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.
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.
