Getting Tenure

"This weekend I read Getting Tenure with hopes of perhaps finding something I could use in my Academic Writing & Publishing class for graduate students. . . . Well, well, well . . . what a surprise! The authors, and yourself, should be complimented for producing an outstanding reality-based piece of work. As chair of the Rehabilitation Institute Faculty Productivity Committee for over a decade, and as a member of the Promotion/Tenure Committee, I can attest to the total accuracy of the contents of the book. . . . Congratulations on an excellent piece of work." --T. F. Riggar, Ed.D., Southern Illinois University at Carbondale Tenure. The one word guaranteed to send shivers of hope or dread down the back of any junior professor. Have I published enough? Will the department chair sponsor me through the process? What can I do to ensure that I get it? The process is a complicated one involving many players and all facets of the scholar's life, according to Marcia Lynn Whicker, Jennie Jacobs Kronenfeld, and Ruth Ann Strickland. Achieving success is not something to be left to chance or in someone else's hands; there are clear, positive steps you can take to help yourself toward that goal. The authors suggest being prepared to think politically, manage your image, and focus your attention on things that matter to the decision makers, for tenure is not simply rewarding the productive and discarding the rest. This brief, practical guide demystifies the tenure process and gives concrete advice to graduate students and junior faculty on how to strategize to maximize your chances of hearing those golden words "you got it."