Reality Check
This will be a lot of whining about my job, but I need to get it out...
I've been worried since taking my current job that it wasn't truly a good fit for me. When I interviewed I knew the research expectations were high, but I was told that teaching mattered too and that our regional campus cared about teaching and service even if all that matters to the main campus is research.
Easier said than done, as it turns out. At my annual review at my regional campus, the dean never mentioned the fact that my teaching evaluations were all higher than the college averages. I was told that the service I've been doing this year (1 committee that has had 1 twenty-minute meeting and an afternoon of judging at the research forum) is about the level I should stay at during my pre-tenure years. At the main campus review, the department chair went through my vitae with a fine tooth comb, asking about papers in progress and whether any conference presentations would turn into journal articles.
Then this week, our interim chair at the regional campus met with the dean. She just finished her 4th year review (our big pre-tenure review) and passed, but according to her evaluation from the main campus she is "not meeting expectations." Apparently they've said that she hasn't been meeting expectations any year she's been here really. She doesn't think it will prevent her from getting tenure, but that evaluation gets factored into how our raises are determined. She was also discouraged that conceivably every year for the next 20 years she could have a job where they're telling her on a yearly basis that she's not good enough. Her mentor at the main campus advised her that to secure tenure she needs to "publish, publish, publish" and that, if she has to, she should devote less time to teaching. Not fewer courses, but less time to prep work and students, and if her evaluation scores fall a little bit that's just a fact of life.
Anyway, she met with our dean at the regional campus this week to discuss the situation with him. She was concerned that she could pass a review without problems but not meet expectations, and she told him about the "teach less" message from the main campus. Rather than contradict that message, the dean basically backed it up. What it comes down to, in the end, is the number of publications you have and where those pubs are. If students suffer and the quality of teaching goes down to meet that goal, so be it.
I will not be staying at my job long term. To get tenure, I really think I'd have to turn myself into someone I'm not and someone I have no desire to be. I stuck with academia because I like teaching and because it's something I think I'm good at. I like research, but I like it much better when I can work on projects that are interesting and not be fearful that they aren't theoretically important enough for a Big Ten research program. In the winter quarter I had an article come out in a journal, my only first author publication, but even though I was satisfied with it I was much more satisfied the day I talked to the husband of one of my students. He said that he was happy to meet me, because since taking my class his wife had been expressing more opinions at home than he'd ever heard her express, and they weren't just the opinions of her father or other relatives.
That's worthwhile, and if my school doesn't recognize that because people are so busy looking up the impact factor of my publications then it's their loss.
I've been worried since taking my current job that it wasn't truly a good fit for me. When I interviewed I knew the research expectations were high, but I was told that teaching mattered too and that our regional campus cared about teaching and service even if all that matters to the main campus is research.
Easier said than done, as it turns out. At my annual review at my regional campus, the dean never mentioned the fact that my teaching evaluations were all higher than the college averages. I was told that the service I've been doing this year (1 committee that has had 1 twenty-minute meeting and an afternoon of judging at the research forum) is about the level I should stay at during my pre-tenure years. At the main campus review, the department chair went through my vitae with a fine tooth comb, asking about papers in progress and whether any conference presentations would turn into journal articles.
Then this week, our interim chair at the regional campus met with the dean. She just finished her 4th year review (our big pre-tenure review) and passed, but according to her evaluation from the main campus she is "not meeting expectations." Apparently they've said that she hasn't been meeting expectations any year she's been here really. She doesn't think it will prevent her from getting tenure, but that evaluation gets factored into how our raises are determined. She was also discouraged that conceivably every year for the next 20 years she could have a job where they're telling her on a yearly basis that she's not good enough. Her mentor at the main campus advised her that to secure tenure she needs to "publish, publish, publish" and that, if she has to, she should devote less time to teaching. Not fewer courses, but less time to prep work and students, and if her evaluation scores fall a little bit that's just a fact of life.
Anyway, she met with our dean at the regional campus this week to discuss the situation with him. She was concerned that she could pass a review without problems but not meet expectations, and she told him about the "teach less" message from the main campus. Rather than contradict that message, the dean basically backed it up. What it comes down to, in the end, is the number of publications you have and where those pubs are. If students suffer and the quality of teaching goes down to meet that goal, so be it.
I will not be staying at my job long term. To get tenure, I really think I'd have to turn myself into someone I'm not and someone I have no desire to be. I stuck with academia because I like teaching and because it's something I think I'm good at. I like research, but I like it much better when I can work on projects that are interesting and not be fearful that they aren't theoretically important enough for a Big Ten research program. In the winter quarter I had an article come out in a journal, my only first author publication, but even though I was satisfied with it I was much more satisfied the day I talked to the husband of one of my students. He said that he was happy to meet me, because since taking my class his wife had been expressing more opinions at home than he'd ever heard her express, and they weren't just the opinions of her father or other relatives.
That's worthwhile, and if my school doesn't recognize that because people are so busy looking up the impact factor of my publications then it's their loss.