Chapter published in:
Professional Development in Applied Linguistics: A guide to success for graduate students and early career faculty
Edited by Luke Plonsky
[Not in series 229] 2020
► pp. 181–202

Chapter 13
Preparing for tenure & promotion

| Indiana University
| Indiana University
The present chapter addresses the core issues related to the process of securing tenure with the primary goal of identifying the sources of confusion and making transparent some of the unspoken expectations that tend to dominate the field of applied linguistics. It is our belief that the better one understands the process the more likely one is able to manage the anxiety and demands associated with tenure-track positions, and even enjoy these years. We begin with the idea that there are certain behaviors that can be useful during the entire pre-tenure process (and beyond!) and that there is a certain chronology as well: starting off right, preparing for the mid-term review and then, putting on those final touches as you near the dossier submission stage. We close with a brief discussion of perspective and highlight behaviors that make successful academics throughout the career trajectory.
Article outline
  • Introduction
  • Early and often… in voting and on the tenure-track, too!
    • Getting organized: Lots of ways to skin a cat
    • Join the club! …Or find your groove…
    • Rome was not built in a day… and the academic cha-cha (a few steps forward, one step back)
  • Starting out on the right foot: The early years
    • Understand what is expected of you
    • Finding your (inner) resting bitch face…
    • Not my circus, not my monkeys…
    • Yes! Yes! A thousand times yes! (Or maybe just a few…)
    • Are you my mother? And other helpful relationships
    • Squirrel! Stay the course and don’t get (too) distracted
  • The mid-term review
    • Finding your voice…
    • The home stretch (not to be confused with the seventh-inning stretch – you can rest later!)
    • Speak now or forever hold your peace… (AKA the tenure statement)
  • The big picture: Advice for the long-term
    • The Cliffs Notes version (or, as some know it, Conclusion)
Published online: 30 July 2020
https://doi.org/10.1075/z.229.13gee