Posts in Tenure and Life Updates
Fall 2020 Update

Well, here we are in December and I’ve yet to do a monthly update. As a general practice, I’m always adapting and adjusting anything that feels like it’s not working and that has certainly been the name of the game this fall. With the nausea and exhaustion that pregnancy has brought me there was no way I was getting in monthly updates this term.

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Two Years of Toddler on The Tenure Track + Some Big News

Hi there! It’s been awhile (about 2 months to be exact) since I last posted on the blog. As I move back into posting a bit more regularly I have a few things to share with you. First, as of December 1, Toddler on the Tenure Track has officially been around for 2 whole years. Which is amazing to me. In honor of another year of Toddler on the Tenure Track I'm posting 2020’s top 10 most visited posts below. Second, the reason I’ve been quiet these past few months is because…

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My Goals for Year Four on the Tenure Track

My heart aches just thinking about this past academic year (and also thinking about what the upcoming year will bring). The above photo was taken on Ellie’s birthday, in the middle of a pandemic, the day after George Floyd was murdered. Not to mention the loss of my dad and my mom’s stint in the hospital. It was around the time that this photo was taken where I hit my breaking point in the year.

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Annual Review for Tenure: My Planning Process

I realize that there's lots of variability in the tenure review process from university to university. However, I thought I'd share the general process I've been following for prepping for my 5th (and final) annual tenure review. At my institution, we have annual reviews (submitted in fall), a cumulative third year review (submitted in spring), and then the tenure review (submitted in the fall of year 6). So the annual review is something I've done a few times before.

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Monthly Update: June 2020

July is here and even though at the start of June I was feeling exhausted and energized, this month I think I’m just feeling exhausted. The end of the school year has come and gone and any energy I had has disappeared. Which brings me to my next point, like last summer, I’ll be pausing updates, picking back up in October, or maybe September depending on how I’m feeling.

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"What's wrong with the world?"

We were getting ready to have dinner one night when Ellie came into the kitchen and asked, “what’s wrong with the world?” Clearly, she’s been listening to Mike and I talk more than she lets on.

When the pandemic started ramping up in the US, my strategies for moving through grief began to change. I started pushing aside any feelings that came up, telling myself, "not now, just get to the end of the school year, and then you can more fully process everything." Turns out, that doesn't work so well, especially when the hits just keep coming.

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Monthly Update: May 2020

It's officially June and I'm simultaneously exhausted and energized. It's the end of the term, which means summer is so close. In this month's newsletter I shared a bit about the weekly rhythm that I've gotten into (see above image), how it's working for me, along with what an actual week looked like. Here are my main takeaways from this schedule...

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