Jessica Spott
BIO
PhD Candidate studying MotherScholars in STEM, working at STEM CORE at Texas Tech, mom of 2.
Instagram: @jessicaspott_ttu
Jessica Spott
“Because of the incredible network of people around me, and support (from a distance) I have been able to continue to make progress and be successful.”
When I was young, I had a faculty member come to my school and talk about his job. He researched what he wanted, when he wanted, with whom he wanted. This, I knew, was my ideal job. But then someone shattered my dreams, telling me it was impossible for a woman to be both a faculty member and still have a family. So as a young and easily influenced girl - I gave up my dream of being a faculty member.
Fast forward to college, when trying to figure out what my major should be, I decided on Communication Studies, as I could learn how people worked within networks, organizations and relationships. While working on campus, I learned to deeply love college students. After graduating, I decided to pursue my master’s degree, also in Communication Studies. My Master’s thesis was focused on how freshmen students adapted to their new college environment. Upon completing my degree, I knew I wanted to work in higher education for the rest of my life.
Several years later, after having my son and working in high education administration, my husband and family encouraged me to seriously consider going back to graduate school to work on my PhD. The faculty members around me encouraged me to push forward – and to master my own future.
I decided if my husband was willing to sacrifice with me, for the good of our family, that it would give me the opportunity to pursue my dream career, and I should do it. With a 1-year-old and after 7 years of not being in school, I enrolled as a PhD student. Three years later, and I am a PhD candidate, working on my dissertation. Added to the complexity is my new son being born the first day any COVID-19 cases were diagnosed in my city.
Completing my dissertation proposal while both boys were quarantined, my husband as an essential worker went to work, and trying to physically recover from birth was a challenge. But because of the incredible network of people around me, and support (from a distance) I have been able to continue to make progress and be successful.
Working with STEM faculty for so long has inspired me to focus on women faculty members in STEM for my dissertation and my life’s work. I am studying MotherScholars: women who are fully both 100% mother and 100% scholar. Academia has told us for a long time that motherhood is incompatible with academic aspirations of tenure and promotion. Specifically, I’m hoping to expand MotherScholar studies to specifically include women in STEM fields, as up until this point, it has primarily focused on women in education, literature and the arts. But women in STEM have a unique story to tell, and I’m privileged to be a part of that story.
Any biological tenure-track mother who wants to participate in my current research can take my survey at bit.ly/motherscholar and I would love to include your views in my dissertation research.