I recently came across the news that Illinois Institute of Technology laid off faculty and staff, including tenure-track professors, because of financial constraints. At the same time, I noticed reports of another university closing and learned that university closures have increased in recent years. These stories made me pause and think about what this means for PhDs, postdocs, and anyone pursuing an academic career.
Click Play to Watch episode 58 of The Bold PhD Podcast
Or Listen Here:
Navigating the P.I.V.O.T. book:
Named one of nine books to help shape your science career in 2026 by Nature Magazine
I don’t believe this is a reason to panic or to dismiss academia altogether. However, it is a reminder that even tenure and a PhD do not guarantee the level of job security many of us once expected. I’ve experienced layoffs myself, and those experiences taught me not to depend entirely on one institution for my career.
Instead, I encourage PhDs and academics to build what I call a personal opportunity engine—a collection of skills, projects, and professional relationships that continue creating opportunities outside a formal job structure. For some, that might mean consulting, speaking, writing, or sharing expertise online. For me, building a professional presence on LinkedIn, writing books, and hosting this podcast has opened doors I never expected.
The lesson isn’t to leave academia. It’s to build career resilience alongside it. By cultivating skills, networks, and visible work that extend beyond a single employer, we are better prepared when unexpected changes occur. My hope is that more PhDs and academics build these opportunity engines so that layoffs or university closures don’t leave them feeling powerless, but instead give them multiple pathways forward.