Dr. Jessica Keene, PhD in History | Lecturer of History and Undergraduate Career Advisor for College of Humanities and Fine Arts at University of Massachusetts Amherst

In this episode, we discuss Jessica’s experience as a first-generation college student, what led her to leave her tenure track position at a small liberal arts college to pursue a role that combines her passions for teaching history and undergraduate career advising, and her take on the importance of giving yourself the opportunity to explore your interests during your doctoral studies to help discover how you want to design your life. 

Hosted by Megan Benay

To connect with Jessica and to learn more about her story, visit her page on the PHutures #100AlumniVoices Project website.

Transcript

Megan Benay

Hi. I'm co-host Megan Benay and this is 100 Alumni Voices podcast, stories that inspire, where we explore the personal and professional journeys of a diverse group of 100 doctoral alumni from Johns Hopkins University. Today we're joined by Doctor Jessica Keene, PhD in history. Doctor Keene is currently a lecturer of history and an undergraduate career advisor for the College of Humanities and Fine Arts at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. Doctor Keene, welcome.

Jessica Keene

Thank you so much for bringing me on, Megan. I'm happy to be here.

Megan Benay

Great. So, correct me if I'm wrong, but this is a new position for you, right?

Jessica Keene

Yes, I just started about a month ago. I received the offer for this position back in August. I have transitioned out of the tenure track. I was teaching as an assistant professor at a small liberal arts College in New Jersey. That is where I went immediately upon finishing my doctoral studies at Johns Hopkins. I was there for three years and then I landed this position.

Megan Benay

Well, I was just going to ask if you can tell us more about your position now, but I am super curious about. So, you were on a tenure track? 

Jessica Keene

Yes.

Megan Benay

Which seems like I don't know a ton about how, you know, careers and academia work, but seems like that's something that people often are trying to do. So, can you tell us why you decided to move off of the tenure track to take this position?

Jessica Keene

So, one of the things that I never envisioned myself doing was being on the tenure track actually. When I went to Graduate School, I was in a field that was really not that sort of in vogue anymore. I do early modern British history. And so, I in my time at Hopkins, I started doing internships for the Careers office, which I believe is now the life design lab, and I also work for the professional Development Careers Office through the School of Medicine. So, I I started trying to acquire these higher-level internships so that I could potentially put that to use after I finished my PhD because I knew that sort of the career outcomes for my particular field went very good. And so, I ended up applying to several academic positions, and I think that my experience kind of working in a careers office was surprisingly helpful in the sense that I always felt like I had this work that I enjoyed doing, that I could kind of fall back on and rely on if the academic job market didn't end up working out. And I went into every interview that I had kind of assuming that I wasn't getting the job even though I was getting, you know, on campus interviews, and so the the position that I took, I I was offered the job the same day as the interview.

Megan Benay

Oh wow.

Jessica Keene

Yeah, I was. I got the e-mail on my drive back home and I was just elated. I was shocked. And I was so excited because the school aligned well with my personal values and the kind of place that I wanted to teach at. I when I was working in the intern or in the Careers Office at Hopkins, I said I want to be either somebody who works at an R1 research institution advising PhD candidates, or I want to be in a teaching focused institution working with undergraduates, and part of the reason why there was that split was because I, you know, if I was going in a teaching direction, I came from a small liberal arts university myself in Virginia. I'm a first-generation college student, and so I really wanted to work with students who came from first generation or underrepresented backgrounds. And those were the kinds of students that I got to work with at Georgian court university. And so, I was teaching a lot. I finished my PhD on, I defended on January 16th of 2020, so I on January 16th I finished the PhD. I moved to New Jersey on January 18th. And I started my 4-course load for the spring semester on January 21st. So, in a period of five days, I went from PhD candidate to successfully defended PhD and you know full time Professor.

Megan Benay

Wow. And they they hired you like assuming you would, you would be a a successful that your that your defense would be successful. They hired you assuming your your defense would be successful. Like did you need to have a PhD to have that to get that job?

Jessica Keene

So interestingly, I was hired ABD all but dissertation and they knew that I essentially it was kind of written into the job contract that I would need to finish I believe a year from my date of hire. So, I could have stretched it out a little bit and maybe defended in the summer, you know, of 2020, but it, but I think Hopkins and my advisors and you know, everybody kind of had this desire to, you know, get me out with the PhD so that I could go on to the next stage and be ready, you know, be ready to go. But it did take a little while in the system for me to register as having a PhD. So, when I first got hired, I was still referred to as Miss Keene rather than Doctor Keene because they were like ohh, she still doesn't have her PhD yet, and I was like no, I have it. I just got it five days ago.

