Faculty Support
You became a scholar because the work mattered. It should still feel that way.
I help faculty reclaim the narrative of their scholarly lives—so their work reflects what they actually came to academia to contribute, not someone else’s definition of what matters.
The Problem
(Who This is For)
If any of this sounds familiar, you’re in the right place:
You’re working constantly, but your work no longer feels like yours. Semesters drain you. Summers don’t restore you. Your writing is stuck—not because you don’t care, but because you're running on fumes and feel like you have nothing left to give.
You’ve been following the scripts you were given— publish here, serve there, say yes to this—because you believed they would lead to the career you wanted. But instead of fulfillment, you’re finding that the pursuit has cost you something. You’ve contorted yourself in ways that made what was once a dream feel like a hollow victory.
Or maybe you’re past all that. You’re done playing small. Done waiting your turn. You’re ready to build a career rooted in your own values, your own voice, and the contribution you actually want to make.
Wherever you are in that progression, this work meets you there. Not with productivity tips or resilience workshops, but with the clarity, systems, and thought partnership that help you move from overwork to intentional work.
What Makes This Different
I’m Dr. Brielle Harbin—a political scientist, former tenured associate professor, and the Founder of Your Cooperative Colleague.
I didn’t build this work from a textbook. I built it from the field—I spent years tracking every hour of my research process, learning that a solo-authored article takes approximately 220 hours from idea to page proofs, discovering that my summers never delivered what I planned for, and realizing that the scripts I’d been given about productivity and success were designed for someone whose life looked nothing like mine.
So I created my own systems. I tracked my time.
I mapped my capacity across semesters. I learned when I was most productive, when I needed to rest, and how to plan based on reality rather than aspiration. And then I built a career that reflected what I actually came to academia to contribute.
Now I help other faculty do the same.
I’ve partnered with faculty and leaders at Princeton, Harvard, James Madison University, and the University of Maryland, and others. I’m the recipient of the American Political Science Association’s Distinguished Teaching Award. I also write Notes from a Work Friend, a Substack read by nearly 600 educators every week.
Photo courtesy of Fitchburg State University
How I Work With Faculty
I don’t offer one-size-fits-all programs. I offer a journey and you enter wherever you are.
Start With Insight
Every Wednesday, I publish an essay for faculty navigating the real questions of academic life. Free to subscribe. Start with the "Start Here" post to find your footing.
Experience It Live
Steady in the Storm is a free, monthly 90-minute working session where you experience what it's like to slow down, take stock, and make a real decision about what deserves your energy. Not a webinar. Not a lecture. You'll leave with something you can use immediately.
Reset The Narrative
The Scholarly Systems Reset is a 3-session, 1:1 experience where we reset how you see your scholarly life. You'll define what "enough" means on your terms, build narrative clarity about what your work is actually trying to say, and create a research plan grounded in your real capacity—not the fantasy version.
Build The Infrastructure
Grounded Systems is a 3-session implementation intensive where we co-build the operational systems of your scholarly life: your research narrative document, your time tracking and weekly rhythm, and your annual capacity plan. You leave with tools you'll use for the rest of your career.
Stay
In Motion
Scholarly Momentum is a 3-month retainer—one 60-minute session per month. Bring whatever is live: a project decision, a boundary challenge, a tenure question. This is for faculty who've done the reset and don't want to lose the thread.
Stay Connected
A 90-minute Quarterly Strategy Session to recalibrate, refocus, and make sure your trajectory still reflects your values. For graduates of any program who want a strategic checkpoint each quarter.
What Faculty Are Saying
“After our conversation about being intentional about making my work legible to my department and university, I decided to list out every single podcast episode I published from my class podcast. Having each episode listed out like that made such a difference and really helped me visualize just how much I’ve done in this area. I hadn’t received this advice anywhere else. I also wrote out every single step, no matter how small. This will help when I start so that I don’t have to spend time figuring out how to start.”
— Briana., Assistant Professor, R1 University
"You've given me more feedback than all four of my advisors combined. I'll continue drawing on these comments as I develop conference papers and eventually my job talk."
— Scholar preparing for the job market from R1 University
"I swear, [Your Arrive Aligned Method] was like gold in my inbox—I so appreciate [you] for reminding me where my writing really matters for me."
— Susana, Assistant Professor, R2 University
Not Sure Where to Start? That's What the Call is For.
A Research Clarity Call is a free, 25–minute conversation where we talk about where you are, what’s feeling stuck, and whether working together makes sense.
There’s no pitch, no pressure, and no obligation.
Some people leave the call with a clear next step. Others leave with a new way of thinking about a problem they’ve been carrying. Either way, it’s time well spent.
You don’t need to arrive with a polished ask.
You don’t need to have read everything I’ve written.
You just need to be a faculty member who’s wondering whether there’s a more intentional way to do this work. That's enough.
Not Ready For a Call? Start Here Instead.
NOTES FROM A WORK FRIEND
My weekly Substack for faculty and academic leaders navigating the real questions of academic life: how we teach, how we write, how we lead, and how we sustain ourselves inside institutions that weren’t always designed with our well-being in mind.
No cost to subscribe. Published every Wednesday morning.
