My Goals for Year Four on the Tenure Track
My heart aches just thinking about this past academic year (and also thinking about what the upcoming year will bring). The above photo was taken on Ellie’s birthday, in the middle of a pandemic, the day after George Floyd was murdered. Not to mention the loss of my dad and my mom’s stint in the hospital. It was around the time that this photo was taken where I hit my breaking point in the year. I’m generally a pretty even keeled person, it takes a lot to rattle me, and this week stands out as the point where everything that was simmering inside started to surface. Mainly in the form of crying at literally everything. Fun times. It all had to come to the surface at some point… although it would have been nice to get to the end of the school year first. Oh well.
I’ve written this type of post before, where I go through my goals from the previous year. If you missed the posts about my first three years on the tenure track, 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
My Third Year on the Tenure Track + Advice to My Past Self: Third Year Edition
What was going on during year 4?
Well… what wasn’t going on during year 4? I’m thankful that so many of the decisions I’d previously made about when to teach and in what setting really helped get me through all of the challenges that this year had in store.
In terms of teaching, I (once again) eased into the year by not teaching during fall term.
Looking back, this decision was key in getting through fall term after my dad died. I didn’t have to figure out how to grade and answer student emails alongside fresh grief. Granted, I was doing these things the rest of the year, but I’m grateful for the space I had during the fall.
Across winter and spring I taught three classes, all online. Again, in hindsight, making the decision to teach totally online this year helped tremendously. Not having to move spring classes into a virtual format was a life saver (although I was prepping for a new online course so I was still doing some of this work, but I had planned for it already). I’d taught all of these courses previously. The one I hadn’t taught online I’d taught multiple times face-to-face, so I had the content ready to go. There was certainly a significant amount of prep work in terms of making videos and adjusting the online content to match my style… but, again, I knew this was coming. I’d planned to tackle most of this during fall, when I wasn’t teaching. But after mid-November I set it all aside to pick back up during winter.
Research wise, I started off focused on submitting an external funding application, and then shifted to taking things one step at a time.
I let go of the original funding submission I had my sights on because it just wasn’t realistic. In the spring another opportunity came across my path that seemed doable so I went for it. I didn’t end up receiving it, which honestly felt like a relief (so maybe I shouldn’t have submitted in the first place). My other research goals were accomplished in large part due to wonderful collaborators. I did what I could and they took it from there. While I had a number of goals that I’d set at the beginning of the year, in reality I threw them all out the window. If I hit them, great. If not, no big deal. I kept going with what felt good and ignored the rest.
Last year I submitted my 3rd year review, which means year four was an annual tenure review.
I submitted my 4th year review in early October 2019, which covered accomplishments between my 3rd and 4th year reviews. Because of the timing of their submissions, they were only a few months apart (~7 months) so it was a little weird to turn around and write my annual review in the fall after having submitted the 3rd year review in February. In any event, it was nice to check off something so big at the beginning of the school year.
In non-tenure track life…
My dad died, my mom was hospitalized, and then the world continued to unravel from there. Meditation, weightlifting, going for walks, and spending time with friends (when that was still a thing), helped me put one foot in front of the other. Ellie spent about 8 months in preschool before they shut down, which was really sweet to see and participate in. After many, many discussions Mike and I decided that a move back to the east coast will happen at some point. So it’s not a matter of if anymore, it’s a matter of when.
On to my goals… the goals below are what I initially set before the year started. I didn’t formally revise them but gave myself a pass in my head on anything that didn’t seem worth it.
research (goals met: 6 out of 7)
Goal: submit 1 funding application
Goal met? Yes. I initially had my sights set on an R21 through NIH. It seemed like a good fit for some of the work I was doing and felt like a good next step. Then my dad died and it just wasn’t worth the effort. I initially thought I might submit something in late summer (as opposed to February), but there were so many other issues that came up with the potential project that it just felt like pulling teeth to get this particular submission to work. I said no to the R21 and kept my eyes out for other opportunities that seemed doable given everything else going on. In May I came across another funding opportunity where secondary data could be used and decided to go for it. In August I found out I didn’t get it (which actually came as a relief), but my goal wasn’t to get it, it was to submit the application, which I did. Plus, I can re-work what I have for something else in the future.
