Day: June 4, 2014

David D. Perlmutter. “Know the Vital Players in Your Career: Senior Administrators.” Chronicle of Higher Education, December 13, 2013, pp. A26-27. When are deans, provosts, and presidents most likely to reverse a tenure decision? Jon Krause for The Chronicle Enlarge Image By David D. Perlmutter During my first semester as a dean, I established a monthly lunch with assistant professors to discuss their concerns about promotion and tenure. At our initial meeting, I stated that new faculty members should be careful about taking on too much service. But I also noted that, as dean, I would most likely be the chief culprit asking for their time on search, curriculum, and other committees. So far in this series about the people who affect your tenure case, I've focused on thedepartment chair, the head of the department's P&T committee, and the faculty factions influencing these decisions. In this month's column, I turn the spotlight on the powers-that-be outside your home department—the dean of the college, the vice provosts, the provost, and the president. Just...

David D. Perlmutter. “Know the Vital Players in Your Career: The Campuswide Committee.” Chronicle of Higher Education, February 28, 2014, p. A32-33.   These professors are the faculty guardians of the gates to tenure Tim Foley for The Chronicle Enlarge Image By David D. Perlmutter Rudyard Kipling’s poetic declaration that "there are nine and sixty ways of constructing tribal lays, and every single one of them is right!" refers to the Neolithic Age. It could apply equally to promotion­-and-tenure procedures in academe today. We move people along the tenure track in a wide variety of ways, and each approach has its champions and detractors. But the one element common to every tenure system is the human factor. In this series I have tried to identify key people who affect your tenure case. I’ve covered the department chair, the head of the department’s P&T committee, the faculty factions, the senior administrators, and the external evaluators. Now let’s turn to a group that many assistant professors usually know little about and certainly don’t hobnob with: the campus promotion-and-tenure committee....