This is a personal note... This semester, I was up for tenure at the small Pennsylvania college where I work. I was just informed a few days ago that my tenure bid was approved. This clip says a little bit about what that means.
Thursday night (two nights ago) I got a call from my dean, saying that the Promotion and Tenure committee had met and recommended me for, well, promotion (to associate professor) and tenure. This represents the culmination of many, many years of work and the end of a long probationary period with an institution (Ursinus) I've grown to really love, so it was a very big deal. I actually found myself a little short of breath when I hung up the phone.
It means being less afraid of those dreaded teaching evaluations that the students fill out every year. It means not having to weigh the potential repercussions -- at least, not quite so much -- of speaking your mind in a committee meeting. It also means, and this is sort of a sad commentary on society, that I have more job security than most Americans will ever experience. |
