Three of four

So, I came in this morning.

There was a letter in my mailbox. From one of the offices on campus. From, in fact, the office that is the next one in the chain-of-command in re: promotion.

I looked at the envelope. And I thought, "Given the way this week has gone, I will not be too surprised if it's a 'Sorry, we have no budget for promotions. But nice try anyway.'"

(An aside: My "senior" committeemember - the one who's been here the longest - tells me that back in the "old days" there was some regulation that only a certain percentage of the faculty could be tenured, and a certain (smaller) percentage could attain the rank of Professor*. So if you applied and there was already a full quota, you had to wait for someone to leave, retire, or die for you to get your tenure or promotion. Which just seems laughably wrong to me - I think "good" people, who would have a shot at a career somewhere else, would just leave a school upon being told, "Oh, sorry. We already have 25% (or whatever) tenured faculty. You're number 8 on the waiting list, though." )

(*Oh, and for those not in academia: typically there are three levels within the professoriate. (There is also a growing number of "adjunct" positions, which are generally poorly-paid without benefits, and unfortunately, to make ends meet, a lot of universities are increasingly relying upon them). The lowest level is Assistant Professor. They do not have tenure yet, but are on the tenure-track. Somewhere - after between 3 to 7 years of teaching, depending on the institution - they apply for tenure, which involves making a large portfolio including data on your teaching, your research, and your service (things like committee memberships). If everything goes well, you then receive tenure. Usually, most places, you get your first promotion at the same time (I had to actually make two packets, identical, one for tenure and one for promotion. It was kind of silly but whatever). The first promotion is to Associate Professor (which is where I am, currently.)

Then, usually after 10 years of teaching - and, I think, five years as Associate Professor? (or at least that's how they do it here), you apply for Full Professor, or as it's really officially known, just Professor. That's generally the final promotion (some schools have "Distinguished Professor," but that's also sometimes an award-level, where rather than applying for it, you have to be nominated and voted upon). It's Professor that I'm up for right now, and am waiting on the final word for. I already have tenure; have had it since 2004.)

Okay? Enough suspense? (Though longtime readers have probably already guessed what the letter said).

Yeah, this administrator is recommending me, too. This was actually the one I was most worried about - this is the person who is closest (I think) to those who control the purse-strings and the one most likely to hear mutterings about there not being enough money for stuff.

The one remaining hurdle is the President's office. And while I'm not going to express confidence of any sort - seeing as things could still go terribly wrong - but as I said, this was the one I was most worried about.