| Assumption
Professor James Lang Shares Experience on the Tenure Track
March,
2005—At the
end of each summer, dozens of new tenure-track professors descend
upon Central Massachusetts to begin teaching positions at the 13
colleges of the Worcester Consortium, all accompanied by a mix of
emotions: excitement, uncertainty, fear, and anticipation. Many
of them are new to the Northeast, which brings another host of adjustments
to compound their job anxieties. Luckily, James M. Lang, assistant
professor of English at Assumption College and author of the upcoming
book Life on the Tenure Track: Lessons from the First Year,
knows exactly how they feel.
Written in
a chronological format, Life on the Tenure Track journals
Lang’s first year at Assumption as a tenure-track assistant
professor. Each chapter chronicles a different month of the 2000-2001
school year, beginning with his August move to Worcester from his
native Chicago and alma mater Northwestern University. As the year
goes on, readers experience Lang’s increasing clarity of his
new life as an academic, both in and out of the classroom. He realizes
with a shock that he has an abundance of unstructured time, and
soon concludes that this is both a blessing and a curse. He is surprised
to see that he’s been chosen to serve on countless committees.
New to the College, he strives to figure out the expectations—and
inner workings—of the academic administration. He is disheartened
to discover the reticence of his first-year students, and makes
concerted efforts to bring interesting new teaching methods to his
classroom. Married with two young daughters (he and his wife have
had three more children since), he understands the need to strike
a balance between work and family time. He also details a concern
especially important for English teachers: making time for personal
writing projects. On top of the normal adjustments expected during
the first year of a new job, Lang also fell gravely ill with complications
from Crohn’s disease. He chronicled a year in the life of
his illness in his first book, Learning
Sickness: A Year With Crohn's Disease.
Assumption
College will host the kickoff event for Professor James Lang's
book tour on April 7, 2005, with a reading and book-signing
in the Hagan Campus Center Hall at 7:00 p.m.
For more information about this event, please contact the
Office of Public Affairs at (508) 767-7160.
Lang's new website may be viewed
at www.jamesmlang.com.
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After finishing
Learning Sickness in the summer of 2003, Lang was interested
in beginning a new writing project. At that time, he was penning
regular first-person columns for the Chronicle of Higher Education,
detailing his experiences as a tenure-track professor. While the
columns discussed his encounters on the campus in a narrative format,
they also offered guidance for faculty members across the country
dealing with similar circumstances. Published every six weeks, each
of Lang’s columns would generate a fair amount of responses
from readers who would thank him for his sage advice. From there,
he thought about turning his column content into a full-length book.
He wrote a one-page proposal and sent it to several different university
publishers, garnering much interest and several bids. His final
choice, Johns Hopkins University, was made because their ideas and
suggestions for a narrative-style book were closest to Lang’s
own vision.
To go back in time three years, Lang consulted his detailed records:
stored emails, records and minutes from committee meetings, and
even his day-planner from that academic year. He also referred back
to his columns, and some personal nonfiction from that time period.
During the fall of 2003, Lang’s mother was diagnosed with
cancer, an extraordinarily difficult and painful time for his entire
family. He began focusing on the book as a way to escape the sadness,
and the chapters came quickly. The book was finished in January
2004.
Early reviews of Life on the Tenure Track have been outstanding,
describing the book as “beautifully written, honest, and humorous.”
One reviewer even anticipated that it “may become the ‘bible’
for graduate students and new faculty.”
Lang recently shared his thoughts on Life on the Tenure Track
with Assumption’s Public Affairs office.
Q.) Was it difficult to put your life down on paper
for the public to read?
A.) I feel that once the book is down on paper
and finished, it almost becomes separate from me, in a way. I imagine
that my colleagues and friends see me separately from the ‘character’
in my book. But I wouldn’t have written the books if I couldn’t
share my own personal experience. I’m not ashamed of anything
that I’ve shared.
Q.) Did you feel like you had to edit yourself, for
fear of insulting any of your colleagues?
A.) Sure, there was some editing; but my intent was
never to paint anyone negatively. I also didn’t want to identify
anyone as a roadblock or an obstacle in my path. I’m an optimistic
and contented person who takes people at face value, and I try not
to look for sinister motives in others.
Q.) How do you hope this book will help other first-year
professors in the same boat? How has your experience been similar
or different from others?
A .) I hope it will help them set realistic expectations
for their first year. And for the times when they feel like they’re
“failing,” it’s important for them to know that
they’re not alone; I felt the same way at points. I hope it
will help them to think back and reflect on their teaching styles
and methods; why they teach the way they do.
All professors, regardless of subject or institution type, will
understand the notion of “unstructured” time, and determining
how to get things done. They’ll understand that it is both
a blessing and a curse. On the flipside, professors at large research
universities won’t have as much of a teaching load as I did.
They will be more focused on researching and publishing. Since there
is such an emphasis on being published at these institutions, there
is a new set of anxieties that come with that. Student bodies will
differ from school to school, as will teaching methods. Also, my
first year was filled with several commitments: committees and other
obligations. Not every school will require that of new professors.
Q.) How was writing Life on the
Tenure Track different
from the Learning Sickness
book process?
A.) I structured the new book to that of Learning
Sickness; with a chronological order of events and each chapter
beginning with a new month. However, this book was much less of
an emotional investment than Learning Sickness; this is more of
an account of my professional life versus my personal life. It was
much less draining to write Life on the Tenure Track, and
certainly less draining to read it back to myself.
Q.) In your March
10, 2005 Chronicle
of Higher Education column,
you tell readers that you’ve made a decision about your future.
Is this meant to be a postscript to the book?
A.) I’ve ended the book with a chapter entitled
“Settling In, or Just Settling?” in which I indicate
that I’m not sure where I will end up in the future. I’ve
left certain questions unanswered. Through the column, I indicate
that I’ve come full circle, and I describe my hope that I
will be granted tenure so my family can stay here in Worcester and
I can continue my career at Assumption College.
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