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[mccfan]

I read today's (Feb 15th 2007) First Person with interest.  I got denied tenure 5 years ago, and I also wondered whether I would ever get another academic job.  I was relatively lucky, though, especially for someone who got "fired" while pregnant so that I had to interview when I was big as a house.  I got 3 interviews and one job offer, all within commutable distance of the place I had been living.  Husband could keep his job.  We didn't have to sell our house.

Why did things work so well for me?  Partly it was the luck of the market.  There just happened to be things in the area that were right for my skill set--having been broadly trained in grad school surely worked to my advantage.  Also, good was the fact that I had a unanimous departmental recommendation for tenure, which the dean had ignored when he nuked me.  So my letter writers could express outrage on my behalf, and I didn't have to say anything at all until someone else brought it up.  The columnist may be making the mistake of drawing attention to the denial in his/her application letter.  I would skip it.

And, though I was bitter toward the dean then (and, hey, I still am), I found it very reinforcing to be told by people who had seen my vita that the dean must be crazy to fire someone with a good research record as well as teaching awards.  I loved that part.

[offthemarket]

I thought it was an interesting article too, as I'm going through a similar experience.  The way I read the article - the author didn't mention tenure denial in the cover letter, and it's only mentioned by the chair.  I agree that it's best to not call attention to it, especially if recommenders down the road can do it while explaining how it happened.  I'm getting the feeling that surprise-tenure-denials-by-administration aren't as rare as I thought, or maybe having gone through it, people with similar experiences come out of the woodwork.

[dogvomit]

I worked for two years in a department where the faculty and administration were at odds and the financial status was abyssmal.  Ultimately, I was let go when they got slammed with budget cuts accompanied by a drammatic decline in enrollment.  In those two years I pulled in several hundred thousand dollars in grants and published several articles.  Still, the college had to cut someone and it was me.  They undoubtedly heard that I was looking for another job!  Before I was let go, I had interviews at several GOOD masters-1 schools and one R1. 

I immediately got picked up by a small school.  During the two years at my new post I have applied for several positions in hope of getting into a place with an MS program or higher.  No luck.  I did not get a single interview this year despite having >50 publications, many of these in good journals others are filler.  The new place is just too small to attract a research grant.  In fact, many of the small grants I used to go after have not gone anywhere since being here. 

It looks like this year is done with.  I never should have taken that first job.  I knew from the looks of it, it was a dead end.  Faculty didn't do research, and the lecturing styles of most of the faculty were reminiscent of reading the news paper to the students. 

Regardless, I am still on the tenure track but want more!

Undoubtedly, the dumping by the first school has tainted my CV.