Early
on in my career at UBC I found myself with my two young sons at a Thunderbirds’
basketball game in War Memorial Gym.
I’d picked them up from their swimming lessons. On the way home we stopped
to watch the women’s game. The
wife of one of my colleagues was also there with her children. After a few moments watching the game
she turned to me and said “ I never saw my husband for the first three years he
worked as a faculty member at UBC.”
Nearly
twenty years later that comment sits with me as though it had only been said
yesterday. At the time it seemed to
be part warning, part regret, and part observation on a crazy system of
apprenticeship that compels faculty members to sacrifice all to publish as much
as they can.
As
the boys and I walked home after that game I wondered what if I was making a
mistake in my priorities. Was I undermining my career? Did even my colleague’s wife think I
wasn’t doing enough to keep the job?
Getting
an academic job is just the start of a very long process of keeping it. Most of us will have spent a dozen or
more years accumulating the education, degrees, and debt required to be
eligible for the job offer. Sometimes
we find ourselves in a series of part-time or grant funded positions before
landing a tenure-stream job. The tenure-stream position is not, however, a
guarantee of a life long job. Now comes the pre-tenure period that I was in
when I found myself at the basketball game speaking with my colleague’s wife. There is no guarantee that at the end of
seven years a faculty member will keep their job. A denial of tenure is not
rare and it comes with massive social and emotional upset and disruption to
family and personal lives.
The
couple of years leading up to the tenure decision, plus the year or more that
it takes to make the decision, are arguably the worst years of most academics’
professional lives. Given the
nature of academic work there is no Hail Mary Pass that can save a weak record
no deus ex machina that saves the
hero at the last minute. By the time one starts to prepare the paper work and
compile the portfolio the die has been cast. It is now a matter of waiting.
The
reality of all of our lives is that we have multiple and conflicting
responsibilities and claims upon our time. Figuring out a way to manage all of
this is a skill that is seldom taught but necessary to master if one is to
succeed in an academic job. Early
in my career I would glance around at my colleagues and wonder whether they had
a personal life at all. It seemed
that all they ever did was research and write. The pressure of the tenure system leads us to squeeze
whatever spare hours we might find in our day (or night) to do more work. This is mostly a system of
self-exploitation compounded by the fact that most of us also love what we do. We
feel compelled to do as much as possible –even more than is possible- while
most of us constantly feel inadequate compared to what we see others doing
(even if the others feel the same as we do).
Given
this kind of work environment one needs to deliberately and consciously pause
and set aside one’s worry and anxiety.
This is not easy to do. It
is important. One of the best
pieces of advice I every received from a mentor was to reserve a period of time
each week for myself to refresh and to step away from my work.
Reflecting back on that basketball game some two decades ago I am glad that I kept my eyes on the ball – not trying to pump out the most papers, not trying to get the biggest grants- but rather staying as focused as possible on family, friends, and the aspects of my work that is fulfilling and rewarding. This is ultimately the path to success. If a new colleague were to ask me for advice I’d say: “get out with your family or friends, go do something fun and forget about the deadlines for a while. Deadlines will always be here; close friends and family may not.”
Reflecting back on that basketball game some two decades ago I am glad that I kept my eyes on the ball – not trying to pump out the most papers, not trying to get the biggest grants- but rather staying as focused as possible on family, friends, and the aspects of my work that is fulfilling and rewarding. This is ultimately the path to success. If a new colleague were to ask me for advice I’d say: “get out with your family or friends, go do something fun and forget about the deadlines for a while. Deadlines will always be here; close friends and family may not.”