Losing a tenure-track position
September 27, 2015 9:42 AM Subscribe
I am losing my tenure-track job after pre-tenure review. What do I do now?
I am a professor in the humanities who is losing a job after pre-tenure review. Let's stipulate that this decision was largely political but is not subject to appeal.
What is your advice about going on the job market and pursuing another tenure-track job? How realistic is this? Also, what is your advice about pursuing other kinds of work inside or outside of higher education?
I am interested in practical job-search or training advice and also in suggestions about the kinds of careers I might consider as rewarding alternatives.
Sorry to be a bit vague. Thanks for any comments or private messages.
I am a professor in the humanities who is losing a job after pre-tenure review. Let's stipulate that this decision was largely political but is not subject to appeal.
What is your advice about going on the job market and pursuing another tenure-track job? How realistic is this? Also, what is your advice about pursuing other kinds of work inside or outside of higher education?
I am interested in practical job-search or training advice and also in suggestions about the kinds of careers I might consider as rewarding alternatives.
Sorry to be a bit vague. Thanks for any comments or private messages.
I found this link and it says to contact AAUP. http://smallpondscience.com/2014/11/03/what-to-do-if-youre-facing-tenure-denial/
posted by k8t at 9:53 AM on September 27, 2015 [2 favorites]
posted by k8t at 9:53 AM on September 27, 2015 [2 favorites]
Best answer: I know several people who got an adverse decision either at a 4th year review or at tenure, who went on to get as good or better jobs elsewhere, and successfully got tenure at the new job.
Don't despair, especially if the decision involved lots of politics (as opposed to you had a poor research record or problematic evaluations), just put yourself on the market (and you don't need to mention why you're on the market). MeMail me if you want more details/to chat.
posted by leahwrenn at 10:13 AM on September 27, 2015 [5 favorites]
Don't despair, especially if the decision involved lots of politics (as opposed to you had a poor research record or problematic evaluations), just put yourself on the market (and you don't need to mention why you're on the market). MeMail me if you want more details/to chat.
posted by leahwrenn at 10:13 AM on September 27, 2015 [5 favorites]
Sorry this has happened, OP. IT's definitely common for people to go on the market again, though. In your letters you want to spin this as a fit issue and that you're looking for New School to offer more teaching/research/interdisciplinary (ie, whatever didn't work out for you at Ex School) opportunities.
It's important to get your rec letters in order. Is there anyone in your department who would be supportive and tactful? If not, call on your advisors, people you've networked with, etc.
I've found the Versatile PhD site to be very helpful if you're thinking of other options. Check to see if you have a free year's access through your grad institution; my school's alumni group covered my access.
posted by TwoStride at 10:16 AM on September 27, 2015
It's important to get your rec letters in order. Is there anyone in your department who would be supportive and tactful? If not, call on your advisors, people you've networked with, etc.
I've found the Versatile PhD site to be very helpful if you're thinking of other options. Check to see if you have a free year's access through your grad institution; my school's alumni group covered my access.
posted by TwoStride at 10:16 AM on September 27, 2015
Best answer: I got dinged when I was going up at my old job. It's brutal but not the endof the world.
The single most important thing I did was talk to more senior people in my subfield who knew and respected my work and got a couple of them to write letters for me.
The weirdest thing about the whole thing was that I'd been looking to get out of Texas for a few years, just because Texas, and had gotten no interest. I get dinged, and suddenly I get four flyouts and about that many phone interviews or informal "interviews" at conferences.
posted by ROU_Xenophobe at 11:12 AM on September 27, 2015 [2 favorites]
The single most important thing I did was talk to more senior people in my subfield who knew and respected my work and got a couple of them to write letters for me.
The weirdest thing about the whole thing was that I'd been looking to get out of Texas for a few years, just because Texas, and had gotten no interest. I get dinged, and suddenly I get four flyouts and about that many phone interviews or informal "interviews" at conferences.
posted by ROU_Xenophobe at 11:12 AM on September 27, 2015 [2 favorites]
leahwrenn is right--since this is due to pre-tenure review rather than tenure review, you could be just going out on the market to get something better, not as a result of your review. No reason to play it up.
posted by umbú at 11:52 AM on September 27, 2015 [3 favorites]
posted by umbú at 11:52 AM on September 27, 2015 [3 favorites]
Best answer: What is your advice about going on the job market and pursuing another tenure-track job? How realistic is this?
