When my research advisor decided to leave the university I was attended, it was one of the most challenging things I experienced in grad school. Because my experience was borderline traumatic, I’m writing this to share with other students how they can handle any situation regarding an advisors departure. I would never want another graduate student to go through what I went through.

To provide context, I was a 3rd year PhD student and my advisor chose to leave the R1 university for “better opportunity” at another R1 university. He was not in that late stage of his career, nor was he an early career professor, but he was tenured and had a high reputation in his field.

For me, it was fully expected of me to pack up my life and move to the new university with him. And when I chose not to for personal reasons, my decision was face with criticism from both him and my department. Imagine that? Your department encouraging you to leave their school to go to another!

I ended up in a new research group, with a sympathetic advisor who didn’t expect me to start my PhD over. But as they say, hindsight is 20/20. And there are many things I wish I had done differently in this situation, especially since I came to realize that this whole situation had many unethical and straight up wrong parts to it.

So, if your advisor announces they are leaving the university there are a number of ways it can go and I’m going to outline all of them for you, including the way it went for me. For me, I searched all over the web and it was hard to find advice for my specific situation. A lot of message boards and threads were applicable to people in other countries or people who were not in STEM. It made it hard to know what to do when there was little advice out there. That being said, lets talk about what you should do if your advisor is leaving the university.

Consider how far into your program you are

If you’re early in your program, the transition might be very easy with either going or staying behind. Staying behind, you wouldn’t be losing out on much research with your old advisor. While if you go, the transition to a new school could be easier.

If your at a point where you’re only writing your dissertation, you could easily stay behind and work virtually with your old advisor, the situation is much more simple and only and agreement would need to be made between your advisor, their new school, and your school.

But if you’re in the middle, like how I was, it is a more challenging decision.

Think about what you really want out of your program

Where do you want to graduate from? Will your degree and credits transfer to a new school? What is this new university like? How will this impact me financially? How will this impact me personally?

After considering these things, consider your options.

Your Options if Your Research Advisor Leaves the University

You can go with them

This is the one that most people in academia would think is the “best option.” Or at least thats how it was for me as a third year engineering student. Academia culture sets up this expectation that grad students should be willing and happy to do whatever their advisors expect. This idea comes from the thoughts that 1. your advisor invested in you and is willing to continue investing in you (so don’t be a wasted investment to them $$) 2. It is easier to stay with your current advisor 3. you should be willing to make any sacrifice to advance your career. 4. going to a new school with a higher rank or more opportunity will look better on paper 5. be grateful your advisor wants to take you

But most people don’t consider the downsides or burden this places on grad students (especially women and POC). Tenured or high profile professors and universities perpetuate the expectations listed above and can fail to understand how burdensome moving to a new school can be. Moving costs which will likely not be covered for students. Family and partners. Social and cultural changes. Change in cost of living. Changes in tuition rates.

If you’re willing to go and you have no objections to moving, by all means go for it! I’m not here to discourage you, but I want to bring to light the realities of moving.

Stay behind

If you choose to stay behind, find an advocate. You decision to stay could be met with resistance. And if you’re staying and there isn’t resistance, you will still need to find a new research group or negotiate a way to continue working on your research with your old advisor. This is where things can get grey and messy.

Either way find an advocate. Your two options for staying behind are:

1. Stay behind and find a new advisor: this choice likely means “starting over.” Depending on how much time you have left in your degree this option can be very hard. You will not be able to use your research from your old advisor unless an agreement is made, see below.
2. Continue working on your research with your old advisor under the instruction of a new group. In this case, your old advisor could serve as an external co-chair to your dissertation, which allows you to use your research from their group in addition to any research done in your “new group.” This option would not delay your degree but would require cooperation by both universities and advisors. And would likely require that the research is complimentary.

In either case, if you’ve done work under your advisor who is choosing to leave, you deserve credit for the work you did. Whether it’s in your dissertation or not, you deserve credit. This is where my story will begin.

When my advisor decided to leave and I didn’t want to go, I was met with hostility from both him and my department. He was not willing to let me use my research from his group in my dissertation unless I went to the new school and worked for him. No exception. This is where I was hoping my university would step in and advocate for me, but I was wrong. They encouraged me to go because of his reputation and that fact that this school was “higher ranked”. When I tried to come up with a solution, such as finding a new group that was willing to collaborate and allow him to be co-chair, which would allow me to keep and use my old research in my dissertation, he was appalled and unwilling. I had little support or help until I found a new advisor that was sympathetic was willing to let me work in his group without having to invest another 5-6 years.

In retrospect, I should have climbed the chain of command until I got what I wanted, because it was unfair to me to be forced in to something that I didn’t want to do. And quite honestly, it was wrong of both my department and advisor to treat me the way they did. I shouldn’t have been harassed and talked down to in the way that I was. You might be thinking “they might have been really trying to help you and advance your career.” I wish that were the case, the behavior of this former advisor was unprofessional and unethical. He had a long history of abusing grad students. And this was my way out. If anything, this situation showed how toxic he really was. After that way he treated me, I feared that deciding to go would subject me to more abuse. I was only willing to have him as co-advisor simply so I could keep my research in my name. To this day, my work is still sitting as a manuscript draft with not publications in sight. And no help.

Which brings me to this point. I am a woman in engineering. I am unmarried and without children. Had I been a man or a man with a family, my decision could have been viewed differently. My personal reasons weren’t “good enough” in their eyes. My decision to stay was no ones business and I should not have been forced to try and explain myself. In any other workplace outside of academia, a simple no would have sufficed. Academia culture breeds this expectation that grad students should do anything for their advisors, even if it’s a burden or hardship. And this expectation is guised under the idea that these sacrifices are for the sake of “education, passion, and career advancement.” I feel that women and POC in STEM are especially subject to these kinds of expectations. We are exposed to the “you should be grateful.” And many women and POC are not offered support in difficult situations, or we are left in the dark about what our options are. And as I saw in my case, when I tried to stand up for myself, I was viewed as ungrateful and unprofessional. I wish I had stood my ground harder, but it was hard and scary. I hope no graduate student ever has to go through what I went through.

If you’re in a situation where you don’t know what to do, find help, whether it be another professor, a student union or organization, or another mentor.