Chitra Vijay

I think being in touch with myself. You know, when you know yourself, you end up doing the right things. It sits well with you, and you understand your life purpose over a period of time - that, hey, I am meant to fill this gap in someone's life or my life. And then as a mom, you can inculcate those things to your kids also. So, being inwardly aware, and you know, doing regular soul-searching, I think that's what helped me understand when I need to be where.

I think following your passion, but at the same time, being practical about the market dynamics for a particular profession, because passion alone may not take you to where you want to be, especially when you're young. So, a realistic view of passion. But, at the same time, be mindful of what is going to take you far, and be aware of where the market is going. And at a later stage in your career, you always have the scope to pursue your core passion. But, try and have a balance between being financially successful and following your passion.

I would say that if you are starting as an adjunct professor, give your best in the first few years of your life. That is, on an average, they say it takes 6 years of focused work to reach somewhere. That is one advice I would give. And also see where you can be useful in your workplace. So, if there is a gap, every workplace has a gap - maybe shortage of staff, maybe some projects, project that's pending, and your superiors would like you to take that up. So, be on the lookout of the gaps that you can fill. And also, align yourself with what the organization wants you to do and be, especially your department. So, once you figure that out, you'll be able to place yourself in a useful manner, and then people will take notice of it.

I think after COVID, a lot of classes have moved online, so many professors are taking a lot more classes, because then the online classes give them a lot of flexibility. So what has happened is the new crop of teachers are getting fewer classes, and the entry barriers have become high after COVID. So, not many opportunities are opening up. So that is the current challenge. The second challenge would be lack of knowledge about how AI is going to change the profession. You know, so every teacher should be able to use AI to teach effectively, so they have to be ready for that. So those are the upcoming challenges in the profession.

I think having your head and heart in the right place. I'm a professor, so you cannot teach students if you don't have your head and heart in your right place, because if you have - students are coming from different backgrounds, they have different challenges, and especially in community colleges, so you need to keep an eye out for their strengths and barriers. So you do things from the heart, but at the same time, you need to have - students need to respect you for your knowledge, for your authority, for your timeliness, for your professionalism. So, you need to project that as well. They cannot take you lightly. So you need to know exactly how to balance the heart and the brain.