This is a follow-up to a post from five years ago, when I was promoted to associate professor with tenure. In September 2024, I applied for accelerated promotion to full professor and got it. My experience isn’t representative of American academia since it may be different at other institutions, especially R1 (which mine isn’t). That said, I hope to offer a few insights and pointers about an important marker in academia.
Continue reading “The journey continues: My experience of early promotion to full professor”It has happened twice. In winter 2008 I drove from South Bend to the Twin Cities for a few days visiting my family. I learned that Art Spring, the founder and former director of the honors program at my alma mater, had died. His funeral took place on the same day that I learned about it, and it was too late to drive up to St. Cloud. I learned the news from Joe Tadie, who added that Pat Costello, who had retired from decades of teaching English, drove up from Winona for Art’s funeral.
Continue reading “Pat Costello: a life well lived”
At about 8:30 PM on October 17, a Tuesday, four undergraduates at my institution were killed in an auto accident four miles from campus.
Continue reading “Four Pepperdine students killed: my first 48 hours”It’s still a week until June yet I’ve completed all syllabi for the fall. It’s the earliest ever that I’ve done, all the more surprising because I will have three different courses rather than the usual two preps. True, I’d taught them before: Great Books I for four times; Great Books V: Special Topics for the first time this past semester; and the first-year seminar (FYS) Asian Immigrants in America three years ago. However, I have overhauled the last two courses so much that they are virtually new ones. The biggest difference has to do with reading lists. While Great Books I remains largely the same, Great Books V sees a list of mostly new readings and the FYS has an entirely new list.
Continue reading “A lot of fiction in my classes this fall”
Thus far I’ve taught six classes (four preps) fully online: two over last summer and four over the fall semester. Because creating community in the classroom is central to my teaching philosophy, the following student comment was the most pleasing among the evals of six courses: “Even over Zoom he is able to create a community-feel in our Great Books class.”
Continue reading “Course evaluations on small groups & office hours during Zoom instruction”
[December 2025: Happy to say that I applied for full professor one year early and earned it. Here is my post about it.
Last December I received the news that I’d “passed” the first and by far most important stage of the tenure process. Having assumed the best outcome for the rest of the process, I created a road map a few days later. The road map was geared towards promotion to full professor as soon as possible.
Continue reading “The journey matters most: promotion and early promotion to full professor”
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