Transitions & Tenure

Last spring, I achieved the famous goal of every academic. After years of work I was awarded tenure. This is considered to be the ultimate gold star.

I have worked in industry and in higher education and the hours in the university world are very long, much more so than industry jobs. The public does not see this since so much of the work takes place in locations outside the office. One year I worked more than half of the weekends of that year on a project related to my job. I do not know of many professions that require seven day work weeks on a consistent basis. In my field, most of my teaching is at night and I teach at multiple locations. This makes for a very long work day since I still have responsibilities that must be addressed during business hours.

For this reason it has always bothered me when I hear people talk about those lazy professors since it is such an unfair judgment. Only about a third of the job duties of a professor involve teaching; you must create and publish research, participate in leadership roles in professional societies, serve on government committees and work to generate grant funds. All of these are required to stay employed. It is great job but it is like an iceberg; there is more to it that meets the eye.

Tenure is difficult to earn and many professors do not make it. If you are declined for tenure, it can mean the end of your academic career because your chances of landing another job at a different university are greatly reduced. You will lose your current job if you do not receive tenure. So the stakes are very high; if you do not make tenure you are basically out of the profession.

Most people do not understand this at all. Tenure means you can keep your current job, not that you have lifetime employment. It is also protects you from being dismissed if your research is in an unpopular or controversial area. It is intended to protect academic freedom. It is not a gravy train that allows you sail off into retirement.

Universities can and do void tenure agreements. This is most commonly done when there is a financial crisis. They can close programs and dismiss the faculty in those programs to save money even if the faculty is tenured. It is customary to give a year notice if this is to take place since academic jobs searches are usually held once a year and so it is very hard to find another job in the middle of the academic year. So you can work very hard for the five to six years that it takes you to earn tenure and still lose your job.

This week my program was selected for closure. This means that my position is will likely be eliminated. I will need to look for a new position by next May. So I am at a crossroads, should I look for another academic slot or move back into industry? It is time to consider how I want to spend the rest of my working life.

In case you are interested, the closing of my program made the papers. Here are two stories about the closure:

USM terminates 3 professors
http://www.hattiesburgamerican.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2009909010317



Where will we get vo-tech teachers?
http://www.hattiesburgamerican.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2009909020301