Goal: Submit 3 papers
Goal met? Nope. Submitted one. I had three specific papers in mind. One was submitted and accepted! One is theoretically going to be submitted in the next few weeks and the other I didn’t touch at all.
Goal: Resubmit 2 R+Rs
Goal met? Yes and they were both accepted!
Goal: Submit 1 conference presentation
Goal met? Yes, thanks to a former faculty mentor from my PhD program.
Goal: Create poster for conference presentation
Goal met? Yes. I didn’t end up attending the conference but did create the poster for my colleague to present.
Goal: Finish systematic review
Goal met? Sure? The actual review itself is done. The write up hasn’t happened yet and is currently on pause as we were just finishing up submitting a paper. This is up next.
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 online research methods class
Goal met? Yes.
Goal: Prep for 1 online stats/data analysis class
Goal met? Yes.
Goal: Teach 1 online stats/data analysis class
Goal met? Yes.
Goal: Prep for 1 online human development class
Goal met? Yes
Goal: Teach 1 online section of human development
Goal met? Yes
Goal: Participate in 1 teaching related professional development workshop
Goal met? Yes.
service (goals met: 4 out of 4)
Like previous years, I set really basic service goals (i.e., serve on this committee). These goals act 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? I served on this committee until February (ish, can’t remember the exact month) when I pulled myself off to lighten the load. So, I’ll say yes since I did serve on the committee for some period of time during the year.
Goal: Serve as lead instructor for human development course from September to June
Goal met? Yes… plus summer work, always summer work with this one. Thankfully most who are teaching this do so in fall so this wasn’t too heavy of a lift during winter/spring when I needed things to be lighter.
Goal: Serve as a scholarship judge for one community organization during winter term
Goal met? Yes.
Goal: Serve on campus open education task force
Goal met? Yes. Like the equity committee, I pulled myself off this committee too. So, I’ll say yes since I did serve for some time during the year.
tenure (goals met: 1 out of 1)
Goal: Submit materials for my 4th year annual review
Goal met? Yes. Thankfully this happened in October, before everything fell apart.
personal (goals met: 4 out of 8)
Goal: Create/maintain a consistent exercise routine.
Goal met? I’m going to give myself this one. While what I’ve been doing has shifted over time, I have been pretty consistent with this. Mainly lifting 3 days a week with a bit of cardio thrown in occasionally.
Goal: meditate for 10 minutes/day
Goal met? Yes, amazingly. And now I’m up to 20 minutes consistently.
Goal: Journal for 15 minutes/day
Goal met? Nope. I think maybe I need to make this a weekly thing. Or maybe pair it with my meditation.
Goal: Host 1 round of plan(it)* in December and another during the summer
Goal met? Yes, I adjusted both rounds based on my life and the world, but I did put them out there two times this school year.
Goal: Volunteer in Ellie’s classroom 4 times
Goal met? Nope. I was in the classroom once and that was back when my back was still giving me issues. The one time I went in I was in a lot of pain by the end of the day. After my dad passed away in November I had Mike take all of my classroom volunteer sessions for our family until March when things shut down and it didn’t matter anymore.
Goal: 1 trip back east
Goal met? I was going to say no, but I guess we actually did make a trip back when my dad died. Not the trip we imagined, but we did get to see some of our family and friends during the trip. So, yes, I guess we did end up doing this.
Goal: 1 “long” summer trip
Goal met? Nope. We had a mini trip booked for August, just 2 nights at an Airbnb about an hour from where we live. Unfortunately the host got sick. We wouldn’t have had to interact with them, but the space was connected to their home. Just in case it was covid we decided to cancel, didn’t want to chance it.
Goal: 1 short trip in March
Goal met? Nope. We had a short trip planned for Cannon Beach back in March during my spring break. It was right around the time things started shutting down and the beaches were telling people to leave. We decided to play it safe and stay home instead. Thankfully we were able to use the money we’d paid for the March rental towards a future booking with the company.