Megan Benay

It's fresh.

Jessica Keene

It was very fresh and, you know, going into the classroom in 2020 and within a period of five days, you know, when I was teaching at Hopkins, I was always referred to as Jessica, because I didn't feel comfortable having students call me Professor Keene. And now I was in a a situation where I was being called Doctor Keane and I actually was a doctor. So it was, I don't know, it was such a whirlwind and and then, you know, with 2020 came pandemic, remote teaching, and all of that. So, it was just a chaotic semester to finish and to start a new job as an assistant professor and. But again, extremely, extremely rewarding.

Megan Benay

So OK, so I'm trying to tease this apart a bit. So, you because it sounds like from the start you were going into your studies knowing that that the field’s very niche field that you were going into and that you may need to sort of diversify your, I guess, diversify your options even while studying for your PhD. So, you knew you wanted to either teach or like help develop other students other doctoral students in some way. Is that right?

Jessica Keene

Yeah, yeah, exactly. 

Megan Benay

So why the switch then from if you were able to get. I I don't know, I mean obviously I I am being taught by professors right now and I feel like to some degree I'm I'm certainly being developed by them. Some professors I owe so much to. I feel like they are getting me not just over the the threshold of of my dissertation, but they're like helping me become a better human and all of those things.

Jessica Keene

Oh, absolutely.

Megan Benay

And so, were you feeling like you weren't getting enough of that as a as a professor? And so, you wanted to move out of that tenure track and into the, you know, the the career the career advisor work? Or like, what spurred that shift?

Jessica Keene

So, it it had always kind of, I mean, there were many reasons for this, both personal and professional. But I have to agree with you that I feel like the role of the professor is so impactful, especially in the ways in which you develop relationships with students. I have undergraduate and graduate professors, who I now consider to be my dearest friends. They are in invited to my wedding, which is in May.

Megan Benay

Oh, congratulations! 

Jessica Keene

Thank you. That kind of plays a role in my decision to kind of switch directions in my career a bit. So, there are a number of reasons why I chose to leave my position as an assistant professor. I again I I found the works with the students to be so incredibly rewarding. I had students who were from first Gen backgrounds. I connected with one student in particular, because her dad is a truck driver and my dad was a truck driver and I was just so excited to be in a place where I could see, you know, students who came from working class backgrounds having the opportunity to do amazing things. She ended up going on to win a statewide award for a paper that she wrote in collaboration with me. And and like that's really, I I don't know it gives that warm fuzzy feeling of like this is why we do this work as educators. We want to see our students expand themselves and take advantage of opportunities that they didn't think were possible. And so, part of my difficult decision of leaving was not that I I wanted to leave those students, but it was both kind of personal and professional. So professionally speaking, the teaching load at that institution was quite high. Four classes this semester. Sometimes four preps in one semester. I you know I was in a small department of two people and so I was teaching everything from, you know, world history from pre-history all the way up to the present. I was teaching Renaissance and reformation and colonial Latin America and colonial North America. I was basically teaching everything and so I didn't feel like I could necessarily give each subject the attention that I felt like it deserved. And so, but the idea was that it was better that somebody who might not have a lot of experience in these courses is teaching them because at least there's that exposure to African history. At least there's that exposure to Colonial Latin American history rather than not choosing to teach it at all. And so that I could see, but I was always like a few steps ahead of my students and you know, preparing lectures and things of that sort.

Megan Benay

I was just going to say I feel like that's this is the this is the struggle back to. I mean I remember when I was learning how to teach a few just a couple of years ago, over 10, maybe closer to 15 years ago, and being told, here's the curriculum. You need to teach it all. And then doing the math and thinking but there are there are only so many hours in the day, and there's only so much time in every period. How how do you teach it all? And when the Common Core came out and even in my in my most recent position, it's still something that sounds like not just K12 educators struggle with but that professors struggle with as well, which is do you go breadth or do you go depth which what do you do? You go deep on something or do you just cover a little bit of everything?

Jessica Keene

Yeah, and and what was your primary subject that you were teaching?

Megan Benay

I I was an elementary school teacher when I was in the classroom.

Jessica Keene

So that's a lot of breadth.

Megan Benay

It was a lot of breadth. It was a lot of it was a lot, but I imagine there's there's high stakes outcomes at at in higher education as well. Maybe you don't have state tests like K12 has to has to deal with but, but you're also, you know, you're really trying to prepare your students for potentially their career in this subject matter. So that can certainly sound stressful. In your role now, do you get to do more? I mean, part of your title is around the career advising. So, in addition to teaching courses are you also advising students undergraduate graduate students?

