Promotion from Associate Professor to Professor

1. UTIA Promotion & Tenure Workshop 2019 Promotion fromAssociate Professor to Professor Scott Senseman Professor and Department Head Department of Plant Sciences

2. Criteria for appointment to Associate Professor • Quick answer to any questions that you might have regarding criteria – See: https://facultyhandbook.utk.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/82/2019/04/Faculty-Handbook-2019.pdf

3. Professors are expected to: • Hold the doctorate or other terminal degree of the discipline, or present equivalent training and experience appropriate to the particular appointment • Have normally served as an associate professor for at least five years (exceptions require UTIA Chancellor approval) • Have shown beyond doubt that they work well with colleagues and students in performing their university responsibilities

4. Professors are expected to: • Be accomplished teachers (promotion to associate professor requires one to be a good teacher) • Have achieved and to maintain a nationally recognized record in disciplinary research /scholarship /creative activity/ engaged scholarship • Have achieved and to maintain a record of significant institutional, disciplinary, and/or professional service or outreach engagement • Serve as mentors to junior colleagues

5. The Procedure for Promotion to Associate Professor Quick answer to any questions you have regarding promotion to associate professor – See: http://provost.utk.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2016/10/Manual-for-Faculty-Evaluation-2016.pdf See Appendix B

6. The Procedure for Promotion to Associate Professor Also see UTIA Dossier Preparation Tips: https://ag.tennessee.edu/Documents/Faculty%20and%20Staff/2015%20UTIA%20Promotion%20and%20Tenure/DossiePreparationTips-2015.pdf

7. The Procedure for Promotion to Associate Professor • An associate professor should consult with department head before initiating promotion procedures • The final decision on proceeding rests with the faculty member • A faculty member denied promotion after completion of the process must forgo at least one full promotion cycle before initiating promotion procedures again

8. Things to Ask Yourself When Considering Promotion to Professor… • Do you have a mentor or mentor committee? • Do you mentor assistant professors and young researchers? • Are you advising and training graduate students? • Do you interact well with colleagues?

9. Things to Ask Yourself When Considering Promotion to Professor… • Are you involved in service at the national level? • Do you have national/international recognition? • Are you an accomplished teacher that others want to emulate? • Do you collaborate with others outside UTIA?

10. Rule of Thumb Deadlines to Consider • Dossier reviewed and submitted to department head – July/August • Letter requests – July/August • Updated changes to dossier submitted to department P&T Committee – November • P&T Meeting – December • Materials submitted to UTIA P&T Committee – Mid-December

11. Frustrations of Associate Professors • “Although associate professors have successfully navigated challenging straits to find a permanent faculty position, the irony is that many are even more dissatisfied than they were pre-tenure…” • “The flowering of programs aimed at junior faculty…can make associate professors feel like they are working without a net. Many noted that earning tenure was a rude awakening, as they had not anticipated how much greater their workload would become post-tenure.” Taken from: https://www.insidehighered.com/advice/2015/05/29/essay-frustrations-associate-professors

12. Frustrations of Associate Professors • “Many associate professors find themselves increasingly pulled into mentoring and service work, which, while crucial to institutional functioning, does not always build their careers. Associate professors may be frustrated by the immediate demands of service work that materialize upon earning tenure when it is almost exclusively their scholarship that earns them promotion in the long run.” Taken from: https://www.insidehighered.com/advice/2015/05/29/essay-frustrations-associate-professors

13. Are you ready? • “You Might Not Be Ready for Promotion. People often overestimate their accomplishments, and associate professors are no exception.” • “…associate professors and their departments face strong incentives to avoid premature promotion bids. It is much better to wait for another year or two, establish a strong record of research and publication, and then sail through the process. A roundly successful candidate wins respect, greater influence inside the department, added backing from deans and provosts, and support from some "big names" in the field.” Taken from: https://www.chronicle.com/article/You-Might-Not-Be-Ready-for/230783

14. Are you ready? • “Look at recent successful promotions in your department — then add a safety margin. Departments are committed to consistency, for academic and legal reasons. The CVs of recently promoted full professors are, therefore, good reference points. Avoid those cases where someone just scraped by. Moreover, you need to do a bit better than your recent predecessors. Most departments want to improve, so their standards gradually rise. The idea here is to correct for the tendency to overestimate your own accomplishments.” Taken from: https://www.chronicle.com/article/You-Might-Not-Be-Ready-for/230783

15. Remaining Sane in the Midst of Chaos • “A new study by the Collaborative on Academic Careers in Higher Education (COACHE) at Harvard University reaches the rather startling conclusion that associate professors are some of the most unhappy people in academia.” • “…I wonder if these results aren’t connected to the fact that most associate professors are in their late 30s to early 50s – a time when there is a great deal of change in life, such as becoming parents, dealing with aging parents, becoming homeowners, etc.” https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2012/06/04/associate-professors-less-satisfied-those-other-ranks-survey-finds

16. Remaining Sane in the Midst of Chaos • Remember why you wanted to do this job in the first place • Opportunities abound • New discoveries • New relationships can be created continually - nationally and internationally • Sphere of influence to others is tremendous • Building capacity is a challenge but it can be done • Hang in there • Doesn’t hurt to ask for help

17. Understand What We Do To You… • We need talent and creativity…People who can create something from nothing… • We need team-oriented, collegial people…More often than not, we get those kind of people… • We can not tell you the exact number of widgets that you need…but we try to tell you anyway…

18. Understand What You Do… • You tend to push yourself…hard. And overcompensate… • You tend to say ‘Yes’…a lot…without thinking because you think that you have to… • You tend to feel stress… • You think that ’They’ did it to you… • You tend become good at what you do…so you get asked again…

19. What Might Help… • Create a space between stimulus and response • Before you say ‘Yes’, ask yourself some questions: • Does this activity provide me an opportunity to develop a new skill? • How much effort will it take and for how long? • Who is helping me? • Does it align with my personal/professional mission? • Who is asking me?

20. What Might Help… • Remind yourself why you said ’Yes’ to this job • Be selfish enough… • You get to do this like you want to • Find a way to give yourself oxygen • Control what you can control and leave the rest

21. Great challenges x Intelligent + committed people = Incredible accomplishments Neil A. Armstrong, Edwin E. Aldrin, Jr., and Michael Collins, NASA Getty Images