Insiders' tactics for securing tenure

When Peter Blake, EdD, landed an assistant professor position at Boston University in 2012, he had seven years to earn tenure—what seemed like an eternity compared with the fast-paced deadlines of his previous career in the technology industry. During his first three years, Blake focused on research related to his interest in childhood cooperation and delved into supporting three doctoral students and a postdoctoral fellow in his lab. But by year four, the tenure clock started ticking more loudly and he felt the pressure to prove himself worthy of a longstanding faculty position.

Blake knew that securing large grants would give him credibility in the tenure process, yet competition for this type of funding was fierce. "There was pressure to publish high-impact papers and be well-known, but not everyone achieves that," says Blake. "I didn’t know if I should focus on the quantity or quality of publications, and I became concerned about whether I was doing things the right way."

At the time, Blake was among more than 5,000 tenure-track psychologists, and about 500 new research doctorate graduates, who step onto the track each year, according to the National Science Foundation (NSF). Requirements for gaining tenure vary from school to school—from publication and grant activity to teaching evaluations to service commitments and more. But one thing is certain: The expectations have risen over time, says Michael Young, PhD, chair of the department of psychological sciences at Kansas State University.

"Schools are hiring assistant professors now who have qualifications that are far above what we were seeing 15 years ago, and the number and quality of the publications they produce is higher than ever," says Young, who is also a member of the board of directors for the Council of Graduate Departments of Psychology. "This raises the bar for achieving tenure."

Blake consulted with colleagues and mentors to learn how to increase the odds of securing tenure, and in May those efforts were rewarded when he became an associate professor at Boston University.

Here, Blake and two other psychologists who recently achieved tenure recount how they secured their spots and offer their advice. While publications, teaching and service activity are universally considered the key categories for evaluation in tenure review, schools focused on teaching often have requirements different from those of schools dedicated to research. No two tenure reviews are exactly alike, which underscores the importance of asking questions about the process early.

Peter Blake, EdD

Associate professor of psychological and brain sciences, Boston University

Research focus: Blake studies the cognitive and social processes driving children’s cooperation. He is interested in how social forces such as culture and inequality shape the development of fairness, ownership, altruism and reciprocity.

Tenure advice

Apply for large grants early. "Grants from entities like the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and NSF can give a psychology department power because the university can take 65% of the total grant as overhead," says Blake. "During my first three years as an assistant professor, I received all my grants from the Templeton Foundation, which only allowed the university to take 15% as overhead. The foundation was interested in supporting research on childhood cooperation, but this topic didn’t fit the public health focus for entities like NIH. I reached out to mentors in the department to strategize ways to change the direction of my work to fit these new priorities. I started focusing more on aggressive interactions rather than cooperation because conduct disorders and anti-social behavior are public health issues. I submitted three grant applications to NIH and three to NSF, and although I wasn’t selected, the fact that I had applied showed my potential to receive funding from these organizations. In retrospect, I think it’s wise to begin the process of applying for large grants when you have start-up money as a newly hired assistant professor."

Stay focused. "During my early years as an assistant professor, I enjoyed collaborating with my three doctoral students on projects related to their interests, but this pulled me in many different directions. While I loved supporting students who generated new ideas, I needed to move some of my own ideas forward. I learned that it’s easy to underestimate how much time it takes to mentor PhD students, and I found that three was too many at one time. Postdocs can work more independently and are more efficient at writing and publishing manuscripts, so one to two postdocs in addition to two PhD students seems more manageable."

Maintain integrity. "There’s a lot of pressure on junior faculty to produce papers, and this can lead to weaker papers that overinterpret data and are not likely to replicate. I switched careers from the technology industry to psychological science because I wanted more integrity in my work and to make a lasting impact on the world. For this reason, I knew I was not going to make compromises. If my results from a study were not certain, I didn’t publish them. This meant that I produced fewer papers, but in the end my integrity was worth more than any amount of money or renown."

Plan for rest. "One of the hardest parts about the tenure process is the yearlong state of uncertainty while waiting for like the ‘h index,’ which measures the number of publications and how many times these papers have been cited. It’s important to maintain a peer network with people who can relate to the experience and be supportive. Prepare to be burned out, and I recommend taking a vacation after it’s over because you’re going to need the break."

