The
Tenure Track Marathon is inevitably a long
and lonely winding road. |
Do your close friends, partner and family truly understand the
nuances of your research? Probably not.
Early in your academic career, usually by the time you have finished
your proposal for the dissertation, you will know more about your
specific research topic than any other person. The specialized world
of academia is intrinsically isolating.
Because of the solo nature of most scholarly pursuits, it is useful
to deliberately create strong social support networks. To succeed
as an academic, while maintaining your sanity and sense of humor,
I suggest consciously creating a network of helpful colleagues.
Work as diligently at forging fortifying friendships as you would
on any other component of your career.
Tenure Track Buddies
When you were in preschool, and went on field trips, your teachers
had you team up with a partner and hold hands. The buddy system
was what kept you from getting lost and helped you feel less anxious
and alone.
Now, a couple of decades later, a planned companionship system
is still the best method to keep from getting lost in the maze of
your career path.
How to Develop a Tenure Track Buddy
- Find a peer to team up with as your friend, confidant, advisor,
and taskmaster. It's not necessary for this person to be in your
department, field or university.
- You can start this process on the first day of graduate school,
after comps, when you're an A.B.D., when you've begun your faculty
appointment, six months before you come up for tenure. Anytime
is fine and the earlier the better.
- Meet or talk by phone on a regular basis. Weekly is ideal.
- Brainstorm and decide on the tasks you each need to tackle.
Help one another set specific, weekly goals.
- Remember that you don't need to understand the content of one
another's research. Just keep track of the action steps you must
each take.
- Help one another choose reasonable plans that are actually achievable.
"Is that a realistic goal?" is a good question to ask.
- Each week, commit to the number of hours you will work. Designate
when those hours will take place, taking into account other work
and personal commitments.
- Write up and email one another your weekly plans.
- Review the previous week's plan to see what has gone well and
what has gone wrong.
- Provide moral support, encouragement and sage advice.
- Laugh together at the absurdities of academia.
Commonly Asked Questions
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A:
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Can my spouse
or partner be my Tenure Track Buddy?
No, usually not.
When you ask your partner to be your academic buddy you are
creating a dual relationship that invites negative transference
issues. You may find your loved one quickly morphing into
a nagging parent.
I have known academics whose spouse was their most trusted
critic and valued taskmaster, but do you want to take this
risk? No. Share the tribulations and glories of your intellectual
life with your partner. Go ahead and ask for advice. Show
your drafts. Strut your stuff. Just don't make your lover
your study hall monitor.
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Can I have more than one dissertation
buddy?
Yes. It is great to
have a stable of supportive peers. It is common to develop
buddies specialized roles - such as statistics maven, grammar
editor, politics navigator, co-complainer, cheerleader. Usually,
however, you will want a "best buddy" because you'll
only have time to meet with one person on a weekly basis.
Having regular, nonnegotiable appointments - whether by phone
or in person, and usually with adjunct, email updates - is
the hallmark of an ideal buddy system.
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Should I pick an accomplice in my
department?
It depends on whether you are a graduate student or a junior
faculty member.
If you are a grad student or post-doc,
you may. If you are an untenured professor, don't do it.
The pros and cons of intradepartmental buddies doctoral student
or a postdoctoral fellows are complex: there are compelling
benefits, but also emotional dangers, to this arrangement.
The risk is jealousy. In many top doctoral programs, sibling
rivalry is rife. (I find intense peer competition to be especially
problematic in clinical psychology departments where we scramble
to prove that we are not only the most brilliant, but the
most empathetic, generous, warm and supportive!)
If you can avoid envy, then a buddy within your department
has many advantages. He or she will know the players and the
system, and can often give the best advice for dealing with
advisors, bureaucracy and academic requirements. You can more
confidently reassure one another than you are still sane and
the system is crazy.
In contrast, if you are an assistant professor, avoid developing
a Buddy relationship with anyone in your department. The benefits
are not worth the dangers.
In graduate school, the professors want all students to be
successful and graduate. It is in their interest to have a
successful cadre of students.
At a faculty level, however, there can be reality-based,
survival-of-the-fittest pressures. There may be several junior
profs vying for the same tenure spot. University bureaucrats
may prefer to keep a rotating pool of less-expensive junior
faculty and make permanent room for only the star players.
Because of the potential for competitive conflicts of interest
among untenured peers within individual departments, it is
preferable to find colleagues in other fields, or other universities,
to be your Tenure Track Buddies. (Please note that a tenure
track buddy is not the same is a mentor: you definitely want
to foster as many mentoring relationships as possible with
senior colleagues in your department.)
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Support Groups
My specific suggestions for organizing and
participating
in peer support groups will be forthcoming by 9/03.
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In the meantime, I would highly suggest reading Chapter 7 in Joan
Bolker's great book, Writing
Your Dissertation in Fifteen Minutes a Day. Chapter 4 in
Peter Elbow's classic book, Writing
Without Teachers, may also be useful in drawing up guidelines
for a support group.
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