If the prospect of being a professor seems interesting, this book
is for you. If you have already committed yourself to an academic
career, then find out what options are available to you now, before
time runs out This book is a primer on how to succeed in this
challenging - yet rewarding - vocation. The following target
audiences will discover the fascinating world inhabited by
professors, and for those already in the profession, a multitude of
career options that are available to you: graduates, contingency
faculty, new tenure-track professors, newly tenured professors, and
mature tenured professors. This book first describes the range of
academic careers, their opportunities and pitfalls, including the
concept of tenure, the long sought goal of most aspiring academics.
One of the benefits to an undergraduate reader is an opportunity to
get inside the world of the academic and examine the many different
career paths that are available, once the tenure hurdle is
overcome. This book also includes much advice from detailed
interviews with other academics who have achieved 'stardom' as
leaders, scholars, researchers, entrepreneurs and teachers. Among
our interviewees are the presidents of four leading universities
(two American, two Canadian). Importantly, the authors and most of
the interviewees have, in addition to their academic achievements,
substantial experience in the public sector and private business;
they can see from the outside as well as from the inside. Still,
not all of such pre-tenure counsel has the professor as client.
Much of the pre-tenure advice, on the contrary, is based instead on
what the university wants. While not suggesting that an employee
who wishes to pursue a successful career should aim to do the
opposite of what his or her employer prefers, it would equally be
folly to suggest that the employer's interests and the employee's
interests are identical In contrast with the pre-tenurial context,
what one should do post-tenure is more mysterious. It is less
written about (from the professor's viewpoint); less discussed;
less codified; more based on cryptic insinuations, private
discussions with mentors, and just plain guesswork - hardly a solid
framework within which to plan a successful career. There is much
more to consider, as we shall see. Thus this book then assists with
the post-tenure career period - hardly a brief interlude, more like
virtually all one's life as an academic and most of one's life on
Earth. For academics to treat their post-tenure professional life
as a black art is simply not acceptable. We see the achievement of
tenure as the grand (creaking?) opening of very large, very heavy
doors, revealing an exciting post-tenure world beyond. As for the
"black art," effectively equivalent to ignorance, we hope to shed
light on the many exciting possibilities that can bloom in the
post-tenure world; to broaden the options seriously available; and
to suggest strategies for choosing and pursuing these options. The
authors recognize that in most North American universities there
exists a two-tier academic system: those on a path to tenure, and
those hired on contingency contracts (non-tenure stream). It is
important to the graduate student contemplating an academic career
to realize that, unlike his professors who are close to retirement,
tenure stream appointments are no longer the norm and are becoming
less frequent. However, this book will still be of value to
contingency faculty, virtually all of whom aspire to tenure stream
appointments. The authors' objectives for this book include the
following: Help readers gain a better insight into the world of
academe; Define issues relevant to choosing an academic career and
provide guidance in reflecting on these issues; Assist other
professors to broaden their perspectives; and, most of all, Help
our fellow academics to plan their careers.
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