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The question below is part of a thread that starts with an NYT profile of Heather Cox Richardson, who writes a daily newsletter with a huge public audience: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/12/27/business/media/heather-cox-richardson-substack-boston-college.html
So a thread on incentivization & privilege around public scholarship as an untenured academic
https://twitter.com/annehelen/status/1343780671890673666
So a thread on incentivization & privilege around public scholarship as an untenured academic
https://twitter.com/annehelen/status/1343780671890673666
I think there are some different but connected issues here:
(1) Can public scholarship HELP your tenure case?
(2) Can public scholarship make up for deficiencies in an otherwise weak tenure case?
(3) Can public scholarship HURT your tenure case if the rest is strong?
(1) Can public scholarship HELP your tenure case?
(2) Can public scholarship make up for deficiencies in an otherwise weak tenure case?
(3) Can public scholarship HURT your tenure case if the rest is strong?
First, how might public scholarship help your tenure case? I think it can, but more in that it can strengthen the things that you're traditionally judged on. I sometimes joke "I can't go up for tenure on tweeting" BUT it's possible that tweeting increases your research reach.
(Brief reminder that I do not have tenure and thus have never been involved in tenure review so take my wisdom with that grain of salt. :) )
Part of what you are judged on is reputation. This is one reason people sometimes go on "tenure tours" before they go up, to give talks.
Part of what you are judged on is reputation. This is one reason people sometimes go on "tenure tours" before they go up, to give talks.
There are lots of ways for people to hear about your research! Even just prolific publishing, of course. But public scholarship is one other way: op eds, blogging, tweeting, etc. (Though I don't think that any of my potential letter writers are watching my TikToks.)
BUT in order for public scholarship to help for traditional metrics, you have to start with the normal stuff. i.e. you have to have research to amplify first.
So I suspect that if you spend all your time writing op eds instead of research papers, your tenure case will go poorly.
So I suspect that if you spend all your time writing op eds instead of research papers, your tenure case will go poorly.
I do think it's possible that really strong public scholarship could make up for some deficiencies (like, if you're writing for NYT constantly and bringing prestige to the university maybe it's ok if your grant $$ is lower) but I can't really say how much.
So this brings me to my point about privilege.
If public scholarship helps, but you still mostly have to do all the other stuff (publish, get grant $, etc.) to get that benefit, then you can't take the time you would otherwise spend doing research to write op eds instead.
If public scholarship helps, but you still mostly have to do all the other stuff (publish, get grant $, etc.) to get that benefit, then you can't take the time you would otherwise spend doing research to write op eds instead.
So you have advantages if:
(1) You have more "free" time than others.
(2) You enjoy things like tweeting & would do it anyway.
(3) You aren't already fighting an uphill battle b/c e.g. you have a marginalized identity & have to do MORE than others to get the same thing.
(1) You have more "free" time than others.
(2) You enjoy things like tweeting & would do it anyway.
(3) You aren't already fighting an uphill battle b/c e.g. you have a marginalized identity & have to do MORE than others to get the same thing.
And it goes without saying that different disciplines & departments value public scholarship differently. So how much it helps w/ tenure will depend on whether you're fortunate like I am in that sense or if you're in a dept with this garbage attitude: https://twitter.com/JMalazita/status/1343966267162685442?s=20
But as @mark_riedl ends with in this thread (as someone who DOES have tenure) it's (hopefully!) rare that public scholarship would HURT an otherwise strong case unless there's something really controversial about it. https://twitter.com/mark_riedl/status/1343968295611936770?s=20
Anyway I guess this is a long way to say... as an untenured academic, I feel good about the time I spend on public scholarship, but:
(1) I enjoy it so I spend some "free" time on it
(2) My college seems to value it
(3) I am not worried about my tenure case on traditional metrics
(1) I enjoy it so I spend some "free" time on it
(2) My college seems to value it
(3) I am not worried about my tenure case on traditional metrics
oh and if you read to the end of this thread you might enjoy this YouTube video :)
(Note that STARTING A YOUTUBE CHANNEL is a level up that I probably would not have done if it weren't for the pandemic.)
(Note that STARTING A YOUTUBE CHANNEL is a level up that I probably would not have done if it weren't for the pandemic.)
