tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36212542.post7364267232739008371..comments2024-03-09T03:20:20.004-05:00Comments on Tenured Radical: Are You Getting Your Adjunct On? A Few Do's And Don'ts For New Members Of The Adjunct ArmyTenured Radicalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05703980598547163290noreply@blogger.comBlogger62125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36212542.post-14567598453526037702012-06-22T11:00:27.362-05:002012-06-22T11:00:27.362-05:00Nick Parker's article on "The Economics a...Nick Parker's article on "The Economics attachment" on Boston.com really is excellent definitely have to readsports handicapping serviceshttp://www.priceperheadcostarica.com/betting-software-services/noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36212542.post-88340090533065788502012-04-27T21:11:44.936-05:002012-04-27T21:11:44.936-05:00Hi, great article. The way you explained it is rea...Hi, great article. The way you explained it is really awesome and makes every one to read till the end. keep posting..price per headhttp://www.priceperheadcostarica.com/betting-software-services/noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36212542.post-7937963478949835622012-04-17T14:22:23.610-05:002012-04-17T14:22:23.610-05:00I love the way Tenured Radical offers sage advice ...I love the way Tenured Radical offers sage advice to those off the tenure track while collecting her full-time tenured salary, first at a university in Connecticut and now at The New School. <br /><br />If Tenured Radical were truly radical, she would kiss the academy goodbye!Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36212542.post-65171325823401496152012-03-02T04:45:46.713-05:002012-03-02T04:45:46.713-05:00It is very good post nice and must be admitted one...It is very good post nice and must be admitted one of best blog. thanks for sharing.Best Social Media Optimization Companyhttp://www.ebrandster.com/social-media-optimization.htmlnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36212542.post-66667011421796417192012-01-21T05:42:34.867-05:002012-01-21T05:42:34.867-05:00I see that you have so many followers, its because...I see that you have so many followers, its because your post is always interesting to read. Keep posting more.<br />_______________<br /><a href="http://employmentagenciesmelbourne.com.au/job-agencies-melbourne" rel="nofollow">Job Agencies Melbourne</a>Job Agencies Melbournehttp://employmentagenciesmelbourne.com.au/job-agencies-melbournenoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36212542.post-10891018251387547882011-05-09T14:12:42.847-05:002011-05-09T14:12:42.847-05:00Amen!!!! I've been heralding much of the same ...Amen!!!! I've been heralding much of the same advice in my department (as the grad adviser) and I'm always met with disapproval. My colleagues feel I'm no longer fighting the good fight and become right wing (when I tell my students not to get caught up in local battles at the expense of doing the important work that secures jobs). Here is an interesting post by the way: http://www.thenation.com/article/160410/faulty-towers-crisis-higher-education?page=fulldavid shorterhttp://www.davidshorter.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36212542.post-14512112373509846502011-04-26T13:35:01.937-05:002011-04-26T13:35:01.937-05:00Well, I think actually the last part of the post i...Well, I think actually the last part of the post itself applies to tenure track jobs, too. I've opted for academic rather than non academic jobs several times because of the expectation that I should prefer academia no matter what.Zhttp://profacero.wordpress.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36212542.post-44072640024607570342011-04-25T16:41:23.761-05:002011-04-25T16:41:23.761-05:00I'm a little late to the conversation here but...I'm a little late to the conversation here but I think all of this is great advice for adjuncts.<br /><br />What I want to add is that I've seen this moving issue potentially be a serious factor at the tenure-track level as well as the VAP level. I'm posting anonymously because I don't want to identify any institution here. <br /><br />I've just observed a tenure candidate get denied tenure and I hear it was based on how s/he only showed up for the minimum, as s/he was commuting here from Big City for all hir assistant professor years. Few people knew hir, few people ever saw hir around campus, and while the official reason for denial was lack of adequate scholarship, the unofficial word on the street is that s/he didn't get tenure because s/he was basically absent from the community.<br /><br />Life is a balancing act, right? We all have our priorities but we need to be open to reconsidering them when we need to. I'm not all the jazzed to be living in Bumpuddle (pop. 5000) but I won't try commuting from Big City at least until I get through tenure. Even TT people need to know the value in demonstrating commitment to the job and the institutional community.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36212542.post-18542784010872447992011-04-23T13:53:20.360-05:002011-04-23T13:53:20.360-05:00I think TR is right on here. Don't take it as ...I think TR is right on here. Don't take it as condescending if you're not tenured or TT, but as a cruel reality.<br /><br />I think folks really need to pay attention--as TR constantly insisted--to the context of the post, which refers to a full time visiting position. That's fundamentally different than any other position short of full time.<br /><br />I think one-year (or longer) visitors need to be protected, but they should also use the time to expose themselves to another environment in order to learn, for example: whether they really want to work at type X institution, how well they balance full-time teaching with their writing and research, what types of non-teaching, non-research issues higher education faces (fundraising, recruiting, accreditation, etc.) and so forth.