Later this month, the International Communication Association is holding its annual conference in Boston. As part of that event (and I do realize that some readers view academic conferences as an irresponsible and illegitimate racket), I am taking part in what we hope will be a very frank and no-holds-barred discussion about tenure and promotion in the academy today.
Actually, this will be one of the pre-conference sessions, which are organized to provide more in-depth and substantive engagements for scholars and students alike.
Our session is slated for four hours and will include a (private) opportunity for junior faculty and advanced graduate students to get real one-on-one mentoring from people outside of their home institution. Such a perspective can sometimes be particularly helpful when the people at one’s home institution often have a more invested (and cathected) relationship to the case.
The organizers hope that our session will be useful for junior faculty who are almost at the point where they have to pull a tenure dossier together, for those junior scholars who are closer to the (fairly standard) third-year review phase, and even for newly minted Ph.D.’s who just want to have a better (and clearer!) sense of how they might most productively and effectively approach the entire process right from the starting blocks.
I look forward to our discussion, and I just wanted to invite other folks to join us. We hope that it will be far-ranging and valuable.
Here is a more “official” description of the panel:
People and Politics in Promotion and Tenure: Talking About What Nobody Wants to Talk About
ICA, Boston, Thursday, May 26, 1-5 p.m.
This afternoon workshop will focus on the hidden aspects of promotion and tenure: campus factions, personality clashes, navigating departmental cultures and more. While “people and politics issues” are not found in bylaws or protocol manuals, they are often just as (or more!) important for the young scholar to understand, avoid, or overcome than the more traditional demands of research, teaching, and service. Here we gather a variety of distinguished communication educators at different points in their careers who will offer general insights and specific guidance. The workshop will be divided into three sections.
First, our panel will discuss major non-mainstream P&T issues like faculty relations, managing up, supervising graduate students, achieving a work-life balance, avoiding or fighting battles, dealing with difficult people, and so on.
Then, we will break into small-group sessions, with each panelist meeting with a selection of workshop participants, to offer personal mentoring.
Finally, the panel will reconvene, offering some “lessons learned,” and opening the floor to general questions and discussion.
Panelists:
David Perlmutter, Director of the School of Journalism and Mass Communication Professor & Starch Faculty Fellow, The University of Iowa
Raul Reis, Chair & Professor, Department of Journalism and Mass Communication, California State-Long Beach
Mary L. Gray, Associate Professor, Department of Communication and Culture, Indiana University
Benjamin H. Detenber, Professor & Chair, Wee Kim Wee School of Communication and Information, Nanyang Technological University
John L. Jackson, Jr., Richard Perry University Professor of Communication and Anthropology, Associate Dean of Undergraduate Studies, Annenberg School for Communication, University of Pennsylvania
Lynne Edwards, Professor, Media & Communication Studies, Ursinus College
Here is a link for more information (or to preregister for our Preconference Session #15).
