Tenure Clock Research Articles

Speaking Out on the Post-Doctoral Experience

You have accessThe ASHA LeaderAcademic Edge1 Mar 2008Speaking Out on the Post-Doctoral ExperienceWhat is the value of completing a post-doctoral fellowship? Jessica Bowen Nunez Jessica Bowen Nunez Google Scholar More articles by this author https://doi.org/10.1044/leader.AE.13032008.24 SectionsAbout ToolsAdd to favorites ShareFacebookTwitterLinked In To help answer this question, ASHA asked several former and current post-doctoral fellows to share details about their experience, and what led them to pursue that career option. For Shurita Thomas-Tate, an assistant professor at Florida State University, a post-doctoral fellowship allowed her the time to develop as a researcher without the pressures of a tenure-track position (e.g., teaching and service requirements). Mary Jo Cooley Hidecker, a post-doc at Michigan State University, said that “the major positives of the post-doctoral fellowship are time and mentorship to develop my research program, write grants, and submit to journals. Improving my research skills prepares me to take on the many tasks required to be successful in the academic environment.” Additional benefits include time to make the transition from student to professional, the opportunity to gain a general “portfolio” of experience that may make it easier to apply for a faculty position later on, and the chance to develop a new or underdeveloped area of expertise. There are a number of factors to weigh, however, before accepting a post-doctoral fellowship. Kumiko Boike, a post-doc at Arizona State University, said that a post-doc “will probably be challenging at times,” noting issues including salaries lower than those of faculty appointments, limited opportunities to engage in mentoring and/or teaching activities, and a delay in establishing independence from a mentor. Despite the challenges, the post-doctoral fellows interviewed said that their experiences were invaluable in helping them prepare for a faculty position. Renetta Tull, director of the PROMISE Program at the University of Maryland-Baltimore County, said that she was able to “make smooth transitions and navigate the campus, the department, and the field from the perspective of a faculty member as opposed to seeing the academic world as a student,” and that she enjoyed acclimating to a new state and city “without the pressure of the tenure clock.” Tina Grieco-Calub, a post-doctoral fellow at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, added that in addition to developing her research project, her post-doc is giving her “the ability to participate in administrative tasks and managerial issues that are part of running a lab.” More information on available post-doctoral opportunities and funding a post-doctoral fellowship can be found on the Web sites of the National Institutes of Health; the Council of Academic Programs in Communication Sciences and Disorders; and ASHA. Author Notes Jessica Bowen Nunez, research program manager, can be reached at [email protected], Advertising Disclaimer | Advertise With Us Advertising Disclaimer | Advertise With Us Additional Resources FiguresSourcesRelatedDetails Volume 13Issue 3March 2008 Get Permissions Add to your Mendeley library History Published in print: Mar 1, 2008 Metrics Current downloads: 112 Topicsasha-topicsleader_do_tagasha-article-typesleader-topicsCopyright & Permissions© 2008 American Speech-Language-Hearing AssociationLoading ...

Evaluating and Choosing Journals and Editors – A Guide for Authors

Evaluating and Choosing Journals and Editors – A Guide for Authors

Collaboration in Sport Research: A Case From the Field

Faculty members mindful of the ticking tenure and promotion clock seek ways to balance the competing and sometimes overwhelming demands of research, teaching, and service. One way to balance these demands is to fi nd opportunities for collaboration with colleagues, especially in the area of research. There are several compelling reasons to pursue joint research projects with colleagues; however, there are also diffi culties inherent in the collaboration process. This article will discuss the benefi ts and challenges of working on collaborative research projects with colleagues from the same discipline as well as across disciplines. As members of a team actively involved in several research projects and presentations, we use our own experiences to discuss effective strategies of collaboration.

Implementing flexible tenure clock policies

AbstractA professor who uses a stop‐the‐clock policy cannot be certain that his or her total work output will be evaluated as if he or she had a normal probationary period.

