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Martin-Anderson, Kim A.

College of Education and Social Services

2005

Ed. D.

As a mother in the profession of student affairs, I have grappled with how to be a good mom, no, a great mom, and how to be a productive, employee whose career brings meaning and value (emotionally and financially) to my life. I love being a mother, partner and family member. I also love being a student affairs professional. I am often torn between how to balance the demands of motherhood and the pursuit of a career for which I have a great deal of passion. A Mother's Journey In Student Affairs arose out of the tension between balancing the demands of motherhood and the demands of being a student affairs professional. As I reviewed the literature on the topic of mothers in student affairs, I found there were gaps. While there is a great deal of literature about women and/or mothers in the academy, most of the literature focused on faculty. Also absent were mother's narratives. What I did find in the literature was as follows: Women are a large part of the workforce, and we are losing over half of this workforce because we are not creating work environments that are welcoming, inclusive and flexible (http://www.catalystwom.en.org/pressroomlfactsheets/factflexwork.htm ). Student affairs is a particularly challenging profession in which to be a mother due to the erratic work schedule, long work hours and transient nature of the field (Levtov, 2001; Marshall, 2004; Nobbe & Manning, 1997). Yet, because student affairs was founded on principles of social justice, equity, and helping people find and express their voice, it should be an ideal environment for working mothers. In all fields, but especially in student affairs, mothers' voices need to be heard. The absence of mothers' narratives in the literature, led me, in part, to my methodology. The methodology I chose for this dissertation was scholarly personal narrative. I utilized the lens of feminism and social justice to establish a framework for my narrative. Robert Nash (2004) wrote, "I know that every life is a story, and every story has the potential to teach" (p. 3). Scholarly personal narrative provides me an opportunity to share my story and lessons learned along my journey. In doing so, I hope readers will find common threads to their own lives. I also value the humanness that scholarly personal narrative provides. It is my hope that through sharing my story in this scholarly personal narrative, others are drawn to it and find meaningful connections to their own stories. My narrative intertwined with the literature about mothers in the workplace and in student affairs, has numerous universal themes. Some of these themes have personal meaning for me. However, some professional implications for the field of student affairs include remembering the founding values of the field (as stated in ACPA's statement of ethical principles and NASPA's statement of goals) and embodying these principles, which emphasize equity and social justice in our work.