Wednesday, June 22, 2011

Tenure Bid

OK, enough mommy angst. Let's talk business.

I'm up for tenure this year. We have a system of long-term contracts that is essentially tenure-with-review, just not called that. The faculty senate is lobbying for a change to tenure-with-review, but for now I will just call it tenure, even though technically it is not.

I received a notice that there will be a workshop on preparing tenure dossiers soon. They are due in October. I plan to keep you informed on the process. In this post I will just mention a non-typical aspect of my tenure bid.

Where I work, not only do we have to prepare the typical materials- teaching evaluation heavy- but we also have to write a paper on how we bring our faith into the classroom. This is a religious institution and the school wants to make sure that we are giving students what they are coming here for (our "distinctives").

I was completely freaked out by the thought of writing this paper because of the scholarly theological, pedagogical, and psychological readings I would have to do to make a scholarly treatise. Moreover, among faculty this paper is generally reviled for its hoop-jumping reputation. However I had lunch with an accidental mentor, who convinced me that his 5 page (the minimum) life story was perfectly passable in his tenure bid. He basically said, "Don't spend too much time on it." So even though I am not looking forward to this paper, I will dial it down on the anxiety list.

So that's where I'm at- in the thinkin'/ psychological preparation stage. I'm waiting for the workshop before I begin in earnest.

5 comments:

  1. I also work at a religious institution, and have a similar requirement when you go up for tenure (which will happen a year after you). However, since it's a pretty liberal institution, talking about "whole dimension of the human being", or some similar phrase, is enough. Is that the case in your institution, or are they more strict?

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  2. I'm starting right here:
    http://www.calvin.edu/kuyers/
    I really, really like these ideas and wish I could go to a workshop, but alas, it would be heroic with our current lifestyle.

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  3. They look very interesting, but you are right, they are a scholarly treatise. If you don't mind me asking, are you a religious person? I ask because I am not (in fact, I'm a secular Jew), so that is why I need to approach that essay from a different angle. On the other hand, I have a strong formation in the classical humanistic tradition. As an example, in high school in my native country, I had to take 5 years of Math, 5 years of French, 4 years of Latin, 5 years of History, 5 of Literature, 4 years of Physics, 4 of Chemistry and 3 of Biology. That goes along very well in my university (and I probably wouldn't have applied for a job otherwise). One thing I've realized since I started blogging is that it helps me reflect a lot on my teaching. You might want to go back to some of your posts to see if there is anything that can help you articulate that essay.

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  4. Actually my impression is that it will be more along the lines of "how do I integrate my faith into the classroom?".

    Religious? Yes, I would say so. I do buy into many of the ideas of the church behind the institution.

    Thanks so much for your suggestion!

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  5. Not sure if this helps, but I have almost the opposite problem. The teaching statment that I prepared to go on the market (which I have done now three different times) and for my tenure package begins with about one page of my personal philosophy. I have had folks comment that it my teaching statement is on the long side and that I should "get rid of the extra stuff" in my teaching statement. I am a spiritual person (Hindu), and I really believe that being a professor in engineering is my calling. This has influenced my approach to teaching quite a bit. I write a lot about helping students to achieve their innate potential and realize that a career in engineering is a possibility for them. I also am a female professor, and I think this puts me in a somewhat unique position (given the low number of female faculty in my field) to help mentor female students in engineering. These ideas both translate into my teaching in that I try very hard to take a personal interest in each student's success.

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