Sometimes you’re part of a larger movement without even meaning to be. This year I became a statistic, one of the 47 million who resigned their jobs. I am The Great Resignation. I decided to leave my faculty position.
Today I’m going to share why I left my tenured associate professor position, where I landed, and what it means for my future. Along the way I’ll share some important takeaways from my journey.
Why I left
Tenure is the Goal, right?
Tenure track positions are seen as the holy grail of positions in higher education. The graduate student transition guide at the University of California at Berkeley even calls it “The Promise Land.” After working toward uncertain benchmarks for 5-6 years, the faculty members submits a dossier highlighting their accomplishments – most notably their scholarly productivity, and hopes to receive approval at multiple levels of the institution that will end with the conferring of tenure. Now that’s the promise land….Or is it?
I had landed this coveted position and passed the final hurdle and received tenure in 2013. By all appearances I had arrived! I made it! And let me tell you, it felt great! Things take a slightly more relaxed pace right after tenure. Some of the pressure to publish or perish diminished. I worked on projects that hadn’t had my attention for a few years. I took a sabbatical, and had a bit of ease for a time.
I’m tenured, now what?
During this time I started exploring new teaching techniques and approaches. I also considered new directions of service. However, I felt a bit disjointed. I could see that I was doing a lot of different things, but all of my work wasn’t adding up to more than the sum of it’s parts. I started to feel like a cog in the wheels of my institution instead of like I was living and working on purpose. This is probably common among many mid-career professionals. I decided to dedicate intentional time and resources to self-reflection and strategic planning for the next stages of my career.
I joined a coaching program…well a few different coaching programs. In those programs, I drafted an academic mission statement and started to align all of my work around that mission. Through those activities and the personal coaching I received, I started to feel passion again and see how I could make an impact beyond the 8 courses I taught per year. As I leveled up my coaching and completed several strategic planning exercises, I determined ways that I wanted to grow my career in the future to have the biggest impact toward my mission.
Realization Hits…I’m in the wrong faculty position for me
As I worked to implement those changes, I realized a disconnect between my future plans and the institution where I worked. It was a good place to work; however, the structures in place at a regional comprehensive institution did not allow for the allocation of my time and sufficient resources to do the work I most wanted to do.
So, after talking to my family I decided to go on the job market with full force and intention of landing a position that aligned with my mission, goals, and work that I wanted to achieve.
That’s why I had to leave that faculty position.
Where I landed
Based on my mission and future career goals I had a prioritized list of criteria for my future job. None of them on their own were deal breakers, but this list helped me focus my job search and ultimately decide which position to take.
#GoPokes
After a 6 month long process and multiple job offers, I accepted a position at Oklahoma State University in the Department of Languages & Literatures.
Time to focus on research ✅
3 course load per semester maximum ✅
Possibility for future leadership in the program, department, and institution ✅
Potential to work with graduate students ✅
Located in an area with reasonable cost of living ✅
Tuition assistance for my family (I have 3 teenagers!) ✅
What’s next personally and professionally
I feel confident that this is the right next move for me and my family (they may disagree at this moment; teens, am I right? 🤷 – Update 12/14/2023 – they all love it and are glad we moved!). I had to leave that faculty position, but I’m not leaving academia. I still have so much to do.
Personal Projects
On the personal level, we’re looking forward to exploring our new town and taking road trips to nearby locations. We’ve rarely been to Oklahoma or this part of the US before, but it has lots of things we enjoy – lakes, rivers, woods, and more. As soon as the rest of the family gets here, I’m sure we’ll be planning weekend family adventures.
Scholarly Projects
As I settle into my new position I’ll be working on a couple of large scholarly projects.
I’ll be running a research study of the first-year faculty experience. The call for participants will go out in the coming month. If you or someone you know is a first year faculty, please keep your eyes peeled for the call for participants. It will be a year-long program with content and group coaching sessions. My primary target for this study are faculty joining ASL and Interpreting programs. I’m open to other faculty who are entering academia from professional backgrounds (teachers, graphic designers, artists, etc.)
I’ll continue working on my book for first-year faculty. I have been working on this for a while already, the book proposal should be off to the publisher by the end of August! I am so excited to be working on this book. When I was a beginning faculty member, I didn’t know what I didn’t know. I went to my favorite source for information, but I did not find many books that matched my experience. So, I’m writing the book I wish I’d had almost 20 years ago!
Personal-Professional Projects
I recently started a training program to become a certified coach through the International Coaching Federation. I’ll be providing a range of coaching services by the end of the year (update 12/14/2023 – I’ve completed all of my course work, and almost all of the required hours for certification). Coaching has had a major impact on my professional development and I look forward to using my skills to assist others in their professional journeys.
You can learn more about my coaching services here.
What’s on the horizon for you?
Even though I had an excellent position at a university that I enjoyed in a town that was our community, I still needed to find a different position. Sometimes our mission, goals, and growth lead us on paths we didn’t expect. Is your current position and location aligned with your mission and goals? if not, how might you make adjustments where you are to make them aligned? How might you know when you need to consider other options?
Trust me, I know it’s scary to take that leap. But I want to encourage you to Be bold – follow your mission – even if that means you need to leave your faculty position.
Let me know how you’re following your mission right where you are.