After nearly 5 years of fumbling, my tenure packet is in. Preparing the dossier itself was an absurd exercise in email searching, document drag-and-dropping, and Adobe Acrobat wrestling. But I admit it’s nice to see the last five years all in one place – physical evidence that I didn’t completely squander my startup money and fade from existence.
Am I confident about the outcome? Not particularly – how could I be, without a big grant? Nonetheless, I don’t think anyone could read my dossier and say that I didn’t do all I could. In 5 years, I’ve submitted at least one proposal to NIH every cycle but two. I’ve received one R21 and one small foundation grant. I’ve published 6 senior-author research papers in journals of JIF 3-10, 3 review papers, and edited a book. I’ve given over 2 dozen invited talks. The undergrads like me.
So now…we wait. But “waiting” isn’t really the right word, is it? In reality, it’s back to business as usual. Keeping the science churning in the lab, getting grants out, and trying to keep sane as the house renovations slowly progress.
I would like a vacation, but I guess it’ll have to wait for sabbatical.
Congrats on this accomplishment! I’m curious how you managed to get so many invited talks as an assistant professor (without a Nature paper). This is a piece of the puzzle that I’m missing and could use some advice.
This probably deserves its own brief post, but the short answer is, mostly my friends!
You don’t have to be famous or published in CNS to have people be interested in spending time with you and hearing about your work. I’ve given a handful of invited talks that were “cold” invites, but for the most part they come from people I know in some capacity. Friends I’ve met at conferences, friends from grad school and post-doc labs who are now assistant profs in charge of departmental seminar series, and believe it or not, friends I’ve made from the blog/twitter!
Good luck!
Wait, didn’t you just get this job? My how time flies. Seems like yesterday that your blog was FTTT not FTT. What’s the new blog title going to be?
It sure feels like it! But then I saw a picture of myself from when the lab was new and I looked about 10 years younger than I do now. So bright eyed and full of hope!
Good luck! I hated the waiting, but it was a relief to get the dossier in. The work is actually a good distraction during the waiting year–I often forgot about the tenure process because I was so busy. And a sabbatical away from your University is the best way to recover from the slog to tenure. I loved mine.
Congratulations on turning your dossier in. I did one recently too, it was a cathartic experience.
Congratulations, this is a huge accomplishment!
And good luck!
Wishing you tons of the best luck!
Best wishes. Mine goes in next summer, and altho I have a big grant, I will not have anywhere near that number of papers. And the undergrads are … murky on me (guess what happens to your teaching evals after a plagiarism plague?).
They’re lucky to have you, Dr. B, that’s all I can say. Here’s hoping they know it.
Congratulations and good luck! I am rooting for you!
Congrats! And best of luck!