Friday, March 17, 2006
Money and confirmation....
Another Thursday, another late night in the office. One of the trepidation I've always had about this job is the reality of being stuck or hitting the ceiling. Generally, jobs in academia are stratified. By that I mean that one can work as a college professor at a one level or another. This level I may be at has no effect on the position in anyway. I am presently an Instructor, ostensibly level 5. When I am granted tenure on September 1st, I will be promoted to Assistant Professor Level 2 (I think). After that I can be reasonably sure of promotions all the way to Level 6 or 7. With these promotions come a raise at around 5k per level. Factor in all the raises guaranteed in the contract, and I'll be making a pretty penny. However, there are more lucrative layers past Assistant Professor: Associate and Full await. However, there is no promise, implied or otherwise, that anyone will ever reach these new titles.
One reason you may be denied is education. To qualify for Associate, you must have 180 credits in total. Theoretically that is 120 for the Bachelor's and 60 for a full Master's. It doesn't need to be exactly that ratio, however. As it is, my MS was 36 credits. I do have an overabundance of undergrad, so I'm only 7 credits away. Full Prof's have a PHD for the most part, although two full Master's would fulfill the academic requirements. Very few reach the final level, generally because they don't have the education. Still, even if you have the education, that does not mean you'll move up. One reason is competition, there are a limited number of slots and I would be up against professors of all stripes and disciplines, not just counselors. Also, the process is much more political, and there is some... It's hard to explain. I'll save that for a future post. Moreover, financial aid counselors are not well thought of right now, so I'd be fighting that perception a well.
This is not just conjecture; one of my colleagues in my office who literally works her ass off in various committees and as the District Chair and as a Senator was denied out of hand. With that I know I'm dead in the water. However, the insight that the process is the farce that tenure was is valuable knowledge. The farce is in the opposite direction as tenure (a near inevitable "NO" vs. a near inevitable "YES,") but that doesn't matter. I will not be killing myself for something I cannot get, so I'm off the hook. I will try for promotion in about 5 years, after quite a few of the Boomers retire. This will free up spots and maybe I'll get in. Again, I'm not complaining, but I worried about this when I got hired, and it turns out I was not off base. More later...
One reason you may be denied is education. To qualify for Associate, you must have 180 credits in total. Theoretically that is 120 for the Bachelor's and 60 for a full Master's. It doesn't need to be exactly that ratio, however. As it is, my MS was 36 credits. I do have an overabundance of undergrad, so I'm only 7 credits away. Full Prof's have a PHD for the most part, although two full Master's would fulfill the academic requirements. Very few reach the final level, generally because they don't have the education. Still, even if you have the education, that does not mean you'll move up. One reason is competition, there are a limited number of slots and I would be up against professors of all stripes and disciplines, not just counselors. Also, the process is much more political, and there is some... It's hard to explain. I'll save that for a future post. Moreover, financial aid counselors are not well thought of right now, so I'd be fighting that perception a well.
This is not just conjecture; one of my colleagues in my office who literally works her ass off in various committees and as the District Chair and as a Senator was denied out of hand. With that I know I'm dead in the water. However, the insight that the process is the farce that tenure was is valuable knowledge. The farce is in the opposite direction as tenure (a near inevitable "NO" vs. a near inevitable "YES,") but that doesn't matter. I will not be killing myself for something I cannot get, so I'm off the hook. I will try for promotion in about 5 years, after quite a few of the Boomers retire. This will free up spots and maybe I'll get in. Again, I'm not complaining, but I worried about this when I got hired, and it turns out I was not off base. More later...
