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Interim and Untenured

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By Ernest Franklin

When our department head made the shortlist for a position in another state last spring, it sent shockwaves through our building. Although we all avoided the subject in public settings, small groups of faculty members huddled in offices or met over lunch wondering and speculating (and telling everyone else, "I saw it coming").

A few days after the news broke, I was surprised when a senior faculty member asked me if I would be interested in serving as the interim chairman. I was not the obvious choice.

Like many other institutions, my university grew exponentially when the baby boomers went to college. At the time, it hired a large number of new faculty members, many of whom came to this rural campus intending to stay for a year or two. They ended up staying for 30. Now those faculty members are retiring in large numbers. Our department has a relatively distinct division between untenured junior faculty members at the beginning of their careers (like me) and senior professors nearing retirement. I had assumed that one of the senior types would step in for a year while we did a national search for a permanent hire.

Once our chairman formally announced his resignation, I had a decision to make. I sweated over it for several weeks. In my discipline in the arts, a shift to administration can be permanent. Although the administrative side of academe appeals to me, I wasn't sure if I had spent enough time in the classroom to make the switch.

I had other issues to sort through as well, like the effects of being an interim chairman without tenure on my career, on my young family, and on my research and creative endeavors.

I decided to go for it. After all, it is only a one-year appointment. Following an awkward interview process, I found myself -- an assistant professor at the ripe old age of 29 with only two years of college teaching experience -- serving as interim chairman of our department.

During the final months of the semester last spring, I met several hours each week with my predecessor and we went over the various aspects of the department -- finances, academics, personnel, staff, and university policies. Overall, I found him to be very helpful. He left me all of his computer and regular files, and was very forthcoming when I asked him about any topic.

Even after all of my meetings with him, one of my biggest frustrations has been the lack of information about the job. There is no book titled Department Chairmanship for Dummies. To get what I need, I usually have to dig in mulitiple locations -- make a few phone calls, send an e-mail message or two, and go through several files. Even then, I am never quite sure I have what I need to move forward.

When the salary "negotiation" took place for my interim job, I felt I had very little leverage, so I accepted the terms without too much question. My predecessor left in mid-May. Since he had several months of vacation built up, I was told that I could not officially start (i.e., "could not be paid") until August 1. I was assured that there really would not be much expected of me over the summer.

I soon realized that if I let things slide for three months, I would have an insurmountable mess to clean up in August. Except for a two-week trip to attend a family wedding, I worked (uncompensated) all summer on departmental business.

I used to wonder what our department head did all day. I no longer wonder, but I still cannot articulate what I do to my colleagues, my wife, or my superiors here at the university.

I consider myself an efficient person. I have always juggled a large number of responsibilities and tasks fairly well. However, I spend most of my time dealing with the urgent or the mundane and sometimes the "urgent mundane" -- resolving a teacher-student issue, finding storage space for files and equipment, answering e-mails from administrators, lining up adjunct instructors, listening to a colleague's complaints, advising and registering students.

In addition to a national search for a permanent chair, my department is going through accreditation renewal, and there is serious noise being made that we will soon get money for a new building, which will require some planning and work this year.

The important "big picture" issues that I envisioned myself doing as a department head -- like planning for the future, budgeting, managing finances, corresponding, and writing portions of the self-study for the accreditation review -- are pushed to the bottom of the pile. I deal with such "important" items in the fragments of time I have between appointments and other responsibilities.

Later this year, I will have the option to apply for the permanent position. I haven't made up my mind yet. So far, the experience has been fulfilling, but it hasn't always been fun or fair. I keep reminding myself that I chose this path. Nobody forced me into it (and a few people tried to talk me out of it).

I also keep reminding myself that it is only a temporary, one-year appointment. From the beginning, my goal has been to organize and maintain our department so that it is poised for maximum growth once the new person is hired. If that person ends up being me, I'll reap the same benefit as an outsider.

I will leave the decision about whether to apply until later this year. I want to see what the job is like now that the students are here.