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Looking for More than 'Good Enough'

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By Harry Lancaster

"Once more unto the breach, dear friends, once more,
Or close the wall up with our English dead!" (Shakespeare, Henry V, 3.1.1-2)

Thus young King Henry exhorts his troops into battle at Harfleur. Reading the next few lines, one discovers that Henry's initial motivational cry isn't that effective, as his men are slow to rush forward and throw away their lives. Still, for me, his challenge, though ineffectual, rings out quite loudly and memorably.

This year, I will be Henry V before the gates of Harfleur, risking it all in an effort to conquer a new land (when I already live in a perfectly good one) and encouraging my followers (my dear wife and family) to face that challenge with me. For this year I will be going out once more unto the job market, pursuing a new position on the tenure track.

So what is making me do it, making me re-enter the emotional melee that is the job search? A variety of reasons, all good. I'm certainly not doing it because I enjoy job searches. I once swore that my last job search -- the one that landed me my current position -- would be the last. And since my job is at a good-enough school, one that assures me I have a "career track" position (we don't have tenure), why would I go through it all again?

One of my strongest reasons for looking for a new job is that I already have one. Because my job is secure, I can enter the fray with much less pressure. I don't have to apply (and certainly won't be applying) to every position advertised in my field in The Chronicle. Because of my job, I have had so many more professional experiences (in terms of teaching, research, and service) that I know I will be an attractive candidate. And finally, because I have a job, I appreciate that the institution where I work is "good enough." I know, in ways that I never could before, what I want in a college or university in terms of quality of student, working environment, and academic focus and reputation, and I know that I want more than "good enough."

Tenure is another issue. As I noted, my college doesn't have tenure. I once preferred not having tenure, for it meant no tenure process; I came out of graduate school terrified of tenure. Now I regret not being able to earn it. I think I would survive the process and, while I do understand that earning tenure would not grant me "job immortality," it would offer me the psychological benefit of knowing that the institution has made a public commitment to me, just as I have made a commitment to it. Right now, I don't feel that sense of commitment.

And that commitment is important because of the issue of promotion. I am entering my fifth year of professional service as an assistant professor. I feel that with my record of teaching, research, and service, I will be promoted to associate professor within another three years. Now colleges and universities don't typically hire associate professors. If I stay at my institution long enough to earn the rank of associate professor, I may never have another opportunity to move to a college that's better than "good enough" -- I will have made my commitment.

Certainly in addition to these professional concerns I have had to weigh personal factors, and the personal issues are really more complicated. My wife and I like the city we're in. Our children like it, too; they have friends and opportunities. We have a nice house. Our city is safer than most. It has what we need, and we really have become part of the community.

So why leave? Besides the fact that there are no other colleges in town, there's the simple fact that we're very far away from family, both mine and my wife's. Plus, the climate is decidedly straightforward; a week in January passes for winter, and the rest of the year is just plain hot. Now we can, and have, lived with the personal issues for several years now, and I have to say that the personal side of the equation is something better than "good enough." Still, both my wife and I wonder if there's something clearly better out there for us.

So once more unto the breach, filling it with CV's, cover letters, and letters of recommendation. I anticipate getting people to write those for me will present some awkward moments, and I'll let you know what happens in a later column. Onward, I hope, to interviews and visits. If it doesn't work out, that's fine; I still have secure work in a nice town. But the possibilities compel me further. To echo King Henry's cry:

"The game's afoot! Follow your spirit; and upon this charge
Cry 'God for Harry! England, and St. George!'"