What if tenure isn’t the most direct path to academic success AND fulfillment?
Independence may be the path you’re truly craving.
As a graduate student, deciding on a career path for myself, I was sold a dream. I was led to believe that getting a tenure track position…and then obtaining tenure was the pinnacle of academic success and fulfillment.
I decided to try something different.
I chose to define academic success and fulfillment for myself. And that journey led me to expanding my impact on the world, increasing my income, and ultimately gaining independence.
This essay is written as an invitation to academics, professors, and researchers to think beyond the tenure track.
As academics, the pursuit of knowledge and the quest for personal growth are often at the forefront of our careers. Traditionally, the path to academic success has been closely associated with obtaining tenure.
However, in today's dynamic educational landscape, the narrative is evolving. Tenure, once deemed the pinnacle of achievement, is no longer the only route to academic accomplishment and fulfillment.
A new and transformative path has emerged - the creation and self-hosting of your own learning experiences – independence.
Recontextualizing the promise of tenure
Tenure has been a longstanding symbol of job security and recognition within academia. It offers a sense of stability and the opportunity to delve deep into research and scholarship. Yet, it's crucial to recognize that tenure is not a guarantee of success. It's a lengthy and often uncertain journey, characterized by rigorous evaluations, publication pressures, and institutional politics.
The allure of tenure is specific to the individual. Perhaps it is the job security, long-term career stability, and institutional influence that keeps academics ever-reaching for this milestone. Or maybe it is the goal of professional and personal fulfillment that academics want.
But what is fulfillment for an academic?
It’s a feeling that comes when you have a sense of purpose that is directly aligned with your values and goals. It comes through engaging in meaningful relationships and making an impact on others. It’s embracing challenges while remaining true to yourself.
It’s what I feel when I teach college mathematics. It’s what I feel when I help graduate students navigate their academic journey through the self-hosted learning experiences that I’ve designed around time management and productivity.
I am fulfilled when I help others help themselves.
You likely recognize the feeling that comes from fulfillment whenever you think about why you got your degree and became an academic.
You wanted to change the world.
You wanted to make an impact.
You wanted academic success AND fulfillment.
But, are you fulfilled in the way that you want to be? Are you creating the impact you wanted? Can these hopes and goals be achieved through tenure?
Perhaps tenure isn’t the best measure of impact and fulfillment.
Become a Well-Rounded Academic
I’ve seen and met so many academics who have the greatest intentions of creating impact through addressing real-world problems, contributing to advancements in science or technology, and/or improving the lives of others.
And they tend to get stuck in the seven year promotion cycle hamster wheel.
Does this resonate with you?
Would you agree that the way you fill your schedule, what you do, and what you say “yes” to completely revolve around tenure (or promotion)?
If so, you might be defining your personal academic success and fulfillment through an outdated lens.
What could it look like to rethink and redefine what it means to experience success as an academic?
I’ve done a bit of reflection myself. I looked back over my five years in grad school and seven years in my current position as a full-time lecturer to identify a few key elements that I believe have contributed to my academic success and fulfillment.
I became more well-rounded.
And through this reflection, I’ve come up with a three-part framework. To become a more well-rounded academic, there are three principles you must follow:
Trust Your Self
Honor Your Boundaries
Create Your Fulfilled Life
Trust Your Self
Let’s start with why it’s so important to trust yourself as an academic. Many of us have only seen or learned about one IDEAL way to achieve success in academia. It’s landing the highly coveted tenure-track position, being awarded grants, conducting wonderful research, publishing that research in high-ranking journals, and producing more outstanding researchers in the field.
To do all of this WELL takes a lot of time and energy.
But what if you don’t resonate with everything in that list? What if the lifestyle required to achieve all of this doesn’t line up with the life you dreamed about? Have you ever stopped to consider if this “IDEAL” academic life is the one you really want?
For me, it isn’t the life that I want. And that is ok! It doesn’t diminish the work that I did in grad school. And it doesn’t make me less of an academic because I made a different choice.
In fact, I’m able to show up better and more competent in the role that I have now because I made a choice that was a best fit for me.
Storytime: Saying no to my first tenure-track job offer
In my 5th year of grad school, I started applying for jobs (very early). I made a ridiculously detailed spreadsheet of over 135 positions that I’d planned to apply for.
Now, I’d already started trusting myself a bit before I began the applications and I knew that I LOVED teaching. And I wanted a position that would focus more heavily on teaching than research because research didn’t really light me up. I couldn’t see myself continuing to do math research for the rest of my life. But I could see myself loving teaching math for the rest of my life.
So, I decided to only apply to small liberal arts colleges with no graduate programs so that my focus would mostly be on teaching undergraduate math or advising undergraduate math research. I also applied for non-tenure track positions that only focused on teaching.
