What They Didn't Tell Us In Graduate School: Navigating To Tenure or to a Permanent Contract in Europe and the U.S.

Graduate school rightly focuses our attention on teaching and research. Later, we learn how to survive on short-term contracts and how to hit the ground running at the next university. And, at every university, we prepare courses to serve both our passionate and our less engaged students. Meanwhile, we begin to learn details about annual reviews,  probation (third year) reviews, committee service, and student evaluations. We become familiar with the "Publish or Perish" rule, the importance of the BOOK, and journal rankings. In Europe, we take public exams. And whether in Europe or in the US, we are expected to contribute to the department's administration. Years after starting grad school, we seek to arrive at a permanent contract or at tenure, the Big T. But first, we have to assemble a large tenure package.

Chair: Steve Usselman, Georgia Tech

Panelists:
     Stephanie Dyer, Sonoma State University
     Ann-Kristin Bergquist, Umeå University
     Eric Godeliér, École Polytechnique
     Pamela W. Laird, University of Colorado at Denver