Jessica Keene

So again, my my what I loved so much about the role and what really attracted me to this position is I always had that love of career advising and career education that I got during my time at Hopkins. And then I also really wanted to continue to teach history. And what this position allowed me to do was it allows me to continue to teach history. And primarily classes that are in my sort of thematic area of focus, which is wonderful, and something that I didn't get to do enough of in my previous position. And then I'm also doing this career advising piece, so I'm teaching at the moment two different career education courses where I'm sort of helping students to develop professionalization skills, job search strategies, interviewing and networking, things of of that sort. And so, it you know, when I looked at the description of the position, I thought was this written for me? It just kind of fit both of the things that I I really came to love doing when I was a graduate student at Hopkins. And so, I and I am working primarily with undergraduates, but I have had graduate students come out already and start seeking my advice so I feel like there's really sort of a need and a desire at both the undergraduate and the graduate level for this kind of advice. And I know that I benefited from having external advice from people at Hopkins, including most importantly, Justin Lortz, who has been really impactful in my journey to kind of marry my love of teaching history and my love of career education.

Megan Benay

And Justin is in which office?

Jessica Keene

He's in the life design lab.

Megan Benay

So, can you tell us a little more about this life design lab you speak of? This is at John Hopkins, right?

Jessica Keene

Yeah. So, it was just becoming the life design lab as I was leaving. So, I can't tell you specifically about that. When I worked at the the office, it was the Hopkins Homewood Careers Center. I believe that might have been the title, and it has since transitioned to being the Life Design Lab. And the idea, and this is something that is important for my students as well at UMass is that you are sort of setting people up to find careers that are not just, you know, you go to work every day and you do a job and you go home. But it fulfills something deeper as sort of like what is what is your life calling if you will, but also trying to sort of think about the ways in which you know people might be too focused on work, ways that you can establish better work-life balances, things of that sort. So, it's about designing your life rather than just thinking about what what job do I need to do in order to you know, pay the bills.

Megan Benay

Ah, this is so cool, I. I didn't even know that the life design lab existed, so here's a here. That's a super helpful tidbit coming out of this for for current students and and potentially alumni. How wonderful to have a resource like that to help really design design your life. I will absolutely be hitting them up with the main question of what should I do with my life and maybe I'll say Doctor Keene said I should talk to Justin and he'll tell me what to do with my life.

Jessica Keene

Well, and we're we're not and that's part of the work too, is we don't help, we don't tell you what to do, but we try to help you to discover the and explore your options to figure out what best suits you and your interest and your skills and your values, you know. That's it, really. And it's something that I never had when I was an undergraduate and you know, I'm really happy that I ended up going to Graduate School and seeking a PhD. Being a first Gen student from an area where I never anticipated, maybe even going to college it, it was such a privilege to be able to, you know, have my my life kind of send me in the direction of Graduate School. But I don't remember a careers office when I was an undergraduate, and I just kind of flew by the seat of my pants. I was like, well, I like history, so maybe I'll go get a PhD and you know, I ended up getting a masters. And I feel like that happens a lot for students. They don't know what options are out there. What can I do with a history major? What can I do with an English or political science major? So, it's the process of exploration that I find to be really exciting.

Megan Benay

It does. And you know, it's interesting, Doctor Keene, because I'll I'll share with our listeners that you asked me just before we started the interview. You asked me well what are you planning to do with your degree? And I said, I have no idea. You know, I started when my life was very, very different and the world I mean I started in 2020. Anyway, the world was a very different place and for many of the folks who are listening, it's not necessarily a decision about whether or not to pursue a a doctorate. We're in the throes of it. But it's well, we're too far in at this point, wo now what are we're gonna do? Even though I would say, and I know I am not alone in this, just about every day I question what I'm doing with my life and what I'm going to do with this degree that I have put my blood, sweat, and tears into. Do you have any advice for those of us who are who maybe don't know that we want to be we maybe we maybe we don't want to be a professor. We know we don't want to be an academia, but now and maybe this is something we thought we wanted, but now that we've been in it for a couple of years, we're like, you know what not for me, but now I'm going to have this degree. And aside from, like, a really fancy title and a sizable amount of student loans, what should I do with this?

