CFP: “Tenure, Inc.: Junior Faculty in the Market-Driven University” (3/1/2008; Coalition of Women in German Conference; 10/23-10/26/2008, Snowbird, Utah)
As evidenced both by trends toward privatization and corporatization of the university as well as by increased reliance on non-tenure-track teaching lines, the professional landscape for young Germanists has changed drastically over the past decade. While university resources are dwindling and new faculty responsibilities – for everything from program building to search committees – proliferate, the demand for “excellence in research” has remained stable or increased. Junior faculty are often faced with the prospect – and expectation by their administration – of securing external funding to provide them with the time and resources they need to pursue their research, often while filling positions they may not be able to rely upon having for the next semester or for the long term. What role does tenure have in this contemporary “market-driven” university?
This panel aims to foster discussion of tenure as an institution and consider what implications (both positive and negative) the apparent move away from tenure might carry with it. We are also interested in the increasingly visible role corporations play in the politics and practice of the university, especially in state-funded institutions. We invite papers that offer strategies for successfully navigating this new professional landscape, including those that consider institutional responses to these issues from administrative perspectives. Priority will be given to papers that examine these topics in experiential, programmatic, and/or practical capacities.
We invite short and informal papers that might consider some of the following issues:
- the conundrum of work/life balance for the young academic in the current tenure environment
- tenure in the Digital Age (including everything from the “decline” of the printed book to the impact of technology on the profession)
- the recent appearance of “research-only” positions that further widen the gulf between teaching and research
- the tenure clock and the biological clock: marriage/partnership and the question of when/if to have children
- multiple teaching competencies (Film Studies, Women’s Studies, etc.) – career boon or liability?
- the rise of the community college sector / online distance education
- increased pressure for humanities scholars to pursue “external funding” for research in the face of dwindling university reserves
- the disappearance of pre-tenure leave for research
- dependence on lecturers and adjunct or visiting faculty for the sake of “economic flexibility” but at the expense of program continuity
- university attempts to promote “diversity” by overtaxing women and minorities in terms of committee service and other responsibilities (tokenism)
- dependence on lecturers and adjunct or visiting faculty for the sake of “economic flexibility” but at the expense of program continuity
- university attempts to promote “diversity” by overtaxing women and minorities in terms of committee service and other responsibilities (tokenism)
- the politics and praxis of “visiting assistant” “adjunct” “adjunct assistant” “preceptor” “lecturer” “renewable” “teaching fellowship” and other sometimes mysterious job ad terminology
- social life and emotional stability as they relate to professional performance
- the role of feminism, postfeminism, activism, mentorship
Please send a one-page proposal to both of the organizers by March 15, 2008:
Elizabeth Bridges (bridges AT hendrix.edu)
Kristin Vander Lugt (ktvl AT iastate.edu)
