Practical advice for every step of an academic career, from preparing lectures and networking to tenure, promotion and post-tenure review.
You've reached the milestone that shaped years of decisions. The good news arrives, people congratulate you, and then the next week looks surprisingly familiar. Classes still need preparation. Projects still need…
Read the articleThe decision arrives, and for a while you may not know what to do with it. You might feel shocked, angry, embarrassed, numb, or several things at once. Even if there were earlier concerns, reading the final notice can feel very…
Read articleYou receive a decision you don't understand, and suddenly every document feels urgent. The faculty handbook is long. Different people suggest different offices. Someone says you should appeal, but no one has yet explained which…
Read articleYou check your inbox before the first meeting. Then again after class. Nothing has changed, but somehow checking feels like doing something. Waiting for a tenure decision can turn an ordinary workday into a long series of small…
Read articleYou open an old annual review and notice a date that doesn't match your current CV. Then a summary says every rating was exceptional, but the table beside it includes a different rating. Neither problem may have been intentional…
Read articleYour name is on the article, but the citation doesn't tell the whole story. Maybe you developed the study question, designed the analysis, or spent months bringing several parts of the manuscript together. A reviewer sees the…
Read articleOne course asks students to learn the basic language of a field. Another asks them to defend a research design. You work carefully in both, but when you summarize your teaching, they become two more lines in a course list. The…
Read articleYou know where everything is. The teaching example connects to the course revision, the research project explains the next two papers, and the committee report shows what you contributed. Then you remember that the reviewer…
Read articleYou read the evaluation, feel relieved or frustrated, and put it in the folder with the others. Then another semester begins. By the time you prepare the mid-tenure or tenure file, the feedback is still there, but the…
Read articleThe award amount is easy to spot on a CV. The work behind it is harder to see. A reader may know you received funding without knowing what you were responsible for, what the project produced, or whether the promised outcomes have…
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