First Person

Sort of Hired

Article tools

Printer friendly	E-mail article	Subscribe	Order reprints
	Discuss any Chronicle article in our forums
Latest Headlines First Person The Rejection Letter I Wish I Could Send If we had to make up a story for why you might be interested in our position, then interviewing you was too risky. Peer Review Hirings and Firings The new law school at the University of California at Irvine gets some high-profile hires ... and other appointment news. Ms. Mentor Does This Make Me Look Old? Advice on how best to dress, and act, when you look as young as your students. Career News Gone, and Being Forgotten Why are some of the greatest thinkers being expelled from their disciplines? Resource Salaries: Faculty | Administrative Presidential pay: Private | Public Financial resources: Salary and cost-of-living calculators Career resources: Academic | Nonacademic Library: Previous articles by topic | by date | by column Career Talk, Ms. Mentor, and more... Landing your first job On the tenure track Mid-career and on Administrative careers Nonacademic careers for Ph.D.'s Talk about your career Blogs

By Milton Herman

Please humor me as I lapse into that infamous sports cliché (the only way I can describe my situation): "It ain't over till it's over." My quest for a deanship has been fulfilled (mostly) as I have been offered a position as director of a performing-arts program at a mid-sized public university in the South.

The administration and I came to terms and I'm ready to go, so long as the trustees of the university system grant me tenure. Now of course I'm left wondering, Is their decision really pro forma? What are the odds that they will turn me down?

I've received tenure at two different institutions -- one a well-known private university (my first job) and the other my current employer, a Midwestern public institution where I spent four years as an assistant vice president of academic affairs before returning to the faculty as a full professor.

Unsure of how to proceed as I waited to hear about my tenure case, I consulted with my academic friends around the country, all of whom gave me the same advice: "It's only a formality. I wouldn't worry." And then they quickly added, "Well, maybe you should stay active in other searches -- just in case."

Just in case of what? Would the trustees actually overturn the recommendations of the campus tenure committee, the dean, the provost, and the president? Should I travel to other institutions for job interviews "just in case"? My appointment has been announced informally to both the town and gown constituencies. How will that affect their confidence in me if word leaks out that I'm still on the job market?

I still have an interview scheduled at a much larger institution, and I'm on the shortlist for positions at three other colleges (four now; the phone just rang as I am writing this -- honest). I really want to take the job that I've been offered and that I've accepted, but not getting tenure would be a deal-breaker. Not only for me but for my wife who has made clear she would not even consider us going without it.

I'm not the only one who wants my situation settled. I've been popular this hiring season with search committees, which has been flattering to me but irritating to my references. Search committees ask for three to five references (How come they never ask for four?). I always list 10 to 12, depending on the position, because I don't want to burden my recommenders. That strategy didn't really work this time, as two of my referees have been called over and over. They've spent from 20 to 50 minutes speaking with individuals as well as entire committees. They are suffering from burnout and ready to enact tough love on yours truly.

In my last column, I mentioned that I was waiting to hear the outcome of an interview at a selective private college. The institution is affiliated with a distinguished religious order, and hospitality is a word that is visibly posted on the walls of many campus buildings. After six weeks and no word from that college, I broke one of my personal rules of job-search etiquette and called the institution.

The administrator I spoke with said that the search committee would be meeting again soon and that I was still in the running. Another month passed and I received a very brief form letter informing me that "another candidate" had been awarded the position. That candidate turned out to be the acting dean of the college. That's the college's idea of hospitality? Have candidates jump through all of the interview hoops, keep them waiting for months, and then pick the internal candidate anyway?

I already had misgivings about the place even before getting the brushoff. The provost had informed me that should my candidacy advance past the campus interview, he would be visiting my current institution as a roving collector of information. I'm used to background checks, but that was a first. As it turned out, he didn't have to rove too far.

Tenure worries aside, I'm thrilled with the job I've been offered. Both the president and provost have told me they want the performing arts at the university to be nationally prominent. I'm sure readers are wondering about the salary. It's in the $90s -- fairly modest by the standards of upper-level administration. I had applied to other positions that would have paid more, but the fit here seemed right, so the salary was never an issue.

All in all, the job is everything I was looking for with one exception: It doesn't include the title of "dean." Instead I will be a "director." But that's of little concern. It's the job I want, not the title.

A book that has helped me come to terms with that is The Contrarian's Guide to Leadership (Jossey-Bass, 2001), by Steven B. Sample, president of the University of Southern California. A section of the book that most resonated with me is called "Being President vs. Doing President." Sample speaks to the failure rate of individuals who pursue presidencies because they want the title, but do not fully realize what's needed to do the job.

Reading that section provided me with a major aha! moment. I truly want to do all the things that administrators typically say they want to do in their cover letters: build community, increase student learning outcomes, solve problems, and support faculty members in their development as scholars, creators, artists, teachers, and university citizens. The title is of lesser importance.

This strange period of limbo has of course affected my family. For one thing, if we're going to be leaving in two months for my new institution, we need to sell our house. In addition, our kids are in school and have been making plans for next fall, choosing classes and activities. Outside of school they are quite active in sports and the arts. Do we tell the other parents, "We're going to leave if Milton gets tenure"? To which I'm sure many would be left to wonder, What's tenure?

Throughout the months of uncertainty, my family has been great. My wife has struck her own deal with me: She's going back to school at my new institution to get her master's. She's also negotiated a new wardrobe. The kids want a couple of cats and a swimming pool. We're still in negotiations.

So, I have a new job (kind of), tenure (almost), a graduate student for a wife (probably), and two cats (most likely). I'm glad that two months before our move everything has fallen into place with no ambiguity.