Where Does Program Promotion Fit in the Tenure Picture?

I'm applying for tenure this fall which means I have to prepare a sizable dossier with a long self-evaluation enumerating all the ways I'm awesome. I have a working document with a table of the tenure criteria, the ways I'm meeting them, and how I'm addressing shortcomings. I'm not worried overall, but I am a bit concerning about the balance of high I spend my time versus how I will be evaluated. This is especially tricky with regards to promoting French courses.

I've often said I would love to be in a field that no one questions the value of. Electrical engineer for a utility company? Only the weirdos who find camping fun and doomsday-ers living off the grid would say making electricity is frivolous. If you must study another language (when many people in the U.S. think knowing one, English of course, is more than enough), well that choice should obviously be Spanish or "Chinese" (the superficiality of this term is a topic for another day). Tell people you teach French and 9 times out of 10 the conversation will veer in the direction of "what can you do with proficiency in French."

I battle these stereotypes and perceptions pretty much everyday. The battlefield isn't the classroom of course, it's in my students' homes 6 years in the past when they likely first had the chance to think about studying a language. If their middle school even offered another language. If they could justify spending the time on it when they likely had to figure out how to squeeze in music, art, coding, sports and many other "good for you" subjects and activities. So how do I possibly override at least 6 years of baggage (not including the way the foreign languages and the humanities more broadly are portrayed these days)? Without a time machine? Without legal access to my students' homes?

At the same time, my university is increasingly concerned by small class sizes. We sell ourselves to prospective students as offering an intimate experience thanks to small class sizes. But not too small. And the meager 3-5 students I get in most classes is barely cutting it. I must have influential guardian angels in the right places because as I type that it becomes more obvious that what I do is ripe for elimination.

So on top of teaching 4 classes, undertaking professional development and scholarship like conference presentations and article writing, participating in community events both on campus and beyond, I also bear responsibility for the whole French program. The curriculum, pedagogy, and yes, sigh, recruitment. Where exactly do I place this sizable, ongoing, relentless, thankless task? In the "excellent of teaching" category of the tenure evaluation? None of the components really captures recruiting, retention and promotion. "Service to the college community"? Hmmm...it would be a stretch and utterly pompous of me to say my classes are a "service" to the community. "Scholarly activity and professional activity." This work is definitely not scholarly but maybe "professional"? Oops. The category description says "which includes membership in professional organizations in one's discipline and presentations at professional meetings." Guess it doesn't fit there. Near as I can figure "Professional Conduct" is the best fit. Described as "(1) conduct[ing] oneself professionally and ethically towards students and colleagues; and (2) display[ing] emotional and intellectual maturity that will enable one to serve as a role model for students" I think the best case I can make is that most of the recruiting, promotion and retention I do is underscored by the "real world" value of studying French and by extension, studying it can open up "professional opportunities." I've worked in international business; I've lived, worked and traveled abroad; I network with business professionals in a variety of fields so I guess I'm a role model for students (who I want to use their French for professional purposes someday.) These mental gymnastics leave me exhausted.

I've given a snapshot of my professional life. Multiply me by the thousands of French teachers and professors in the U.S. who also bear sole or almost sole responsibility for their programs. Who are expected to be, at least at the college level, experts in the classroom, solid generalists with knowledge of the whole canon of French literature and probably most of francophone lit as well, active scholars, leaders of study abroad programs, and innovators of curriculum. Thanks to cutbacks in many places, they are probably the only person or maybe 1 of 2 people who can do all of this for their programs. Did I mention exhaustion?

How do I reconcile the official tenure criteria with the (perceived anyway) need to invest time and energy in recruiting, retention and promotion? If I focus on the former and abandon the latter I will find myself out of a job. If I spend too much time on the latter I sacrifice the former and run the risk of losing tenure and the meager stability it affords me.

Summer Goals

I think every teacher grapples with this dilemma: there is a multitude of things you want to accomplish because you finally have some unstructured time after approximately 9 months of frenzy. You are looking forward to many if not all of these tasks. You can't wait to get started on them. And yet you fail to accomplish even a fraction because you're paralyzed, largely because of the aforementioned lack of structure that gives you the illusion of amplitude and blinds you to the realities of the timeframe you actually have to work with. You feel something like "I must accomplish ALL THE THINGS. NOW." And end up accomplishing virtually nothing.

