| In the last few years, the phenomenon of dual-career academic couples has received much popular attention (Wilson, 1998, 1999a, 1999b, 2000, 2001). However, these data were strictly anecdotal and did not highlight the urgency with which couples were demanding institutions respond to their needs. With the publication of Academic Couples (Ferber and Loeb, 1997) the topic emerged onto the scholarly agenda with some credibility and as a result administrators and policy makers were forced to address the issue of partnered professionals.; This qualitative study examines the academic couple experience by comparing and contrasting six dual-career couples working at two Research I institutions. One institution was located in a rural area and the other was in an urban location, surprisingly location had relatively little bearing on whether or not couples found personal and professional satisfaction. The participants were divided into three distinct categories; Fledglings, Phoenixes, and Golden Eagles. Within each of the categories four issues emerged that were consistent across all three groups they were: tenure, children, male and female perceptions of academic life and what couples perceived as the demands of personal and professional requirements.; While the main source of data collection was a semi-structured interview process, a great breadth of information was gathered via electronic mail. The report of the study is written in narrative form and is divided along the specific categories into three distinct chapters. Data were analyzed using a combination of Voyandoff's (1987) work and family stage theory (specifically, sequential stage sequencing) and White's (1999) model that is inclusive of the synchronization of career, family, and education.; The results of the study indicates policies that have been implemented at these institutions are minimal at best. It is this researcher's recommendation that institutions and dual career academics work together at creating solutions to couple hiring dilemmas on an ad-hoc-basis. Using a blanket policy to address individual needs allows opportunity for error as well as possible abuses of the system in place by less than qualified individuals. Future research is needed in all areas of academic career couple hiring. |
