Tenure hacks: The 12 secrets of making tenure Paperback – January 12, 2014

I personally enjoyed reading this book, as it points out how people think about an early academic career. Whether the advice is applicable to you or not depends on where you aim for tenure. No matter what, it offers some interesting insights to compare with ideas from your fellow associates. If you really have no clue about tenure process behind the scene, read this book and explore how academic world works.

This book really does bring back the veil of achieving tenure, and I plan to implement most of what I read. The loss of a star is due to the fact that some advice can be VERY damaging if you get caught doing it. I like ALL of the above board advice.

This is the most honest (read: brutal) and accurate presentation of the tenure-track process I have ever found. The 'hacks' are actually straightforward strategies that will save years of frustration and energy invested in the wrong places. Nothing in this book makes the tenure track any easier, but it is real talk that clearly exposes the larger processes at play AND what tenure track faculty are ultimately evaluated on--whether they stay at their current university or move on within academia. Huge help to focus on setting the right goals and working efficiently toward them.Recommend reading Academia Obscura by Glen Wright at the same time for some levity on the same topic.

This book provides a good overview of how to become a successful professor (which perhaps differs from what I would consider being a "good" professor). The underlying message is that conflicts of interest exist between tenure-track faculty, members of the department, and the college/university. In order to be successful, faculty members must focus on developing a research track record that will make them valuable to their institution (and an attractive candidate to others) rather than spending their energy on teaching and service efforts to please students/members of the department.Overall this is a quick read and has some good advice that is somewhat obvious, but rarely formally given (e.g., if your department wants to do something stupid, let it - as a nontenured professor, you are essentially a temporary employee / It is better not to make tenure because members of your department personally hate you rather than spending too much time on service to please people; someone who spends all their time on service will have a CV that makes them no longer employable at any institution).

Getting a doctorate or working toward tenure is an ambiguous meandering path that drives everyone NUTS. But Dr. James comes along and pulls back the curtain and says, here are the rules --follow them. One take away is when someone asks you to do something, consider "will this get me tenure?" if the answer is no, say no. Why didn't anyone else tell me that? Or that a tenure packet isn't for your current position, it's for the next position, either where you are or where you move to -- that's a game changer in my thinking.

Bought as a present but purchased after hearing junior and senior faculty raving about its practical tips.

The author is brutally honest, to the point of seeming cynical...as if he gamed the higher education system and shows how you can, too. This was a quick read and made me rexamine my professional values, aspirations and goals. This book pulled me away from my lofty ideals.

Good. Learned lots Good. Learned lots Good. Learned lots Good. Learned lots Good. Learned lots Good. Learned lots Good. Learned lots Good. Learned lots Good. It’s a good book

strong recommand

As a successful computer science researcher who has the equivalent of tenure at a respected institution, I thought this book was excellent. It pulls no punches in describing the difficult, Darwinian path to tenure. One of its many merits is that it cuts through the bland rhetoric around "collegiality" and "service" spouted by university department heads, which enables them to exploit the labour of young would-be academics before (in most cases) discarding them. The book shows these young aspirants how to focus on what really matters for career advancement: research publications. Pay attention to this man's advice! He knows what he's talking about.

This is a practical and straightforward guide to developing the necessary discipline needed to take your research from concept to publish amid the myriad distractions in the life of an academic. The most time consuming of which is teaching. The work is short enough to be read in a couple sittings and written in plain language so you won’t get bored along the way. Highly recommended.