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[dundee]

Here's the deal - my spouse has a great tenure-track position and I have an okay tenure-track position. We are both almost certain to get tenure at our current institutions as we have already exceeded the publication requirements and have excellent teaching and service records. We both have a long commute. A position has opened up in my field at my spouse's university, but it is not tenure-track. However, it is full-time and renewable. If I were to be offered the job, we could live close to spouse's university and have a much better quality of life. Between us we would save about 20 hours per week in commuting time, plus hundreds of dollars per month on gas and about 35k per year in mileage. We could both be way more involved in campus life than we are now. Our child could attend excellent schools with other faculty kids. The university is the kind of place that most faculty would love to spend their entire career. There are full-time non-tenure-track faculty at the university who have been there for decades, and there are others who have been converted to the tenure-track. So, the best case scenario is that I spend the rest of my career at the same institution as my spouse. The worst-case scenario is that I am unemployed after one year of teaching there. And here's my big question - if I am offered the job, do I turn it down and maintain the status quo, which is a decent life with a long commute, or do I take a chance on a much better life?

I am also struggling with whether or not it is worth staying where I am just to get tenure, and whether or not I really care about having a certain title.

[svenc]

Dundee, it seems like you have not yet applied for this job.  By all means, apply.  If you are competitive for this position, then the interview process may provide information that makes your decision easier (in either direction) should you have a decision to make.

If you are offered the position, one possibility would be to try to arrange a leave of absence from your current position, rather than make a complete (and presumably irreversible) decision right up front.

[castafiore]

Great suggestion from svenc re: the leave of absence. Also, there is the possibility that should you receive the offer from spouse's school, your school will respond, recognizing that you are serious about resolving the 2 body problem.

But really the question is what you already have identified it to be: what does quality of life mean to you? Would you rather keep commuting and stay on the tenure track, or trade the chance of job security for other things that make a good life (like a shorter commute!)? That is the hard 2-body question.

[dundee]

Yes, I will look into the leave of absence idea, but first I'll have to wait and see if I even get an interview!

[benchmark]

Life is short, dundee, and life is for the living. I say take a chance on a much better life.

I took a similar risk once - left a permanent position for a fixed term position at the perfect place, and luckily landed a permanent position there (here, I should say). I'm glad it all worked out, but even if it hadn't worked out and I ended up on the market again I'd still think I made the right call.

[palla]

Only you can answer this question, but I will say that I would go for quality of life.  I decided not to go back to school for my PhD even though I always dreamed of getting that degree.  I decided not to go for a variety of reasons.  One was because of what I read on this forum, and the other was because it would mean that I would have to give up considerable time with my children while I attended school.  As a result, I will never be offered a TT job.  At first it stung a little, but honestly, now it is fine with me.  I have my 10-month contract and love what I do.  I don't serve on any committees or advise students; I teach and go home.  And during the summer, I spend two glorious months hanging out with my children and enjoying a quality of life that I would not have been able to enjoy if I had gone back to school and taken out loans.  I absolutely love what I do, and I love the freedom I have doing it.  And I also love that I am not paying back student loans.  That money is so much fun to spend on vacation!

[ruralguy]

If a certain lifestyle is more important to you then tenure, then it is, and go for that, and not tenure (or at least, not tenure exclusively).

So, yes, apply and see where it goes. And no, you wouldn't be crazy to give up the position, provided you are doing what you want to be doing instead.

[hegemony]

Keep in mind that chances are overwhelming that this would mean leaving the tenure track forever.  This is fine, but be sure to keep that in mind before you make the decision.  And if the new job is not renewed, it might mean leaving academia.

[marfa]

Keep in mind that chances are overwhelming that this would mean leaving the tenure track forever.  This is fine, but be sure to keep that in mind before you make the decision.  And if the new job is not renewed, it might mean leaving academia.

And this is hard.  I left my tenured job after getting married, tried to find similar work in new state and that wasn't working, so did some weird, unrelated jobs that made me feel like I'd lost my identity.  Didn't fit in at spouse's institution and didn't have anywhere else to go.   

Be sure you're really secure in your identity outside of "Professor".  Have backup plan in case the adjunct position fizzles (funding disappears in a blink these days).  Can you do the stay at home parent thing?  I couldn't.

It was very, very hard.    I don't regret the getting married part.  But I wonder about the job decisions made since.

Good luck!

[dundee]

hegemony,

You are right, and that is the nightmare scenario. I have no desire to leave academia, but I think I am okay with staying in academia under different terms.

marfa,

It's not an adjunct position. It's a full-time non-tenure-track with a permanent line - not a visiting position. There are people at the institution who have been in these positions for literally decades.

IF I am offered the job, I will not take it unless I am persuaded by the dept. that the position is very likely to be mine for at least several years. I'm not interested in throwing away my career, just in finding a way to improve my life and that of my family.

[madhatter]

I would take the job. They have a term for people who are tenured to misery -- prisoners.

[marfa]

Good!  Sounds like it might work out great for you!!
~m

marfa,

It's not an adjunct position. It's a full-time non-tenure-track with a permanent line - not a visiting position. There are people at the institution who have been in these positions for literally decades.

IF I am offered the job, I will not take it unless I am persuaded by the dept. that the position is very likely to be mine for at least several years. I'm not interested in throwing away my career, just in finding a way to improve my life and that of my family.

[ucprof]

My husband is not an academic but he took a significant pay cut and decrease in job level in order to work near my new job in the UC - before that I mostly only saw him on weekends for many years.  We were financially quite comfortable but poor quality of life due to the distance between jobs.  Now we live in an expensive area with less money.  But I spend most evenings and all weekends with my husband.  I think we are much better off now than before.  But it was his decision to move from his prior fancy job to the other job - the best he could get without the commute.  I also would say UCdog is much happier with this arrangement.

[erzuliefreda]

I would look closely at the financial situation of the Other University. If it is public, like mine, in times of crisis like these, we are talking about cutting the non-TT lines first. Some of those folks have been here for a long time, too. In any case, best of luck.

[larryc]

Take it.