About a month into the application process, I got a campus interview that was followed by a job offer. I got an offer to be a tenure-track assistant professor at a small liberal arts college.
I was soooo excited but also, I felt a sinking pit in my stomach. With this position, I would be developing a new statistics program for the school, I would need to do research with undergraduates, and I learned that I would be the only Black professor at the school.
Note, I was 26 years old. I was not ready for that responsibility. But also, this position didn’t resonate with my academic dream life.
So, I made a very tough decision (that actually wasn’t that hard to make). I said no to this job offer with no backup offers.
It was still very early in the application season, around October, and I reasoned that if one school wanted to hire me for a job that I wasn’t completely passionate about, then another school would want me for a job that was a perfect fit for me.
I ended up getting two other job offers: one a tenure track position at another liberal arts school and the other a permanent non-tenure track lecturer position (the one I have now) at an R1 institution.
And when I got this job, I was beyond excited about it! It was the perfect position for me!
But when I would tell other people (academics and others in the real world) about my job offer, do you know the first question that they would ask me?
“Oh great! Are you going to apply for a tenure track position next year?”
My answer: absolutely not; this is the perfect position for me.
And I was only able to say this because I trusted myself completely. I had already defined what a successful job search would like for me. So it didn’t matter that others thought differently.
So often, we use other people’s metrics for success to define our own. But, as well-rounded academics, we are challenged with defining success for ourselves. And trusting that our own definition for success is good enough for us.
It’s actually the only option for us.
Honor Your Boundaries
Once you’ve committed to trusting yourself, you’ll find that it may be difficult to continue to do that when academic culture demands that you spend your time and energy in ways that don’t align with your plans for yourself.
Setting and honoring strong boundaries is crucial here.
It’s important to master the art of saying “yes” to what aligns with your goals for yourself and “no” to what doesn’t.
This is a framework that gets easier the more you do it; but only comes through trusting that your personal definition of academic success is more than enough for you to have a fulfilling and lasting career.
Let’s take a look at the academic boundaries that I’ve set for myself.
Because I’ve defined academic success as committing to outstanding teaching that engages students and builds their confidence in mathematics, I’m constantly saying “yes” to opportunities and responsibilities relating to teaching and learning and “no” to commitments outside of those topics.
Storytime: I quit a role that would have led to promotion
The following is an excerpt from my newsletter for academics who are interested creating their own self-hosted learning experiences:
“Relief.
That is the feeling I felt once I made the decision to quit being the Calculus 1 Coordinator for my department.
The responsibility of the position was wearing me down! I was constantly on edge and felt like I needed to check my email at night and on weekends. (I never did that before!)
I felt anxious. And I typically never feel anxious for more than a few hours.
It was affecting my life…and my business.
I would feel too drained to do anything other than teach my classes.
I knew that I couldn’t continue on this way.
But that academic pressure and obligation started to creep in.
I was personally asked to consider taking on the role of Calculus 1 Coordinator. I ran weekly meetings for all of the calculus instructors and, thankfully, they found so much value in each meeting.
I observed grad students and postdocs and helped them improve their teaching. I wrote and coordinated an extremely fair mass final exam for over 700 students.
I was great at the job! My skills and personality made me a perfect fit for the position.
However, the job wasn’t a perfect fit for me.
I almost convinced myself to continue serving in the role for one more year…to really show that I gave it my all.
But then, in my morning devotion, the prompt asked me to write down the words and mantras that I always say to myself and how I live my life.
Here’s what I wrote:
“I have strong, healthy boundaries. I am a positive person. I do what I love and don’t do what I don’t love.”
I do what I love and don’t do what I don’t love.
That convicted me.
I strictly do my job as a Senior Lecturer of Mathematics because I love it! I love helping students who think they are terrible at math discover that they can learn it and enjoy it!
In fact, my business brings in more income than my academic job. I don’t HAVE to continue being an academic. But I do because I love it!
So, why was I saying yes to another year of a position and responsibility that I didn’t love?
I decided that day that I would quit being the Calculus 1 Coordinator.
And guess what happened!
All of the pressure that had built up over the past seven months was released!
All of a sudden, I felt creative again. I had energy to work on and in my business.
That weekend, I wrote five resource guides for my personal brand website!
If I had continued in the role of Calculus 1 Coordinator, I would be a shoo-in for another early promotion.
But because of my business, self-hosting my own learning experiences, I have the freedom to change what success looks like to me.
My livelihood doesn’t depend on my academic career.
I have options.
And I have a question for you:
Are you living a life that fulfills you? Or are you following the path that thousands of academics have taken before you?”
I’m very proud of this piece from my newsletter because I believe that it gives hope to academics who may have chosen to commit to a career or responsibility that doesn’t align with their most dreamy academic lifestyle.
It’s never too late to make new decisions, set new boundaries, and start honoring them.
