ABSTRACT Academics rarely discuss work/life balance, or our lack thereof. In this symposium article, we confront the normalization of imbalance on the tenure-track that pervades 21st Century institutions. Our autoethnographic approach includes three personal vignettes based on each author’s experience, supported by extant research, to highlight the issues faced by a growing cadre of early career scholars. First, we discuss working within the volatile higher education environment. Second, we note financial, social, and health-related costs of life in long-distance, commuter relationships. Third, we consider whether work/life balance is possible given these trends, which adversely impacts retention, particularly for womxn faculty. In closing, we contend that the four pillars of public administration offer a useful framework for confronting these issues and pose recommendations at the individual, department, and institution level to improve work/life balance in an era when the goal posts never stop changing.

中文翻译：

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对 21 世纪学院任期、二体问题和留任的思考

摘要 学术界很少讨论工作/生活平衡，或者我们缺乏平衡。在这篇研讨会文章中，我们将面对普遍存在于 21 世纪机构的任期轨道上的失衡正常化。我们的自我民族志方法包括三个基于每位作者经验的个人小插曲，并得到现有研究的支持，以突出越来越多的早期职业学者所面临的问题。首先，我们讨论在动荡的高等教育环境中工作。其次，我们注意到长途通勤关系中生活的财务、社会和健康相关成本。第三，考虑到这些趋势，我们考虑是否可能实现工作/生活平衡，这会对保留率产生不利影响，尤其是对于 womxn 教师。最后，