I had always understood that academic freedom was associated with job security; however, and forgive my naïveté, I was disappointed to learn that academic freedom was inexorably tied to tenure. Before that revelation, I had always thought of academic freedom as a principle complemented by tenure, not contingent upon it.

annually:

•Scholarly research and/or creative activity that extend and apply knowledge

at least the equivalent of five scholarly products within a five-year window

ecognize the legitimacy of scholarship produced in new media, whether by individuals or in collaboration, and cre-­ate procedures for evaluating these forms of scholarship

The profession as a whole should develop a more capacious conception of schol-­arship by rethinking the dominance of the monograph, promoting the scholarly essay, establishing multiple pathways to tenure, and using scholarly portfolios

Even more troubling is the state of evaluation for digital scholarship, now an extensively used resource for scholars across the humanities: 40.8% of departments indoctorate-­granting institutions report no experience evaluating refereed articles in electronic format, and 65.7% report no experience evaluating monographs in electronic format.

We ought to be able to celebrate both our highly public teams of scholars and our quiet hermits, and we ought to be flexible enough to allow one to become the other.

“won’t help in securing tenure.”

“Including open in the list of examples for educational leadership is important because it brings it to the forefront. When I went up for promotion, I took a risk because engaging in open practice was not listed as an example of educational leadership, but not everyone is going to do that. Whereas if it’s strictly laid out it raises the profile for those who haven’t thought about open education and also shows that it is valued by the university as being a form of educational leadership,”

Excerpt from the UBC Guide to Reappointment, Promotion and Tenure Procedures (RPT): Evidence of educational leadership is required for tenure/promotion in the Educational Leadership stream… It can include, but is not limited to…Contributions to the practice and theory of teaching and learning literature, including publications in peer-reviewed and professional journals, conference publications, book chapters, textbooks and open education repositories / resources.

Remaking the Public U’s Professoriate

alue of a text by ascertaining the holiness of its author. In

The more faculty connect tenure to ‘a job for life’ they do serious damage to the value and purpose of tenure.”

Altmetrics as a Potential Solution

The proportion of part-time and non-tenure track teachers went from less than half of total faculty, before 1975, to over two-thirds now.

If you don't publish, you won't get tenure. Even if you have tenure, your reputation (and salary) is staked to your publication record.