Swanson

A question from a listener -- "I've had a couple of Zoom interviews straddling the COVID-19 outbreak. I haven't heard back and am unsure if I've progressed to the next step, or if the outbreak has stalled the process. Is it best to wait for a response or follow up?

Farah

I have a student in a similar situation, where the search got suspended. She was asked if she was willing to make the move in a "visiting" capacity, and I told her no, she needs to stay where she is. Many searches are being suspended, so it is appropriate to follow up with questions. In my institution we are hearing about hiring freezes, so we are not sure that we'll be able to have the same searches next year.

Swanson

Let's talk about how tenure paths are being impacted. For many of us, cancelled gigs and creative work have been suspended for the time being. How can we move forward?

Farah

Spring is our busy time for conference presentations, concerts, honor choirs, and a lot of those gigs got cancelled. I encourage people to contact the institutions that contracted you and discuss rescheduling. Some gigs can't be rescheduled. In those cases, it is important to document the invitation for your tenure file. Talk to your administration to see how your invitation can count toward your tenure process.

Swanson

Here at CU--Boulder we received an email from the Vice-Chancellor informing those of us who are pre-tenure that we have the opportunity to suspend our process for a year, effectively adding a year to our tenure clock. I am curious to know what the pros and cons are for doing this?

Dilworth

Before making that decision, have a conversation with your chair or dean to get a read on how you are progressing along your trajectory. That will help the faculty member know whether they are well positioned to proceed with their regularly scheduled timeline, or if they should wait a year. There is very little down side to waiting a year because you want the strongest dossier possible, and another year of presentations and guest conducting will be helpful.

Dower

With regard to two-year colleges, the only slight difference is that you should have direct communication with your dean to know whether it will have any impact on future staffing decisions. Will they have a means to support you? If you're an online teacher and have been doing it for a while, take the opportunity to shine, and move ahead with the evaluation process. If you teach both in person and online, they will have to evaluate you based on your online teaching, which could be to your advantage.

Swanson

Michael, what's happening at Florida State with student evaluations right now?

Hanawalt

Students are allowed to submit online evaluations but those will not count for tenure portfolios. Faculty are encouraged to designate a separate question to evaluate in-class instruction differentiated from online. That will help make the process as fair and as informative as possible.

Swanson

So many of us are 40/40/20 (creative scholarship/teaching/ service). We are rightly being thrown into doing a lot of service right now. Is this a point of negotiation with administrators for our portfolios?

Dilworth

There may be more emphasis placed on teaching and service simply because we know that faculty are at a disadvantage for research and creativity.