Finally!!!!!

I received the news last Wednesday. It will now be a lot harder to get rid of me in the future.

The system vice-chancellor approved my tenure and promotion request and it will go before the board of trustees later in the month. In recorded memory, they have never reversed a recommendation from the system vice-chancellor. Fortunately I learned early enough in the day that I still had time to go around and given an obscene gesture to each of the upper level administrators.

I have several feelings in response. I feel very thankful for the acknowledgment that I’ve been doing quality work. I also feel a strong sense of responsibility as well. I am pleased that I am now in a position to begin to work to influence many others both inside and outside the academy.

And I understand how odd the isntitutiuon of tenure is. On Saturday I had an interesting conversation with a buddy of mine who has a refurbishing business that goes in after tornadoes, floods, etc. and rebuilds homes and businesses. He had no idea what tenure is. After I briefly explained it to him, he thought for a moment and said “I have jobs lined up for the next six months. That is my tenure."

For those in the academic, tenure is the pinnacle of the profession. In fact, the achievement of tenure is more sought and more significant than the only promotion left (to full professor). But in some sense this represents the end of a road that began for me as a graduate student. One of the odd things about tenure is that its achievement so often is accompanied by feelings of ennui. (See here for example). I suffer no such mixed emotions.

But it is a time for change. I recall as a graduate student doing the math (4 years for M.A., 4 years –turned into 5- for Ph.D. and 6 for tenure track) and setting a goal to get tenure by age forty. So now its time for new goals!! What a difference (exactly) one year makes.

Number One: Check