Do It Your Way: Advice from Senior Academic Women

An open-ended question requesting advice for women students and women beginning careers in higher education was distributed to senior women faculty and administrators who began their careers around 1970. Responses were obtained from 94 women, averaging about three different pieces of advice per respondent. This advice was then categorized as background information, cautions, facts of life, life choices, coping strategies, or personal wisdom. Overall, these successful women exhibited optimism about women's progress, which they themselves are positioned to facilitate.