190 Letter from Lisa Ruhanen
Dear Future Tourism Researchers,
I feel very honoured to have been invited to write a letter to you, the future generation of women tourism researchers, in what is my 20th year in academia. Like a typical academic, I have procrastinated over this task for months and as the deadline looms, I finally carved a day out of the office and away from the barrage of emails and meetings, to reflect on my career story and share some of the lessons that I have learnt along the way.
So, a bit about me. First and foremost, I am a Mum to Patrick (13), Emily (9) and Claire (5). When I am not in “mum mode”, I am a Professor in Tourism in the University of Queensland’s Business School, located in my hometown of Brisbane, Australia. My career story is a little unusual (I would say not that exciting) in that I have spent my whole academic career at the University of Queensland. I began as a Research Assistant in 2001 and 20 years later in 2021, still here but now a full Professor and Director of Teaching and Learning and member of the Senior Leadership Team for the UQ Business School. So, what to share from the journey so far…? If I reflect on a few key themes that have been personally important to me:
There really is no such thing as work/life balance but you can give it a go anyway. I know it sounds like a cliché, but while my career is important to me, it is not as important as the happiness and well-being of my family. My friends have always said that they thought I was so driven, so strategic, working late into the night so that I could get ahead in my career. Yes, there was many a time that I did an all-nighter to get a publication or project finished (and I still do at times). But it wasn’t because I was desperate for the next promotion. It was because I wanted to pick my kids up from school, take them to their rugby training or ballet class, be there to do their homework with them, or spend the school holidays at the beach. I feel fortunate to be in academia where I have the flexibility to do such things as many working mothers don’t have the same sort of work/life freedom. Would I recommend this to a future academic though? Well, on the plus side my career progressed, and I was promoted to Professor the year I turned 40. On the other hand, sleep deprivation is used as a torture device for a reason! I have more wrinkles under the eyes than I would like, and my personal hobbies are non-existent. However, only you can decide what is best for you, your family, and your career. Hopefully, you can find a better “balance” than I did.
Work with good people, not just people who are good academics. Academics are high achievers by nature and our benchmarking systems can lead to a competitive and toxic culture in our workplaces. In the last 20 years, I have seen the good, the bad and the ugly of academia. However, I was very fortunate and will always be extremely grateful to Professor Chris Cooper (former Head of School of Tourism at the Un