<br /><br />Use the position to learn about work in academia, which will hopefully help make for better letters and better interviews. Maybe they're limited, maybe they're in crappy places, too (where so many of us actually live our lives), and maybe you decide to get out in the end.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36212542.post-42061268105953890842011-04-22T02:34:18.638-05:002011-04-22T02:34:18.638-05:00Still thinking about this. When does good advice n...Still thinking about this. When does good advice not apply? In the first round, I took the official best of the tenure track offers I had although of all the offers it was the least interesting to me personally. The offer I wanted was a 3 year VAP they swore would go <br />TT. I liked the people and the city and wanted to take it, but didn't since one is not to believe such promises; I feared ending up in the adjunct pool. But the guy who they hired when I turned them down, did have his position turn into TT as promised. And, it was a major metropolitan area, one would make many contacts. So I say on everything, go with your gut.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36212542.post-90745947133222904822011-04-20T17:31:13.008-05:002011-04-20T17:31:13.008-05:00On moving and commuting, don't the various com...On moving and commuting, don't the various comments pro and con apply to everyone, not just to adjuncts? <br /><br />And, doesn't this post just summarize the standard advice we get in graduate school? <br /><br />And if so, are there ever times when that advice doesn't apply? <br /><br />Especially now, with fewer and fewer tenure line positions open?<br /><br />I don't know. I guess where I differ with the post is that I read it to assume that there will be real jobs for those who play their cards right. I think where a lot of adjunct "anger" comes from is, they've been given this advice in situations where it doesn't apply, and where organizing would in fact be more appropriate.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36212542.post-78340067969281756982011-04-20T14:27:00.533-05:002011-04-20T14:27:00.533-05:00Scholasticamama: Congratulations! That's rea...Scholasticamama: Congratulations! That's really terrific. I hope they gave you credit on your clock for time served!Tenured Radicalhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05703980598547163290noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36212542.post-50090228417533017152011-04-20T14:23:09.366-05:002011-04-20T14:23:09.366-05:00Caveat to my post - I didn't read everyone els...Caveat to my post - I didn't read everyone else's comments - I'm in my 15 minutes of lunch in-between class and office hours. <br /><br />I'd just like to say - YES!! I am a second-year faculty who came from 10 years as an adjunct faculty. YES - you are correct in your assessments. Our dept has a policy that they must look at adjuncts as equally as anyone else (sad that it needs a policy, n'est pas?) and in the last 4 hires, 3 have been from visiting/affiliate faculty. I also think we should hold discussions for moving from adjunct to TT - there was a significant amount of changes I had to make, not the least of which was feeling like I was a full-citizen. Thank you for your words!Scholasticamamanoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36212542.post-82006936263739144442011-04-19T13:59:41.716-05:002011-04-19T13:59:41.716-05:00Some good advice, but I'd like to add that you...Some good advice, but I'd like to add that you should be wary of taking advice about anything other than organizing for your rights and for a decent livlihood. Folks who claim to know for insatnce about getting a "real" job usually have no practical advice-how could they? Check out New Faculty Majority for support and ideas for organizing. As article nicely points out, the scene is chaotic-look at cringingliberalelite.com for report on recent higher ed collective bargaining mtg.Alan Trevithickhttp://cringingliberalelite.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36212542.post-47628510040182262022011-04-19T13:59:15.214-05:002011-04-19T13:59:15.214-05:00Sorry to post again, but there was another point o...Sorry to post again, but there was another point on which I wanted to comment. TR says that being in residence is that "this is an opportunity for you to actually do your work in a community of scholars, and to wean yourself from your primary identification with your graduate school ... a year in a department is potentially a year of new readers, new discussions, and new people to support your career."<br /><br />With all due respect, I disagree with this. New readers? New discussions, and best of all, new people to support your career? Perhaps you teach in the one place left on earth where the tenured and tenure track faculty are cool like that. (and I'm not being snarky here) My advice to any would be adjunct or one-year temp hire is duck and cover and stay as far away from the tenureds as you can. Generally, they are not your friend. They do not like you and they really do not want you around. And what they really don't want thrown in their face is that you may be every bit as talented, engaged, insightful, and even productive as they are. That would ruin the illusion of academic hiring as a meritocracy. <br /><br />The one and only person with whom you want to make nice nice is the chair. If where you are teaching has an army of adjuncts and a small battalion of temp full time hires, then the chair at least will get it. And by "it" I mean they will understand the reality of academe and its hiring practices in ways the rest of the faculty will not. Plus, when all is said and done, the chair is the one who butters your bread insofar as they are the one who will give you sections. So yes, show yourself to be an active scholar and an engaged teacher to the chair, but only the chair, and leave the rest alone. They don't want to know you, and in general they don't care about you.