8/3/2019 Getting Tenure, Part I: It Took a Village by Grace Yia-Hei Kao

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Original Article: http://feminismandreligion.com/2011/12/09/getting-tenure-part-i-it-took-a-village-by-grace-yia-hei-kao/ 

Getting Tenure, Part I: It Took a Village by

Grace Yia-Hei KaoDecember 9, 2011

On December 1, 2011, the full professors at Claremont School of Theology unanimously recommended two of my colleagues and me for tenure. Provided thatthe Board of Trustees approves their recommendation and two extremes never cometo pass (either “financial exigency” compels my institution to start laying off people

willy-nilly or I do something professionally or morally egregious enough to be

dismissed “for cause”), I now have a job for life!

When I submitted my dossier for tenure, I had published 1 book , 9 solo or co-authored peer-reviewed

 journalarticles, 9 published or 

forthcoming chapters in edited volumes, and 1 book review. I had received severalcompetitive grants and fellowships (e.g .,Wabash,  NEH, AAUW, Mellon). I had beenelected to prominent leadership positions in 2 professional organizations (viz., AAR  andSCE). I had won 4 teaching awards anddesigned and taught 12 undergraduate or graduate courses at 3 totally different schools:an elite private university (Harvard), a large

 public state institution (Virginia Tech), and afreestanding, progressive Methodist-affiliatedseminary (Claremont School of Theology). Ihad also done a sizable amount of outreach,service, advising, and mentoring. Apparently,that quantity and quality of output had beenenough in my case.

But those statistics insufficiently capture mylife on the tenure-track. While not officially part of my dossier, the following numbers provide a fuller picture of what I’ve experienced since completing my PhD in 2003: 

  3 cross-country moves for work and the various upheavals and real estate transactions they entailed

 3 of my newlywed years spent commuting 270 miles each way between Blacksburg, VA and Washington,D.C. in order for both my husband and me to launch our respective careers and still see each other regularly(n.b., I logged 8 hours round-trip by car each week)

8/3/2019 Getting Tenure, Part I: It Took a Village by Grace Yia-Hei Kao

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  1 terrible tragedy atmy workplace (Virginia Tech)involving gun violence thatclaimed 33 lives and seriouslyinjured many others

 2 pregnancies resulting in 2 healthy and lively sons, who are now ages 4 and 2

o  The first involved my gaining 40 pounds but eventually losing 60 dueto a 35 weeks pregnant with #2 (Heather Reid Kwok Photography)combination of breastfeeding, exhaustion, and what was probably depression for 2.5months beginning in the 10th month after childbirth

o  The second involved, shall we say, “complications” with my contract

negotiations at CST, my gaining and losing approximately 45 pounds, my being back inthe classroom 3 weeks after childbirth teaching a new course (it’s a long story), and my

weaning my child after 1 year (instead of my previous 1.5) to avoid the dramatic weightloss and exhaustion I experienced with my first child

o   Innumerable occasions, particularly in the first 2 years on the tenure-track,

where otherwise carefree moments were suddenly interrupted by what my friend LisaSchweitzer  has brilliantly coined as “t’angst” (i.e., tenure angst).

 I say all of this neither to complain, nor to imply that my struggles have been any moredifficult than what many other scholars in the early stages of their careers haveexperienced. Rather, I want to set the groundwork for the most important point of this post — that the many sacrifices made for my career have not been borne by me

alone. It took a village — my extended personal and professional community — to get meto the point where I am today.

In that respect, my experience has affirmed my commitment to feminist and Christian principles of community,interdependence, and the sharing of one another’s joys and burdens in friendship and solidarity.  

Here are some of the “villagers” to whom I owe a debt of gratitude.    My grad school advisors and mentors, for investing in me, painstakingly helping me to select courses

each term, employing me as teaching assistants, writing countless letters of recommendation on my behalf,and being gracious enough to allow me to graduate even with a less than camera-ready dissertation at thetime of my defense.

  My incredibly supportive husband, who has continually sacrificed for the sake of my career advancement. Among other acts of love, he has willingly given up three perfectly good jobs and relocatedtwice without first having secured job prospects of his own. (Fortunately, he became gainfully employedwithin a short period of time in each case, although once only after passing the bar in a new state and takinga $120,000 pay cut).

  My generous parents, for believing in me,

helping us with down payments, and buying30 copies of  my book when it was finally published to distributeto their friends andrelatives

  My senior

colleagues at my first

8/3/2019 Getting Tenure, Part I: It Took a Village by Grace Yia-Hei Kao

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institution, who carefully shepherded me through the mechanics of publishing as well as strategies for dealing with large classes and the occasional recalcitrant student. I remain especially grateful for their veryintentional efforts to protect me from burdensome service commitments (in some cases by bearing the loadthemselves) so that I could focus on my research.

  The many colleagues and dear friends I’ve made along the way, including those whoo  shared the trials and triumphs of various stages of grad school with meo 

made life in D.C. exciting and in rural Southwestern Virginia not just tolerable but even enjoyableas we bonded over life, departmental politics, and t’angst  

o  reached out and comforted me after the shooting tragedy at Virginia Techo  showered us with gifts and brought over meals in those sleepless weeks after our first baby was

 borno  shared hotel rooms with me at conferences (and in the

years I was nursing my children, not only always off ered me the “nicer”

 bed, but also never complained about the distinctive noise my breast pump made when I was doing my business in the middle of the night)

o  invited me to submit chapters to books or journalsthey were editing, gave me feedback on my work, or came to listen tome deliver my papers at conferences

o  made an effort to visit or kept in touch in other ways(this includes my older brother and his family)

o   befriended my entire family after our grand reentry back to California and helped me to adjust both to working at a

seminary and to managing our dizzying pace of institutional changeo  helped tremendously with the actual tenure application process (especially the two

friends/colleagues who went through it with me and my anonymous external reviewers)

o That list, to be sure, is not exhaustive.Other important people in my“village” include those known and

unknown to me who made itmaterially possible for me to work (viz., the people who’ve grown the

food I’ve eaten, cleared the streetsafter snowfall, tended to the physical plant of my workplaces, cared for mychildren when I’ve been away, and so

forth).

There is also the matter of how my village was structured: the resources that my grad school made available to me toallow me to finish debt-free, the policies that my institutions had enacted that provided for funded conference travel,occasional research and teaching assistants, “stopping the [tenure] clock,” course reductions following major life

events like childbirth, etc.

My debt of gratitude is large indeed.So now I have tenure. Not only that, but I have it at an

institution with a reputation for academic excellence and atalented and ever-diversifying student body and staff. The proverbial icing on the cake is that I also get to live and work in a place with fabulous weather (and produce! and greatAsian food!), and with close family nearby.I have indeed won the academic jackpot. My deepest thanksto everyone who helped to make that happen.

Grace Yia-Hei Kao is the first Asian American woman to

have been awarded tenure at  Claremont School of Theology. 

8/3/2019 Getting Tenure, Part I: It Took a Village by Grace Yia-Hei Kao

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She will discuss the meaning and significance of that honor in part II of this blog. 

Three happy & newly tenured faculty in good spirits at their 

second post-tenure party. Congratulations are in order to dear friends/colleagues Monica A. Coleman and Duane Bidwell aswell!