This is really common and people normally go on to get other jobs in the field, from what I have seen. Having your contract not be renewed is not in any way a professional kiss of death (assuming that you are not associated with a huge scandal that is about to hit the front page -- "Junior professor steals entire endowment and runs off with undergrad," say). They are being professional to tell you now, in time to get your applications out for the current hiring season. It happens all the time and can often be explained with a vague "bad fit" rather than needing to go into details.
Most people I have seen go on directly to another tenure track position, but I have seen a couple people take a one-year visiting position as an intermediate step on the way to finding a tenure track position. It's also a time when people apply for Fulbrights and similar one-year fellowships, of course, which can be a great way to more or less reset things.
Depending on how many years you have been an assistant professor and how much you have published so far, you may or may not want to negotiate coming up for tenure early at the next place -- that is going to be a really individual situation, based on their expectations, your publication record, and other factors, rather than something with a universal answer.
I have also seen a couple of people use non-renewals as their moment to leave academia and go into non-university teaching and publishing, respectively. In both cases they were unhappy in academia and had wanted to leave, but didn't do so until the contract non-renewals. There are resources on the Chronicle for people wanting to make that transition, and there have been previous questions about it here, also.
posted by Dip Flash at 12:09 PM on September 27, 2015 [3 favorites]
This is really common and people normally go on to get other jobs in the field, from what I have seen. Having your contract not be renewed is not in any way a professional kiss of death (assuming that you are not associated with a huge scandal that is about to hit the front page -- "Junior professor steals entire endowment and runs off with undergrad," say). They are being professional to tell you now, in time to get your applications out for the current hiring season. It happens all the time and can often be explained with a vague "bad fit" rather than needing to go into details.
Most people I have seen go on directly to another tenure track position, but I have seen a couple people take a one-year visiting position as an intermediate step on the way to finding a tenure track position. It's also a time when people apply for Fulbrights and similar one-year fellowships, of course, which can be a great way to more or less reset things.
Depending on how many years you have been an assistant professor and how much you have published so far, you may or may not want to negotiate coming up for tenure early at the next place -- that is going to be a really individual situation, based on their expectations, your publication record, and other factors, rather than something with a universal answer.
I have also seen a couple of people use non-renewals as their moment to leave academia and go into non-university teaching and publishing, respectively. In both cases they were unhappy in academia and had wanted to leave, but didn't do so until the contract non-renewals. There are resources on the Chronicle for people wanting to make that transition, and there have been previous questions about it here, also.
posted by Dip Flash at 12:09 PM on September 27, 2015 [3 favorites]
Can you give some more details about the 'political' nature of the decision and some more info about your publishing/teaching record? It would be easier to give advice about best next steps with that info on the table.
posted by modernnomad at 12:38 PM on September 27, 2015
posted by modernnomad at 12:38 PM on September 27, 2015
Best answer: First of all, I'm sorry you're going through this. Hang in there. It will be okay. I don't have a lot of insight into jobs outside of academia, but here's my take on going back on the academic job market in your situation.
Nthing those who note that it's not at all uncommon for folks to go on the market in year 3, 4, and 5 of their assistant prof gigs. So I don't think committees will bat an eyelash at seeing your application or assume the worst. In my humanities field, I have several peers in good - some even great - jobs who go on the market almost annually as a matter of professional course; I don't, but their logic is one where they're looking for a better fit, a better locale, a different combo-package of research/teaching/funding, spousal accommodation, even just a bargaining chip for a pay raise or whatever at their own institutions that they don't really plan to leave.
So your cover letter doesn't need to explain why you're looking around. Instead, begin by selling your work and experience and highlighting all the ways the job you're applying for intrigues you and would be a good fit for you. Just like you did right after grad school.
