Post Graduate Level Career transition in the US

[Nadya]

I saw a similar thread with someone heading to Canada so I apologize if this is too similar a topic but I also didn't want to seem like I was hijacking a thread from someone else. Anyway, I'm a graduate student studying in the sciences and I'm a little lost on how to proceed. I study at a public university in a very conservative part of the country. I hope that my career allows me to stay in academia as I love to teach. My problem is though that I'm not out yet and I'm not sure what that will do for my career. Has anyone had experience with transitioning in academia? I'd love to talk and learn about others' personal experiences. There's so much that comes to mind. Should I come out before I graduate and move on to a new university? Would it be wise to change my name considering the published papers I'm already on (my legal name could be gender neutral)? Could a professional, yet religiously conservative advisor remain unbiased during a dissertation defense? Would there be complications due to bias in peer-reviewed journals? Clearly, I have many questions. I want to come out before I graduate because I want to be able to graduate as my authentic self. I've already started HRT and don't know if I want to continue hiding it anymore. Thanks for reading!

[Lorileah]

http://www.capitalnewyork.com/article/culture/2012/03/5481406/joy-ladin-first-trans-professor-yeshiva-discusses-her-transition-her?page=all

http://ai.eecs.umich.edu/people/conway/LynnsStory.html

And that was just a quick Google search. Next step for you is to talk to the Department head where ever you are

[Kate T]

I know of at least one transitioned woman who transitioned whilst in an academic position here in Aus and continues in that position. I also know of another who transitioned in a Government / teaching position who is now retired and she definitely continued in her academic / teaching role after transition and prior to retirement.

WRT name change, change it. Your old name will continue to appear on the papers you co-authored prior to changing your name (think about it, they can't really change them, there would be so many citations and you could change all the citations). You may need to list off your previous publications explicitly on any job applications until you have more recent research published under your new name. Most employers are really only going to be interested in stuff you've done within the last 5 years so after a little while it won't matter, all your citations will be in your preferred name.

And transition before you graduate if possible. Big time. You don't want to get set up in a really good research team and be set for a 3-5 yr project and then 1 or 2 yrs in have to do the whole "oh, by the way, I'm transgender" thing. It will just be annoying and distracting. Get it over and done with now.

[kathtx]

I'm 20 years past my PhD and in a different stage of my scientific career, but with respect to transition am about where you are: on hormones, trying to decide exactly when to pull the pin on the full-time grenade.

My thoughts:

(1) If your advisor is a professional, I can't imagine it would be a problem regardless of his/her personal beliefs. In my department, we have some very conservative faculty who nonetheless treat our several LGBT faculty and students very fairly.

(2) There will never be just that right time. If you transition after your PhD, you'll worry about what your postdoc advisor will think and how it will affect your faculty job search. If you wait until you have a faculty job, you'll worry about how it affects your tenure decision. After that, you'll worry about how it affects promotion to full professor, and so on. There's no perfect time. It's going to be disruptive and distracting, no matter when.

(3) Kate is spot on about publications and citations. Change your name sooner rather than later. I have 25 years worth of publications and software packages and citations under my old name, and in every grant proposal or job application or whatever I write post-transition I will need to explain why I'm listing papers by some guy named Kevin instead of Katharine.

(4) Grad school in the sciences is incredibly stressful, but none of us realize at the time is that we have much more support then than later in our careers. If you're in a major university, you probably have an LGBT student group, a dozen or so students on campus transitioning. Just in terms of peers, you probably have 50-100 other students in your department; when you're an assistant professor, you'll have only 5-10 people in the same boat as you and you may be in competition with some of them. As a grad student, many of your professors will be very supportive as you go through trying times in your personal life. You'll be much more on your own as a postdoc or junior faculty than you are now.

(5) As my thesis advisor put it (in a discussion having nothing to do with transition): "Within reason, nobody cares how long you take to get your Phd, but once you get your PhD, the clock starts ticking."
If transition is distracting, taking an extra year to finish your PhD won't hurt *nearly* as much as slowing down your publication rate once you finish.

Please feel free to message me if you like.

[Eringirl]

I know grad students that have transitioned mid degree, and others that have waited until job talks were over and they had a position in an institution. Each had their own reason for their timelines. Regardless, for both paths, they had so few publications prior that it was not a big deal. If you have the usual 50 - 75 after a chunk of time, that that could be a bit more confusing. But nothing that can't be overcome. An acquaintance of mine at a state university transitioned while supervising PhD students. She is still the top publishing faculty member at a top school for her field. Non issue.

It is good that you are asking these questions. But sometime, we overthink things and make things more complicated than they need to be. I think it is more important to find a timeline for transition that works for you. Then work the rest around it.??? But that is just me...

[DeeArel]

I know of a professor at the University of Tennessee who transitioned on the job about 20 years ago. I believe she waited until obtaining tenure before coming out. She is now retired.

[PretzelGirl]

We have had a few locally. I believe there are a couple of people at the U and one person at Weber (a good friend of mine transitioned at Weber, but has moved). It might be possible to talk with someone who has done it locally.

[Nadya]

Thanks for everyone's responses! Honestly, it feels good to hear from several others that have gone through it before. I think I did fixate on the negatives that could happen. It is most likely that the students I teach will have the hardest time with it and I worry about how that will affect my ability to teach.