Combining Parenting and a Science Career

The sobering News Focus article “Family matters: Stopping tenure clock may not be enough” (Y. Bhattacharjee, 17 Dec. 2004, p. [2031][1]) shows how little has changed in the last 20 years to make child rearing possible for a woman scientist who receives her Ph.D. or M.D. around age 27, completes

Family Matters: Stopping Tenure Clock May Not Be Enough

University policies aimed at giving women time to have a family and a career are no match for the pressure to publish.

The "mommy tenure track".

For years women have been fighting for equity in the academic work place, but this acceptance comes at a price. Balancing work and family obligations have proven to be an awkward task where maximal satisfaction and gratification in both are not easily attained. Junior-level faculty have the arduous charge of being most productive and prolific exactly during their child-raising years. If our society wants to produce and maintain women professionals, then academic institutions have to be more generous and tolerant in the short-term for a long-term gain. The author proposes a "mommy tenure track" in which primary caregivers of infants are allowed to temporarily postpone their tenure clock. She also cites innovative initiatives being carried out at one institution to help women, including young mothers, with their academic careers and promotions.

Putting Rumors to Rest: The Impact, Quality, and Speed of Journal Special Issues

Over the past 15 years many questions have been raised about the role and value of special issue papers in our major double-blind reviewed management journals. This may partially be because the publication rate of special issues has been growing. As Olk and Griffith report in the following paper, between 1956 and 1987 one special issue was published every 4.15 publication years, or 6% of the 326 total issues published by the Academy of Management Journal (AMJ), Academy of Management Review (AMR), Administrative Science Quarterly (ASQ), and the Strategic Management Journal (SMJ). In contrast, between 1988 and 1999 a special issue was published every publication year for the journals studied, or 19% of 328 issues. Even when Organization Science (OS) is excluded because it was a new journal in 1990, the publication rate of special issues is still 17% of all issues published in the latter period. Given the increased rate of special issue publication, many questions have been raised about this practice. Those asking the questions include authors, those who evaluate authors' contributions to knowledge, and even editors themselves. One concern is whether a paper submitted for a special issue will take longer to be published than a “normal” submission. If so, then younger colleagues in particular may think twice, reflect on their tenure clocks, and perhaps be less likely to submit their work. A second question concerns whether the odds are higher that a manuscript will be accepted for a special issue rather than for a normal submission. Underlying the second question is the suspicion that somehow it is “easier” to get a paper accepted for a special issue than it is for a regular submission. Among the speculations are that special issue editors are required to fill a whole issue and thus may accept lower-quality papers than normal to “fill” the special issue. Following this logic, should evaluators somehow “discount” papers published in special issues because they may be of lower quality than regularly submitted papers? We now have data with which to address these questions. In the article that follows, Paul Olk and Terri Griffith report on data collected on the five mainstream management journals noted above for the years 1956–1999, and they compare special issue articles to regularly published articles, assessing speed to publication, impact, and paper quality measured by article citation counts. The authors find that for ASQ, OS, and SMJ, special issue articles are cited at a significantly higher rate than are regular issue articles. However there is no significant difference in citation rates for AMJ and AMR. Thus, for three of the five journals studied, special issue articles have a significantly higher impact. With respect to paper quality as measured by variance in citation rates, they find that there is no significant difference in citation rate variance for four of the five journals. With the exception of ASQ, there is no significant difference in quality when the two publication venues are compared. This study should put to rest rumors and generalized rumblings regarding the quality, impact, and publication speed of special issues in mainstream management journals in the United States. I highly recommend this interesting article to the readers of Organizational Science.