<br /><br />I do tend to agree with "anon 7:42," the very first post in this thread, when they say "the faculty worry about their retirement benefits." Anon 7:42 may be overly cynical, though. The tenured and tenure track faculty also worry about their committee work, their upper-division seminars, their newly commenced writing projects, along with the new addition to the kitchen they're having done, and where they'll be summering. Oh, and the kids, they probably worry about how the kids are doing. So I'd include these along with the retirement benefits. But that's just me.Unknownhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16034528640228752280noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36212542.post-34267003326487140132011-04-19T10:48:53.073-05:002011-04-19T10:48:53.073-05:00The anger might be useful if it's fuel for mor...The anger might be useful if it's fuel for more research and writing.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36212542.post-64925917617597305812011-04-19T09:55:47.928-05:002011-04-19T09:55:47.928-05:00The problem with moving from some urban location t...The problem with moving from some urban location to Bumble Fuck for a one-year FT gig isn't that one would leave behind their nurturing community of scholars etc. The problem with moving is that it will remove one from a viable locus of adjunct employment after the one-year gig is done. <br /><br />I realize some will view the one-year gig as a stepping stone to tenure track, either there or elsewhere. That's nice. But as anyone who has been around the block once or twice can tell you, banking on that is quite the game of chance. <br /><br />I live in a large east coast city, though the only relevance of that fact is that there are umpteen colleges and universities here. I've even been hired for the occasional temp FT gig around here. But the rub is that while I had the one year gig, I didn't give up my adjunct jobs. The one year gig was a 3/3 and paid $46k. Except, I'm used to 6/6 and even 7/7, so 3/3 was a snap. I kept 3 of my adjunct gigs, and pocketed the $46k plus another $18k, give or take. Nice. Plus, the FT gig provided health insurance, and so I made sure during that year to have every test known to medical science done. I'm good. For now.<br /><br />The more salient fact, though, is that when the FT gig was done, I still had employment. Yes, it was back to the adjunct pool, but that's certainly better than nothing. <br /><br />I suppose folks could call me out for gaming the system. Right. Go for it. Sue me, or something ...<br /><br />I really wanted this post to be about what I thought was TR's best point, which was the one about anger. I know of the anger TR speaks about and it can be paralyzing. It's toxic to the point of being debilitating, and it's a bad way to live -- if it can even be called living. Indirectly, I suppose what I have said does speak to the issue of anger insofar as it explains how I've made peace with my lot in life. <br /><br />Academia for me is a job. Nothing more and nothing less. The thing is I can make more money as an adjunct teaching a 6/6 or 7/7 load than I can outside of academe. I'm not sure if that's sad or ironic. Ultimately, I don't really think about or worry about it all that much. <br /><br />One piece of advice TR didn't offer, but which I will is this: if one is foolish enough to go to grad. school in a humanities discipline, for fuck's sake, take some paralegal courses, or do what you need to do to acquire a (non-academic) desirable skill set. You know ... just in case.Unknownhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16034528640228752280noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36212542.post-72001769423695474772011-04-19T08:06:36.913-05:002011-04-19T08:06:36.913-05:00Commenters: attend to comment policy in sidebar o...Commenters: attend to comment policy in sidebar or risk deletion.Tenured Radicalhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05703980598547163290noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36212542.post-58641519681051314282011-04-19T06:40:18.352-05:002011-04-19T06:40:18.352-05:00The charges of contradiction -- which are not infr...The charges of contradiction -- which are not infrequent from my critics -- speak volumes about a public culture that is structured around irreconcilable binaries. It is not a contradiction to caution people against over-committing (emotionally, practically) to a teaching post at the expense of scholarship, and urging them to take pains to do it professionally while moving ahead in their scholarship. Nor is life necessarily a choice between moving frantically from place to place every semester and having a permanent home where one can stay in comfort for as long as one likes. Similarly, no one is "forced" to self destruct to gain entrance to elite schools: plenty of people get into elite schools without harming themselves, and plenty of people develop their best intellectual capacities at places that are not exclusive at all.<br /><br />I mean, really. No wonder Congress is in such a mess if this is where young intellectuals are at. And yes, this is an unambiguous reproof. Pull yourselves together.<br /><br />As for condescension, it's all in the eye of the beholder, isn't it? For example, I perceive many of these anonymous commentators as self-righteous, obnoxious, whiney and basing their critiques on dubious, highly selective readings of the text. But I am equally sure that you do not perceive yourselves that way, or you wouldn't do it.