Make sure you have forthcoming or in-progress work lined up in order to show that you're wrapping up the work that defined you as a graduate student and beginning to branch out into new directions. I think a new, unpublished but polished writing sample is good to send; a committee can always find the published work, if they're interested. If you've gotten funding before, great, talk about that and what's up next on your radar; in any regard, talk about funding you plan to pursue. Similarly, talk about courses you have taught as well as courses you'd like to develop. And, for me, the nice thing about being a faculty member rather than a graduate student is that you can also talk more convincingly about program/curriculum/service initiatives/etc - both that you have experience with and that you note as a feature of job-advertising institution. So do those things.
Recommendation letters are where things would be tricky, I imagine. You'll probably want to use someone from your grad program (diss director, I should think, if that relationship is still strong). You'll want a person or two in your specialized field outside of your grad and current institution who can speak to the merits of your research. The tricky one is that you do probably need someone from your current institution to write a letter for you. Do you have anyone in your corner? Your chair? A person in your subfield? Someone who observed and liked your teaching? Who can also be discreet and not reveal the terms of the pre-tenure review? I hope so. In my experience, most folks are really sympathetic in these circumstances and understand the nature of what you're asking them to do. But even if you don't have this, a lot of search committee members might just conclude that you don't want to rock the boat at your current institution, especially pre-tenure; they won't necessarily leap to the conclusion that there's a problem.
I don't know if it's still possible, but I confess that in grad school, we had Interfolio send our letters to another grad school friend or even an advisor; that friend/advisor didn't share the letters with us, but read them to vet them for unexpected red flags. If we had more than three letters lined up, we knew not to send the most problematic one.
Good luck.
posted by pinkacademic at 1:12 PM on September 27, 2015 [2 favorites]
Nthing those who note that it's not at all uncommon for folks to go on the market in year 3, 4, and 5 of their assistant prof gigs. So I don't think committees will bat an eyelash at seeing your application or assume the worst. In my humanities field, I have several peers in good - some even great - jobs who go on the market almost annually as a matter of professional course; I don't, but their logic is one where they're looking for a better fit, a better locale, a different combo-package of research/teaching/funding, spousal accommodation, even just a bargaining chip for a pay raise or whatever at their own institutions that they don't really plan to leave.
So your cover letter doesn't need to explain why you're looking around. Instead, begin by selling your work and experience and highlighting all the ways the job you're applying for intrigues you and would be a good fit for you. Just like you did right after grad school.
Make sure you have forthcoming or in-progress work lined up in order to show that you're wrapping up the work that defined you as a graduate student and beginning to branch out into new directions. I think a new, unpublished but polished writing sample is good to send; a committee can always find the published work, if they're interested. If you've gotten funding before, great, talk about that and what's up next on your radar; in any regard, talk about funding you plan to pursue. Similarly, talk about courses you have taught as well as courses you'd like to develop. And, for me, the nice thing about being a faculty member rather than a graduate student is that you can also talk more convincingly about program/curriculum/service initiatives/etc - both that you have experience with and that you note as a feature of job-advertising institution. So do those things.
Recommendation letters are where things would be tricky, I imagine. You'll probably want to use someone from your grad program (diss director, I should think, if that relationship is still strong). You'll want a person or two in your specialized field outside of your grad and current institution who can speak to the merits of your research. The tricky one is that you do probably need someone from your current institution to write a letter for you. Do you have anyone in your corner? Your chair? A person in your subfield? Someone who observed and liked your teaching? Who can also be discreet and not reveal the terms of the pre-tenure review? I hope so. In my experience, most folks are really sympathetic in these circumstances and understand the nature of what you're asking them to do. But even if you don't have this, a lot of search committee members might just conclude that you don't want to rock the boat at your current institution, especially pre-tenure; they won't necessarily leap to the conclusion that there's a problem.
I don't know if it's still possible, but I confess that in grad school, we had Interfolio send our letters to another grad school friend or even an advisor; that friend/advisor didn't share the letters with us, but read them to vet them for unexpected red flags. If we had more than three letters lined up, we knew not to send the most problematic one.
