Pausing the Tenure Clock: Questions to Ask Yourself
May 2021: One of our last walks before becoming a family of four
I'm coming back to the tenure pause discussion one last time. If you follow me on instagram or subscribe to my newsletter you know that I decided to pause my tenure clock. The main reason behind this decision was timing. My materials would have been due pretty early in the postpartum period. Materials for external reviews were due in July (about 2 months postpartum) and the final review would have been due in early October (about 4.5 months postpartum). I didn't want to bank on recovery being an easy process that would allow me the mental space to write/compile my materials (in hindsight this was 1000% the right decision). In addition, both of these dates were also in the middle of my parental leave. I wanted to do as little work for my job as possible during that period and actually take leave.
In this post, I'm revisiting and answering the list of questions I wrote back in April 2020 of things to consider when you're thinking about a tenure pause.
What is my university's process for pausing the tenure clock? Is there a COVID-19 specific policy? For both of these things, who is eligible?
I was able to find a very specific covid policy related to pausing your clock but struggled to find something concrete about pausing for major life events. I'm assuming because covid was new and everyone was scrambling to figure out what to do, they decided (i.e., had) to make this process very concrete. Because not everyone pauses for life events and certainly not all at the same time, they probably haven't had to deal with a mass influx of questions on how the process works, leaving it a bit more nebulous.
As someone who was having a baby, is a caregiver, and has a research partner who works within our state's health department (i.e., she was very much impacted by the pandemic) I qualified for a covid related pause and a major life event pause. There was a form for covid related pauses so I filled it out, sent it to my dean, the dean's assistant, the associate dean, and the chair of the promotion and tenure committee and asked... is this what I'm supposed to do? The dean's assistant checked with the provost on the protocol and they said I needed to write a letter and have HR verify that my leave was approved. The dean also needed to write a letter in support of my decision. Here's what I wrote...
With this letter, I am formally requesting a one year extension of my Promotion and Tenure review due to pregnancy and the birth of my second child in May 2021. I will be on parental leave starting in mid-May 2021 and will return to work on December 9, 2021. In addition to a challenging pregnancy due to extended sickness and giving birth in May, the COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in delays in collaborative efforts with my main research partner (e.g., delayed data collection, funding applications, and publication of papers). My research partner works within the Oregon Health Authority (OHA) and their staff members, including my research partner, have taken on additional roles to support OHA in pandemic related efforts (e.g., contact tracing), with non-COVID related research becoming low priority.
My Promotion and Tenure review was initially scheduled for October 2021. I am requesting an extension until October 2022. I appreciate your consideration and attention to this matter.
The dean's letter explicitly stated his support for my pause and identified the updated timeline. Both letters, along with HR's confirmation of my leave, were sent to the provost who also wrote a letter reiterating what was happening (lots of letters) and adjusted my clock. We all reviewed and electronically signed off on all the letters.
What are tenure expectations in my department? Where do I stand? What have my previous reviews looked like?
We have expectations around research productivity (though not specific numbers), teaching excellence, and service participation. Compared to others who have gone up recently, my materials look pretty comparable so I felt confident. I've been continually publishing (though there has certainly been a slow down these past two years), have positive teaching reviews and show thoughtfulness in my teaching reflections, and I've been an active participant in my service commitments. All my previous annual reviews and my third year review have been positive. There was one minor comment on my last review about hoping that the upcoming year would provide me with the space to get additional first authored papers and funding applications out before going up for tenure. I think this was meant as a way to acknowledge the hardships of the previous years and express hopefulness for the future, rather than being a requirement for tenure. I ended up emailing the chair about the intention behind this statement to be sure. Given my productivity in earlier years I felt okay with a lull... during a global pandemic.
What are the politics of tenure in my department?
In my experience, the tenure process has been really supportive. I don't get the sense that grudges or office politics make their way into the decision process (at least not enough to result in denial of tenure). I'm also confident that my colleagues would support my decision to pause (or not) and that it wouldn't be looked at as a negative.
How have my research, teaching, and service been impacted?
For both the 2019-20 and 2020-21 school year, my research productivity has gone way down, at least in terms of projects I'm leading. I've managed to get co-authored papers out, but no first or single authored papers. My main collaborator also works for the health department in our state, which meant she had many things added to her plate when the pandemic hit and our work took a back seat, so that slowed things down as well. However, I do feel like I did a lot during the first few years on the tenure track which has given me a bit of wiggle room in this area.
My teaching efforts went way up as I was teaching a full load and also supporting students as they navigated the pandemic and grad school. I think I could have spun my tenure narrative to say that while research productivity went down, my efforts to support our community of students went up. I'd argue that this is more important than publishing at this particular moment in time. Service felt like it stayed relatively the same, with a little bit of an increase right before I went on leave and was trying to finalize a course revamp.
Do I have the mental energy to put my materials together?
Not really. Mentally, I've felt pretty foggy since my dad died and just unable to engage fully in the work that previously brought me some excitement. Pregnancy compounded this, especially with nausea. Even though I have a lot of things written for the tenure process, I felt way too tired to put everything together and reflect in a thoughtful manner. While there have been many times that I've pushed through before I didn’t feel like I had the energy for it this time around.
What are the financial implications of pausing vs. submitting?
I think it's an $8,000 pay bump after you get promoted. So I'm missing out on an additional year at a higher salary, which certainly has long term implications for annual cost of living raises, retirement amounts, etc. My salary is currently just under 75,000, so I'd be moving into the 80K range with tenure. Yet another example of how caregivers are often penalized for putting family/well-being first.
What other life events might be happening around submission time and how would they impact the process?
Like I previously mentioned, submission for external reviewers was in July and the final submission was scheduled for fall. Both of these dates are in the thick of newborn/infant life. Ellie also starts Kindergarten in the fall, shortly before the final submission deadline. Plus we have plans to fly back east for my dad's memorial service in the fall (2 years later). Not to mention I'll still be on leave when the final submission is due. Overall, lots of emotional events and transitions happening around submission time.
Who can I talk through this decision with?
I talked to SO many people. My dean, the promotion and tenure committee chair, colleagues, coaches, Mike, even Ellie! Really, anyone who would sit and listen to me go on and on about whether or not I should pause my clock.
Other questions that I did not initially ask but thought of along the way...
If my university does annual reviews: do I need to submit another annual review if I pause my clock?
What is the timeline for tenure submission and notification of pausing my clock?
Am I planning to stay at this institution? If I’m planning to go to another university, what type of university is it (i.e., would I have to start the tenure process over again or could tenure be transferrable)? If I don't go to another university or faculty job, does tenure matter?
Ultimately, the decision to pause felt like it was best for my overall well-being and my family.