As summer approaches, many Tufts students will start their internships and research projects, all for the purpose of landing a job straight out of graduation. For those about to graduate and those who will remain at Tufts for another few years, many are still searching for where their true passion lies and what job can support it. What if there is a position that allows you to do what you love for the rest of your life without worrying about getting fired?
The established tenure system enables passionate researchers to work in a secure environment and devote themselves fully to their academic pursuits. It is a job that seems so perfect that it makes people question its downsides and hidden challenges. So, what is the tenure track and in what light should it be considered today?
The tenure track is a career pathway designed to protect academic freedom through strong employment security. Candidates begin as assistant professors, progress to associate professor — where tenure is typically granted — and can later become full professors through a separate review. The probationary period lasts at least six years, with candidates evaluated on research publications, teaching and institutional service. Tenure is not unconditional, as misconduct can still lead to dismissal, but it protects faculty from arbitrary termination.
If unable to achieve tenure at an institution, the candidate is requested to leave and has to look for job opportunities elsewhere. As ideal as the vision sounds, the reality is stressful and demanding.
Despite the difficult standards, many are still drawn to the path by their sheer passion for researching and teaching that they discover while pursuing their doctorates.
Megumi Ando, assistant professor of computer science, was happily working in the industry until deciding she needed further training. She began to pursue a doctoral degree with the mindset that she would eventually return to her employer. However, during the process, she discovered her passion for academic research. After fulfilling her obligations at the company that funded her graduate studies, she immediately started looking for positions in academia.
Caleb Scoville, assistant professor of sociology, shared similar experiences while pursuing his doctoral degree.
“There are people who get into a Ph.D. program, and they realize, ‘Oh, this is not what I thought it would be … and they often will leave without the Ph.D.,” Scoville said. “The other thing that can happen is you can learn that it is what you want to do, and you go, ‘I actually want to do this forever.’ And that’s what happened to me.”
However, his path to tenure was not without its challenges. Scoville mentioned geographical and financial tradeoffs he was not expecting. For his doctoral degree program, Scoville shared that despite the prestigious position he secured at Berkeley and its positive outcomes, the geographical move was sudden and disruptive for him and his spouse.
“It’s a national job market or an international job market, even. If you really want to change your track position, you can’t just apply to jobs in a certain area. … If you have attachments, if you have a family, if you have a community — those are things that you might have to think about very carefully,” he said.
Scoville described the persistent challenge of relocation before receiving a tenure position.
“You have to move twice, once for [graduate] school, once for the job. … Sometimes people move multiple times because they may get a postdoc or a non-permanent position before they get their tenure track position. … That’s a lot to sacrifice.”
For Tony Haouam, assistant professor of romance studies, an unexpected challenge would persist into the tenure track: loneliness and a lack of clear guidelines.
“You write alone. The moments where you actually see other people are when you do workshops with other Ph.D. students or academics, but this tends to happen once or twice a month — not that often when you’re a Ph.D. student. … Less than 10% of your time is with others,” Haouam said.
Thus, Haouam encouraged active communication with advisors and peers in the department, not only to engage intellectually but also to exchange information and develop collaborative relationships. This is crucial for obtaining publication opportunities — the ‘currency’ in academia.
“If you go actively and talk to [professors] and ask all the questions that you want to ask, you will be rewarded immediately with true advice,” Haouam said. “Along the way, if this professor receives a call for papers for a conference, and they thought of you because you came to talk to them, they can forward you an email.”
The biggest obstacle to prospective students searching for tenure-track positions, however, is the declining job market. Scoville pointed out a general trend of decline, regardless of politics, due to an aging population. He noted that state schools and less selective private schools are facing lower enrollments over time, as each successive cohort of younger people is slightly smaller.
Haouam mentioned his luck in securing a tenure-track position straight out of his doctoral degree due to his alternative research direction.
“Cultural studies are one of those disciplines that’s still higher today because it piques the interest of students who want to learn about pop culture, who want to be able to form opinions and interpretations on what happens in the media and controversies, on the forms of culture that are not just the cultures that you see at museums,” Haouam said.
Haouam also shared his unconventional academic background of being an LGBTQ+ Arab whose first language was Arabian Sign Language, and how it provided distinctive insights that contributed to his research and portfolio.
Scoville stated that it is challenging to discern who is favored in the process, as the lack of jobs in the market in general makes it hard for everyone.
“I think the main challenge is that there just aren’t enough jobs. … Anyone can be very privileged, or can have a lot of disadvantages, and there’s a lot of diversity in the pool, but there just aren’t enough slots for everyone who I think ought to get a job to get one. That itself is a tremendous inequality.”
Despite these noticeable setbacks, the professors agree that if you acknowledge the difficulties and have the talent, drive and passion to pursue research, there is no reason not to.
“If you really love it and that’s what you want to do, then go for it,” Ando said. “If it doesn't work out, then pivot. But don’t pivot before you try.”
She added some words of encouragement. “We need people who are very passionate about [research] and who are doing it for the right reasons. And if you’re one of them, by all means, go for it.”
