Your Words Unleashed

Send us Fan Mail AI is changing academic writing in ways that are raising some big questions about academic honesty and what it means to be a scholar. In this episode, I talk with qualitative researcher and “free range scholar” Dr. Janet Salmons about how academic publishers are responding to generative AI and what their policies mean for researchers and writers. We dig into some of the gray areas around using AI for research and writing, including why documenting your AI use may be more impo...

Send us Fan Mail What happens when you love teaching but can’t make a sustainable living as an adjunct? In this episode, I talk with Caitlin Luetger-Schlewitt about her winding career journey through higher education and beyond. After eight years of “full-time adjuncting” at three colleges while juggling multiple other jobs, Caitlin eventually decided it was time for a change. She shares how she moved into mental health counseling before finding her way to career services and eventually back ...

Send us Fan Mail Academic leadership often comes with a job description that says “professor” but a reality that says “manager, mentor, conflict resolver, and people leader.” The problem? Most academics receive very little training for that second job. In this episode, I talk with Dr. Jen Heemstra, Chair and Professor of Chemistry at Washington University in St. Louis and author of Lab Work to Leadership: A Concise Guide to Thriving in the Science Job You Weren’t Trained For. We discuss what ...

Send us Fan Mail Writing a conclusion can feel surprisingly difficult. By the time you reach the end of a book, you just want to be finished! But a conclusion is more than the final chapter—it's your opportunity to help readers understand what your work adds up to and why it matters. In this episode, I talk with developmental editor Dr. Katherine Wiley about what makes a strong conclusion and why so many scholars struggle to write one. We discuss the difference between summarizing and synthes...

Send us Fan Mail Feeling the weight of the upcoming semester? You’re not alone. In this listener's choice episode, I explore why so many academics head into fall already exhausted—and how you can change that. I share a simple but powerful three-step approach to reduce your teaching load without sacrificing student learning. You’ll hear why it’s essential to put your own priorities at the center of your semester planning and how a few intentional choices now can save you from burnout lat...