My Goals for Year Three on the Tenure Track
Waiting for her party guests… whenever I forget how long I’ve been in this job I just ask myself, “how old is ELlie?”!
Now that summer 2019 is officially over 😢 I can update you on my goals from year three on the Tenure Track!
If you missed my posts about the first two years, you can check them out here.
My First Year on the Tenure Track + Advice to My Past Self: First Year Edition
My Second Year on the Tenure Track + Advice to My Past Self: Second Year Edition
What was going on during year 3?
In terms of teaching, I eased into the year by not teaching during fall term.
This rhythm works well for me, I’m all about the slow start!
During winter and spring, I taught four classes. Two were online and two were in our distance program, which means the classes were condensed into 4 sessions (from 9-5).
Content wise, I had taught all of these courses previously; however, modality wise, it was my first time teaching one of the online courses. This meant that there was a significant amount of prep work in terms of making videos and adjusting the online content to match my style.
In addition to teaching I advised 30 part time students. While this was more students than I’d advised in the past, the travel component of my old advising duties wasn’t there, which balanced out the increase (I think!).
Research wise, my focus was on submitting another funding application.
However, this one didn’t actually give me money to do research but instead would pay off a significant portion of my loans.
I didn’t end up receiving it; however, you can apply more than once. I might apply again if the stars align.
My research goals feel like they are on autopilot: submit 3 papers, submit a funding application, work on data collection, and submit 2 conference presentations.
I’m also always looking for potential collaborators/research connections, so I spent some time networking (although not as much as years one and two).
Year three also marked my halfway point to tenure, which meant I submitted my 3rd year review.
Because I'd gotten everything organized for my 1st year review it didn't feel too terrible to get it put together. Although at the time I didn't necessarily enjoy it, the reflective component was super helpful.
Anyway, I submitted my 3rd year review and had positive results, which is a good sign for moving forward. I wrote about it in some weekly updates here and here.
In non-tenure track life, we continued to get settled into the community and our house.
A few highlights were taking a multi-family trip to the coast, Mike building a massive built in bookshelf/storage bench around our front window, finding affordable Olympic lifting classes, taking a 5 night camping trip, finding a preschool for Ellie, and getting back east (for me it'd been 2 years).
Okay, on to my goals.
research (goals met: 4 out of 5)
Goal: submit 1 funding application
Goal met? Yes! I submitted an NIH Loan Repayment Program application. As I mentioned earlier, it isn’t actually about getting money but about getting your loans paid off. I didn’t get it, so my loans won’t magically get lower, but I can always try again.
Goal: Submit 3 papers
Goal met? Yes! Pretty sure this ended up being 4 papers with 1 paper submitted during fall term, 1 during spring term and 2 during summer.
Goal: Submit 2 conference presentations (1 first authored)
Goal met? Yes! My first authored presentation was accepted (as a poster) and the 2nd presentation where I was a co-author was not. But, they were both submitted!
Goal: Work on systematic review each week of each term when there is something to do
Goal met? Nope. I’m trying to get away from time based plans, e.g., doing something for a certain amount of time each week, versus what I’m specifically going to produce. I do much better when there’s a specific end goal versus a vague idea of work each week. This project is a collaborative effort (as pretty much all of my research is), and navigating multiple people’s schedules and availability has been tricky and not conducive to being able to move forward each week.
Goal: Do 1 manuscript review
Goal met? Yes.
teaching (goals met: 10 out of 10)
Goal: Prep for 1 online research methods class
Goal met? Yes.
Goal: Teach 1 section of research methods
Goal met? Yes
Goal: Prep for 1 face to face research methods class
Goal met? Yes.
Goal: Teach 1 face to face research methods class
Goal met? Yes.
Goal: Prep for a stats/data analysis class
Goal met? Yes
Goal: Teach 1 section of stats/data analysis class
Goal met? Yes
Goal: Prep for an online human development class
Goal met? Yes
Goal: Teach 1 online section of human development
Goal met? Yes
Goal: Advise 30 students
Goal met? Yes
Goal: Participate in 1 teaching related professional development workshop
Goal met? Yes! My university offered a number of teaching related professional development workshops that were of interest to me during fall term and I went to maybe 3 total. I also applied for and received a small grant to do some work related to open education resources in one of my spring courses. And, my department paid for me to go to a conference focused on online learning. So, I’d say I did a lot with this one.
service (goals met: 4 out of 4)
During year three I set really basic service goals (i.e., serve on this committee). All of my energy was (and is) going to research and teaching. I don’t have extra to expend in this area… perhaps after tenure? These goals serve as a reminder to myself during the year that I need to make some space in my calendar for these things.
Goal: Serve on equity committee from September to June
Goal met? Yup
Goal: Serve as lead instructor for human development course from September to June
Goal met? Yes… plus summer work. There’s gotta be a better system for this role. The human development course is primarily taught in the fall, which means that people are getting ready during the summer. While I really enjoy supporting people with their teaching, I also want to limit doing work when I’m not getting paid (which just reinforces to the university that it’ll get done and they don’t need to compensate anyone for their time… which I realize is already a massive issue). I’m trying to find a balance between providing support, especially for adjuncts who are new to the role, and also not putting a ton of time into this during the summer months… maybe I’ll create some videos this year?
Goal: Serve on a faculty search committee
Goal met? Yes
Goal: Serve as a scholarship judge for one community organization during winter term
Goal met? Yes.
tenure (goals met: 1 out of 1)
Goal: Submit materials for my 3rd year review in February
Goal met? Yes!
personal (goals met: 6 out of 9)
Goal: Exercise 3 times per week every week
Goal met? Nope! I did well in the fall and part of winter, then my back started bothering me and things got hectic...
Goal: Work up to a 30 minute meditation practice every other day
Goal met? Nope... but, in August I started doing 10 minutes daily, so I’m making progress!
Goal: Start Olympic lifting (I added this goal in after I did my initial yearly planning session)
Goal met? Yes! But now I’m not because of my back. Eventually I’ll get back into this.
Goal: Work no more than 8 hours/day, Monday - Friday
Goal met? I stopped tracking this at some point during the school year. No weekend work was pretty good (minus my chaotic Jan/Feb). I’m also sure I went over 8 hours a few times. I’m going to count this as a “no.”
Goal: Start a blog
Goal met? Yes!
Goal: Maintain a blog, posting at least once a week
Goal met? Yes!! I’ve got to figure out how to channel this consistency into my workouts.
Goal: 1 trip back east
Goal met? Yes!
Goal: 1 “long” trip
Goal met? Yes! We went to a tiny town on the Columbia River (the Washington side) for 3 nights, so not really long but it was fun! And then we also took a 5 night camping trip, which is definitely long, ha!
Goal: 2 short weekend trips
Goal met? Yes! We had lots of weekend trips. A few coast trips, plus a trip to San Francisco for a conference.
