Keeping Up

It really is the wrong time to start this blog again, but when have I ever done anything at the correct time.

I'd like to say I'm in the middle of my comps study, but really I'm approaching the end of it. My exams are not until February, but that feels like tomorrow. There is so much to read between now and then I cannot even fathom having it done in time.

I'm hoping that the occasional diversion of posting will keep me from going completely over the edge.

Over at Rate Your Students there has been an ongoing debate between senior and junior faculty. The latests installment is here. The argument began in the comments at one of my favorite blogs - Reassigned Time. The crux of the argument was a perceived lack of gratitude and loyalty in junior faculty with tenure track positions who put themselves back on the market. At RYS the debate has devolved into whether or not junior faculty, especially those who are a part of gen-x, are guilty of perceiving themselves as special.

RYS is a fun forum, which I typically head to for a good laugh; however, I think this subject deserves more serious treatment. The Cajun Princess and I talked about it in the office yesterday. In everyone's haste to define junior faculty as lacking commitment and senior faculty as rigid and overbearing, no one takes up the underlying issues about the structure of departments and universities.

The profession has changed. The market is ridiculously tight, which means that I will take whatever job I can get...until I can find the one that I want. If departments are really that worried about keeping junior faculty they need acknowledge that the structure of reviews, tenure, and promotion needs to change. Not only is the job market tight, but the publishing market as well. A broader range of publication and scholarly work need to count towards tenure goals and/or those goals need to be readjusted. I realize those requirements differ at every institution, but there are certain goals like book publication that seem to be pretty universal. There are definitely prejudices about alternative forms of publishing that need to be addressed. I pay attention to the junior faculty at my university. I see how hard they work, what kind of work they do, and how it is or is not valued in our department. You don't have to sit on very many committees to see how senior faculty respond to the work of junior faculty.

The discussion that needs to happen isn't about generational divides and job loyalty/security. It is about the nature of the job itself.