Good luck.
posted by pinkacademic at 1:12 PM on September 27, 2015 [2 favorites]
Depending on how many years you have been an assistant professor and how much you have published so far, you may or may not want to negotiate coming up for tenure early at the next place
Just for whatever it's worth, in a new appointment at a typical school I would recommend against this. In the typical school, you can come in with a full clock but going up earlier than that if it seems opportune is not normally a big deal. But if you negotiate in advance for a three-year clock, then that's what you get for good or ill. Waaaaay more flexibility and insurance against a run of bad luck in reviewers or a bad college/university level P&T committee if you take a full clock and maybe go up early.
posted by ROU_Xenophobe at 4:56 PM on September 27, 2015 [3 favorites]
Just for whatever it's worth, in a new appointment at a typical school I would recommend against this. In the typical school, you can come in with a full clock but going up earlier than that if it seems opportune is not normally a big deal. But if you negotiate in advance for a three-year clock, then that's what you get for good or ill. Waaaaay more flexibility and insurance against a run of bad luck in reviewers or a bad college/university level P&T committee if you take a full clock and maybe go up early.
posted by ROU_Xenophobe at 4:56 PM on September 27, 2015 [3 favorites]
Good advice in here. Post this to the Tenure Track forums on CHE with more details; lots of wise advice there too.
posted by lalochezia at 6:04 PM on September 27, 2015
posted by lalochezia at 6:04 PM on September 27, 2015
I'm sorry you're going through this.
As others have said, your situation is fairly common, and it's not the kiss of death. I know someone who failed a second-year review at a SLAC for largely political reasons, and who landed a job with another SLAC the following year. I know others who failed reviews, including tenure reviews, at research universities and found academic jobs elsewhere.
Research librarians are increasingly involved in information literacy rather than traditional bibliography, but qualifications for many subject specialists still include a doctorate in the field as al alternative to an MLS or MLIS degree. That's one direction I considered following if the academic career didn't pan out.
The Versatile Ph.D. site is worth checking for other ideas, if leaving academe is something you're considering. If history is your field, I was surprised to learn that the US federal government hires scads of historians, usually on 3-year contracts (according to my source), to write official histories of various programs. NASA hires a historian for every one of their projects. I'm not sure about other humanities fields, but it might be worth checking out USAjobs.gov and entering your qualifications to see if anything fits.
If your work has any relationship to public policy, you can also look for fellowships that might be a way into policy work. A former colleague of mine, a historian of 20th-century Mexico whose research was on public health in the Mexican Revolution, got a fellowship in Public Health for a couple of years, then got a government job in DC, and is now a consultant at a firm working in the field.
Good luck!
posted by brianogilvie at 6:28 PM on September 27, 2015
As others have said, your situation is fairly common, and it's not the kiss of death. I know someone who failed a second-year review at a SLAC for largely political reasons, and who landed a job with another SLAC the following year. I know others who failed reviews, including tenure reviews, at research universities and found academic jobs elsewhere.
Research librarians are increasingly involved in information literacy rather than traditional bibliography, but qualifications for many subject specialists still include a doctorate in the field as al alternative to an MLS or MLIS degree. That's one direction I considered following if the academic career didn't pan out.
The Versatile Ph.D. site is worth checking for other ideas, if leaving academe is something you're considering. If history is your field, I was surprised to learn that the US federal government hires scads of historians, usually on 3-year contracts (according to my source), to write official histories of various programs. NASA hires a historian for every one of their projects. I'm not sure about other humanities fields, but it might be worth checking out USAjobs.gov and entering your qualifications to see if anything fits.
If your work has any relationship to public policy, you can also look for fellowships that might be a way into policy work. A former colleague of mine, a historian of 20th-century Mexico whose research was on public health in the Mexican Revolution, got a fellowship in Public Health for a couple of years, then got a government job in DC, and is now a consultant at a firm working in the field.
Good luck!
posted by brianogilvie at 6:28 PM on September 27, 2015
Response by poster: Thanks everyone for the advice and encouragement! The outside perspectives here are comforting and will be useful, too.
posted by AnonProf at 8:55 PM on September 28, 2015
posted by AnonProf at 8:55 PM on September 28, 2015
This thread is closed to new comments.
I would strongly recommend hiring the Professor is In to help you strategize and tailor your cover letter and materials to explain the situation.
posted by k8t at 9:49 AM on September 27, 2015 [6 favorites]