Tenure

Julie is up for tenure at Metro State.  Her Dossier is due on the 31st.  It has been a full court press over the last 6 months to complete her Dossier.  Whew...    The photo shows the fruits of her labor and YES, in the photo is the book of documents she will be turning in.  It is her life's work in a 3-ring binder.  Imagine having to put this all together, have it reviewed by your colleagues and then let them vote on whether or not you get to keep your job.  Yikes.  Stay tuned.  The announcement will be made Feb 17. 

TENURE FOR DUMMIES:
Just what is tenure? Academic tenure refers to a policy which gives professors and teachers a permanent contract, effectively ensuring them a guarantee of employment … for life. Teachers that have tenure cannot be fired unless for “just cause”, such as severe misconduct or incompetence, and even then cutting through the red tape can be extremely difficult.

Tenure gained traction in the early 20th century as a means of protecting educators from being fired for the wrong reasons. Back then, a new political party in office or a racial or personal bias could get perfectly good teachers sacked; tenure was created to ensure that teachers didn’t suffer from the capricious actions of administrators. Tenure also serves to protect professors whose research or teaching curricula might ruffle feathers, and to ensure job security for out-of-the-box academic pursuits.

Typically, academic tenure is granted to university professors only after an intensive and protracted process of review and vetting, and professors usually don’t come under review for tenure until they’ve spent at least five years in a “tenure-track” position.