<br /><br />See what I mean (see howls of outrage from the masses below.)Tenured Radicalhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05703980598547163290noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36212542.post-4329949730007430452011-04-18T22:38:38.459-05:002011-04-18T22:38:38.459-05:00"show up at work and act like a scholar."..."show up at work and act like a scholar."<br /><br />This just makes me laugh. Speaks volumes.Phttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16625377988852170518noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36212542.post-30459008659683400282011-04-18T22:23:34.674-05:002011-04-18T22:23:34.674-05:00I don't think pointing out the inherent contra...I don't think pointing out the inherent contradiction is going berserk. Out of one side of your mouth you speak of the dangers of devoting yourself to a job that common sense tells you is a dead end, and out of the other side you express your frustration that people aren't devoted enough. I'm actually not much of a whiner. My adjuncting puts a roof over my kids' heads and food in their mouths, which is more than I had at times as a kid, and more than billions of people across the world. But knowing that others have it worse and that I'm not alone in being exploited doesn't make it hunky dory. Nor does it incline me to network with people who are condescending and clueless.<br /><br />Universities get what they pay for. If Zenith is paying its adjuncts a living wage, providing decent benefits, and offering some level of job security, then expecting devoted full time work in return is reasonable. Otherwise, TT faculty are going to have to suffer the indignity--shudder--of occasionally being asked for a ride to the train station.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36212542.post-76591157906274745422011-04-18T22:14:45.796-05:002011-04-18T22:14:45.796-05:00Tonight, I quit my last adjunct spot to take an ad...Tonight, I quit my last adjunct spot to take an administrative job that makes use of my degree but is outside a university. Degrees from Yale, masters' from another Ivy, time off w kids, and almost done a PhD at a state school. <br /><br />TR is right about VAP positions: Work is work and must be done well. Right too on considering other kinds of academic posts that will allow you to advance your work, which is what I'm doing.<br /><br />On anger: Lord knows, I try, but it's hard. Tenured faculty too often treat adjuncts like scabs, a fact I struggle to intellectualize and not take personally. <br /><br />The problem is that the university labor movt is so fractured. It serves only the most privileged workers. Bill Cronon's NYT op-ed was symptomatic of the problem. It was pablum analytically (thesis: Walker's problem is that he isn't Wisconsin nice) but got all this love because he's a made man.<br /><br />How much consciousness of real workers did any of the regular faculty marching in Wisconsin have? They love their own perks, like tenure, but would they march for hotel workers or the undocumented, or adjuncts, if their own privileges weren't threatened?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36212542.post-59305395198949330752011-04-18T21:53:55.168-05:002011-04-18T21:53:55.168-05:00TR @ 9:33:
It's the condescending tone, borde...TR @ 9:33:<br /><br />It's the condescending tone, bordering on sneering disgust. <br /><br />It's something I've seen you do before, incidentally, when discussing academic workers whose professional position is less secure than your own:<br /><br />http://tenured-radical.blogspot.com/2010/12/tell-us-about-your-dissertation-and.html<br /><br />Not telling you to stop or anything. Just saying, that's why people went "berserk."Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36212542.post-88317506199517663852011-04-18T21:42:29.761-05:002011-04-18T21:42:29.761-05:00New Kid on the Hallway 9:26:
I'll use the sam...New Kid on the Hallway 9:26:<br /><br />I'll use the same analogy again: college admissions.<br /><br />It may be the case that college admissions has become so inhumane that high school students have to pop pills to pull all-nighter after all-nighter and keep their grades up. But just because that's the inhumane reality of hyper-competitive college admissions doesn't mean you should ADVISE high school students to pop those pills.<br /><br />TR brushes this comparison off (at 11:02), but living in fear of having to change locations every semester is absolutely terrible for one's physical, emotional and psychological health. It strikes me as sociopathic not to at least acknowledge this human reality.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36212542.post-90867015644027035632011-04-18T21:33:41.839-05:002011-04-18T21:33:41.839-05:00I think what is interesting is the way commenters ...I think what is interesting is the way commenters locked on to about ten words in a 2k plus post and went berserk. "Moving" is not a symbolic gesture here, nor is it a mandate (a second possibility would be renting a room a couple nights a week, and of course there is no need to move if you live close enough to show up regularly.) The idea is that if you are an adult, and have been appointed to a FT job ( salaries for such, even as adjuncts tend to run considerably higher than a grad school stipend) that you show up at work and act like a scholar. I don't think of doing the job you are paid to do as much to ask -- or taking care of your own transportation, like grown ups do, as opposed to treating your new colleagues like grad school mentors. I am as well versed as anyone in the state of the job market, but anyone who is putting in a grudging effort at a full time job and doesn't make the effort to network & use the position to develop their career is thinking with the wrong side of hir brain.<br /><br />And btw: I am used to people ranting on this blog w/o reading carefully, but some of you.......Tenured Radicalhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05703980598547163290noreply@blogger.com