Professor

Today I received my letter from the president promoting me to the rank of full professor. While I have had the title of professor for 10 years, the official title and rank is a bit more detailed. Faculty usually begin at the rank of assistant professor when they finish their doctorate, then are promoted to associate professor when they get tenure, and then full professor, or simply professor, is the final promotion. This is the highest rank possible, and the culmination of many years of hard work. Seeing the letter today caused me to think about the journey.

This spring coincidentally marks 25 years since I graduated from high school. In a way, you could really say that I have been working towards this goal for 25 years. During that time I spent 5 years studying full time for my bachelors degree, another 1.5 full time towards my first master's. My second master's was done part time, and this took a few more years, and then finally my doctorate 5 more years of part time study. I held many, many part time jobs during those early years, from substitute teacher to technical writer. I worked full time as a librarian and a library director while in school part time. Ten years ago I made the switch to faculty and came to UCM as an assistant professor and then moved up the ranks, to associate professor with tenure, and now professor.

Some people may not realize how long of a journal this really is until you see all of this written down. You don't just get tenure and promotion as a 20 something fresh out of school. Schools don't just give tenure on a whim, but is often given to those later if life. Sure, I'm not the youngest professor, and many do progress faster than I do. But I'm still considered relatively young on campus. Those with doctorates in education are typically my age now when they are only completing their degrees. Twenty-five years is an awfully long time. It would have been difficult to image all of this 25 years ago if someone would have told me where we are today. Twenty five years. It's very strange realizing how long it has been.

So that's it, no more promotions beyond this. I remain a tenured full professor, senior faculty member, until I retire.