The long, complicated process to achieve tenure at UW-Madison

By Beth Shoop STAFF WRITER

To tenured University of Wisconsin-Madison Professor Matthew H. Brown, academic tenure can be “worrisome.”

The six year long undertaking achieves a new prestige in higher education, which professors can acquire through an approval process. Tenure ensures job security for an indefinite period of time and allows for professors to take greater educational risks with research projects and their courses.

A UW-Madison administrator explained that reaching the “tenured” status requires compiling a tenure record. The record must show strong work in three key areas: research, teaching and service.

Brown explained that as a professor, not being on the tenure track or reaching the end without approval often leads to unemployment.

“To not get tenure means to lose your job,” Brown said. “And to not get tenure means to walk away from your chance at being a major voice in a particular field of research.”

UW-Madison Assistant Professor in Gender and Women’s Studies Kelly Marie Ward began the tenure process in 2021 and explained how there is more to approval than merely following the listed steps.

“Departmental politics also play a role. There could be a situation where somebody in a position of power in the department just doesn’t like you,” Ward said. “So, while you have worked for years to check o all the boxes, when it comes down to it, there could be politics at play that prevents you from getting tenure.”

Brown explained that receiving tenure at a university with the highest level of research activity, an R1 university, such as UW-Madison, is only achievable by proving you’re a productive researcher. In Brown’s field of humanities, this is done by publishing at least one book through a major university press and showing expertise in multiple articles for scholarly journals, he said.

Brown explained that the anxiety of tenure often stems from the fear of not finding publishers for writing. Taking specific research and writing from a Ph.D. dissertation, and turning it into a book that appeals to and excites publishers and individuals of a wider field is nerve wracking, Brown explained.

“In the humanities, that book just looms over your head, and until you feel like you have the book under control, you’re just constantly worried,” Brown said.

Harrowing questions swirled through Brown’s mind as he tried to complete this step of the tenure clock.

“For a lot of people, this is major existential dread,” Brown said. “Questions of, ‘Can I do that work quick enough? Can I turn it? Can I get it to a publisher? Are they going to find it interesting? If I get denied by my first choice for a publisher,