This article presents an interview with Emily Toth, who writes the monthly "Ms. Mentor" academic advice column in the "Chronicle of Higher Education" and teaches in the English department at Louisiana State University, in Baton Rouge. She is the author of "Ms. Mentor's Impeccable Advice for Women in Academia" (1997), "Inside Peyton Place: The Life of Grace Metalious" (1981), and the forthcoming "Ms. Mentor's Perfect Wisdom for the Academic Soul," in addition to numerous essays on American literature and culture.