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Alisia (Giac-Thao) Tran, PhD

Associate professor of counseling and counseling psychology, Arizona State University

Tran’s interest in minority mental health was born out of her experiences growing up as a Vietnamese American in a predominantly white suburb of Los Angeles. After undergraduate school, Tran wanted to pursue a career in academia and enrolled in a counseling psychology doctoral program at the University of Minnesota. She leveraged the opportunity to prepare for the rigor and time demands associated with a faculty position by working as a first author on publications and by seeking out instructor roles—rather than focusing solely on teaching assistant opportunities. She learned how to work with students, deliver lectures and prepare exams. In 2012, she was hired as an assistant professor at the University of Arizona and faced the next hurdle: securing tenure.

Research focus: Tran studies ethnic and racial socialization and the effects of discrimination on mental health. Recently, she began focusing on how socio­economic disparities and financial stressors can influence mental health in minorities and on the rates and correlates of stress, depression, anxiety and suicidality among student athletes of color.

Tenure advice

Develop writing skills. "Students say it’s hard to carve out time to write in graduate school, but I knew this was a critical skill to master if I wanted to become a tenured professor," she says. "As a doctoral student, I wrote a number of first-author papers, developed independent studies and started applying for funding opportunities, all of which helped me gain confidence as both a writer and speaker who could share ideas with other scholars and integrate feedback into my work."

Know the expectations. "Programs and institutions will have different policies, criteria and politics that can influence a tenure review. I learned that my list of external reviewers for tenure could not include professors I had collaborated with on papers. This informed my decisions about who I would ask to be senior authors on publications. If I wanted to reserve an expert in my field as a potential external reviewer, I would not ask the professor to be a senior author on one of my papers. Part of the process at my institution was to create a list of 10 potential external reviewers, so I tried to network with potential reviewers at conferences and other events to draw attention to my work."

Leverage the third-year review. "A lot of people offer conflicting advice about how to gain tenure, and this left me wondering if I was on the right track. The third-year review was an ideal time to get a pulse on my tenure situation because the faculty chair and other tenured f­aculty in the program formally shared their perspective on my progress. The fact that I had published five papers showed that I was on the right trajectory, and they encouraged me to continue what I was doing."

Learn to accept help. "When I was in graduate school, I felt like I was more guarded about feedback because a graduate student’s job is ultimately to defend his or her dissertation. When I became a faculty member, it became clear that the people around me were trying to help me rather than testing me. When I had a child during my time on the tenure track, I learned to get more help from colleagues by dividing and delegating tasks related to grant and article writing. I also learned to welcome feedback from journal editors and reviewers to strengthen a paper instead of seeing it as a contentious process."

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Celeste Malone, PhD, MS

Associate professor of school psychology at Howard University

As Malone was earning a master’s degree in school counseling at Johns Hopkins University, she became keenly aware of the fact that the field was far less ethnically diverse than other psychology fields—yet the country’s student population was becoming increasingly diverse. This prompted Malone to dedicate her career to addressing this problem. She later earned a PhD in school psychology from Temple University in Philadelphia and completed a postdoctoral fellowship in child clinical and pediatric psychology at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine before she began her tenure journey as an assistant professor at Howard University.

Research focus: Malone studies methods of developing multicultural competence through education and training and the relationship between culturally competent practice and elementary school student outcomes.

Tenure advice

Create a tenure dossier. "One of the best pieces of advice I received early on was to create a separate folder to keep track of everything I might need for my portfolio. I started adding student evaluations, acknowledgments from conferences, invitations to speak at events and serve on professional committees and other information to that folder. I developed a multicultural competence scale as part of my research, and I would keep copies of requests from other researchers to use that scale. When it was time to generate my portfolio, I already had all this information at my fingertips."

Find overlap. "I needed to be involved in research, teaching and service to make a case for tenure, and I sought out opportunities where these three areas could overlap. This made service feel like part of my work rather than an added burden. For example, I serve on APA’s Board of Educational Affairs because my work in multicultural competence is relevant to the group’s goal of addressing diversity and culture in psychology training. The group also helps me stay attuned to the emerging issues in the profession, which influences my teaching and research."

Ask questions. "My university’s requirements for tenure were somewhat vague, which made it difficult to understand what was required. I talked to senior colleagues to gather more specific information. I learned that I should aim to publish one article per year and that there was a high value on being a good departmental citizen. In response, I made sure I was visible in the department by asking colleagues questions in person more frequently instead of relying on email. I also shaped my tenure narrative to emphasize both my productivity as a scholar and service in roles such as program coordinator and field experience coordinator. To make sure I was on the right track, I also met with the department chair at the beginning of my second year to find out what mentoring and professional development opportunities were available, and she offered to serve as my research mentor. One of my goals was to submit a grant for external funding, and we met regularly to refine my idea and develop a grant application."