Twice Denied

This blog is a place to put stuff that I think about a lot but basically nobody wants to hear.

The title is derived from an 2004 article in the Chronicle of Higher Education titled "Dead Professor Walking" by Maria Annunziata (a pseudonym) about her terminal year after being denied tenure at a midwestern research university (http://chronicle.com/article/Dead-Professor-Walking/44596/).

I've been there, done that. In fact, done it twice. Well, the second time I wised up and I decided not to take the terminal year, as something else came along. All in all with both positions included we're talking 13 years of full-time, assistant professorness, ending in bouncing completely out of academia at the end of that.

One thing I have learned about being denied tenure, and I've had a chance to learn it twice now, is that as much as you can stand it, you DON'T want to talk about it with other people afterward, not at all. As much as you want to scream to the heavens about the injustices which have been wrongly put down upon you, it only makes your situation worse. In terms of moving on with your career, whether in or out of academia, you want to have that be known as little as possible. Especially if you are continuing on in academia, or trying to.

But I can go into that in more detail later.

I have no high hopes for anyone reading this, but it will be helpful to at least have a place to get it out. One thing I DO wonder about, and this came to me immediately when it happened, was this: do you suppose there is anyone out there who has gone down this road *three* times? Is there a Guiness Book of Records for such things? Even if you are only twice denied, like me, or once denied, I'd be interested in hearing from you.