This interview with Elizabeth Flynn began over lunch at the 2014 Conference on College Composition and Communication. Bourelle and Flynn originally met to talk about a collaborative research project, but the conversation shifted to their personal lives. Bourelle and Flynn talked about how their lives and their research were intertwined, and…

David Moore is Professor Emeritus of Statistics at Purdue University. He served as the first President of the International Association for Statistical Education (IASE) from 1993-1995 and as President of the American Statistical Association (ASA) in 1998. He is a Fellow of the ASA and of the IMS and was awarded the ASA's Founders Award in…

High on any Top 10 list of the most frequent advice offered to young faculty members is this: No good deed goes unpunished. The aphorism at first seems cynical, pessimistic, dysfunctional. Doing good, as members of a higher-education community, is their job. What if everyone just looked out for No. 1? The entire promotion-and-tenure system--which…

To expect an "easy life" as a professor of special education is to expect what never was nor never will be. But when the playing field is uneven for minorities, or even worse, when it is not even recognized that the playing field is uneven, there is cause for action. For example, Bonner (2004) stated that minority faculty face tremendous…

Why do people enter academic life? What are their expectations? How can they maximize their experience and achievements, both short- and long-term? How much should they move towards commercialization? What can they do to improve their career? How much autonomy can they reasonably expect? What are the key issues for academics and aspiring academics…

Professors can improve their chances of earning tenure by paying attention to organizing certain areas of their professional lives. Evidence of teaching effectiveness, professional and community service, research and other creative activities needs to be gathered and presented in a clear manner at faculty review proceedings. Good organizational…

Presents advice for doctoral students and probationary faculty; points to consider in pursuing a Ph.D. in journalism and mass communication; and ideas on finding a good job, earning tenure, succeeding as a researcher, surviving the review process, advancing in academia, and enjoying academic life. (PA)

Notes that four computers and writing specialists and one librarian who had found work in a variety of nontraditional, nonteaching positions were asked to meet at LinguaMOO and talk about their careers. Contains a version of that conversation as edited for print purposes, and the annotations and responses made after the fact by the participants.…

The promotion process for university faculty is explored, considering the peer review committee, the focus on publications, and the usual subjectivity of the process. Ways some institutions enhance objectivity, such as external review and the elimination of potentially biased reviewers, are described. (SLD)

Robinson interviews Howard Wainer, a scientist, who graduated from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in 1965 and Princeton in 1968 with degrees in mathematics and psychometrics, respectively. He taught at Temple University and The University of Chicago before moving to the Bureau of Social Science Research during the Carter Administration. Wainer…

Participants in a Wabash Center consultation on vocation discussed the variety of expectations, opportunities, and challenges that create contexts for teaching as they move through careers. These essays emerge from the experiences and reflections of four participants about different stages of careers in diverse contexts. Tom Massaro writes from…

This paper presents the individual narratives of five participants in a writer's support group in the Department of Teacher Education at the University of Dayton (Ohio). Participants were new faculty in tenure track positions. Each participant's narrative describes her reasons for joining the group and the ways in which the group has helped her…

The constriction in career opportunities has increased competition in academe. Strategies, moves, and maneuvers toward advancement and promotion are offered. Included is information on relating institutional goals to personal goals, career planning, and dossier building. (Author/JMD)

This study explored how junior faculty perceive the academic tenure system impacting on their personal and professional lives and how they cope with the process. Using theoretical principles rooted in the tradition of phenomenology, the study conducted three in-depth phenomenological interviews with 18 assistant professors who explored, recreated,…

This paper, one in a series about the priorities of the professoriate, explores several alternatives to tenure for faculty and institutions. Data for the study was drawn from a series of site visits to seven institutions during winter/spring 1995-96. Seventy-one interviews were conducted with administrators, senior faculty, and full-time…