Love at Goon Park: Harry Harlow and the Science of Affection

Love at Goon Park: Harry Harlow and the Science of Affection

Case I: Managing People—The Case of the Frustrated Faculty Member

Managing people is a continuing leadership challenge. The foundation discipline for managing people relates to human resource management and faculty development in academic settings. In human resource management, administrators are challenged to balance the needs of individuals and the expectations of the organization for the mutual benefit of both. A primary goal of management is to lead and develop people and manage the organization in alignment with the mission and vision of the organization. The purpose of this paper is, first, to present an overview of human resource management and faculty development fundamentals including motivating, mentoring, and performance counseling. Second, a hypothetical case is presented for readers to apply theory to situation. Finally, the case is analyzed by reviewing central issues and the management concepts that may apply to the scenario. These include managing resources, mentoring, motivation, and development. In this case-based analysis, Dr. Orsten is a junior faculty member employed in a developing school. With a shortage of faculty in her field, she succumbs to the pressures of teaching and administration at the expense of her own professional advancement through research. The tenure clock is ticking, however, and Dr. Orsten has serious doubts about her ability to redirect her priorities and earn tenure. Dr. Hightower, the Associate Dean, also faces a dilemma: there is a shortage of faculty in Dr. Orsten's specialty, and the system is poised to exercise the "up-or-out" option.

Institutional policies of U.S. medical schools regarding tenure, promotion, and benefits for part-time faculty.

To collect data on institutional policies regarding tenure, promotions, and benefits for part-time faculty at U.S. medical schools and determine the extent to which part-time work is a feasible or attractive option for academic physicians. In July 1996, the authors sent a 29-item questionnaire regarding tenure, promotions, and benefit policies for part-time faculty to respondents identified by the deans' offices of medical schools in the United States and Puerto Rico. Responses were analyzed using descriptive statistics and chi-square analyses. Respondents from 104 of 126 medical schools (83%) completed the questionnaire; 58 responded that their schools had written policies about tenure, promotion, or benefits for part-time faculty. Tenure. Of the 95 medical schools with tenure systems, 25 allowed part-time faculty to get tenure and 76 allowed for extending the time to tenure. Allowable reasons to slow the tenure clock included medical leave (65), maternity leave (65), paternity leave (54), other leave of absence (59). Only 23 allowed part-time status as a reason to slow the tenure clock. Policies written by the dean's office and from schools in the midwest or west were more favorable to part-time faculty's being allowed to get tenure. Promotions. The majority of respondents reported that it was possible for part-time faculty to serve as clinical assistant, assistant, associate, and full professors. Benefits. The majority of schools offered retirement benefits and health, dental, disability, and life insurance to part-time faculty, although in many cases part-time faculty had to buy additional coverage to match that of full-time faculty. Most medical schools do not have policies that foster tenure for part-time faculty, although many allow for promotion and offer a variety of benefits to part-time faculty.

The Ticking Tenure Clock: An Academic Novel. By Blaire French. Albany: State University of New York Press, 1998. 256p. $24.50.

The Ticking Tenure Clock: An Academic Novel. By Blaire French. Albany: State University of New York Press, 1998. 256p. $24.50.

The Family Track: Keeping Your Faculties while You Mentor, Nurture, Teach, and Serve

How do the necessities of caring for others deter, benefit, or redefine research and teaching in higher education? What have universities done to recognize the difficulties facing academic parents, single mothers and fathers, graduate students, lesbian and gay couples? What pro-family policies can be enacted during institutional budget crises? At a time when the academy is an ever more demanding arbiter and shaper of the lives of those it employs, The Family Track: Keeping Your Faculties While You Mentor, Nurture, Teach, and Serve discusses the challenges and benefits of balancing a rewarding professional life with the competing needs to nurture children, care for aging parents, and engage in other personal relationships. Here academic women and men explore issues that include biological and tenure clocks, childcare and eldercare, surrogate parenting of students, and increasing job demands. In telling stories about the quality of their lives, they express their hopes, anxieties, difficulties, and personal strategies for maintaining a delicate but achievable balance. Lively, well-written, useful, and persuasive The Family Track reveals much on family roles within the academy and suggests many specific projects and guidelines for Institutional change. -- Judith Kegan Gardiner, editor of Provoking Agents: Gender and Agency in Theory and Practice