Create Your Fulfilled Life
As educators and researchers, academics have a wealth of knowledge and expertise that often goes untapped within the confines of our university classrooms. We tend to teach the same topics semester after semester, year after year.
But what about all of your additional skills, experiences, and insights?
Not being able to express those in our work or help others fill in the gaps left by traditional education, can leave us feeling a bit restless and unfulfilled.
What if you could make a broader impact beyond your academic career?
I’d like to introduce you to academics (former clients), including myself, who don’t/didn’t have tenure and have experienced immense success academically but are beyond excited about the impact that they are now having in spite of their university positions.
Meet Dr. Jessye Talley
Dr. Jessye Talley is an engineering professor and early career faculty coach helping junior faculty prepare for a successful third year review. When Jessye became a client of mine, she was a fifth year tenure track assistant professor who just had a baby and only had 2 hours to spare each week to devote to growing her self-hosted learning experiences business.
Together, we developed a plan to create a self-hosted learning experience and now she’s been invited to speak at multiple events that align with her purpose and her business.
Jessye has since been awarded tenure and is truly thriving in her life and business…beyond her academic success.
Meet Dr. Orobosa Owie
Dr. Orobosa Owie is a Healthcare Administration and Public Health professor who is beyond impressive. She’s an author and runs her own non-profit organization.
Orobosa reached out to me last year because she was interested in creating a self-hosted learning experience for healthcare scholars. Since our work together, I’ve watched her thrive online and become the leading expert supporting students interested in healthcare fields.
These women have achieved academic success AND have created a fulfilling life from truly meaningful work through their self-hosted learning experiences. Through these learning experiences, have positively impacted the lives of others and created financial freedom through income independent of their university salaries.
Hi, I’m Dr. Toyin Alli.
Math PhD, Senior Lecturer & Entrepreneur
An Independent Professor
The independent online education industry is growing and innovating at a rate beyond what is happening in colleges and universities and it’s wild to me that academics and professors are NOT at the forefront of this movement.
As lifelong learners, academics are uniquely suited to share our expertise, education, and experience beyond the scope of our university courses.
I created my first self-hosted learning experience in 2017 and I haven’t looked back. These learning experiences have built my personal brand, supported my academic goals, and brought me financial freedom!
I truly believe that it’s possible to be successful in academia and live a fulfilled life at the same time. I’m doing it!
Because of my personal brand built by teaching self-hosted online courses:
I was promoted to Senior Lecturer a year early
I won two teaching awards
I surpassed $100,000 in course sales per year
How? I’ve created an education business that I run alongside my academic career. (I spend about 5 hours/week operating this self-hosted learning experience business.)
And I help other academics do the same.
Upon reflecting on the work that I’ve done with academics who are interested in expanding their impact beyond their university, I’ve noticed that they all have one thing in common.
They all want to share their knowledge on their own platform outside of the university structure.
And through their work with me, they have all created self-hosted learning experiences.
Here are a few topics that pas clients have created self-hosted learning experiences around:
helping healthcare professionals complete doctoral programs quickly so they can get back to their career
helping junior faculty get past their third year review so that they are on track for tenure
helping leaders write memoirs to share their life lessons
helping PhD students navigate paying their quarterly or annual taxes when they receive fellowship stipends
helping law students pass the bar exam
As educators and researchers, we have a wealth of knowledge and expertise that often goes untapped within the confines of our university classrooms. We tend to teach the same topics semester after semester, year after year.
Teaching from our expertise, experience, and knowledge as independent professors is an opportunity for us to create something outside of our university, either for profit or to freely share our expertise with others. By designing these experiences, we gain full control over the content, structure, and delivery methods, ensuring that our knowledge reaches a wider audience in a meaningful way.
Did you know that the independent online education industry brought in over $12 billion in 2022 alone?
Yup!
Now, I help professors gain access to this industry through creating their own teaching experiences independent of their university contract.
It’s your time to create a new path toward independence.
Invitation to the Independent Professor Workshop
What if hosting and selling your own courses, workshops, and learning experiences was your most direct path to making the kind of impact you got into teaching for?
Traditional academia (the institution) hasn’t changed, but academics (the people) have.
And so has the technology that makes it possible for you to host and sell your own learning experiences independent of your salaried work.
Here’s the reality: teaching is more than what you do for a living. It’s how you make a meaningful impact in the world. But lately you haven’t been quite satisfied with the amount of impact you are making on the world.
You want to expand your reach beyond your department, university, or organization but you might think you need to be an influencer (whatever that is) in order to do that.
That is actually not the case.
You can improve the lives of others, contribute to advancements in science or technology, and/or help address real-world problems through your own self-hosted learning experiences (courses, workshops, talks, etc) online.
During the Independent Professor Workshop Audio Experience, you’ll learn how to create a curriculum for elective learners and design your own profitable self-hosted learning experience.