The STANDOUT Professor Confab Summer 2025

—May 13th through June 27th—

The STANDOUT Professor Confab is designed to enhance productivity and well-being for academic researchers, from postdocs to senior scholars. Whether you’re struggling to carve out time for solo projects, feeling isolated in your department, or seeking tools to enhance your career and life, we hope you’ll consider participating and inviting others to join you.

The STANDOUT Professor Confab

provides critical support, structure, and community through:

  • ✺

    Focused work sessions three days a week for enhanced accountability and productivity

  • ✺

    Group coaching sessions for camaraderie and encouragement

  • ✺

    Workshops for continued professional and personal development

FOCUSED WORK SESSIONS

These drop-in sessions are for focused, independent work. Sessions take place on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays. The detailed program schedule can be found below. You are invited to attend as many sessions as you wish.

We begin each focused work session by greeting one another and sharing goals. Participants then work independently on projects that require concentration, with a quick progress check at the halfway point, and time for celebrating our accomplishments at the end. 

You may arrive late or leave early as needed. You are encouraged to stay for the full two-hour session when you are available.

GROUP COACHING SESSIONS

Ample research documents the importance of social support, yet many of us feel isolated within the academic environment. These structured conversations are designed to reduce that sense of isolation by coming together to share ideas and encouragement. Each session will focus on a different topic and will include group discussion as well as reflections and guidance from a facilitator (usually Elizabeth). Everything shared during these sessions is confidential. 

Sessions take place on select Wednesdays. Timing and topics will be determined with input from participants.

WORKSHOPS

Workshops take place on select Wednesdays. These gatherings provide opportunities for continued learning and positive interaction.

The first workshop will take place on Wednesday, May 14th at 8:30am PT/11:30am ET, where we’ll be focusing on summer goal setting.

Recordings of past workshops are available here.

Pricing and registration deadlines

Registration closes on May 20th, 2025 (one week after the start of the STANDOUT Professor Confab).

The fee for the program is $199.

We are committed to making the Confab accessible to all. If cost is a barrier to your participation, please pay what you can.

Who runs the sessions?

The STANDOUT Professor Confab was developed by Elizabeth Odders-White, a former academic researcher and leader and current professional coach. Group coaching sessions and workshops will be facilitated by Elizabeth, or possibly by a guest with particular expertise. Focused work sessions will be run by Elizabeth, by other STANDOUT Professor facilitators, or occasionally by experienced Confab participants.

Contact Elizabeth with any additional questions.

Schedule

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  • Focused work sessions

    You may come and go as needed during these sessions.

    • Every Tuesday from 11am-1pm ET

    • Every Thursday from 12pm-2pm ET

    • Every Friday from 10am-12pm ET

    Group coaching sessions

    • W May 21 — Time TBD

    • W May 28 — Time TBD

    • W June 4 — Time TBD

    • W June 18 — Time TBD

    • W June 25 — Time TBD

    Workshops

    • W May 14 at 11:30am ET — Summer goal setting

    • W June 11 — Time and topic TBD

  • Focused work sessions

    You may come and go as needed during these sessions.

    • Every Tuesday from 10am-12pm CT

    • Every Thursday from 11am-1pm CT

    • Every Friday from 9am-11am CT

    Group coaching sessions

    • W May 21 — Time TBD

    • W May 28 — Time TBD

    • W June 4 — Time TBD

    • W June 18 — Time TBD

    • W June 25 — Time TBD

    Workshops

    • W May 14 at 10:30am CT — Summer goal setting

    • W June 11 — Time and topic TBD

  • Focused work sessions

    You may come and go as needed during these sessions.

    • Every Tuesday from 9am-11am MT

    • Every Thursday from 10am-12pm MT

    • Every Friday from 8am-10am MT

    Group coaching sessions

    • W May 21 — Time TBD

    • W May 28 — Time TBD

    • W June 4 — Time TBD

    • W June 18 — Time TBD

    • W June 25 — Time TBD

    Workshops

    • W May 14 at 9:30am MT — Summer goal setting

    • W June 11 — Time and topic TBD

  • Focused work sessions

    You may come and go as needed during these sessions.

    • Every Tuesday from 8am-10am PT

    • Every Thursday from 9am-11am PT

    • Every Friday from 7am-9am PT

    Group coaching sessions

    • W May 21 — Time TBD

    • W May 28 — Time TBD

    • W June 4 — Time TBD

    • W June 18 — Time TBD

    • W June 25 — Time TBD

    Workshops

    • W May 14 at 8:30am PT — Summer goal setting

    • W June 11 — Time and topic TBD

What participants have to say…

  • “I was more productive writing with the group than writing by myself. Knowing that others have (similar) challenges, the informal groups also made me feel less lonely and isolated.”

  • “It helped me schedule out time to work on writing and research. It also gave me a group of colleagues that aren't at my school that I began to get to know. These folks are going through similar issues, questions, and concerns and it was nice to get to know them through this process.”

  • “It was great to feel not alone. It also functioned as a great accountability mechanism for getting research done.”

  • “The focused work sessions were particularly useful. It served as a good self-enforcement mechanism and actually helped me stay focused over those periods. I also found the slides for the workshop to be helpful even though I couldn't join the session.”

  • “It gave me hope that cordial interaction with other academics is possible.”

  • “It was motivating to see others work, see others struggle but still persevere, and to have their encouragement. We seemed to all have good and bad days. There was always someone having a good day that could act as our inspiration! It allowed me to be a bit less [hard] on myself.”

  • “I gained a group of colleagues that aren’t at my school who are going through similar issues, questions, and concerns.”

  • “Got a lot more work done than I would have on my own.”

  • “Great to see challenges other professionals are facing in their career [and] learn how others handle them.”

  • “Learned from others on issues that they are facing that are similar to my own. Networking and building connections with other junior scholars. I feel like I could reach out to several people that I met through the program for advice, a listening ear, etc.”

  • “I LOVED having these work sessions on my calendar and the workshops help me think about my career (they got me out of the trees so I could see the woods!).”

  • “Participating in the pilot program allowed me to clock-in more time dedicated to my research. I have struggled with accountability, and the program helped with that.”

Register here