Navigating the Demands of Tenure-Track Positions

Abstract

Navigating a tenure-track position can sometimes feel like walking the high wire, teetering from side to side wondering when that next overload course, research paper, or service project will topple you from your scholarly perch. Many of these positions lack significant formalized mentorship and guidance to help navigate and balance the workload of academia. Even with experience, the tenure and promotion process can be ambiguous. Workload balance is imperative to achieve tenure and promotion. Once you are in a tenure-track position, it is important to balance and understand the tenure and promotion process and its value. We provide a roadmap for early career academic professionals on how to balance their teaching, research, and service to obtain tenure and promotion. We inform the next generation of academicians about how researchers address public health problems through teaching, scholarship, and service. Finally, we explore five critical areas relevant to successful tenure and promotion: (a) classification and organizational culture, (b) the "Big Three" (teaching, research, and service), (c) professional development and network, (d) mentorship, and (e) work-life balance.

Keywords: academia; career development/professional preparation; early career; empowerment; mentorship; public health; tenure process; tenure track; university/college health; workforce development; work–life balance.