Here’s a preview of what we’ll be covering this year in Tenure: The Secret Syllabus. The final list is subject to adjustment, but it should give a pretty good sense.
Because participants are joining the program at all different stages, we will NOT be proceeding in exact order. That is to say: I will be making tutorials available from across this syllabus, a little bit here and there. By the close of the program, however, this is what you can expect (along with many other posts, interviews, and hopefully a number of live online events, Covid and daycare permitting).
For those of you in the College or Grad programs, I have created dedicated overviews for you as well, to make things easier to navigate.
College: The Secret Syllabus [Syllabus Coming Soon, but posts already available on the homepage]
Grad School: The Secret Syllabus
(At the same time, I’ll continue to post a lot of material here on the home page.)
NOTE: Any tutorials below featuring a hyperlink mean that the tutorial is already online and ready to view!
Welcome
Getting Published
- Publishing 101: How the Process Works, Start to Finish
- How and Where to Meet Editors and Publishers
- “Simultaneous Submission”: What Is It, How to Do It, and Why It Matters
- How to Write an Author Response Letter
- Negotiating Better Book Contracts
- What if a Press Rejects Your Book?
- Edited Volumes and “Special Issues”
- How to Interpret and Respond to Criticism
Teaching
- Don’t Launch that Shiny New Course!
- Your Slides Suck: What Profs Can Learn from Graphic Designers
- The Secret to Better Evaluations
- How to Run Office Hours (Hint: Stop Calling Them “Office Hours”)
- Course Evaluations are Biased (and We Should Our Students So)
- Working with TAs Effectively
- How to Treat Student Athletes with the Respect They Deserve
Mental Health
- Where and When to Seek It Out
- Leaves of Absence
The Minefield of Informality
- Hallways, Lunches, Dinners…
- First-Name Basis or “Dr. So-and-So”?
- Mind Jobs and Tailspins: When a Passing Comment from a Senior Colleague Ruins Your Week (or Month)
Fellowships and Grants
- Sabbatical Grants
- Multi-Year Grants
- Conference Grants
- Small Grants
- “Mid-Career” Grants and Fellowships: When’s the Earliest You Can Apply?
- Residential Fellowships
Promoting Your Research (Sorry, But You Have To!)
Advising Students
- Young Professor, Older Graduate Student: The Complex Dynamics of PhD Advising
- Don’t Give No Advice: The Basics of Good Mentorship
- Mentoring Students is the Hardest Job You’ll Ever Have
- Welcome to “Letter of Recommendation Hell”
- How to Help Your Students Find Their Thesis and Dissertation Questions
Reappointment
Sabbatical
- What Should Your Sabbatical Goals Be?
- Where to Find Funding for Your Sabbatical?
- Should You Do a Residential Fellowship?
- Protecting Time and Getting S*** Done
- Set Up an Effective “Sabbatical Out-of-Office” Email Autoresponder
Work-Life Balance
- Childcare
- Dating
- How to Have a Social Life
- How to Have a Secret Life
- Parental Leave
- Leaves of Absence
- Activism: On and Beyond Campus
Department Meetings
Tenure
- Preparing Your Tenure File
- Who Will You Be Compared To (the “Comparison Set”)?
- Should You Go Up Early for Tenure?
- What If? What Happens If You’re Denied Tenure?
- What Have You Done for Us Lately?: How Will Your Institution Count Work You Completed at Your Previous University?
- Who Will Write Your “Outside Letters”
Applying for Jobs and Outside Offers
- Should You Apply for an Outside Offer
- When to Tell Colleagues (and Students) that You’ve Applied for Another Job
- Retention Offers and How to Negotiate Them
- How to Negotiate Contracts (without Losing Your Soul)
Money
- Honoraria: How Much to Expect for Giving an Invited Talk
- Reviewing Articles and Manuscripts: How Much Will You Get Paid
- Other Ways to Make Money on Campus
- Keynotes: How Much (More) Do You Make for “Prestigious” Speaking Engagements?
Conferences
Climbing the Ladder
- Becoming Chair
- Treating Administrators and Office Staff with the Respect They Deserve
- What Kind of Career Do You Want to Have?
- Committee Assignments
The “Sophomore Album”: How to Launch Your Second Book or Major Project
- Finding Mentors as a Mid-Career Scholar
- False Starts, Assumptions, and Dead Ends
- Becoming a “Scholar without a Project”
Tenure…. Now What?
What Will You Do with Your Newfound Safety?
