Tenure and Promotion. Again.

 When you start a PhD program in the sciences, there are generally two options advisors suggest (or push towards): becoming a professor like them, or working in private industry like a laboratory. Some knowledgeable professors might suggest looking into the government as well, but it's basically be a professor or work in a lab of some kind.

This represents dominant thought in Academia for decades. And, on a psychological level, it makes sense: "...this is what I did, and therefore what I know, so you must do it too..."

It's also tradition that, once you get a tenure-track gig, you stay at that location because...well...you need to earn tenure. And I don't use the term "earn" lightly. It takes a LOT, and I've blogged about it previously (though the links on that blog no longer work).

Basically, earning tenure means your work-to-date is evaluated by your peers -- by people you do NOT know and who are likely giants in your field. They look over everything you've done and make a recommendation to your university if you should be awarded tenure or not. And then your university has its own committees all of that has to move through as well.

For tenure, you are usually judged on research, teaching, and service. For research, it's how much have you published in peer-reviewed journals (and the quality of your work and those journals you published in). For teaching, it's looking at all the evidence you can find about how well you teach -- from student evaluations to your colleagues observing your teaching. In terms of service, it is wide-ranging: from your department and university to your discipline and community.

And this is done, generally in your sixth year of a tenure-track post.

Often, alongside tenure comes promotion to a higher rank. So, for example, from Assistant Professor to Associate Professor to [full] Professor (or, in the British system, from Lecturer to Senior Lecturer to Professor).

Now, I never really felt pushed into professordom. My advisor was very open-minded and had former PhD students working all over the place: labs, government, education, some even have successful businesses. But, my goal centered on being a professor. Or at least staying in higher ed. If you check out my biography on my website (or CV), you'll see I have lots of experience in many different fields, but I like higher education the best. I just really like the lifestyle it affords me.

I also truly thought that once I found a tenure-track gig, I'd earn tenure and promotion and be there until retirement. Because that's what you do, right? But, I also knew "journeyman" professors, who would move to different institutions every five or six or eight years, of course. And that's a viable academic career too.

At a conference one year, I asked a journeyman colleague why they moved from place to place every several years, and their reply was, "So I don't stagnate". I understood that. How many professors had I seen in my life who, once they earned tenure/promotion, just sat back and never did anything exciting again? They would work hard for a decade and then just stop doing research or stop taking students into the field.

Since that conversation, I've worked at four different institutions. Sometimes earning tenure and promotion, other times not. Each move has served to (re)invigorate me -- (re)ignite my passion for what I do. Keeps me fresh.

All this to say, a my current institution, I've earned tenure once again. And promotion. If I were still at my first tenure-track gig, I likely would have been full professor before now. Instead, I climb my way back up the ladder at each place I go. It indeed keeps me fresh, helps me avoid being stagnant.

And I've accomplished some great things along the way, and become recognized in my field to boot.

That all said, I really, REALLY like my current post. The University here is amazing. The leadership is fantastic and super supportive. The students are great to work with, and I have incredible colleagues. So did I mind earning tenure and promotion again? Nah. It's part of the job. I never thought I'd be an academic journeyman, but it has worked so far. And maybe, with a little luck, I've finally found my place.

To be continued....???