Jessica Keene

I think it's, you know, even in the process of of podcasting and and doing work that's external to your direct career path, I think give yourself the opportunity to explore. One of my graduate mentors said you'll never have more time than you have in Graduate School to explore things that are of interest to you. And I know that feels like a lie when you feel so busy and you have the pressure of a dissertation, like sitting on your shoulders all the time, but you can take advantage of of the opportunities that are there. You know, if you find that you have a a love of podcasting, there are employers hiring people to work on podcasts. You know, I I have a a student who I was connecting with who is coming out of of his Bachelors and he already has a job offer working with a podcasting company because of an internship he did many moons ago. If I had and and and maybe that was what helped me to feel more secure going on these academic job on campus interviews is that I I already knew I had something that I really enjoyed doing that was academia adjacent. I knew that I kind of wanted to remain in higher Ed in some way. Working with students was always kind of the thing that I found to be most rewarding about teaching. You know, I I like the research component of it. We I haven't even mentioned research, right. That's always something that's such a critical part of kind of the tenure track trajectory. It's a much smaller component at a smaller liberal arts college than you know, at a big research institution. But there is that expectation for research. But it was the opportunity to work with and to connect with people and to help see them get to where they want to go, whether that's, you know, really developing a paper so that they can win first place in a state competition or landing the internship that helps get them on the road to the, you know, the career they want to have. It's just. I'm really inspired by that kind of work.

Megan Benay

That's that's super helpful. And you said that that you were doing work. You said the the not. You weren't working in the Careers Office, but you were remind me again what you said you were doing in addition to your research.

Jessica Keene

So, I I took up internships in the careers office. Yes, I don't know if they were labeled as such. If they were, if they were internships, or if it was mostly me just being like, hey I really am interested in the work that you all do. I want to learn more. Are there ways that I could get involved? And they gave me a paid position. I was reviewing resumes. I was helping to plan events. I was delivering different workshops, how to prepare a resume, interviewing skills, things of that sort, and that led to another paid position with the professional development and Careers office at the School of Medicine, where I worked with them over the summer essentially building up their careers materials for PhDs and Graduate School graduate students coming out of the School of Medicine, and so at first, I was really intimidated because I was like, what do I know about medicine? But it it was so fascinating thinking about how my skills as a history PhD could actually be used to help students outside of kind of the the Homewood School of Arts and Sciences. So, I just sent a document that I put together back in 2018 I believe I did that internship. I sent it to a current student of mine who is seeking help trying to figure out how to format a a resume. So, it's all things connect.

Megan Benay

What's so you're also you're not the first person I've interviewed who has said, you know, there's sort of there is, I don't know whether to call it a non-traditional sort of segue transition into learning and development as a field. And a lot of us, I went to a I mean, there were so many people on this on this panel that was hosted by the PHutures Office about learning and development as a field, and a lot of us are like we know how to teach. You know, we're all getting our doctorate. We all know how to teach. A lot of us have instructional design, you know, background and all of those things. But we don't know about healthcare or the beauty industry or you know, like any of these other industries. We just know how to teach, and and it and it's still a little confusing to me how you sort of break into that field when you don't have content knowledge about what you’re teaching, but your advice just now to, you know, to seek either internships or or other opportunities that are within Johns Hopkins in terms of maybe these professional development type materials, that sounds like a perfect way to get experience and have something on your resume and get your feet wet. And see if learning and development is something that you can translate your skills into.

Jessica Keene

And I mean that wasn't the only opportunity that I had. There were graduate students who were working for, you know, the JHU press. I got invited to work in I believe one of the medical libraries, but I it was either the medical library work or doing the work with the Career Services Office and I picked the Career Services Office because that felt more aligned with my own interests and and values.

Megan Benay

That's incredible. What a great what a great idea. I have so many ideas for myself coming out of this about about what I wanna what I wanna do. Your story is incredibly impressive. And I know we've we've gone a bit past time. So, to wrap us up, I would love to hear from you what inspires you right now?

Jessica Keene

So, I think kind of the point that we were just talking about relates into what inspires me most, and I have benefited so significantly through the mentorship and advice of advisors and professors and people who took an interest and who cared in me or who cared about me. And who wanted to see me succeed and do well even at points when I didn't feel like I was fully capable of doing it. And so, it's that kind of work being, you know, again, we didn't have a careers office when I was an undergraduate or maybe we did and I didn't know about it, you know. But I I kind of want to serve as that mentor, that advisor, that confidant that can help students to achieve their academic and their professional aspirations, because those people in my life have meant so much to me, and that if I could even sort of offer that in a small part to the students that I work with, I feel like I'm making a difference. So, it's the students and that really inspire me and my desire to want to help them that keeps me getting up each morning doing what I want to do.

Megan Benay

That's amazing. Well, thank you so much, Doctor Keene, it's been amazing to speak with you. I have personally so many, so many next steps I want to take after after listening to you and wish you all the best in your new role.

Jessica Keene

Thanks Megan.