Stressed for Tenure?
Dear Faculty Relations: I'm a junior faculty member, and let's just say that my winter break wasn't terribly productive. Now I'm sitting in my office and wondering how on earth I'm going to organize the semester ahead. Any sage words for a distressed colleague? —Praying for Tenure
Dear Praying for Tenure: I, for one, am happy you took a break! Let's be honest, it's one thing to get through graduate school and another to finish the run to tenure. After all, your dissertation committee didn’t teach you how to shuttle between a meeting of the curriculum committee and that pesky article that needed to go out yesterday.
But I'm happy to say that there are ways of finishing that run and doing it well (drumroll, please!):
- Every semester needs a plan. If you’re starting the semester with the hope to finish that book, garner five-star FCQs, and win your unit’s award for MCP (Most Collegial Professor), well, you’re going to float along like a concrete cloud. Before you finish reading this column, use the university’s free access to the NCFDD to bookmark this video. Better yet, sign up for tomorrow’s webinar or their weekly Monday Motivator email.
- Pay yourself first. By all means, teach well and be generous. But before you do that, give time to your research. Commit to writing every day, even if it’s a half hour. Heck, go a step further and join one of our writing circles for some peer support to get that writing done.
- Live your life outside the university. As the poet Charles Lamb wrote, “The good things of life are not to be had singly, but come to us with a mixture.” You’ll be a better teacher, a more creative researcher, and an all-around happier human being if you keep one foot in the “real” world. Put something into your calendar beyond the march to tenure—a coffee date, a sewing class, that trip to Great Sand Dunes.
In short, Praying for Tenure, catch your breath and make for yourself a wide-hearted plan for the semester ahead. May the joys of life with tenure soon be upon you.
Written by Burke Hilsabeck, Assistant Director of Faculty Relations, Office of Faculty Affairs.