scholars’ experiences with the changing world of academia. Given that academia keeps evolving, a forthcoming special issue in the Academy of Management Learning and Education will revisit this topic. In this spirit, the PDW aims to provide career advice to both early-career and more established scholars on how to manage their contemporary academic lives.

The PDW consists of two parts:

Part One includes an open panel discussion from leading scholars on the broad topic of Career Rhythms and the similarities and differences of academic life since the 1996 volume. The panel will include some of the original contributors of the 1996 volume of “Rhythms of Academic Life”; Guest Editors of the forthcoming AMLE Special Issue; potential contributors to the Special Issue; along with established scholars from the SAP field. In essence, the panel will address how rhythms of academic life have changed, emerging trends for the future, and provide advice to scholars at different stages of their career, i.e., early career scholars (PhDs and post-docs), mid-career scholars and late-career scholars.

Part Two is designed to go into further detail in a more intimate and engaging manner so that every participant will have the opportunity to discuss first-hand, with senior scholars in regards to key issues and challenges, success stories and lessons learned in being an academic in today’s highly competitive academic landscapes. Participants and facilitators will have the opportunity to interact in three roundtables rotations of 30mins each. Please come prepared for some fun, highly dynamic and interactive discussions.

Participation in Part One will be open; in turn, participation in Part Two requires pre-registration through AOM’s PDW registration system.