I'm going to try to remedy this by identifying my summer goals, scheduling them on specific days and times over the summer so they are distributed and represented, and then check back in with myself in August. If I don't "schedule" different things I find I end up throwing all my time at one task when I intended to do many.

My goals:

• more or less finish my tenure dossier so some light revising is all I have left to do in August (I have a thorough outline done so far.)
• read the novels I've assigned in a new history/French lit class this fall
• prepare my syllabi and supporting documents for the first days of classes (one class is almost done)
• prepare the major and/or new-to-me activities for my courses
• file the piles of papers I've accumulated
• catch up with reading the various magazines I've received the past year, especially the issues of The Language Educator (only one left!), The French Review and Foreign Language Annals
• tweak the formatting and submit an article on an Algerian film
• identify a journal and start formatting an article on an Algerian novel
• cook more (especially recipes I've clipped and saved with the intention to try them)
• Skype or facetime with some beloved friends I rarely get to see (did one a few weeks ago, good phone conversations with others recently so I'm making progress!)
• exercise at least 3 times per week (so far so good, I'm able to comfortably run again without knee pain)
• read for pleasure (working on La Peste [The Plague] by Albert Camus in print and The Little Paris Bookshop in audio)
• publicize the amazing final projects my students did this past semester. The constant cloud of promoting French and retaining students is exhausting and the topic of a separate post (reached out to some colleagues in marketing which will be a slow process.)

                                          Intermediate French journal from "trip" to France

                                     
                                      Planning and executing a francophone breakfast in 101

Reflecting on the Attacks on My Second Home

In January and November of 2015 serious violence erupted in France. In January was the bombing of the Charlie Hebdo headquarters. November was the series of ISIS attacks at the Stade de France, Bataclan concert hall, and other sites. Like many people on social media, I felt compelled to post memes and change my profile pictures in solidarity and support with the French people.

Not long after, I saw some thoughtful critiques of the actions like I took. Basically, why were people inspired to publicize their solidarity with attacks on France, when there are so many other places in their world where atrocities occur every day and the average person never acknowledges them, let alone take the time to change their profile. I thought that was a good point.

The sentiment is certainly true, I AM against terrorism (and violence, inequality, sexism, racism, hypocrisy, homophobia, sweet and savory food mixed together, chocolate-covered fruit, mosquitos and a multitude of other things), but there was something different about Paris.

After some soul-searching here's what I've come up with and I think it might hold true for other people. Paris is the only major city in the entire world that I feel truly comfortable in. I confidently navigate the public transit there. I have explored almost every neighborhood at some point, even "les quartiers chauds." I've spent time there with my loved ones and experienced some of the most important events in my life there.

I have cumulatively spent close to 2 years of my life in France. I've spent 25 years of life studying the language and culture of the place. Not only have I traveled, but I have LIVED there-I had my own apartment, phone, utility bill, and checking account there.

All of that means I am attached to that place like no other. It was not a place that was "given" to me by someone else, like the city I grew up in, which my parents chose. It was not a place that I compromised on like my current home which is partway between my job and my husband's. Paris and France feel like "mine." It's the #1 tourist destination in the world by most estimates (followed closely by London, but I'm pretty sure Paris is still winning). Which means millions of people have visited and have developed attachments to it.

How many people have visited Tunisia? Mali? Syria? Iraq? These aren't considered "safe" destinations for many reasons beyond the geo-political ones that are the focus of the 24 hour news cycle. There IS eurocentrism afoot in the outpouring of love for France (and to a lesser degree, Belgium). By extension you could make a case there is racism afoot. But there is also a practical side. France is accessible in ways that west or north Africa are not (linguistically, culturally, logistically, etc). People NEED to visit more places. We NEED to diversify our travel destinations. It's the best way to humanize the cultures we don't understand. But until that is possible, people's attachments will remain with the places they have been themselves; the places they've seen in films and sitcoms; the places evoked in art, literature and history. As Hemingway wrote,

Once you've been there it becomes a part of you. Not at the expense of another place or another group of people, but just a profound experience in its own right.